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Because Valentine was sure of one thing: no matter what happened in the next seven days, there was no way in hell she was letting her little sister go back to that estate.
Not a chance.
The Longborn sisters belonged together.
And that was final.
EIGHTEEN
NERO
Nero sat alone in the front seat of the truck while Valentine and her sister were in the back seat. Lilliane was doing a pretty good job at pretending she was asleep, but even in the rearview mirror, Nero could tell she was pretending.
If Val believed her sister was asleep, she didn’t say anything.
The ride back to Greenlee was quieter than he would have liked. It would have been better if the sisters were arguing, but the deafening silence told him that something was wrong. The bond that led Val to her sister was ruptured somehow, and he couldn’t do a thing to fix it.
He hated that.
Nero really couldn’t shake that feeling, but he couldn’t exactly tell Valentine that while Lilliane was pretending to sleep. All he could do was put on music at the lowest possible notch so that only his wolf ears could pick up some of the words and notes streaming over the radio.
There was no stopping at hotel rooms. There were no fun meals at cute diners. No accidental nudity.
Nero drove straight through. By the time they reached the border between Greenlee and Blackwood, he was exhausted. He parked in front of Val’s cabin and waited for the sisters to exit. Valentine unlocked the front door and waved her sister in before she ran back to him.
“Thanks for coming with me. It went more smoothly than I thought,” Val beamed at him. “I didn’t think we would find her. But we did! She’s here.”
“I don’t know if it was smooth,” he said. “Something isn’t right. It’s not sitting well with me.”
She clicked her tongue. “You’re just saying that because there was no fight. You shifters are all about the fights, but this is good. She came willingly.”
“I saw your face when you read that message on your phone. What did it say?”
“That she would be back in seven days,” Val admitted bitterly. “But she won’t. I can change her mind.”
He shook his head. “You might not be able to. What if Nikolas and the vampire council come looking for her?”
“Then you’ll have that fight you wanted,” she teased.
“Val,” he said. “I don’t like this.”
She frowned. “What’s not to like? You knew this was what I wanted. You came with me, and you knew this was going to happen.”
He sighed and laid his head back. “Can I stop by later? Check on you?”
She shrugged. “If you want, but honestly, I think we need sister time. You don’t have to check on me anymore. I’m better. You are released from your sheriff duties.” She beamed at him like it was the end of something.
It wasn’t.
He just didn’t know how to tell her.
“Okay. I’ll just drop by later to make sure Lilliane hasn’t crawled through another window to escape.”
Val pursed her lips. “She didn’t escape through a window when we brought her here.”
“Just about,” he argued. “Be careful. And if you need anything, you just call.”
“I know what this is about,” she teased. “You’ve seen me naked, and now you want more.” She wiggled her finger at him. “I’m not your type. It’s fine.”
