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“Yeah, well, not exactly my idea of dream vacation, but at this point, I don’t see a lot of options,” she stated. “By the way, do your friends know you are basically holding me prisoner? Is this how shifters protect Fae Crossing?”
“Why don’t you ask them?” Rollo said, gesturing toward Dax.
Dax just looked at her. “Look, none of this is ideal, but you don’t want to be on your own, that’s for damn sure,” he said. “And to answer your question, yes, this is exactly how we protect Fae Crossing. Right now, that means how we protect you.”
He waited to see if she had a reply, but one look at her let Rollo know his point had hit home with her. When she remained silent, he continued. “So, you guys get to the safe house. I’ll have Bloom give you a call with the directions. It’s out my way, but even further up Willow into the sticks. She’ll have to tell you the particulars on how to, uh, find it.”
“I can’t wait,” Rollo quipped. As long as we don’t have to stand around and click our heels together and say ‘There’s no place like the safe house’.”
“I’m sure June could have that arranged if you’d like.”
“No, thanks,” Rollo replied.
“Fine. So, you guys head out, and, Rollo, before you go, just point us to where he disappeared from.”
“Right over there,” he said, pointing, “About halfway up that second set of stairs. Poof. That’s it.” He began to lead Winona and his kids over to his jeep.
“Got it. So, we got this. You get your family…” Dax paused. “You get everybody over there ASAP. The safe house is the best place. Really, it’s the only place for them. Lock it down. Okay?”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Dax and him exchanged a quick grip and half hug before they loaded up in the jeep.
“I’ll have Clint grab some things from your place for you and the kids. Do you need anything from your place, Miss?"
“No, thank you, I have everything I need here, I think,” she answered.
Dax nodded. “It’ll be okay. Rollo, we’re going to get him. Keep the faith.”
Rollo sighed and tried to calm himself down. He had to be a good protector. It was the first and only job he had for these kids, and now, for Winona, whether she liked it or not. His rage and revenge would have to wait.
“Don’t forget these,” Dax called as he handed him a set of keys through the vehicle’s open window.
Safe house it is.
CHAPTER11
Winona sat quietly in the back of the truck. Marcus had wanted to ride shotgun with his father and she didn’t argue. She was in the back with the other three boys. There seemed to be something of a competition between the two youngest as to who could squirm up the closest to her. She didn’t mind. It was taking her mind off the fact that her conflicted feelings had grown by a factor of ten.
This guy was unbelievable, in every sense of the word. How could she even explain the situation she currently found herself in? How had he gone from her captor to her protector in a heartbeat? Over and over she had gone through the last twenty-four in her head. She had to make sure she wasn’t dreaming or going crazy, because she felt like she was losing it.
Okay, so an interview with a potential supposedly human new family had turned into what could best be called an unwanted extended live-in situation, and at worst be called a kidnapping with a shifter family. But then, on meeting the kids, it was like it had all been reframed. Still shocking, unacceptable, and horrifying, but at least she had gotten over that initial fear of just what the guy had in mind. But now, after seeing that other guy’s face… and the way he had just disappeared. The idea of Stockholm syndrome jumped back into her mind. That’s when the victim started to feel sorry for the abductor, or something like that? Only, she wasn’t feeling sorry for him. Not at all. She was wanting to touch him, feel him, rip his clothes off.
This is a problem, she concluded.
“Will there be whisky at his safe house?” she finally asked. She didn’t know if she should feel relieved that Rollo was proving to be less psychopathic than she had initially feared, or terrified that some version of madman apparently now had her on his madman radar.And he can use portals. Oh, and let’s not even start on how I am now stuck with a shifter…no, a whole gaggle or pack or whatever of them. Just what I had sought to avoid. Awesome. Oh, and I am turning into the total cliché chick who can’t decide if she wants to escape from her captor, or, well…be seduced by him.At this point, the talk of witches and magic was the least surprising or challenging aspect of her reality.
She watched and listened as they drove. Marcus tried to act brave, but it was clear that all the kids were rattled by the day’s events. Rollo did his best to reassure them all before they fell silent for the rest of the drive. The kids weren’t even squabbling, which would have actually broken the tension a bit. Once again, she was torn between wanting to protect the children and getting some answers from Rollo.Who the fuck is this half-faced portal guy and why is he after you? Why did he kill your brother?
In the end, her natural caring feelings won out. She would try to get some answers when they were in private. The kids had been through enough. She wasn’t sure how much they knew, but she imagined he had done his best to shield them. Apparently, though, they had seen the animal blood today. That was enough for one day. Bucky was already asleep against her side, and it seemed Jaye was nodding off as well. It seemed they had half bought into their dad’s attempts to spin the whole thing as an adventure.Their adopted dad, she reminded herself. She studied him as they drove on.
It did her heart good to see a man be a good dad. Her own uncle had really tried, but it had always felt like a ‘try’ and not completely authentic. She knew it hadn’t been his fault. No one can really fill the hole left when a parent dies like that. And two? Forget it. The suddenness of it all hadn’t helped either.
Right, it would have been great if fate could have given us all a heads up.
They never had a chance to gradually get used to things with another daughter in their home. She’d always felt like an outsider. It was no one’s fault but it still sucked.
A bump in the road snapped her back to the present.
She looked at him again. Where her uncle had often been short with her, Rollo was so patient, and so determined to be there for his boys.And looking from the outside, no one can even tell Bucky and Jaye aren’t even his.
