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Her hands tightened on the steering wheel, her knuckles cracking.
“Where are you? I expected an update, it’s been several hours.”
“I told you that it would take time to gather what you needed. You said you understood I needed more time.”
“There’s work to be done, Ashley,” Brent growled. “I brought you out here to get me what I need to finish my plans, and you’re failing me on every front.”
The man was infuriating! He had no idea what she was dealing with.
“I’m working on it, I promise.”
Her voice hitched up at the end and she cleared her throat. She probably sounded guilty as hell. Brent was a suspicious guy by nature, most likely because he was always doing shady crap and betraying everyone, so he expected everyone to try to betray him. It wasn’t a bad motto—expect the worst and you won’t be disappointed.
“When can I expect an update on your progress? And I do meanprogress.”
Her heart clenched and something within her made a growling sound.
She was hanging around shifters too much.
Rubbing her chest, she focused on the road ahead and offered what she hoped was a satisfactory answer. “Soon.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“Well, it has to be. There’s a finesse to getting in with shifters, and the tigers are no exception. If you want good, usable information, you have to let me do my job. I haven’t failed you yet, Brent.”
He snorted. “Fine. You need to check in with me more frequently so I know you haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. If you fail, I’ll send you back to LA, but it won’t be pleasant.”
She could hear the threat laced into his words.
If she was close to her parents, he’d probably threaten them too, but she wasn’t so he didn’t.
“I hear you. I’ll be in touch.”
She ended the call and inhaled sharply, her eyes stinging.
For a moment she imagined Kerry was sitting next to her in the car, twirling a lock of auburn hair around her finger and staring at her phone in the sparkly pink case. She would have looked at Ashley with her pretty blue eyes and told her she was a nut for trying to distance herself from Romeo. That true love didn’t happen every day, and even people who made mistakes got to have happily ever afters.
I don’t like who I am now, I don’t like what I see in the mirror or the way my chest aches and something feral and dark prowls in my subconscious.
Being around wolves had never affected her this way. She’d never questioned her actions or doubted herself, but since she met Romeo, she’d had nothingbutdoubts.
I wish you were here, Kerry.
The image of her sister in the passenger seat faded, her sweet smile ghosting into nothing.
Glancing around, she saw the road was clear both ways and swung around, heading back the way she came.
She didn’t know what she’d say when she saw Romeo, she just knew she had to see him.
* * *
As she hitthe city limits for Whisper Creek, two vehicles caught up to her, one cutting in front of her and the other behind. As the lead vehicle hit the brakes, she had no choice but to stomp her foot, her tires screeching. She swerved to avoid hitting the lead car, but it pulled out in front of her again, the back car coming up to block her.
Panic rose inside her.
They didn’t have flashing lights on their vehicles to signify they were human police, and when the men got out of the cars, they were wearing all black.
She was trapped. The two-lane road had a deep ditch on both sides, and she was blocked from going around the lead car by the one that had been behind her and was now angled to keep her from backing up or veering away.
