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“Satish is Andrei's age, my age. Temperance may have been younger, yes, but that still would have made him around 17-18 when his father took him. I doubt he would have just cut his mother off after all that time.” he does have a point.
“So he might have seen the attack on Blue Mountain pack, then?”
“Or, that could have been when his father took him too?” my father adds in.
“And then he kills his father when he learns Temperance was getting the pack and locks her away. And now is what? Seeking revenge on everyone whoever wronged him?” I ask and everyone looks at each.
“Possibly,” Kyan says. Great, but how does Temperance come into any of this stuff, and what was he trying to achieve by breeding her?
ChapterNinety-Three
Andrei
The tension between Sage and me is palpable. She’s always been headstrong and fiercely independent, but every so often, her fiery nature makes me want to lock her away for her own safety. Of course, she’d never let me.
“You are safer here locked down in this house!” I snap, my frustration bubbling over. I don’t want to see her hurt, yet she is not fucking understanding or taking no for an answer.
“Don't you dare think you are leaving me here when my daughter needs me in the city and my granddaughter is out there with that fucking monster somewhere!” she retorts. Her voice carries that edge I know too well, the same edge when she turns manic too, which appears to be more frequent these days.
I move to shut down the house, but before I can, she smashes the control panel. I flinch, feeling the near miss on my hand. “Whoops! Looks like I’m coming. Can’t lock me in now!” Her voice is thick with triumph, and she drops the now broken bat we have in the cupboard in the hallway.
I grab her, spinning her around, but the sight of elongated canines and wild eyes stops me. Sienna, her wolf, is just below the surface and her coming forward means she's willing to tear me to pieces until either I make her submit or let her rip me apart.
“We are wasting time! Either you drive or I will! Which is it, Andrei?!” she snarls.
Reluctantly, I release her and climb into my car. She slides in next to me, and we speed down the road, the only sound is the engine's roar. However, the longer we drive, the thicker the tension and heavier my guilt. I love this woman, but she drives me crazy. I feel both indignation and like an asshole for yelling at her.
Sage is usually placid unless it involves the kids or me, so I knew she would be fired up when she learned of what happened, especially with the panicked phone call we received from Rose. The guilt of our argument weighs on me. Her recent emotional struggles torment me daily, the fear of losing her once more always lurking. “I’m sorry,” I murmur, taking her hand and pressing my lips to its back.
She smiles sadly, nodding once but returning her gaze back to the window, and I sigh, focusing on the road when suddenly bright lights flood the car’s interior, causing me to squint into the rearview mirror.
“What the hell?!” I mutter as our car jolts from a forceful hit.
“Who is that?” Sage asks, her voice laced with confusion and a hint of fear.
“No idea. Hold on.” I push the car to its limits, but the vehicle behind us relentlessly pursues.
“Grab my phone and ring Jonah! Tell him we think someone is following us,” I tell her, and she reaches for the glove box.
“Hang on!” I tell her, my gaze fixed on the road ahead as I maneuver us away from our pursuers. That's when it happens: blinding headlights appear from the opposite direction of oncoming traffic, as they put their high beams on.
My vision blurs in and out as I slam on the brakes, our car skidding on the asphalt before coming to an abrupt stop just inches away from a head-on collision. I suck in a sharp breath and close my eyes for a few seconds until everything comes into focus again.
Sage is still calling Jonah, but her voice is cut off by a violent impact from behind as the car rear ends us again, sending us careening down the street towards a barrier at full speed. I brace myself and turn sharply to avoid it, but it's too late. The tires screech as I narrowly miss the car coming toward us, only to hit the barrier. The airbag deploys and there’s a loud crash that causes my ears to ring.
I open my eyes slowly as Sage reaches over to unbuckle her seatbelt. We both look around in shock and disbelief; we are on the bridge that runs above the river. My mind reels with what just happened, while all sorts of questions race through my head about who was chasing us and why they were so determined to get whatever it was they wanted from us.
My mind whirs, my body pinned in place by the twisted metal wreckage. I hear a faint groan, coming from Sage. “Sage?!” I yell, trying to free myself from the car.
“Andrei!” Sage cries out groggily. Her voice is a balm and a curse at once. The car's exterior is lit up once more, revealing figures approaching.
A face appears at Sage's window. “Oh, that looks like it hurts?!” a man taunts. With one swift motion, he cuts her out and drags her away, leaving me trapped and helpless. I watch in horror as he takes her away while she screams and thrashes. I begin to frantically pull and push against anything that might help me free myself from the twisted metal web encasing me.
“I will fucking kill you!” I shout, thrashing around. But my attempts are futile. The world narrows to the sound of an engine and the sight of a van taking Sage away.
The car is struck once more, sending it precariously teetering near a bridge. Engine sounds rev in the distance, an impending doom I can’t escape. Another hit, and the world drops out beneath me as the car plunges into the river below.
The sound of the car hitting water makes me suck in a breath, only to lose it from how cold the water is. I am surrounded by darkness and cold as the icy water rushes in, filling up the car. The weight of it presses down on me, making it even harder to move or breathe. I know that I need to focus, to try to escape before this crushing pressure takes the last of my breath away.
