AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You don’t have to go back,” Ryder said firmly. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. And right now? You might not even know what it is you do want. That’s OK. You’re safe now. And you have all the time you need to figure it out.”
He felt Jessie’s barely perceptible flinch again at the phrase about time. Something there. An old wound. Well they had time. And then he remembered. That was what her parents had told her. Go along with what Chen wanted. After all she had time. She’d told him that. No wonder she flinched.
He reached over and squeezed Jessie’s hand. “I’ve always liked Hortons’ muffins. You two hungry?”
“I’ll go,” Jessie said. She slid out and held out her hand for his card. He was going to run out of them, he thought amused. Neither Duncan nor Titus had given him theirs back. He gave her another one —his last. He’d have to collect one of them back.
“I’m so scared,” Amanda whispered. “We’re punished....”
“Not anymore,” he promised. “But we want to get back to your friends just in case someone shows up.”
She nodded. Pretending, he thought. Well, sometimes that was what got you through things. He didn’t ask her anymore questions, instead he told her about Jessie’s fight with Bjorn Hansen and made her laugh. “Bet he was surprised,” Amanda said. Her smile was vicious. “I hope my grandfather was surprised too.”
“I’m told he was,” Ryder assured her. “Hansen most certainly was.” Jessie came back with muffins. A half-dozen of them.
“What?” she demanded. “They were cheaper that way.”
“Not a thing,” he said, helping himself to one of them. “Not a thing.”
He saw Titus’s pickup pull up. Actually it was Hansen’s pickup. He laughed at that. How quickly you adjusted. Kill the bastard, take his pickup, erase his life.
Move on to the next crisis.
“Did your guards drive a tan SUV?” he asked suddenly.
She shook her head. “I never saw their vehicle. This is the first time I’ve been outside since Vancouver.”
He stared at her, and then shook his head, afraid to speak. “What was that? Four months ago?” he asked at last.
She shrugged. “I guess?”
He glanced at Jessie. She had a degree in psychology right? And Benny was a therapist? As odd as that still sounded to him. It looked like they had new clients. He escorted the two women out of the store.
Dennis got out of his Jeep. “I’ll ride with Duncan,” he said, handing over the keys. “Titus gave us the bare bones. Go.”
Ryder appreciated it; he wasn’t in the mood to deal with the McKenzies, and he didn’t know what to think. How they could be this blind? He’d like to talk to Benny about that. Benny understood people better than he did. He got in the driver’s seat, with Jessie in front with him. Benny reappeared and slid into the back with Amanda. “Where are we headed?” Ryder asked.
Amanda gave him directions, somewhat tentatively. She’d just walked blindly, she said, until she found a shifter. She’d watched; decided that Miles was safe — which Ryder found interesting— and asked for help. Miles had listened to her halting story, and brought her to the Social Club, looking for Benny. Also interesting. When Amanda saw Angie, someone she actually knew, she’d started crying.
“I knew I would have to trust someone,” she said now. “I kept telling myself that as I wandered the streets. I didn’t think I could go to humans. What could I say that wouldn’t make splashy headlines? So I was going to have to trust a shifter. I told my wolf to find us someone. And she found Miles.”
“Do you know why Miles?” Benny asked.
She shook her head. “My wolf isn’t particularly verbal,” she apologized. “She just said safe. And I watched him as he went about setting up for the day. How could someone who runs a bookstore be dangerous?”
Benny smiled at that. “True,” he agreed. “I would trust a bookseller too.”
Ryder didn’t know they had shifter booksellers. Miles was turning out to be an interesting young man. And he was going to need some interesting people to turn this pack around.
He drove slowly through the streets, heading toward the northern edge of town. Amanda grew more anxious as she couldn’t find landmarks. “Let me out,” she said finally. “My wolf can backtrack.”
“Smart,” Ryder said, giving her more approval to bolster her. “Benny? You want to walk with the young lady?”
“Be my pleasure,” Benny said, turning on the charm. Ryder stopped himself from rolling his eyes, but just barely. He saw Jessie’s amusement, and he gave her a quick grin.
Ryder stopped and let them out.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” Jessie said immediately, once they were alone. “I should have sent Titus back to tell you where we were going when I realized I couldn’t reach you through the mate bond. I’m sorry.”
