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Maybe even more dangerous than the Longroad pack.
Eventually we ended up stopping for lunch. I hated to use any of Aiden’s dwindling funds.
Then Aiden assured me that he had drained our mom’s bank account. With Rose’s help.
Rose shrugged unapologetically. “She owes us. She’s never really been a great mom.”
“She does,” I admitted.
We had enough money to start a new life in California. It would be a simple life, but at least we wouldn’t have to sleep in our car. We’d be able to get an apartment.
It wasn’t the life I had imagined when I used to picture escaping to a cabin in the pines like the one that had been home for Brennan and me. I’d imagined that little cabin being expanded so that there would be enough room for a growing family: a nursery and a bedroom tucked behind the cozy main room, a loft in the eaves where children’s laughter rose.
This would be completely different. A little apartment where I hoped I’d be able to walk down to the beach and feel the breeze coming off the ocean and watch the palm trees sway. Dylan could play in the sun and build sandcastles. We would return to our little apartment and wash off the sand, before we both fell into bed. The fan would drone as I watched his chubby little face relax into sleep. I didn’t think I would ever get over my deep fear of losing him.
“At least you don’t have to just eat grilled cheese sandwiches,” Aiden said, giving me a teasing smile. I felt myself blush, given the assumptions I had made, and he winked at me. “You’re always the sweetest. Rose here wouldn’t mind spending all my money.”
Rose gave him an affronted look. “It’s my money too. I stole it just as much as you did.”
I laughed at them both, feeling something tight unfurl in my stomach. Maybe fixing things with Rose would be two steps forward and one step back, like a dance. There was a part of me that felt such a deep sense of loss, like I should be able to go back in time and change things. It seemed so unfair that her one childish mistake had altered the course of all of our lives so dramatically.
But I had hope that we would stumble forward into a brighter future.
As we were walking back to the car, a strangely handsome man watched us from across the parking lot. I could barely take my eyes off him to pretend to keep walking, as if my attention wasn’t riveted on him. A sense of disquiet rippled up my spine. Then he was gone, as if he’d never really been there at all. But it felt like he had been watching us.
“Amelia?” There was an edge in Aiden’s voice, as if he had said my name more than once before. Dylan was looking up at me, that wide eyed, scared look that he had sometimes when I was trying to fend off a panic attack.
“The view is pretty,” I said, smiling to cover my unease.
Not for the first time, I wondered what would happen if I told my brother and sister that we should go to the King pack. If I could just get in touch with Shaw and see if Stone would allow me back… for Dylan’s sake. Could Stone ever trust me?
Would Aiden and Rose go with me? Or would they go home to the Longroad pack? I didn’t like the idea of them going back there, not even with Nathan gone.
I tested the waters as Rose was driving, mashing my straw in my iced coffee. Dylan was dying of boredom. We stopped at a Target where we’d bought a portable DVD player and some movies, and Dylan slumped in the seat with headphones on, watching a movie for the second time today. It would have made me feel like a bad mom, but I had to do what it took to survive. And right now, that meant unlimited screen time.
“I wonder what it’s like at the King pack now,” I said.
“Do you think Stone is hunting you?” Aiden asked.
Huntingwas a charged word, and the memory of how Stone could turn cold and deadly, of those icy blue eyes that seemed devoid of any human feeling, sent a chill down my spine. “Yes.”
“What’ll he do if he catches us?”
“He’s not…” I didn’t know how to describe Stone. “He’s not cruel. But he’s… unmovable. Unstoppable. Unchangeable.”
I didn’t think I could everreasonhim into trust.
“Great,” Aiden said. “Those are character traits Ilovein my enemies.”
Rose swerved a little. The drink tipped, and I set it abruptly in my cup holder.
“You have to let everyone else have their own lane, Rose,” Aiden reminded her.
But she wasn’t really hearing him. Her hands started to shake on the steering wheel.
Aiden and I exchanged looks.
Her hands slipped from the wheel.
