I can see the twinkle in his eyes and the laugh in his voice. I’ll never tell him, but I was scared when I first heard what he’d run into, and when Anton finished his tale by saying that Lance had been a total badass and handled all three singlehandedly, I was more than a little impressed.
I won’t let him know it that easily, though. “Maybe. If you’d killed five or six, I would have been impressed.”
Lance laughs and leans in closer to me. “Don’t lie, Cerena. I can see it in your eyes. You want to get on your knees and give me a nice, long, luscious thank you from those silky lips of yours, don’t you?”
“Hmm . . . maybe,” I admit, leaning in and cupping his cock. “Or maybe what you really want is for me to sneak a little bit of that rope I saw in the barn into the trailer, and when we get a chance, I’ll tie up my favorite little trickster and let him get a very nice thank you from both sets of my silky lips.”
Lance moans, his hips tightening as the image floods his mind. Inside my pants, my own pussy moistens, and what started off as a quick little tease quickly becomes a promise in my mind. Lance needs it, and I need it too.
“If you let me get a lick or two in on your backdoor, I’m totally down for it,” Lance rasps, cupping my breast. “What do you say, sweet cheeks? Think I can push up into your bumper?”
“I think you’ve earned it. When we’ve got a little privacy,” I assure him, biting his lip lightly and tugging. “But if you don’t make me scream your name at least twice, I’m going to turn it around and unleash myself on your puckered little hole.”
“Didn’t think you had it in you,” Lance says, grinning. His smile falters slightly, and his eyes darken as he takes a deep breath. “Cerena, I really want to say something to you, but—”
There’s a knock on the door frame, and Tym sticks his head in as I pull back. I wish he’d given us a few more seconds. I could read the words in Lance’s eyes, but I wanted to hear them for certain. “Yes, Tym?”
“The trailer’s about as good as we can get it,” he says. “Everything’s loaded, and I think it’d be a good idea to get a move on. There are rain clouds in the east.”
“Rain . . . just great,” Lance quips as he gets up, not hiding the hard bulge in his pants. He’s got nothing to be ashamed of or to hide from Tym. “Glad we’ve got coats. Speaking of which, Cerena, Mrs. White’s about your size. Did she show you the extra coat I asked her to pack for you?”
“Yeah,” I reply, taking a handful of the Hunter poncho Lily left me and thinking. It’s not much, but it’s part of her last gift to me, so I cherish it. I run my hand over the seam and shake my head. “We’ll keep it as a backup in the trailer or something. Tym’s right, though. We need to keep moving.”
“How much of a lead do we have on the werewolves?” Lance muses as we leave the house. Anton heads inside, I assume to do final lockups as I check the truck.
“Depends on how far away from the main pack those three were,” I reply, already evaluating the situation. Of course, Lance knows that answer, but it bears repeating for everyone. “I figure the main pack has to be at least a few hours away. They wouldn’t want to be seen by the village. And we can still drive almost as fast as a pack can move.”
Everyone climbs in, and I pull away, accelerating slowly to get a feel for the trailer behind us. Sienna’s next to me, her hands tight in her lap as she tries to put on a brave face.
The drive’s silent, just the wind blowing past outside as we move when suddenly, Sienna looks over at me. “Cerena?”
I glance down at her, noticing again the similarities between our looks. She’s not built the same way I was at twelve, lean but not as muscular. She’s a girl raised on a farm, not in the Academy, but in those eyes I see the link between us.
“Yeah, Sienna?”
“The werewolves . . . are they dangerous?”
I want to lie to her, to tell her that we’re just being careful. But I can’t do that. Instead, I take the girl’s hand and give it a squeeze. “We’re going to face a lot of things that are more than any twelve-year-old girl should face. I’m sorry about that. But I can tell you this. The three men with me, they’re better than any Hunter team I’ve ever worked with. And with me, we’re going to do everything in our powers to protect you. Because you deserve a chance to find a little bit of happiness in this world and to grow up with your mom and dad, okay?”
Sienna nods and looks over at her mother. “Mom . . . do you think Lance is cute?”
From the bed of the truck, I hear a familiar chuckle, followed by what sounds like a very fatherly groan. Mrs. White smiles wanly and pats her daughter’s knee. “I’m sure we can have that discussion in a few years . . . maybe when you’re twenty-five or so.”
“Mooooom,” Sienna complains, sounding exasperated. “I don’t want to wait until I’m old before I’m allowed to see a boy.”
“Old?” I ask, and behind me, more laughter emerges. “I’m just about twenty-five. Am I old?”
Sienna looks over, her chin set. “Of course not. But you’ve got your guys. I want three of my own.”
“Ah . . . well, then, better listen to your mother. Wait until you’re old. It’ll help with the patience.”
Mrs. White smiles gratefully, then chuckles. “Just wait until you have children of your own, Cerena. Just wait until you have children of your own.”
Chapter 23
Cerena
We press on until nightfall, stopping in an abandoned town to find a building large enough to hide our presence and the truck. As we approach the mountains, those are going to happen less and less frequently, and I want to take advantage of them while we can.
“Better pray for sunshine tomorrow. We won’t be able to push much in bad weather,” Tym says as he checks the truck’s systems. “With six people and a trailer, the panels can’t maintain the drain.”
“I know, and meanwhile, werewolves won’t slow down,” I respond, looking around the building where we’re staying the night. It’s another one of those large buildings with attached garages, and while not in perfect condition, it can serve our purposes. “What do you think?”
“It’ll serve as shelter,” Tym assures me, nodding. “Don’t worry, bad weather will slow the wolves down too.”
“Oh? Didn’t know mud slowed down running.”
Tym smirks. “Not the running . . . the tracking. Rain will wash away our trace, cover our scent. So a little rain overnight might be helpful. Just want sun tomorrow. I’m going to help the Whites settle in for the night.”
“Thank you.” I go to the door, which we were barely able to open, and look out through the gaps in the metal rollup door. I can’t see much. The surrounding buildings are in decent shape, and there’s more left than in a lot of other places.
There are advantages and disadvantages to this setup, but I decided that hiding among a veritable sea of choices is more useful than the lost visibility. Hopefully, anyone who’s managed to track us this far will have to waste time searching building by building, giving us time to get away if things go badly.
Hopefully.
Suddenly, I hear a scuffling behind me and I turn to see Brandon and Lance pushing on each other. “Hey, dickhead, what the hell?”
Brandon isn’t ready to talk, it seems, and shoulder checks Lance out of the way before heading out of the garage, his face dark and stormy. Lance is about to follow him when I put a hand on his arm, pulling him back.
“Let it go,” I whisper, turning Lance’s face toward me and looking into his eyes. “Don’t let him get to you.”
Lance sighs and glances toward the doorway Brandon just disappeared into. “Asshole was just starting to act like a normal person and not a gigantic dickhead. Don’t even know what set him off. I just said I’d grab first watch and that he could crash for a little while.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” I reassure Lance, stroking his cheek. “You get to be the hero a little bit longer, and then I’ll have Tym relieve you
. You can sleep all you want in the truck tomorrow.”
Lance chuckles, pulling me tighter. Playfully, I take my two hands and ‘bind’ his wrists together, sandwiching them between our bodies as I stand on my tiptoes to kiss him. Nibbling on his lip, I feel his fingers twist until he’s found a way to get two fingers between my legs, rubbing me through my pants.
“Good boy,” I rasp, widening my stance a little. But before Lance can really deal with the pleasant chafe building between my legs, I hear raised voices in the other room.
“Goddammit,” I groan, stepping back. “Rain check, babe, okay?”
“You got it, sweet cheeks,” Lance says just as a thump comes from the other room. “Might wanna check on that before Tym throws Blender Boy out the building.”
I hurry into the other room, where Brandon has his fist cocked, ready to swing on Tym, who on his end looks ready to pound him through the wall. Tym’s also got his other hand around Brandon’s throat, ready to jack him into the air if necessary. “What the hell’s going on here?”
“Someone wants to boss the rest of us around,” Brandon growls, and disturbingly, I see a flicker of dark energy start to form around his hand. “I’m not going to—”
“I was merely suggesting that you’d prefer the other side of the room,” Tym says, his hand not loosening at all. “And relax that hand, Brandon. You might be able to hurt me, but I guarantee you I’ll crush your throat before you can finish me off.”
“Both of you stop,” I order. “Tym, put him down. Brandon, chill the fuck out and come with me.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the Whites looking at us suspiciously from a doorway, and I can’t help but wonder how they feel about the foursome of psychopaths they’ve entrusted their daughter’s life to.
It pisses me off all the more as I storm out of the building and around back, waiting for Brandon to come through the rusty metal door before I turn to face him. “What the hell is going on?”
“They’re being dicks,” Brandon complains. “Lance is so busy puffing his chest out and playing the hero, he can’t see that he’s hardly the one to pull guard, while Tym’s such a sanctimonious prick that I—”
“Shut it,” I order, holding up a hand. “First, Lance is allowed to preen a little. He fucking earned it today, Brandon. If you’d been the one to take down three werewolves, I would have happily let you strut all you wanted. As for Tym, he knows he isn’t bothered by noise and light when he rests. Since I was going to ask him to cover the late watch tonight, he probably wanted to let you get as much sleep as possible.”
“I . . . I . . . bullshit,” Brandon mutters, looking down. “They just want to run shit.”
“And? We all want to run shit,” I remind him. “I wouldn’t be with you guys if you all weren’t pretty damn impressive in your own right. And I don’t go for beta males. But your posturing is going over the line, Brandon. There’s a difference between being confident and being a ‘dickhead’, as Lance called you. Guess which side of the line you’re on?”
“Goddammit, Cerena, I just want to know what’s going on!” Brandon fumes. “I sit on my ass all morning, doing nothing but sharpening my spear and fetching water, only to have Anton come running up like his ass is on fire and his hair’s catching because Lance went to talk to them. Next thing I know, we’re helping this family pack and we’re on the run again when we had a perfectly good shelter ready to go and a village we could have stocked up from.”
“And?”
“And I want to know the plan!”
I stare at Brandon, whose eyes are literally glowing in the twilight darkness, and wonder where this is coming from. Is it his fear? The dark side of his nature? His internal conflict?
I don’t know, but I can’t have him losing it right now. “Brandon, this isn’t the time for your worries. I’ll be honest. Other than getting to the mountains, I don’t have much of a plan right now. I’ll tell you the plan as we develop it. And yes, I said we, not I. I didn’t want to stay at the farm because it was too out in the open, too easy to surround. I’m hoping we can avoid conflict, draw out the enemy until they destroy each other, or . . . or something!”
“And that’s why you’re always leaning on those two,” Brandon hisses. “Tym the idea guy, Lance for the good laughs. Just leaves me. What’s my role?”
“You have a role,” I growl. “But right now, all you’re doing is being a pain in the ass. Get this straight, Brandon. I need you. I need Lance. I need Tym. Not just for this mission. But if you’re trying to make me choose, to make me rank you guys, it’s not going to happen. You want to force it, you’re going to find that I’ll choose by shoving my sword up your ass and turning it sideways a few times. Powers or no powers.”
Brandon takes a deep breath and turns around. “I’m going to go for a walk. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out for anything.”
He storms away, and for once, I’m not ready to chase him down. Instead, I go back inside, where Lance is sitting on the tailgate of the truck, looking out the window like everything’s cool and Brandon didn’t just have a meltdown.
When I close the door, he looks over, lifting an eyebrow. “Sounded like fun.”
“Yeah, well . . . I might need to work off some frustration after that.”
Lance’s eyes gleam, and I shake my head, smiling a little but not in the mood. “Not that way, baby. We’ve got a twelve-year-old nearby, remember?”
“I suppose we shouldn’t be her education,” Lance agrees with a smiling sigh. “So, what are you going to do?”
Instead of answering, I strip off my traveling leather top to just my undershirt and start the calisthenics that I learned long ago. Lance watches me as I work up a sweat before turning around, looking out the window.
I’m not sure if it’s because he’s getting turned on or if he understands my need to let off steam in a physical way that doesn’t involve sex. But he’s giving me my privacy, and I appreciate it.
As my muscles work, I think about what Brandon said. What is our next step? Run to the mountains, then what?
Spend the rest of our lives living like forest people?
Try and integrate with any local populations we find?
Maybe see if the winter stalkers aren’t as bad as the stories say they can be?
None of them are exactly great choices, but it’s not like Edward is going to give up. And I know already that the werewolves aren’t either. If Lucian is still alive like the werewolf Lance killed said, he’s going to be coming for my blood not only because of Bane but because of what I’ve done to him.
And if we somehow manage to defeat them . . . what next?
The Scorched Earth is filled with a lot of dangers. Vampires are the children of Bane as well, apparently. What if some vampire Elder is just as fervent a disciple of the dark god as Lucian?
What if there’s something else out there that’s under Bane’s control that I don’t know about?
Lots of questions, and as the sweat starts to build up and my muscles start to burn, I get no closer to finding a solution than I was five hours ago.
Finally, I can’t do another jumping squat, another handstand pushup, or another V-up. My muscles are fried, my body’s exhausted, and still, answers are nowhere to be found.
“Lance . . . when Brandon comes back, don’t give him a hard time,” I rasp, grabbing my top and heading for the doorway to the other part of the building. “And I’ll see you in the morning.”
“You want a hug when I come to sleep?” Lance asks. There’s no sexuality in his question, no come-on. He’s not asking because he wants to fuck me . . . well, any more than normal.
Lance is asking simply because he knows I might want some comfort. I look back over my shoulder and smile. “You’re a good guy, Lance. Maybe in the morning. Have a good night.”
“You too . . . Huntress.”
I stop, smiling a little at the now false title. Still, the way he says it, it’s with all the respect and dignity the wo
rd deserves, and I wonder about the first woman I ever heard called Huntress almost exclusively.
If there are gods, is there an afterlife? And if so, is Lily there now?
I hope I can live up to the example she taught me.
Chapter 24
Brandon
It’s past midnight by the time I get back, and when I do I find Tym and Lance sitting up together on the tailgate of the truck, talking quietly while keeping an eye out.
“See anything?” Tym asks quietly when I come in the back door.
“Nothing,” I admit. “It should be a quiet night. What are you both doing up?”
“Didn’t want to sleep yet. I can catch a nap tomorrow in the back of the truck,” Lance says simply. I can sense their wariness and maybe just a little bit of hostility.
Guess I deserve it.
While I was out, I thought about Cerena’s words. Yeah, I’ve got questions. Yeah, I’m still not a hundred percent on board with what she’s planning.
But there’s a way to talk about it without being a dick to Tym and Lance.
And I know what the deal is with them, as well.
“Mind if I sit down?” I ask Lance, hoisting myself up into the back of the truck when he makes room for me. “Thanks.”
“So, what did you find?” Tym asks as Lance chews on a chunk of the cheese we brought with us. Makes sense. That’s the stuff that’ll go over earliest. It’s not hard, wax-preserved cheese but just normal ‘farm’ cheese.
Besides, I can’t even remember cheese. That’s how rarely I’ve had it. I’m sure Lance and Tym are in similar situations.
“The town’s pretty well-preserved,” I reply, resting my hands on my splayed knees. “There are many buildings still standing, but I guess we all knew that when we pulled in. The buildings I looked in were picked clean, though, nothing of interest. Only stuff left inside was dust, rust, and rubble. Felt bad about one building, though.”
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