“You want the pickles back?” When she only gave him a bored look, he pointed at the food in front of her. “Eat.”
Compelled by a force that was already rubbing her nerve endings raw, she picked up her burger and took a bite. She glared at him, chewing because he demanded it and hating him for taking even that enjoyment from her.
When she regained control of her magic, she just might force-feed him something disgusting before she killed him.
Needing something to focus on when she couldn’t so much as throw her burger at him, she said, “So when did they approach you? The night of Mac’s party? Or was it before that? Although I’m not sure why you disappeared for months. Or did you realize you couldn’t bring me in without help from the big boys?”
Vaughn smiled, the gesture detached, unfriendly.
She finished the rest of her food without talking. It was bad enough sitting opposite him, wondering why the hell he kept staring at her. Was he proud of himself for managing to get the upper hand, even if it was only for the time being?
“Are you going to finish those?”
He pushed his untouched fries toward her and she finished them off along with the rest of her burger before he was even halfway done his.
“Something affecting your appetite, Barkley?”
He crumpled his remaining food up in one of the bright yellow wrappers.
“Would your Majesty mind if I used the bathroom?”
He stared at her, then finally nodded, ditching the food tray on the way to the bathroom. He knocked on the door and then checked the windowless restroom, before holding the door open. She took a few steps forward, and he dropped his arm, blocking her path.
She tipped her head back, forcing herself to meet the eyes of a stranger who’d gotten too close to her. “Yes?”
A beat passed, then another. He parted his lips, his gaze sliding down and then away as he stepped back, letting his arm drop back to his side.
Okay then.
“Don’t leave the bathroom without me,” he ordered before closing the door.
She rested the urge to flip him off and walked straight into the closest stall, relieved the toilets didn’t have automatic flushing systems. Careful, she lifted the lid off the tank, taking a page out of her twin’s book.
Probably a waste of time, but what did she have to lose? She slipped her boots off, arranging them to be just barely visible from the doorway.
Lid in hand, she stepped back by the bathroom door, and screamed.
The door shot open, but she was faster, bringing the lid in a solid arc as Vaughn darted toward the stall containing her boots.
The impact rang up her arm, and she cursed through the pain that came a beat too late.
Vaughn collapsed on the bathroom floor, not moving.
She retrieved her boots, tested to see if she could leave the room. She couldn’t take a single step past the doorway.
Fine then.
Drained, she slid to the floor next to him, rubbing at the fiery ache in her chest and waited for him to wake up.
So worth it.
***
Cold tile. Mold. Industrial cleaner. Vanilla and blueberry fields.
Elena was close.
Vaughn cracked open an eye, saw a fuzzy version of her swim in front of him. She sat cross-legged, playing with puzzle pieces on the floor. “Elena?”
“Sucks waking up with a massive headache, doesn’t it?”
He squinted at the chunks of black and glass scattered across the tile. “You destroyed my phone.” He didn’t need to feel his pocket to know it was no longer there.
“Password protection is so annoying.” Elena brushed aside the pieces of smashed cell phone she played with. She pointed to the corner of her mouth. “You’ve got a little drool, right there.”
“You hit me.”
“No,” she corrected him. “I blindsided you. Who knew it’s all a matter of perspective with Fae magic.” A taunting grin curved her lips.
He climbed to his feet, the lingering pain ricocheting between his temples like a tennis ball gone nuclear. He stumbled into the side of the stall, gravity taking a moment too long to bring him back to the earth.
“I thought about throwing you over my shoulder and walking out the door with you, but figured I wouldn’t get very far with you in the trunk.”
“Get up,” he growled.
Elena sighed and stood, taking a step back when he moved toward her.
“I’m checking your pockets.”
She smirked. “Wouldn’t want to be taken by surprise again, huh? You ran in here faster than I expected, though. Worried I might not make it to your employer in one piece?”
He patted down her front pockets. “Alive is all that counts,” he lied.
“You should probably check my bra, too. I might have a weapon tucked down there.”
He whipped her around, pressing her chest to the wall while he checked her back pockets. Although he’d patted her down for possible weapons before dumping her in the car earlier, it didn’t hurt to be thorough.
She glanced over her shoulder at him. “You don’t actually know who’s paying you, do you?”
Without answering her, he yanked the door open and pushed her into the hall. “Say another word and I’ll enjoy watching you hop, skip and jump your way to the car.”
Another grin meant to provoke him touched her lips. “One little bump on the head shouldn’t make you so grumpy. Suck it up, Shadow. You’ve been through worse.”
And if you haven’t then you’re about to be, was the not so subtle threat.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Outside Vaughn paused, scanning the lot.
“Expecting someone or is this just scary assassin habit?” She said scary like she was referring to baby bunnies.
He nudged her toward the car, sweeping the area once more. Elena reached for the back door.
“Nope. Front seat. Where I can keep an eye on you.”
“I’m not making you nervous, am I?” She stayed rooted by the back door.
“Maybe I should be the one asking you that.”
“I’ve been kidnapped. How can I not be nervous?” That devil-may-care attitude had never come across louder.
“Then it won’t matter if you’re in the back or front. Let’s go.” He escorted her to the passenger side, waited for her to get in.
Jesus. She’d fucking blindsided him.
He’d heard her scream and moved without thinking, the wolf ready to destroy any threat to her.
And her fucking boots…
He shouldn’t have fallen for such an amateurish stunt, but the wolf hadn’t cared whether or not she’d tried getting away by jumping from a moving car. Getting to her had been all that mattered.
He couldn’t let that happen again. Not when Piper’s life was on the line.
He felt Elena watching him through the windshield, her gaze three parts curious and one part conniving. And it was that one quarter that was responsible for the crushing headache he hadn’t shaken off yet.
At least he had the keys to the car, otherwise she might have run him over already.
He reached the driver’s side of the car. “You could have carried me out of there.” He was quickly learning just how specific he needed to be with this particular Fae magic. He’d told her not to leave the restaurant without him, but maybe she could have dragged his unconscious ass out of there and dumped him in the parking lot.
“As annoying as I find your company, the police would be an even bigger pain in the ass. Especially without magic on my side.” She flicked at some imaginary lint on her pants.
The scratch on her cheek was still pink and dotted with dried blood. It would heal soon enough but the reminder of why she’d been running stuck in his gut.
He rolled the driver-side window down, Elena’s scent far too prominent. Probably because she’d permanently damaged a few of his other senses when she’d cracked him over the head and his sense of smell was compensating.
>
He’d really been hoping the Fae glyph that reined in her magic would have left her unconscious longer to avoid potential complications, like her destroying his phone.
And of course she’d done it right before he got the chance to check in with Dare to see where in the hell his back up was.
“Have you actually heard from Piper or are you just taking their word she’s alive?”
Vaughn started the car and got them back on the road. “I’m not talking about my sister.”
“Conflict of interest?”
“Personal preference.” He snapped on the radio, hunting for a classic rock station to discourage conversation.
Exchanging her for his sister was the right call—the only call—and he knew that. Even if—and it was a very big if—Elena had been willing to hear him out when he mentioned needing her help, there was no guarantee she wouldn’t back out or change her mind. And if he trusted her to help and she bolted, Piper would pay the ultimate price.
He couldn’t take that kind of risk. Not with his sister’s life on the line.
Now that Elena had destroyed his phone, Piper’s abductors would be wondering why he hadn’t checked in after confirming that he had Elena.
With the sun up in a few hours, it would be tight making it to their destination on time. He’d taken too long with her at her house. Too long to remind himself that he was protecting his sister. This was his last shot at saving her and keeping his promise to his parents. Family was everything, and he’d do whatever he had to do to keep his intact.
The sorceress was right about not knowing exactly who he was dealing with, and even though he’d tracked the Iron Brotherhood down once, he’d been sorely outnumbered and unable to identify the group’s leader.
“You really should have washed your hands after that little cat nap. Who knows what you picked up lying on that bathroom floor.”
He turned the radio up louder. A moment later he saw her fingers twitch. “Do not touch the radio, Elena.”
She held her hands up and went back to staring out the window. For a whole five minutes. “So if you didn’t make the exchange in Vegas, what did you do with the crown?”
He glanced at her.
“What? Didn’t think I’d do my homework? Or did you forgot my grandmother is queen of the Fae?”
Forget? No, but there was nothing grandmotherly about Titania from Vaughn’s experience, but he didn’t need to remind Elena of that no matter how much he wished she’d stop talking for both their sakes. She’d been through enough without mentioning her lack of family support.
He’d grown up with two parents encouraging and supporting him until their deaths. Elena’s mother had left when they were kids, choosing to sacrifice her relationship with them in order to shield them from the Fae Court and the traditionalists who would have mocked them as half-breeds. And losing his mate had driven her father so deep into magic he’d almost forgotten he had daughters.
Elena wasn’t the only one who’d done her homework.
She turned in her seat to face him, tucking one leg underneath her. “What happened to the crown?”
“So that’s why you didn’t ditch me in the parking lot.” She might not have gotten far but he’d been surprised she hadn’t tried to make a break for it, and the comment about the police didn’t quite fit. “You want the crown,” he said.
“And mess with magic that corrupted a Fae queen who’s been all but erased from the history books? Yeah, no thanks.” She tipped her head, studying him. “You didn’t know about the Iron Queen, did you?”
“None of that mattered before I stole it, and it makes no difference to me now.”
“You want to know what I think, Barkley?”
Something shot across the corner of Vaughn’s peripheral vision. He cranked the wheel on instinct to avoid the familiar wolf that darted in from of the car.
The tires hit the shoulder of the road, the loose gravel tossing them into a vicious spin. Elena gripped her door with one hand and his arm with her other.
When the car slid to a jerky stop on the opposite side of the road, she yanked her hand back.
“Shit!” she cried out.
A transport truck thundered around the corner, moving too fast to brake in time. Tires squealed, headlights blinding Vaughn.
The car jerked to the right and flipped down the embankment, knocking him against the seat with every rotation. The car’s frame creaked and twisted, blowing out the windows. Chunks of glass peppered his face.
A dark shape appeared in front of them.
Elena yelled a moment before they hit the tree on an angle, setting the airbags off. The front corner of the car caved in on impact, propelling them in a wide axis that sent them careering toward another tree.
It took a minute to realize the world had stopped spinning, his reflexes still recovering from their bathroom encounter.
“Elena?”
He fumbled for his seat belt, his chest throbbing from the airbag. The car was totaled. Shit.
“Elena?” He looked to his left just in enough time to see her wiggling out of the car window.
Ears still ringing, Vaughn flung his seat belt off. Going to stone would heal him but it wasn’t an option with a resourceful sorceress trying to make her escape.
The frame was bent, preventing him from getting the door open. He climbed out the driver’s side window, his foot sliding in the mud before he caught the side of the car for leverage.
Elena hadn’t faired any better. Mud covered one side of her body as she limped away.
“I told you not to run from me again.”
“This is called walking, Barkley.”
He caught up to her easily, if he didn’t count the way the world occasionally slid sideways in his head. “Do you always have to be such a pain in the ass?”
“I’m sorry. I missed the part where I’m supposed to make abducting me easy.”
“You folks okay?”
Vaughn spotted the driver of the transport truck standing at the top of the embankment. “Yeah.”
“No,” Elena answered at the same time.
“Do not answer his questions,” he growled, trying to figure out if he’d been seeing things when he thought it was Rutger who ran across the road.
Although the rebellion’s leader hadn’t been happy when Vaughn retrieved the crown, even less so when he’d vanished for weeks to track the bastards who took Piper, he’d since called in every favor he could and signed off on Elena’s abduction.
But none of that explained why Rutger would run them off the road or why he’d be hiding now. Unless it hadn’t been Rutger at all but another wolf with a stake in the game.
Whoever they were, they were keeping their distance, making an already complicated situation that much worse.
Wary, Vaughn kept one eye on Elena and the truck driver and another on their surroundings, anticipating an attack.
“Is the car totaled?” the truck driver continued.
“Pretty much,” he hollered back. “We’ll need a tow truck.”
“I can call one for you. Sure I shouldn’t call an ambulance?”
An ambulance would mean police and questions that would draw attention he couldn’t afford right now, especially if someone realized he was driving a stolen car. Rutger had arranged for Dare to meet him with wheels, but when his friend hadn’t shown up at Elena’s, he’d been forced to improvise to avoid any of Elena’s friends stopping by.
“We could use a drive to the next town if you don’t mind? We’ll exchange insurance information and call about a tow from there.” If the driver saw they were fine he’d be more likely to forget about calling the accident in himself.
Vaughn thought about just walking back but didn’t want to risk getting stuck in the woods when the sun came up with Elena in tow. And definitely not with unknown player hanging around.
“Get your bag out of the trunk and head up to the truck.”
Elena sighed and followed him to the car. She unzi
pped the bag he handed her, noting the contents. She withdrew a lacy pair of her underwear and dangling them from the tip of her finger. “So was it your idea to pack these or your employer’s?”
The last thing he needed to see right now was her panties. It was already impossible to be around her without thinking of the night they’d spent together.
The night everything had changed.
“Put them away.” He grabbed his own bag and left the trunk open.
Elena reached the top of the embankment, taking the truck driver’s offered hand. She beamed a thousand-watt smile that even Vaughn couldn’t look away from.
“You’re a lifesaver,” she said to the truck driver.
The driver, a lanky guy in a blue Hawaiian shirt, a fresh coffee stain on the front, pretended not to stare at the curls of blue ivy that looked tattooed onto her face. “It’s the least I could do. You guys scared the crap out of me. Can’t believe I missed you.”
Missed them? The truck had knocked them off the road. Hadn’t it?
Vaughn and Elena exchanged confused glances, and then he checked the front of the truck. There wasn’t any sign of a collision.
The driver opened the passenger door and gestured to Elena. “After you.”
She touched his arm as she climbed into the vehicle. “Nice to see chivalry hasn’t died out altogether.” She gave Vaughn a pointed look.
He arched a brow at the dig probably meant to offend him and followed her up into the cab
He took advantage of their few precious seconds alone before the trucker made his way around to the driver side. “No hitting, punching or blindsiding me and no convincing this guy I’m a kidnapper or a serial killer.”
“But assassin is still on the table?”
“Better yet, you should have a nap. Go to sleep, Elena.”
“I’m not...” She yawned through eyes that were little more than narrowed slits. “I’m not sleepy.” She slid deeper into the seat. “I hate you.”
Good. It was easier when she hated him. That way he didn’t spend every moment remembering how he’d left her in Vegas without telling her it had been the best night of his life. Or what trading her for his sister would ultimately cost him.
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