The day stretched out, long and tense. She and Noah barely spoke and her heart broke for what she knew she was losing. Lucy started to come out of her fog around noon, but Noah spent most of the day standing or sitting by the front window, staring out at the street. No one should be able to track them. The old truck didn’t have GPS and neither of them had phones. He’d told her he dumped his at Lucy’s house when he found them in the driveway. Still he watched.
Chapter 17
Noah took a deep breath, forcing himself to ignore the pain in his chest. She might still be leaving town in a few hours, but he had a decision to make. A decision he’d been struggling with for the entire day. Either he marked her now, before the sun set and the full moon rose and his family was able to track him by scent, or she would be hunted by more than just mercenaries.
His family wasn’t evil, but they wouldn’t leave her alone. Not if they believed she represented a threat to the family—to the pack. Her knowledge of their secret was enough. Not only would she have to worry about mercenaries, she would have supernatural hunters looking for her every day for the rest of her life. She would never be able to stop running...if she could manage to stay ahead of the wolves at all.
But, if he bonded with her, everything his mother had said was true. He would lose the chance to bond with someone else and he and Emma would forever be linked. Could he live with that? If she had to leave because of the men who killed her parents, would he be able to let her go?
With the bond, she would be protected from his family and from most injuries. She would be his, but not completely. His heart would ache for her and a hole would form in his soul that no other woman could ever fill. His mother’s words weren’t idle warnings. Magick wasn’t something to be toyed with. There was always a price.
Light footfalls behind him brought him back to reality. Emma’s light citrusy shampoo scent filled his lungs. He wanted nothing more than to bury his face in her blond silky tresses again.
“We are almost ready to go. Thank you for your help. I know going against your family was hard. We will be gone soon. Lucy is taking a quick shower before we go...Will they forgive you?”
“I have to leave you in a few minutes,” Noah said, the words sticking in his throat like a stale hunk of bread.
“Because it’s nearly sunset?” Emma asked, stopping a few feet short of his chair. “Are you okay?”
“They will forgive me, but they won’t forget you. They will hunt you to the farthest corners of the world. I need to bond with you in a way that will protect you from my family permanently.”
“What are you talking about? I can’t stay with you, Noah. I already said I had to leave.” He saw tears welling in her widening eyes.
“If they catch those men, you could come back, though.”
“Maybe. But I heard your mother. She said your bond was a one-time thing. I can’t even stay with you. It’s not right,” she said, stepping closer, cupping his cheek in one of her hands.
He settled his hand over hers and then pulled it to his mouth, tasting her sweet skin with his lips. “Like I told my mother, it is my choice. And I would give it to you. If I don’t, I’m sentencing you to a life of being hunted by my family. I won’t let them steal the only thing you have left. I can’t imagine losing my parents, but losing my self would be worse.”
“How can they take my memories? How is it even possible?”
“Magick can do things you can’t imagine.”
“Like turn a man into a wolf?”
He nodded. “Like turn a man into a wolf.”
“It’s not fair to you, Noah. She said it was for the woman you will marry.”
The light from outside was waning and the sun had almost reached the horizon. “Please, Emma. Let me do this. Maybe one day you can be that woman.”
A single tear rolled down her cheek and he stood, pulling her tight to his chest. She fit so perfectly, her curves complementing the hard edges of his body.
“You have to tell me it’s what you want,” he said, his voice choked with emotion. “Please.”
She nodded against his chest and then pulled away from his embrace. “Yes,” she murmured.
He sighed, relief flowing through him like someone had opened a dam high in the mountains and now the water was rushing forward like a raging animal freed from its cage. But it was too late.
“Emma, I—” The first spark of the change came on before he could finish his sentence.
Emma’s chest tightened. Noah growled and then pushed her away. Something shimmered in the air around his body and he shifted right before her eyes, struggling and squirming on the floor until the human clothing fell off of his animal body.
Holy shit. That just happened.
Again.
Dark brown and gray fur covered him from his black nose to his bushy tail. His eyes glowed gold for a moment before turning whiskey brown. He cocked his head and a long whine rumbled from his throat.
“Now what?”
He gave her a low wuff as she gathered up his clothes and stuffed them under a seat cushion so Lucy wouldn’t see. She expected the bedroom door to open any minute.
And it did.
“Emma, are you ready?” Lucy asked, making her way out into the living room faster than anyone should’ve been able to move on crutches. “Fuck! What is a wolf doing in the living room?”
“It’s Noah’s dog. He left him to watch over me. He had to go deal with a family emergency.”
The wolf—Noah—cocked his head to the side again and sat on his haunches, moving his gaze back and forth from Emma to Lucy.
“Hmmm, I forgot the VonBrandt’s kept hybrids as pets. Still, up close, he really looks more like a wolf than a dog. Did Noah take the truck? We need that to get to my farm.”
“What about the guys camped out there waiting for us to come back?” Emma perched her hand on one hip and tried to keep her focus on Lucy, but her gaze continued to shift to Noah.
“We need to stop at one of my stashes for supplies on the other side of town. I’m going to take care of those assholes, no worries. We’ll tie them up and drop them on the sheriff’s doorstep on our way out of town.”
“I lost my purse. I don’t have an ID or anything.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, I have aliases for both of us. You can’t get out of the country using your real name anyway. They will be watching for it on flight manifests.” Lucy swung herself closer to the front door. “The wolf will have to stay at the farm. Hopefully he can find his way home from there.”
Emma’s lips twitched. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
Her aunt snorted. “He’d better. We don’t have time to babysit a dog. Didn’t you tell him we had to leave?”
“He knew. He only wanted me to be safe.”
Lucy pulled open the door. “Go wait by the truck. I’m going to set the Thompsons’ alarm.”
Emma patted her leg without thinking, urging the big wolf-dog to follow her out the door. She wasn’t at all surprised when he rubbed up against her leg as they exited the house. He stayed glued to her side every step of the way from the door to the truck, his big paws padding silently on the green lawn.
“I’m sorry we ran out of time, Noah,” she whispered, running her hand along the soft fur of his head and down his neck.
A mournful whine came from his throat and he pressed himself even closer to her legs.
“I’ll be fine. Lucy will make sure we disappear for good. I promise. Not even your family will be able to hunt me down. Wolf-y noses or not.”
A clumping noise crunched on the gravel behind her.
“Are you talking to the wolf?” Lucy said, approaching the truck. She swung her way to the passenger door and maneuvered her crutches easily, tucking them in the bed of the truck before sliding onto the bench seat of the old Ford.
“Maybe.”
Lucy snorted. “Well, tell him to get into the truck bed, if he’s coming.”
The wolf leaped gracefully int
o the back of the truck as if Lucy had spoken directly to him. “Looks like he’s ready,” Emma said, getting into the driver’s seat and starting the engine.
Emma drove slowly through town, partly because she didn’t know where they were going and partly because she didn’t want to accidentally send Noah flying out of the back of the truck.
Lucy directed her through the dark neighborhood and across town. They pulled to a stop in front of a small white house with a two-car detached garage, nestled at the bottom of hill between a large private driveway that led up toward a mansion and the narrow gravel road they’d been following.
A row of small wood-framed houses lined the street, aged and rustically picturesque in the moonlight, as if they’d been plucked out of an old- timey oil painting.
“What is this place? Why is there a huge house up there and small houses along the road?”
“The Stinsons built the place at the top of the hill a few years ago. They bought out a huge chunk of this neighborhood and cleared out a lot of the old houses. My little house and the others along the road are pretty much all that’s left of the original neighborhood.”
Lucy pointed to the detached garage building. “5- 5-4-7 will open the garage door. Then we can park this truck out of sight while I get what I need from the house.”
After the truck was parked and the garage door closed, Emma joined Lucy in the house with the big wolf who still refused to leave her side for even a moment. He kept sniffing the air and twitching nervously, like he was waiting for someone...or something to show up. Unfortunately the house was surrounded by woods, so sneaking up on them wasn’t going to be hard.
She closed the front door behind her and blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust to the low lamplight. Lucy was nowhere in sight, but she heard clunking coming from the back of the house.
“Lucy?”
“Back here, sweetie. Come help me load this duffle bag.”
Emma walked down the narrow hallway and took a left into the last bedroom.
“Can you get those smoke grenades from the basket in the corner,” Lucy asked, pointing to the back of the closet.
Emma nodded and knelt down, reaching forward and pulling the basket closer. “How many do you want?”
“Four, just to be safe. I want those guys knocked out quick. I wish we didn’t have to go back to the farmhouse, but all our papers are there.” Lucy tucked a large rifle into the duffle on the bed.
It was quite the stark contrast. Pink floral comforter covered by a variety of assault weapons and body armor.
“Put on one of the vests, just in case,” Lucy said, pulling one over her head and then handing the other to Emma.
Emma tugged it on over her t-shirt and fastened the velcro straps so that it fit snugly to her body. She took one of the holstered handguns and pinned it to her waistband.
Flashing lights from outside and a growl from the front room made them both freeze in place.
“Does anyone know you own this house?”
Lucy shook her head. “It’s owned by one of my aliases. Someone had to have reported seeing us drive by. It’s a damned small town and you guys had to take a bright orange pick-up truck.”
“Glad you had the garage,” Emma whispered, the hairs on the back of her neck tingling as she closed her eyes and willed the cop car to keep moving. The last thing they needed was the police involved because of the stolen truck.
Emma moved toward the door of the bedroom. They should turn off the light in the front living room.
“Don’t move Emma. It could cast shadows. Hopefully that oversized dog won’t bark. I can feel him growling from here.”
Emma’s eyes widened as she realized she could indeed feel the vibrations from his growling right through the floorboards. He stopped shortly after Lucy made the comment though and Emma smiled. Even though Noah was in wolf form, he seemed to be able to understand speech the same as a human. Definite bonus for wolf-boy.
Chapter 18
Hours later, Lucy and Emma had moved to the couch in the front room. No one had reported them. Up the street about a quarter mile at the top of the hill, police cars, a fire engine, and an ambulance had arrived and parked in front of the mansion.
“It’s the Stinson place. The old codger must’ve finally died.”
“That’s harsh.”
“He was an ass,” Lucy shot back.
“Who are they?” Emma asked.
“Rich people who own half the railroads in the country. Well, his three grandsons do now, if he croaked.”
Lucy continued to peer through a crack in the curtains, cursing under her breath about people having emergencies at the worst possible times. Noah sat quietly on his haunches next to the chair Emma had curled up in. Lucy had turned off the table lamp, finally, hoping the slight movement and light going out wouldn’t be noticed by any of the preoccupied emergency response teams. Now, only the light of the moon softly illuminated the room through the white curtains.
A hand touched her arm, rousing her from the drowsiness that had claimed her consciousness for a short time. Emma’s eyes flew open and she straightened in the chair.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Did they leave?”
“Yep, the last cop car left about ten minutes ago.”
Emma unfolded her legs one at a time and stretched. The bulky vest had cut into her waist and she twisted uncomfortably, trying to stimulate blood flow to the area again.
Noah hopped to his feet, his toenails clicking softly on the hardwood floors as he paced.
“Need to go pee, wolfy?” Emma asked, a smile curving up the corners of her lips.
A deep snort erupted from the big animal and he shook his head, flapping his ears.
“Grab the duffle. Let’s get out of here before someone else decides to have a heart attack tonight,” Lucy said, situating herself on the crutches.
Emma slung the duffle over her shoulder and led them through the front door. Noah sprang down the steps of the porch first and trotted to the closed garage door.
A second later, a round of howls split the silent night air, prickling the hairs on the back of her neck. It sounded like a dozen wolves at least. Noah paced and whined, his dark eyes reflecting the moon as he looked back and forth from Emma to the garage.
They needed to go now. Animal or not, his warning was clear.
She hurried to the electronic panel and typed in the code. The door rolled up with only the slightest metallic squeak. Lucy tossed her crutches in the back with Noah and climbed into the driver’s seat.
Emma’s nerves relaxed a little more as she became a passenger for the first time since this whole debacle started. The life she’d been born into came with perks, but the cons, in her opinion, far outweighed them.
A few minutes later they were on the road again, making their way as nonchalantly as possible across town and south to Lucy’s farmhouse. It was the middle of the night and most of Somewhere was fast asleep.
“It’s good it’s spring break. The sheriff isn’t out patrolling as much for delinquent college drunks.”
“Are you out a lot at three in the morning?” Emma asked, studying the road ahead of them. They’d left the suburban area behind and were coming up on the turn-off for route 16. At least that’s what the sign back a mile or so had said.
“Sometimes,” Lucy said, a hint of mischief in her tone.
Emma turned to face her and frowned. “What are you doing?”
“Watching mostly. I don’t like people getting to know me, but I like knowing as much as possible about everyone else.
“Stalker,” Emma said under her breath.
“Yep,” Lucy shot back. “I tend to do most of my shopping as close to opening or closing time as I can. Still, apparently being a single middle-aged woman in a small town automatically puts you on the radar for pastors’ wives. I swear, my accident wouldn’t have happened if that old bitty would mind her business and stay away from me.
Imagining the sound of her whine
y nasal voice makes my skin crawl and my stomach twist.”
“Geez, Lucy. Tell me how you really feel about her.” Emma had to press her lips together hard to keep from grinning.
“Oh, hush. I can hear the laughter in your head, so just stop.”
“I didn’t think you ever let anyone get to you.”
“There’s always a few, Emma. You can’t block out all the idiots.” Lucy turned the rickety truck left onto route 16 and glanced over. “Tell me about that boy you were with. Why did he leave one of those giant hybrid dogs of theirs with you? They try to call them dogs, but I swear they run through the woods like wild animals at night.”
“The nurse at the hospital said no one has ever reported them destroying property or livestock.”
“Just because they aren’t causing problems doesn’t mean they’re safe,” Lucy added quickly. “And you didn’t answer the question. Where did he go and why do we have his dog?”
“He said it was a family emergency and that Wolfy,” Emma said, thumbing over her shoulder toward the wolf in the truck bed, “would help keep us safe.”
“Wolfy? They named that monstrosity, Wolfy?”
Emma swallowed a snort. “Yes,” she lied, the pitch of her voice higher than she would’ve preferred.
“Where did you meet Noah?”
Emma swallowed slowly and stared out into the trees before answering. “I stole his truck.”
“And what? He helped you? Emma!”
“A deer or something hit my rental and it crashed near the VonBrandt gate. Well, one of them anyway. I hoofed it through one of their fields, looking for help and I kinda stumbled on an empty truck.” The lie tasted like sand in her mouth, but she refused to bring Lucy in on the crazy that surrounded the VonBrandt family. It wasn’t her place, anyway, and Noah trusted her not to say anything.
“So how did you meet him?” The question came again, prickling Emma’s skin.
“He showed up at your house. His phone had been in the truck and he tracked it.” No lies there. Noah really had tracked her using the phone tucked away in his clothing. “When Hollis and Grimes showed up, he helped me get out of there before they saw me.”
To Love A Mate: Somewhere, TX (VonBrandt Pack Book 2) Page 10
