FJ assures him he won’t over his shoulder as the three of us leave out. But all amusement disappears from his face as soon as we start heading down the hill, and it once again becomes a cold mask.
“FJ,” I whisper, running to keep up with him. “I know you’re mad at me. But we really need to talk about this. So if you’ve turned off our mental connection, please turn it back on. It’s not too late to run, but we only have a very short window—”
Like a weary executive dealing with a pesky subordinate, FJ looks over my head to Olafr, whose deep voice suddenly appears inside my mind. “Cease, Varra. Your fenrir has his decision made.”#p#分页标题#e#
“But—”
Olafr abruptly turns and takes me by the arms so I’m forced to hang back while FJ continues down the hill. “You will not speak to him of this again.”
But I can’t back down because this is a matter of a life and death. Even if they don’t know it, I do. “Olafr, please use your mind link to talk to him for me…” I beg. “You’ve got to convince him to come now and hide someplace where they won’t find us.”
Olafr’s face resets, hard as a statue’s. “Come,” he says, taking me by the arm. And we continue down the hill like I haven’t said anything.
“I have yet to travel inside the belly of a horseless carriage,” FJ is saying to my brother when Olafr and I reach the car. “But stories of these did my mother tell to me. And for this ride have I much excitement.”
My brother opens the back passenger door for us, throwing me a look like, Where the hell did you find these dudes, Tee?
And my father eyes FJ up and down before grunting, “You lucky we drove in the Cadillac. Or else you would have been on the back of Tiara’s bike.”
FJ’s eyes go cool again. Apparently he doesn’t have to be from the current century to understand my father’s insult. In our pack, a wolf riding on the back of his she-wolf’s bike is considered just about the least masculine thing a Dark Wolf could ever do.
“Come, Female,” Olafr says into the tense silence that follows that jibe. “FJ tells me we will sit in the back.”
Then the opportunity to run is gone. I have no choice but to get in the car. And hope to God I can come up with a plan before my father brutally murders my fated mates.
* * *
Okay, six hours later I have to admit to myself I’ve got nothing. I mean just no earthly idea how to keep my father from murdering my mates.
I thought and thought on it as we drove down to Detroit. I even took a few more runs at getting into FJ’s mind when we stopped for food, gas, and a restroom break.
But I still didn’t get anything from him. Just a bunch of silence as I watched him and Olafr eat hamburgers for the first time. Olafr in the back with me, FJ in the middle row with my brother. However, they continued to exchange several looks as they eat. And I’m pretty sure they were talking about more than the French fries.
We pull into Hidden Hills shortly after sunset, but I still haven’t come up with any kind of plan that doesn’t involve either their full cooperation…or me dragging two large, unconscious, heavily muscled werewolves to safety after somehow incapacitating Yancey, Clyde, and Dad.
Speaking of which…
I nervously eye Dad in the front passenger seat. Head bent, still texting.
This is so not going to end well, I think when our large kingdom house comes into sight in the distance. A gated mansion within a gated community, I can see rows and rows of chromed-up motorcycles sitting outside the wrought-iron gates. An entire army’s worth of heavy-duty bikes.
With my heart in my throat, I try again, pushing the same message into both of their minds. “Please listen to me. We’ve got to get out of here. We’ve got to…”
No answer. Not even from Olafr, who’s sitting right beside me.
And sooner than I want, the wrought iron gates open and we’re driving through.
Strange, I used to think of the kingdom house as my refuge. Used to hate leaving it. And the few times I did, a surge of relief would come over me as soon as I drove back through its gates. Even going on dates with Kyle had been tough. It only took an hour or two before I’d be completely desperate to return to the rooms where I spent most of my time.#p#分页标题#e#
But now the house’s French chateau exterior fills my whole body with dread. The entire mansion is lit up like a Christmas tree, and even though I can’t see anyone through the diamond paned windows, I can smell and even faintly hear all the werewolves inside.
The Cadillac stops and the doors pop open. Then I’m down to the only halfway valid plan I’ve been able to come up with so far: throw myself in front of them and hope to God that will keep the firing squad waiting for us from shooting them on sight. Then maybe if FJ and Olafr can see my father’s way of “keeping his promises” in action, they’ll finally believe me and run like I told them to.