The truck tires squealed as Torem busted a left and then a quick right, trying his best to shake the tail on him and outrun the wolf shifters that were chasing them. Normally he would have stayed and fought, but with Cheyenne and Sidney with him, he didn’t want to take any chances.
Torem had no clue where he was going, but the need to get the two in the backseat to safety made his foot press heavier on the gas. “Get those damn seat belts on,” Torem yelled into the backseat.
The two scrambled to buckle themselves in while trying to stay low.
Bryck reached down and grabbed the bottles of Coke he had emptied on his trip here, lowered his window, and leaned out, chucking the glass at the truck’s windshield behind them.
“What the hell are you doing?” Torem shouted.
“What the hell does it look like I’m doing?” Bryck shouted back. “I’m trying to make those fuckers wreck so they can get off our ass.”
“Hang on,” Torem yelled and cut another right. He spotted the highway ahead and knew that if he could just get there, he could outrun them.
Bryck fell into his seat and ducked down. “They got a fucking gun, the dumbasses.”
Torem didn’t have time to think as the back window shattered and rained tiny pieces of blocked glass all over them. The two in the backseat screamed.
“I thought you said they were shifters,” he yelled at the screaming pair.
“How was I supposed to know that they would have guns?” Cheyenne shouted back.
Torem’s truck ate up the road, a cloud of dust behind him as he cut the wheel, taking a chance on the maneuver he was about to attempt. The truck did a one-eighty spin and shot past the vehicle chasing them. A bullet shot into the driver’s door as Torem drove past them, but he kept going, praying that his brother, his mate, and even the soldier sitting next to him would get out of this unscathed.
“Fuck you.” Bryck shot his middle finger up at them as they passed.
“Where in the hell is the highway in this direction?” Torem had no choice but to ditch the plan he had. The other vehicle had gained too much speed and was tailgating them. Now he had to quickly think of another plan, and at the moment, that trick back there was the only one that ran through his mind.
“I. Don’t. Know. Your friend up there told me to stay down, so how can I see where we are?” Cheyenne yelled.
Torem grunted in frustration, yanking the wheel to the left as he shot down another street. He spotted an alley and jerked the wheel to race down it. He pulled the truck into a parking lot behind a closed diner and cut the motor, shut the lights off, and told everyone to shut up and stay down. The move was cliché, but he prayed that it worked and whoever it was that was out to kill his brother wouldn’t spot them.
The black truck roared past the alley.
Torem waited…and waited. Finally hearing nothing, he pulled the truck out and headed back in the direction of the highway.
* * * *
Two hours into the ride, Torem pulled over. He looked back at Sidney and Cheyenne. “Okay, I want an explanation.”
Cheyenne scooted closer to Sidney, his eyes darting between Torem and Bryck. “How do I know you are really my brother, Torem?” Cheyenne narrowed his eyes.
“And how do I know you are really my brother, Cheyenne? Torem shot back. “Some part of you must know because you came with me pretty easily,” he added.
“Well, duh, it was a choice between you two and the lug heads back there.”
“Oh, so I was just a convenient out?” The idea that Cheyenne only wanted him in his life to get him out of trouble hurt Torem to his core. When Zeus gave him that letter and Torem realized he had family out there, some part of him delighted in the knowledge, but he remained wary.
With Cheyenne’s confession, he wanted to break something.
“No, that’s not it at all.” His brother defended himself. “I have been looking for you for a very long time. It’s just a coincidence that I found you at the same time that my Beta decided he wanted me dead.”
Torem wasn’t sure if he believed Cheyenne, but without family for so long, he was willing to. “How did you find out the Beta wanted you dead?” Torem asked.
Cheyenne pointed to Sidney. “He told me, and I guess it’s true after what just happened.”
Torem glanced over at his mate who sat in the backseat quietly. “And how did you find out, Sidney?” Torem asked his mate gently.
His mate glanced at all three of them before chewing on his lower lip. Finally Sidney released his lower lips and answered. “Because the Beta is my sister-in-law’s brother.”
“He’s family to you?” Oh, this was getting better and better. Torem wasn’t sure if he wanted to know any more.