Following the signs for I-70, Zoey drove west along South Frontage Road. She was decked out in her freshly stolen winter attire — a cozy coat, woolen leggings, and comfortable, plush snow boots. She might have taken a few extras for just-in-cases, but she’d made sure the cabin was tidied and the bedding washed before they departed.

If it weren’t for Rendash, she would’ve left a combination thank you and apology note on the island. He nixed the idea, pointing out that even though they’d left evidence of their presence, the security system wouldn’t offer any indication that they’d ever been there. He’d argued there was no reason to give any sign of their presence freely now that she was being searched for.

She’d fought a little, but she knew he was right, and ultimately gave in.

It’s the thought that counts, right?

It was midafternoon by the time they’d left. Laundry hadn’t been their only delay, or even their primary one. Neither of them could get enough of the other. She’d secretly hoped to stay another day, but they were already pushing their luck. What if the owners arrived earlier than expected?

What if they woke to the sound of low-flying helicopters in the middle of the night?

Zoey hated leaving. She hadn’t lied to Ren when she said she wished they could stay forever. The cabin had been a dream, made more wonderful because she’d shared it with him.

Her chest constricted.

No. I won’t think of him leaving right now. We still have time together.

She glanced at him. Even though the truck was bigger than her car, he still looked awkwardly large inside, with his knees up against the dash. He wore his oversized coat with the torn clothing beneath. A pair of dark sunglasses aided his raised hood in obscuring his makeup-caked face from would-be onlookers. The disguise seemed flimsy to her now, having seen his natural face for such a long stretch, especially with the bright sunshine reflecting off the snow and wet roads to light everything from all angles.

She hoped the glare on the windshield would be enough to prevent anyone from noticing him, because more than a passing glance would reveal his inhumanity to anyone with half a brain.

“My ship is that way,” he said, pointing over his right shoulder.

“Yeah, I know. You told me.”

“Why aren’t we going in that direction?”

“Because, like I’ve explained to you, that’s not how these roads work. Sometimes you have to go the wrong direction to go in the right one.”

Thanks to his impatience, she’d decided it best not to tell him that the interstate had been directly to their left, running parallel to them, ever since they pulled onto South Frontage; she was afraid he might’ve simply jerked the wheel aside and forced them over the grassy median and onto the freeway.

He frowned deeply. “Is that another one of those human sayings?”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a saying or not, because it’s true. We have a stop to make real quick before we head out of town, anyway.”

Zoey drove on, squinting against the snow glare as she searched for a gas station. She was beginning to lose hope when the gentle curve of the road revealed a sign up ahead that had been hidden by trees — a big, bright red gas station sign.

She turned into the gas station lot with a muttered thank you. She pulled up to a pump, killed the engine, and climbed out. Despite the clear blue sky and bright sunlight, the air was cold. Once the truck was filled, she leaned into the cab.

“I’m going to run inside,” she said.

Ren nodded, but his frown firmly in place. “Quickly. The longer we wait, the more likely I am to be noticed.”

“I’ll hurry. Just keep your head down. Maybe pretend to be asleep, or something.”

“Quickly, little human.”

“Okay, okay,” she said, closing the door.

She rounded the truck and looked both ways before crossing the parking lot and entering the convenience store. She responded to the clerk’s greeting with a smile and wave before she found the ATM near the entrance. Pulling her debit card out of her wallet, she inserted it into the machine and entered her PIN.

Within a few minutes, she’d withdrawn eight hundred and twenty dollars from her account, leaving the last three dollars and thirty-seven cents as a loss. She put everything in her wallet but two twenties and grabbed some snacks — including a few Twix bars, which had become Ren’s favorite — and a pair of sunglasses for herself. She stuffed her change, bills and coins, into her coat pocket.

She tossed her debit card into the trash outside the door on her way out, and her heart stopped when she looked up. A police car was parked not ten feet away.

It’s okay. Cops like gas station snacks too, right? It’s got nothing to do with me.

As she hurried back to the truck, she glanced back at the parked police cruiser. A uniformed police officer emerged from the store a second later.

How had she not noticed him walking in?

Zoey yanked the truck door open, climbed in, and started the engine. She dropped the bag of snacks onto the seat between herself and Ren.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Probably nothing.” She pulled away from the pump and stopped at the road, waiting for an opening to turn out of the lot. When she checked the rearview mirror, her breath hitched. The cop car was right behind them.

The onramp for Interstate 70 was just down the road. Just two more turns, a left and a right, and they’d be free and clear. Local police didn’t have any jurisdiction on the interstate…did they?

She turned left onto South Frontage at the first opportunity. Her heart pounded, and her eyes darted repeatedly to the mirrors. The cop pulled out behind her, moving in the same direction, and steadily closed the gap between their vehicles.

“Zoey?” Ren’s voice was firmer.

“Trying not to panic,” she replied, hands tightening on the wheel.

Her gaze swung forward. The onramp was only a couple hundred feet away.

The cop threw on his lights. Scalding heat and icy cold flowed through her veins simultaneously.

“Oh God. No, no, no no no. This can’t be happening right now,” she said quickly, breaths short.

The cop remained behind her, rolling along steadily to match her pace. Her knuckles went white, and the anxious blend of fire and ice spread out from her veins to encompass her entire body, making her skin itch beneath the heavy clothing even as she shivered.

“Control, Zoey,” Ren said. “Can we outrun him?”

“What?” She gave him a brief, incredulous glance. “No! That’ll make things worse.” Refocusing on the road, she shifted her eyes continuously to the mirror and back again. “I don’t know what to do! I-I have to pull over.”

“Then do what is expected of you in this situation,” he said, words calm and measured. She didn’t know if he simply didn’t understand why freaking out was the reasonable response right now or if he just couldn’t feel fear, but he betrayed not an ounce of worry.

“Okay. Okay, I can do that. I can do this.”

She took a deep breath and checked the speedometer to make sure she wasn’t speeding in her panic. The upcoming turn lane had eliminated the shoulder on her side of the road, so she proceeded straight into the roundabout, following it around until it opened into a hotel parking lot.

Forcing herself to continue breathing steadily, she parked in the first open spot — which faced a steep hill — lowered her window, and turned off the engine. The cop pulled up behind her, trapping them between a mound of snow in front and his vehicle behind.

“Is there anything I need to do?” Ren asked.

“Just…just keep your head down and your hands up on the dash.” Zoey watched the cop in the rearview mirror; it looked like he was doing something on the computer mounted in his cab. “Oh, this is so not good.”

“Zoey?” The question in Rendash’s voice drew her attention to him. He held up one of his hands; its green scales and lacking finger were difficult to miss in broad daylight.

“So, you just… I don’t know, Ren! Just go invisible.”

“I’m fairly certain that he’s already seen me, Zoey.”

She glanced in the mirror again. The cop had opened his door and was climbing out. “He’s not looking right now, though. Just do it!”

Ren obeyed, but not before giving her an exaggerated frown.

The cop walked around his car, dropping one hand to his belt — close to his gun. Zoey moved her hands to the top of the steering wheel to keep them visible.

“Afternoon, ma’am,” the cop said as he walked up to her car. “I—” Brow furrowed, he lowered his sunglasses and looked past her into the cab. “Where is your passenger?”

“Passenger?” Zoey laughed nervously. “It’s just me.”

“There was a man in the passenger seat, a very large man, right before I walked over.”

“I-I don’t know what to say, officer. It’s just me in this truck. Maybe it was just a…a reflection on the back window?”

He backed away, settling his hand on the grip of his pistol as he searched the immediate area. Allowing the truck wide berth, he walked around to the passenger side. Zoey watched in the mirrors as he dipped, probably checking underneath the truck, and popped back up.

Her mouth was terribly dry.

The cop’s eyebrows were low when he returned to her window, but his eyes were wide and troubled. He stammered and stuttered a few times before he regained his composure, and his demeanor made a subtle shift from confused to annoyed.

“License and registration, ma’am.”

“My license is in my purse, and I’ll have to get the registration out of the glove compartment. Is that okay?”

“Not a problem.”

Moving as slowly and non-threateningly as possible, she unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to her purse, removing her license from her wallet. She leaned over the passenger seat, placing a hand down to hold herself up.

But her hand didn’t land on the seat.

Rendash released a muffled grunt.

Zoey cringed. She knew exactly where she’d set her hand by the feel of it. “Sorry,” she whispered.

“Everything all right, ma’am?” the cop asked.

“Yeah, one sec.” She opened the glove box and rummaged through the contents. She froze when she discovered a black revolver with a short barrel tucked between various papers and the owner’s manual.

It probably would’ve been the last thing she saw that night in Utah if Ren hadn’t intervened.

The chill creeping along her spine had nothing to do with the cold air flowing in through the open window. There was a gun in the truck, and there was a cop behind her!

“Control,” Ren whispered, barely loud enough to hear.

Easier said than done, big guy.

Zoey rounded her lips and exhaled slowly. She plucked the registration out and closed the glove compartment. Sitting back in her seat, she extended her arm through the window to hand the cop her license and the registration.

He seemed to only give the license a cursory glance. “California, huh? Bet this weather’s a big change for you. Do you know why I pulled you over today, ma’am?”

“I don’t.” She returned her hands to the steering wheel. It took a lot of willpower to keep her fingers from fidgeting nervously.

“The tags on this vehicle’s license plates are two months expired.”

“Really? I didn’t think to check when—” she swallowed, giving her a moment to recall her would-be murderer’s name “—when Matt leant me the truck. I’m so sorry.”

“It happens. But it’s something that really needs to be corrected, miss—” the cop lifted the license closer “—Weston.” The cop tilted his head.

A two-ton ball of dread sank in her stomach.

“Zoey Weston?” He shifted his hold on her license and pulled his sunglasses down again, leaning closer. “Would you mind removing your sunglasses, ma’am?”

Oh, shit. Shit shit shit.

“Sure,” she replied in a small voice, raising a hand to comply.

His eyes rounded. “You’re the woman whose car they found on I-70 in Utah, aren’t you?

“Um, yeah. Car broke down on the interstate, which is why I’m borrowing the truck.”

“I’m going to need you to come with me, Miss Weston,” the cop said, taking a step back. Zoey noticed that his right hand had settled on his gun again. “I’m sure we’ll be able to get all of this sorted out.”

“Am…am I being arrested?” she asked, the weight of her dread growing.

“I’m sure we’d both rather it not come to that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Please step out of the vehicle, ma’am.”

“If I haven’t committed a crime, I’d like to leave. I’ll take a ticket for the expired tags.”

“I won’t ask again,” he said firmly.

“I haven’t done anything!” Well, she had, but he didn’t know that! Her hands shook despite her crushing grip on the wheel.

The cop took another step back and thumbed the radio on his shoulder, dipping his chin down and to the side to speak into it. He requested backup.

“We need to leave,” Ren whispered from beside her.

“I know that!” she snapped at him, and immediately felt sorry for doing so. It wasn’t Ren’s fault.

“Now.”

“We’re kinda stuck, don’t you think?”

She didn’t realize until it was too late that it must’ve looked to the cop like she was having an argument with her invisible friend in the passenger seat.

The cop drew his gun. Though he didn’t point it directly at her, Zoey’s heart stuttered before pounding so hard and fast that there might as well have been a herd of wild horses galloping through her chest. She lifted her hands, struggling to breathe, but her tight chest and constricted throat made it hard.

“Step out of the vehicle. Now.” If there’d been any friendliness or civility in the cop’s voice earlier, it was gone now, replaced by a hard edge.

Fear soured her stomach as she lowered a hand to the handle and opened her door. Once it was opened wide, she lifted her hand again and slid down until her feet touched the ground. It was only then she noticed the small crowd that had gathered fifty or so feet away, most of them bundled in winter gear with bright hats and scarves.

“Move to the front of the vehicle and place your hands on the hood,” the cop commanded.

She obeyed, wishing that she’d put on the pair of gloves she’d taken from the cabin. Her breath came out in puffy clouds as the sound of boots on pavement signaled the cop’s cautious approach.

This was it. She’d hoped for more time with Ren before they separated, but at least they’d come to know each other in what little time they’d shared. Tears brimmed in her eyes, blurring her vision.

The truck rocked as though a great weight were moving inside. The cop muttered something in confusion as the shocks squeaked.

A startled gasp erupted from the onlookers.

“What the fuck?” the cop said in awe.

Zoey turned her head to see Rendash, fully visible, standing just outside the truck. He reached up and pulled off the sunglasses, opening all his eyes and directing them at the cop. She’d never seen so much fury in his expression.

“On the ground!” The cop shouted.

Zoey shifted to see the cop’s gun aimed at Ren. Something cold wrapped around her heart and squeezed.

Why didn’t he just go? Why is he risking himself now?

“No!” she shouted, stepping toward Rendash.

The cop swung his arms, directing his pistol at her.

Control, Rendash reminded himself.

Fuck control! That human threatened my kun’ia.

Ren slammed the door shut and thrust an arm to the side, catching Zoey and forcing her behind him.

The human in front of him was some sort of soldier — a peacekeeper, perhaps, or an enforcer. Ren was unfamiliar with their designations for such positions. It didn’t matter, either way. Fear had settled into the man and made him weak, and that weakness made him dangerous.

Rage burned through Rendash’s body like a ravenous wildfire; this enforcer had drawn a weapon and aimed it at Zoey. His Zoey.

That was unacceptable.

“On the ground, now!” the enforcer shouted, backing away while adjusting his hold on his weapon.

Removed from the confrontation by scant distance, a small crowd of humans watched with expressions of shock and horror. Rendash didn’t care; Zoey’s safety was more important than being exposed. He couldn’t allow her to be harmed or taken. He couldn’t continue without her.

“Put your weapon down,” Ren growled at the enforcer.

“Requesting immediate backup,” the man said into the device on his shoulder. “Repeat, request—”

“I will not tolerate you directing your weapon at an innocent,” Rendash said.

“Down on the fucking ground, hands behind your head!”

A strange wailing sound carried to Rendash on the wind, slowly growing stronger, as though something were approaching. Was it more enforcers? Were they so foolish — or so arrogant — as to announce their approach?

“You cannot have this female. She is mine. Return to your vehicle.”

“Ren,” Zoey pleaded, placing a hand on his back, “just go. This is going to get bad unless I do what he says, do you understand? You need to just leave! Don’t let them get you!”

“They will have neither of us, kun’ia,” he said gently, turning his head to see her from his outer eye. She stared up at him with fear and concern straining her face. He shifted aside the hanging fabric of his coat and reached back to her with his lower arms, hoping to offer her some comfort.

“Holy shit,” the enforcer said.

“We are leaving now,” Rendash declared. The threat of violence from the enforcer could easily have been answered with violence, and Ren was prepared to act — his nyros were functioning far better than they had since his arrival on Earth — but Zoey’s safety was tantamount. Battle, however brief or limited in scale, often took unforeseen tolls, especially when innocent non-combatants were near.

“Just…just get the fuck down!” the enforcer shouted.

Rendash took a step to the side, guiding Zoey to stay behind him with his lower hands.

He saw it in the male human’s eyes — a flare of terror, a gut reaction that any aligarii child in the Khorzar would have been conditioned to avoid — and projected a shield a fraction of an instant before the man’s finger squeezed the trigger of his blaster.

A chaotic eruption of sound dominated those drawn-out moments; five booms in quick succession, the hiss of the shield — flashing purple with each impact — destroying the projectiles, screaming from Zoey and the human onlookers, the intensified wailing and roaring engines of more enforcer vehicles as they raced along the nearby road.

Instinct.

Rendash darted forward, keeping the shield in front of him. The enforcer stumbled backward, firing several more shots. The shield pulsed but held firm.

The enforcer’s path was blocked by a vehicle; he nearly fell over when he struck it, and fear twisted his features into something primal. Such fear was not uncommon on a battlefield, but it served as a reminder to Rendash that these people were not nearly as advanced as his own.

The technology that aligarii took for granted was awe-inspiring and potentially terrifying for humans.

Somehow, it was enough to convince Rendash to be merciful.

He grabbed the man’s extended hand, and bones crunched as he wrenched the small, black weapon from the human’s hold. The enforcer screamed. Rendash threw the weapon into the snow before grasping fistfuls of the man’s clothing, lifting him overhead, and hurling him into the nearest pile of white. The human vanished in the deep snow.

Rendash surveyed his surroundings. Several of the human onlookers had fled, but several more remained in place, holding up small, rectangular devices — phones, similar to the one Zoey had possessed.

The other enforcer vehicles screeched around the turn and came to abrupt halts nearby; Ren counted four, with at least six more enforcers.

Their truck was blocked in, and he had no desire to battle more humans. The risk to Zoey would be too great. Ren alone couldn’t protect her from all angles.

“Ren!” Zoey yelled. “Oh my God, Ren, are you okay?”

He turned to see her hurrying toward him. She stopped, eyes roving over him, likely searching for wounds, but there was no time for that. Due to her limited field of vision, he doubted she could see the other vehicles while her eyes were focused on him.

The door of one of the newly arrived vehicles swung open, and another uniformed enforcer climbed out with blaster in hand.

Ren wrapped his arms around Zoey and poured as much strength into his legs as was possible, filling them with searing heat. Her startled cry — along with the shouts of the other humans — was lost in a rush of wind when he leapt high into the air, directing them toward the snowy hill behind the black stone lot. Zoey clung to him with startling strength.

The impact of his landing jolted his legs, but it wasn’t nearly as jarring as it had been the night he escaped. He leapt over tall trees and landed on more black stone at the end of a road lined with dwellings. Zoey began to speak, but her words were cut off when he jumped again, and again, and again, putting increasing distance between them and the enforcers.

When they reached the cover of the thicker trees in the hills behind the clustered human dwellings, Ren decided it was better to remain on the ground. Holding Zoey firmly against his chest, he ran between the trunks, crunching snow beneath his boots and forging a wide, deep trail in the unbroken white.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he finally slowed, only that his instinct shifted his priorities to the conservation of energy and allowing Zoey to catch her breath. Down the hill, barely visible through the trees, lay more human dwellings, but he was confident that they had adequate cover to avoid detection — at least for now.

The trail he’d left behind was obvious, and it wouldn’t take the enforcers long to locate it.

“Are you all right, Zoey?” he asked as he set her on her feet. The snow came up to her thighs. Her legs gave out, and she grasped his arms to remain upright. He accepted her weight easily. “Just breathe, kun’ia.”

Panting, Zoey looked up at him with wide, terrified eyes. Her entire body shivered, and she clutched at him with desperation-fueled strength. “W-what are we going to do?”

“We need to get as far away from here as we can, as quickly as we can,” he said, smoothing a hand over her hair.

Her eyes locked with his. “Why didn’t you go? Why didn’t you leave me? You could’ve gotten away!”

“Every time you had a chance to betray me, to leave me, you chose to stay with me. How could I abandon you, after everything?”

“Because the worst they’d do to me is toss me in jail! They weren’t going to hurt me. But you? They would’ve killed you!” She twisted to look behind her. “God, he was shooting at you! And all those people, Ren… They had their phones, recording the whole thing.”

Ren cupped her cheek and guided her to face him. Despite the danger to herself, her only concern was for him. The way that made him feel was indescribable; how could he ever have considered leaving Earth without her at his side?

Tears ran down her cheeks, which were red from the cold. “They’ll know you’re here. They’ll find you. You have to leave me.”

“It is not for you to decide what I must or must not do, little human,” he replied gently. “This journey is ours to make, together. I cannot proceed without you, and I gave you my word to keep you safe. The price paid is more than worth it, knowing that you are here now, that you are safe and in my arms.”

Zoey sniffled and threw her arms around him, holding him close. “I thought they shot you.”

“My connection to my nyros has recovered. They’ll have to do far better than that, if they mean to kill me.” He turned his head and glanced down the hill, toward the human dwellings in the distance. “Come. We need to obtain a new vehicle.”

“Oh, no,” Zoey cried quietly, drawing her head back. “My purse, my clothes, everything! Everything is gone. Now they know who I am, that I’m with you. Even if we get another car, how are we supposed to keep it running? I have no money!”

Her face suddenly fell, and her cheeks drained of color. “My photo album. My photo album is in that truck, and that’s all I have of my father. That’s all I had left from him, and now it’s gone, too. I lost him again. He’s gone.”

Eyes glistening with another wave of tears, she pulled away from Rendash. She turned and stumbled in the direction from which they’d come. The snow was too deep; Zoey fell forward, catching herself on her hands, and clawed at the snow to drag herself forward. “I have to get it. I have to get him. Ren, please, it’s all I have of him!”

His heart ached as he stepped to her. He bent down, slipping his arms around her middle to pull her out of the snow. She strained against his hold, moving her legs in a futile attempt to continue forward.

“Be still, kun’ia,” he whispered.

“I need to go back,” she rasped. Her struggles ceased abruptly, and she sagged in his arms. Her body shook with heart-wrenching sobs. “I need to go back…”

Rendash turned her to face him, supporting her with his hands, and kneeled to put himself at eye level with her. The whites of her eyes were pink from crying, moisture coated her blotchy cheeks, and the skin beneath her eyelids was puffy; she was still beautiful to him, more so now, seeing the depths of her caring.

“Your father is with you forever,” he said, touching the tip of a finger to her temple, “here. And because you shared him with me, he is here, as well.” He touched his own temple. “We will carry him, together.”

She nodded, sniffled, and closed her eyes, forcing out the last of her tears. “What are we going to do, Ren? No money, no car, the cops after us, you’re going to be all over the internet. What do we do?”

He stood up and dipped his head to place a soft kiss atop Zoey’s hair. “Do not worry, kun’ia. We will solve all those problems, one at a time.”

“Okay.” Zoey sniffled again, and her trembling lips shifted into a small smile. “That sounds like something my dad would say. One day at a time.”

“Let us honor him by pressing on. We’ll see to the vehicle first.”

Based on her coloring — where her skin wasn’t an irritated red, it was paler than ever, taking on a faint blue undertone — and her shivering, she was suffering from the cold. Trudging through the snow wasn’t likely to help with that. With his nyros functional, Ren’s body adjusted its temperature to counteract the conditions, but the chill in the air was still uncomfortable to him despite his adaptations.

He picked her up and carried her down the hill, only setting her on her feet when they reached the road below — which, like the other roads in town, had been cleared of snow. All was quiet save for the gentle wind rustling the boughs of the nearby trees.

Zoey leaned against his side, wrapped in his long coat, as they walked. He swung his gaze between the many vehicles parked in front of the dwellings along the road.

The distant wail of enforcer vehicles carried faintly over the treetops. How long would it be before Stantz’s soldiers arrived in their helicopters?

“How are we going to get a car?” Zoey asked.

“We must focus on finding a suitable vehicle first,” he replied, “and then we’ll figure out how to take it.”

“That one, the SUV.” Zoey pointed at a large vehicle with black windows. “It’s got tinted windows, so we won’t have to worry about people seeing you from outside, and the interior should be big enough for you to have some leg space.”

The SUV vaguely reminded Ren of the truck they’d left behind; it had a similar, somewhat blocky front end and was of comparable length. However, this vehicle had four doors rather than two, and its back end was closed in. Its exterior was black, and reflective silver metal gleamed on its wheels.

They approached the SUV cautiously. The windows in the dwelling behind it were covered and there were no lights on, and a quick check of the area revealed no nearby humans.

Ren shifted his primary attention to the vehicle, though he continued to watch their surroundings with his side-eyes.

He opened his nyros, allowing it to enter an automatic scanner mode for only the second time since he’d crashed on Earth. He didn’t understand how it worked — the technology was so intricate and advanced that it was beyond his comprehension — only that it did work. Here, in a more densely populated area, his nyros detected countless signals being broadcast, many of them easily accessible with limited security. Some came from devices inside the dwellings, some were transmitted in the air from far-away sources, and some came from the vehicles.

Like the black SUV.

His nyros interfaced with the vehicle through its over-air signal, breaking through its simple security system and delving directly into its core controls. His nyros had already encountered human language and coding, thanks to what he’d done at the cabin, and the process was even faster now.

Ren’s interaction with it occurred on an instinctual level. The characters flitting through his mind’s eye were unfamiliar to him, but his nyros knew them, and it granted him an intuitive understanding of the systems. He instructed it to deactivate the security and tracking and block any further interfacing with over-air signals.

He touched the handle, engaging a direct, physical connection with the internal computer, and the locks disengaged with a popping sound. He pulled it open for Zoey and stepped aside to allow her entry.

She climbed in, and Ren’s gaze locked on her backside; it was absolutely not the right time or place, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity. His cock didn’t care whether it was appropriate. He barely withheld a groan. She deposited that luscious ass in the seat and adjusted its position. With her body in profile, he took a moment to follow the curve of her legs. He frowned when he noticed how wet her pants were; that couldn’t be helping her stay warm.

“Are you…going to get in?” she asked, staring at him.

“Yes.” He tore his gaze away from her legs, closed her door, and walked around the vehicle. With a final glance at the surrounding area, he tugged open the passenger door, slid the seat back as far as it could go, and pulled himself in.

Zoey rubbed her hands together before lifting them to blow into her cupped palms. “So…now what?”

Ren took her hands between two of his and gradually increased the temperature of his skin. He placed another hand on the SUV’s control panel, which was currently dark.

A connection crackled through his fingertips like a spark, producing a faint, fleeting tingling in his fingertips. He held it for only a fraction of a second; just long enough to start the vehicle’s engine. The instruments came to life, lighting up across the console, and cold air blew through the vents.

“How are you doing all this?” Zoey asked, wide eyes flicking between Ren and the console.

“It is my nyros,” he said. “My understanding of how it works is little better than yours. I know how to wield it as a tool…the same way you know how to operate one of these vehicles, but not how to fix it.”

“So, you did the same to the car as you did to the security system at the cabin?”

“Yes. And, like the system at the cabin, I disabled its ability to communicate with any external systems.”

“Good idea. I think most of these new cars — especially higher-end ones like this — can be tracked by GPS, or whatever.”

“How do your hands feel, Zoey?”

She looked down, and a small smile appeared on her lips. “Better. Thank you.”

He released her hands, telling himself that it was necessary — she needed them free to drive, and they had to move. To ease the sudden feeling of emptiness, he dropped a hand to her thigh, raising the temperature of his palm further to warm the cold flesh beneath her wet legging.

She covered his hand with one of hers briefly, brushing her fingertips over his scales, before taking hold of the wheel.

“I…I think we’ll need to backtrack. That cop probably realized we were going to get on I-70 before he pulled us over, and they saw us run in this direction.”

Rendash nodded, smiling pridefully. “And the last thing they would expect is for us to move directly toward their search.”

“Right. We’re supposed to be running away.” She inhaled deeply, moved the stick on the wheel column, and backed the vehicle out onto the road. “You wouldn’t happen to be able to access any kind of maps with this thing, can you?”

Ren was silent for a moment as he interfaced with the vehicle’s internal systems. “No. Not without enabling functions that would allow us to be tracked.”

“Okay. Well, we have almost a full tank of gas, so we have room for a couple wrong turns.” Shifting the wheel-stick again, she drove the vehicle forward, her gaze restlessly scanning the area. Her muscles were tight beneath his hand, and she kept adjusting her grip on the wheel as though her fingers were stiff. She was frightened, and he couldn’t blame her.

She guided the vehicle slowly down narrow roads lined by large dwellings and tall trees on both sides. The snow piled along the edges of the road was black and gray rather than the pristine white he’d grown used to over the last several days.

Gradually, the air blowing from the vents warmed.

“Maybe it’d be better if you go invisible,” she said after a little while. Up ahead, the road descended into a place where the buildings were positioned closer together and the roads were wider. Numerous vehicles were moving through the area.

He obeyed without question. Though they were both being hunted, the enforcers were likely more interested in locating Rendash. Having a completely different vehicle with darkened windows would help, but she stood the best chance if she appeared to be alone.

The cloaking field was easy to maintain now, completely unlike it had been when he first encountered her. He’d considered it before, but he couldn’t stop the thought from reemerging — so much had changed since that night.

He turned his head to watch her. She kept her face surprisingly neutral, but he could see in her eyes that she was still shaken up. He gave her thigh a gentle squeeze. Zoey offered a soft, brief smile in reply.

Rendash had told himself — had told her — that he’d stayed to ensure her safety.

Selflessness.

That was one of the core tenets of the aekhora, and he’d neglected it so thoroughly that he should have been ashamed of himself. There was little selflessness in him protecting Zoey — she deserved comfort, security, and happiness, that could not be denied, but he was not doing it simply because it was right.

He was doing it because his want for her, his need for her, had grown to become a driving force in his mind. If he truly wanted her safe beyond all else, he would have left her behind days ago. Before he’d destroyed her life. Before he’d taken away her future on this planet.

It wasn’t so much that he wanted her safe as that he wanted her safe with him.

After some aimless wandering, Zoey found the road she called the Interstate and directed their SUV onto it. The insistent call of his ship, clear but still distant, screamed that he was going the wrong way. Even knowing that they were deliberately backtracking, it was a struggle to prevent himself from correcting her course.

With the weather having cleared, there were far more cars on the road than he’d seen so far, and he was glad that she’d told him to cloak himself. They saw several enforcer vehicles driving on the sideroads just off the interstate as the town passed around them, but no such vehicles crossed their path.

“Okay,” she said as they approached a fork in the road, “I think this is our exit coming up. One-seventy-one. I’ve never been great with maps, but I think I remember this cutting south…and then bringing us somewhere east where we can get back onto seventy?” She sighed heavily and shook her head. “How the hell did people do this before GPS?”

“What is GPS?” Ren asked.

“I think it stands for Global Positioning System, or something like that. It uses satellites to pinpoint your location, and then translates that onto a map. You basically tell it where you want to go, and it figures out the best route for you to take based on where you are.”

She took the right fork, following it around a sharp loop and onto a narrower road, which only had one lane going in each direction. A river flowed to their left, and the road seemed to more-or-less follow its course as it wound through the hills and mountains.

Before long, Zoey leaned forward, her gaze flicking upward. The sky in the distance had an ugly gray cast to it, as though there’d be more bad weather soon, but that wasn’t what she was focused on.

“That’s not a coincidence, right?” she asked.

Ren’s gaze followed hers. Far-off — but approaching rapidly — were three black, familiar shapes.

Helicopters.

It seemed as though he and Zoey both held their breath as the helicopters passed overhead, the chopping whir of their blades audible even with the windows closed and the rush of wind that enveloped their vehicle. Rendash shifted to look in the side mirror and watch the aircraft speeding toward Vail.

Zoey released a shaky breath. “I think we’re safe. For now.”

Ren stared at the darkening sky reflected in the mirror. When the helicopters didn’t reappear, he nodded and squeezed her thigh again. “Yes. We’re safe.”