Chapter Three

T HE MOMENT I HIT a road, I sighed and stopped for a bit. I only had some meat left at the bottom of a can and a little bit of bread and I devoured it all. It was pitch black and so cold my breath froze the moment it left my body. I still sat there on my backpack for as long as I could. God, I wanted to sleep. I wanted to shower, shove everything within reach down my throat, have a nice, hot, lemony cup of tea, then stretch in a clean bed and sleep. I’d settle for shelter from the wind and time to recover without the fear or my would-be assassins at the back of my mind.

I didn’t want to keep going, but I knew I had no other choice. I struggled to get up and slung my backpack over a shoulder. After a minute, I made sure it was snuggly sat on both my shoulders because it kept my back warmer in the bitter cold.

There were no cars driving by, but I could see some flickering lights in the distance. Maybe a kilometer or two, no more. It might have been the edge of some village or some sort of building. Whatever it was, it put a smile on my face and pushed me to walk faster.

Soon enough, I reached the flickering lights and the bigger, brighter ones about a hundred meters off to the side. The blinking sign advertised a gas station which was more than I would have hoped for. I could find nourishment and some hot drinks here. If I waited long enough, I might also catch a ride. My rubles wouldn’t normally work in Ukraine, but so close to the border, I might get away with it.

“Good evening,” I said to the sleepy clerk, hoping my rudimentary Russian wouldn’t offend him. It was correct, but it sounded like crap, so I hoped he’d appreciate the effort.

The clerk turned bleary eyes to me and nodded. Well, at least he’d understood me. I pulled out a wad of rubles, about half of what I’d stolen from the clothing store, and wiggled it in his face. “Do you accept this?”

He shook his head. “I can exchange it for you.”

I nodded and smiled, ignoring his grin which told me enough about the exchange rate he’d give me. I couldn’t complain, he hadn’t asked for any kind of ID. No respectable establishment would make the exchange without some sort of papers proving my identity.

I counted the hryvnia he’d handed over and realized he hadn’t been too unfair. It was still quite a bit of money even after he’d taken a hefty commission.

I thanked him and wandered through the small station, picking up everything edible that I found appealing. I got a dusty thermos that he probably had been trying to sell for years and went back to the clerk to pay it all. I was planning to get some bottled water and fill up the thermos from their noisy coffee machine.

The clerk’s eyes lit up and he thanked me profusely for his business.

“Get a lot of customers around here?”

He shook his head, sighing so deeply I expected him to reveal a tragic tale of planetary proportions. “Not since the fancy stations opened right next to the border. Everyone stops there and no longer come by.”

“Sorry about that.”

“If I weren’t the owner and had to pay someone to keep the lights open, I’d just give up and close the place.”

Okay, so no customers meant no one would disturb me while I was here. It would also make it harder for me to catch a ride. More hiking, I supposed.

“Hey,” I said, waking him up from the doze he’d fallen into. “Do you have a car?”

The clerk arched his brow and looked at me expectantly.

“How would you like to earn all this money?” I threw what was left of my initial wad, which was almost all of it, on his counter.

“I have a car.”

“Perfect.” I grinned and clapped his shoulder. “Drive me close to the Moldavian border and it’s all yours.”

He eyed the money, running his chubby fingers through his messy and slightly greasy hair. He looked up at me, then his eyes fell back on the money. “You pay for the gas, right?”

I rolled my eyes, thinking he was robbing me blind. “Fine, but you’ll take rubles for it.”

He grinned and shook my hand, his dull eyes lighting up for the first time since I’d started talking to him.

For someone so short and stocky, the clerk—Ilia, as he introduced himself now that we were in business—moved about with great speed. He shut the lights in most of the station, leaving just the one above the door lit. He stepped outside to fill up his battered truck, then punched in his code to turn on the alarm system and off we were.

Ilia tried to talk to me at first, but the grunts and nods I rewarded him with while eating everything I’d bought discouraged his budding efforts. He turned his screechy radio up and sang along. He had a deep, yet surprisingly not melodic voice and I suspected he was tone deaf.

Despite my mistrust of my driver, I could barely keep my eyes open. He could try to attack me to get whatever money I still had. Or he might get a call from the wolves looking for me. I tried to think back and remember if I’d seen him taking a phone. I couldn’t though, because he’d been running around his station.

“Do you have a phone?” Might as well bite the bullet and let someone know I was coming.

Ilia turned to face me and grinned. “It will cost extra.”

“Fine, hand it over.”

He did so only after I pressed some more rubles into his grubby hand, but I had a phone.

There weren’t many phone numbers I knew by heart. My father’s, a few Siberian Killers higher ups’, and my own. Not surprising, as these were the only numbers I was ever required to give to others off the top of my head.

To my surprise, the man had a data plan. I grinned and logged into my email account. I had it synced with my phone so I could call anyone. I stopped again when I reached my contacts. Who to call? My father’s phone could be bugged. There were plenty of Russian wolves on all our compounds. Vicks, the closest friendly alpha lived in the UK with her mates. She also was super pregnant, probably about to give birth. Fuck!

My only other option was calling Shiki. He might have been all the way to Japan, but his mate had a couple of private jets. He could flash anywhere, but that particular fae ability only worked when he knew the place he was targeting. Otherwise, with no visual image, he could end up as far as a few hundred kilometers from me. Having few friends outside my pack really stunk this time.

I closed my eyes and took a few breaths, then pressed the call button. Here went nothing.

“Ganz, where the fuck are you?”

I laughed and relaxed in the chair. “Hello to you too, Shiki.”

“Fuck off! I’ve been going crazy. I assume you are alive at least.”

“No, this is my ghost speaking.”

Shiki growled and the sound only made me laugh harder.

“Asshole. Your father is worried sick.”

“Don’t call him!” I straightened in my chair, gripping my backpack as tightly as I could.

“I am not an idiot. He drove for hours to find an old school pay phone to call me. Where the fuck are you?”

“In a truck, driving to the Ukrainian border.”

“Hold on, I have to put you on speaker.” I heard a few curses as Shiki tapped his phone’s buttons. “Right, done. Which border? With Romania?”

“Moldova.”

Shiki sighed. “Why not Romania?”

“Faster that way,” a foreign voice said.

“Yeah, it was easier from my point of entry into Ukraine.”

“Fine, fine. Where are you headed?”

“Slobidka. From what I can tell on the map, it’s close to the border. I will shift and pass around there somewhere.”

“You afraid they’re waiting for you?” Shiki’s muttered words were the only indication of his rage. Still, it warmed my heart. It felt good to know people cared whether I survived or not.

“I have no papers. Whether they are waiting or not is irrelevant.”

“We’ll head to Rîbnița then drive towards the border. He can meet us on the main road after he crosses.”

“Who’s that?” I trusted Shiki, but it was annoying to hear someone talking about me and my fate without knowing who they were.

“Cristian,” Shiki said. “We’re on our way now.”

“The Dacian Wolf beta? Where the hell are you, Shiki?”

“Dunno, some city closer to the border. Closest airport we could find to both Moldova and Ukrainian border. We figured it was our best bet.”

“You’re already in Romania?”

Shiki sighed and I could picture him rolling his eyes. “Of course, you dumbass. Someone tried to murder you. Your father called and asked me to help.”

“Thanks, Shiki. I’ll be there… I don’t know how long it will take me.”

“We’ll be there long before you,” Cristian said. “We’ll fly into Chișinău and drive the rest of the way.”

I nodded, holding the phone closer to my ear.

“Ganz, did you hear that?”

Shiki’s edginess reminded me they couldn’t see me and I needed to use my words. “Yeah, sorry.”

“You sound exhausted,” Shiki said after taking me off speaker. “Are you all right?”

“I am not hurt, I don’t think. But yeah, I will probably need to sleep for a week.”

“That can be arranged. Just make sure you get here in one piece.”

If it weren’t for the fact they needed to make it to our rendezvous point, I wouldn’t have stopped talking to Shiki. The moment I hung up, dread and loneliness filled me. I was so close to making it, what if they caught up with me?

I needed to stay vigilant. A little caffeine and the chilly air outside were my only boosters. So I sat as straight as I could, my window cracked, and sipped my coffee. Filling up the large thermos had been a good call. There was enough in there, bitter and hot, to give me the shakes. It would keep me awake, so I was thankful.

***

Ilia and I parted ways in Slobidka. I didn’t need it anymore, so I gave him everything that was left of my stolen money. He grinned and thanked me, then hurried to drive off. He probably was afraid I’d change my mind.

I wouldn’t have a lot of walking to do, and it was broad daylight, but I still wasn’t looking forward to my border crossing. Nor to repeating my Russian border stunt. Getting naked in this bone-crushing cold wasn’t fun at all.

I started at a brisk pace and tried not to think about what I’d need to do to shift. I could have forgotten about the clothes, but at this point, I was too paranoid for it. If there was an ambush, I needed to be prepared. When I was far enough from civilization, I took all my clothes off as quickly as I could and shoved them into my backpack. By the time I shifted, the cold had made it all the way to my bones. A kilometer or two of running in my wolf form, the backpack between my jaws, and I’d be good as new.

I knew it wasn’t as cold as the night before. The shorter stretch of snow was also reassuring. Yet I had more trouble with this last bit than I’d had to run at full speed when I was trying to break free from my assassins. By the time I made it to the main road on the other side, I just couldn’t bring myself to shift again. I couldn’t face the cold.

I decided to walk along the road and hope I’d run into Cristian and Shiki soon. When I reached the first set of signs on the side of the road, I realized I was about five kilometers away from the border. I stopped and considered my choices. Shiki knew I was coming on foot. They’d probably stop as close to the border as they could. With a mental curse, I turned around, my fangs cutting into the backpack’s straps.

A dark car showed up on the horizon. It looked sleek and large, but it seemed to crawl towards me. They were going too slow for this road which seemed decent enough. It wasn’t within a populated area, so I didn’t imagine there were speed restrictions so severe around here.

A minute later, the car had drawn closer and I realized I’d been right. They were driving too slowly for it not to be intentional. They were looking for something maybe. Someone? Shiki! The image of his smug grin took over what was still awake of my brain and I almost jumped on the road, for him to see me.

No, I couldn’t. It could be the Russians. I needed to be careful. Hidden by the bushes and banks of snow on the side of the road, I waited.

The car drove past me and I saw him, leaning out of the open window. Shiki! I wanted to yell his name, but I couldn’t. I jumped out of where I was and started running after them, strategically placed on the middle of the road. My backpack was a hindrance, so I dropped it, continuing my desperate chase.

The stop lights of the car came alive and I knew I was saved. I’d find solace and warmth. I’d be able to rest. Shiki stepped out of the car and I ran to him. I jumped on his chest and licked his face. He was saying something, but my exhaustion and my own excited yelps drowned the words. The sound of his laughter reached me and that was enough to tell me it was all over.

Shiki opened the door and I jumped in the back. There were thermal blankets and fresh clothes on the back seat and I spotted some food containers on the floor.

“Do I need to go back for that bag you dropped?” Shiki asked.

I shook my head and gathered the blankets around me. As we drove off, I shifted back to my human form.

“Thank you,” I whispered as I was pulling the clothes on. They weren’t an exact fit, but they were warm and comfortable.

“Don’t mention it.” Shiki hurled himself over his seat and hugged me tight. “Glad you made it, you stubborn bastard.”

I laughed and hugged him back. “Yeah, me too. I wouldn’t have enjoyed haunting that frozen hellhole where they tried to off me.”

Shiki shuddered and released me. “Tell me about it! Plus, I would have turned it into a mass grave if they hurt you.”

I relaxed into the seat which was large enough for me to get pretty comfortable.

“Eat up,” Shiki said, pointing to the food containers and the bottles of water stacked on the floor. “Then we switch places.”

I looked up at him, my eyebrows knitted together. “Why?”

Shiki winked, his grin widening. This seat extends all the way. You can sleep in it as if it were a single bed.

I moaned at the thought. “God, yes. I’d kill for that.”

“No need to slaughter anyone. You can sleep until we reach Chișinău. Once we get on the plane, you can go back to resting.”

I nodded and dug into the food. It was nothing but sandwiches, but proper ones, with veggies and sauce and fresh bread. Wherever they’d picked them up, I was grateful.

***

I couldn’t remember much of our drive to Chișinău. Nor was I clear on how I’d gotten into the plane or into the lush bed it held in its bedroom. Fuck, that was luxury overkill. But if I had to travel as much as Blake, Shiki’s mate, had to, I’d probably splurge too.

“Why am I awake again?” I rubbed my eyes, trying to get Shiki’s face into focus.

“I thought you needed a little thrill.” He smirked and offered me a cup of coffee.

“I’ve had enough thrill to last me a lifetime, thank you very much.”

Shiki shrugged and pushed my coffee cup closer to my mouth. “Drink up. We’ll reach our jump point in a few minutes.”

“Jump point?” My stomach fell deeper the more Shiki smirked like that at me. This wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“You’ll start your visit to Romania with a bit of a skydiving adventure.”

My jaw dropped and I almost poured the hot coffee all over me. “Are you out of your fucking mind? I don’t know the first thing about skydiving.”

Shiki shrugged. “Good thing Cristian is an expert. You’ll be tied to him and all that. He’ll make sure you land safely.”

“Why the hell are you making us jump out of the plane? Don’t have time for a small stop in Bucharest? Also, why am I stopping here?”

Shiki rolled his eyes. “See, Ganz, this is what happens when you are part of a fucked-uptribe that does not like to travel out of their territory. There are these things called flight plans. If anyone tries to find out where I went after Chișinău, they’ll think I took you to London. You’ll be in Romania, where you’re safe and closer to your own tribe.”

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “Yeah, yeah. Okay. There was an easier way around this, you know.”

“Like what?”

“You could have flown to London and Cristian would have driven me to Bucharest.”

Shiki tilted his head and squinted his eyes. “Yes, because no one keeps records of who crosses the border, right?”

I opened my mouth to object, but he was right. This was my safest option.

“Look, I know you’ve been through hell and back. This will be over in no time and you’ll land in a Dacian Wolves R&R compound. Massages, great food, the brooding company of Cristian, a dozen Dacian warriors defending you.”

I nodded and stood. Too fast, I thought, when the room started spinning with me. Shiki was by my side in a second, steadying me. “Maybe I should just stop in Bucharest,” he muttered.

“No, I’ll be fine. You said it’s a tandem jump. And then I get to relax and have massages.”

Shiki gave me a half hug and handed me my clothes. “True. I’ll come see you soon enough. Bring the party with me.” He winked and turned to exit the room. “I’ll let Cristian know you’re ready.”

I made quick work of getting dressed and walked out of the bedroom before I could change my mind. I was fine with heights and flying, but I wasn’t the type to willingly jump out of a functioning plane. Sure, I was a werewolf, but a parachute not opening would have the same effect it would on a human.

“Hey,” Cristian said. He wasn’t smiling, but his eyes were alight with something that looked a lot like humor. “Ready?”

“Nope. Let’s get it over with anyway.”

He helped me into the straps that would tie us together during the fall. It felt awkward, having him so close behind me. I supposed it was better than having to face him. Less chance of wrapping my entire body around him when we were thrown out of the plane.

Cristian closed his hand around my chest and pulled me close. “Don’t worry, I’m good at this. Never had an accident before.”

I chuckled and hung my head. “It only takes one accident, right?”

The huff of breath on the back of my neck was the only reaction I got. He fastened all the belts and harnesses and positioned us closer to the door but off to the side.

“Ready?” Shiki asked, getting ready to open the door.

I closed my eyes and clenched my fists, focusing on my breath.

“Ready,” Cristian said, and tightened his grip on me, now both his hands hugging my chest.

Cold air rushed in and then I was falling. I refused to open my eyes and I refused to acknowledge the whoosh of air as we descended. It would be funny to die now after having escaped a pack of murderous werewolves.

All of a sudden, I was yanked up and it felt as if our descent had stopped. Cristian must have opened the parachute. Okay, maybe we’d survive this.

I forced myself to open my eyes and was greeted by a beautiful sight. Snow-covered mountains, evergreen forests and winding rivers and roads as far as I could see, all of it bathed in cool sunlight.

“Gorgeous,” I whispered, stunned by how lovely this country was. I knew from photos Romania was beautiful, but I’d never seen it for myself. Certainly not while dangling from a parachute.

“It is,” Cristian said, his voice lower than normal. Warmer too.

Despite knowing how good werewolf hearing was, his reply startled me. I’d been so mesmerized by the view, I’d forgotten he was even there. Nor had I been too sure I’d said the word out loud.

When we hit the ground, it wasn’t a moment too soon. I unbuckled the straps and stepped out of the harness and turned to Cristian.

He was grinning ear to ear, his cheeks flush and his pupils blown. The golden circle around his eyes seemed brighter, like he was about to shift.

“Nothing beats that,” he said as he unclasped his own harness.

The words went through me and down my spine, sending shivers down my back. Fuck, how hadn’t I realized it? Cristian was gorgeous. Possibly the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen.

His grin faded a bit, then he shook his head, turning his back to me. Fucking werewolf senses. We all knew when someone was attracted to us. It was this weird tingle that was ever present when wolves of the same orientation were around and intensified when we caught someone’s eye. I cursed my exhaustion, blaming it for my slip. I made a point to keep it all under control. Werewolves were open-minded everywhere, more so than our human counterparts. That didn’t mean we were all super accepting. Or that we wanted everything that breathed.

“Come on, let’s go.”

I followed him on a slow slope up a hill, hoping the “retreat” was nearby. “I would kill for a shower and some sleep.”

“You’ll get a massage in between those.”

I snorted and pushed myself to catch up with him. “That’s what heaven is made of.”