CHAPTER TWELVE
Outside Vaughn paused, scanning the lot.
“Expecting someone or is this just scary assassin habit?” She said scary like she was referring to baby bunnies.
He nudged her toward the car, sweeping the area once more. Elena reached for the back door.
“Nope. Front seat. Where I can keep an eye on you.”
“I’m not making you nervous, am I?” She stayed rooted by the back door.
“Maybe I should be the one asking you that.”
“I’ve been kidnapped. How can I not be nervous?” That devil-may-care attitude had never come across louder.
“Then it won’t matter if you’re in the back or front. Let’s go.” He escorted her to the passenger side, waited for her to get in.
Jesus. She’d fucking blindsided him.
He’d heard her scream and moved without thinking, the wolf ready to destroy any threat to her.
And her fucking boots…
He shouldn’t have fallen for such an amateurish stunt, but the wolf hadn’t cared whether or not she’d tried getting away by jumping from a moving car. Getting to her had been all that mattered.
He couldn’t let that happen again. Not when Piper’s life was on the line.
He felt Elena watching him through the windshield, her gaze three parts curious and one part conniving. And it was that one quarter that was responsible for the crushing headache he hadn’t shaken off yet.
At least he had the keys to the car, otherwise she might have run him over already.
He reached the driver’s side of the car. “You could have carried me out of there.” He was quickly learning just how specific he needed to be with this particular Fae magic. He’d told her not to leave the restaurant without him, but maybe she could have dragged his unconscious ass out of there and dumped him in the parking lot.
“As annoying as I find your company, the police would be an even bigger pain in the ass. Especially without magic on my side.” She flicked at some imaginary lint on her pants.
The scratch on her cheek was still pink and dotted with dried blood. It would heal soon enough but the reminder of why she’d been running stuck in his gut.
He rolled the driver-side window down, Elena’s scent far too prominent. Probably because she’d permanently damaged a few of his other senses when she’d cracked him over the head and his sense of smell was compensating.
He’d really been hoping the Fae glyph that reined in her magic would have left her unconscious longer to avoid potential complications, like her destroying his phone.
And of course she’d done it right before he got the chance to check in with Dare to see where in the hell his back up was.
“Have you actually heard from Piper or are you just taking their word she’s alive?”
Vaughn started the car and got them back on the road. “I’m not talking about my sister.”
“Conflict of interest?”
“Personal preference.” He snapped on the radio, hunting for a classic rock station to discourage conversation.
Exchanging her for his sister was the right call—the only call—and he knew that. Even if—and it was a very big if—Elena had been willing to hear him out when he mentioned needing her help, there was no guarantee she wouldn’t back out or change her mind. And if he trusted her to help and she bolted, Piper would pay the ultimate price.
He couldn’t take that kind of risk. Not with his sister’s life on the line.
Now that Elena had destroyed his phone, Piper’s abductors would be wondering why he hadn’t checked in after confirming that he had Elena.
With the sun up in a few hours, it would be tight making it to their destination on time. He’d taken too long with her at her house. Too long to remind himself that he was protecting his sister. This was his last shot at saving her and keeping his promise to his parents. Family was everything, and he’d do whatever he had to do to keep his intact.
The sorceress was right about not knowing exactly who he was dealing with, and even though he’d tracked the Iron Brotherhood down once, he’d been sorely outnumbered and unable to identify the group’s leader.
“You really should have washed your hands after that little cat nap. Who knows what you picked up lying on that bathroom floor.”
He turned the radio up louder. A moment later he saw her fingers twitch. “Do not touch the radio, Elena.”
She held her hands up and went back to staring out the window. For a whole five minutes. “So if you didn’t make the exchange in Vegas, what did you do with the crown?”
He glanced at her.
“What? Didn’t think I’d do my homework? Or did you forgot my grandmother is queen of the Fae?”
Forget? No, but there was nothing grandmotherly about Titania from Vaughn’s experience, but he didn’t need to remind Elena of that no matter how much he wished she’d stop talking for both their sakes. She’d been through enough without mentioning her lack of family support.
He’d grown up with two parents encouraging and supporting him until their deaths. Elena’s mother had left when they were kids, choosing to sacrifice her relationship with them in order to shield them from the Fae Court and the traditionalists who would have mocked them as half-breeds. And losing his mate had driven her father so deep into magic he’d almost forgotten he had daughters.
Elena wasn’t the only one who’d done her homework.
She turned in her seat to face him, tucking one leg underneath her. “What happened to the crown?”
“So that’s why you didn’t ditch me in the parking lot.” She might not have gotten far but he’d been surprised she hadn’t tried to make a break for it, and the comment about the police didn’t quite fit. “You want the crown,” he said.
“And mess with magic that corrupted a Fae queen who’s been all but erased from the history books? Yeah, no thanks.” She tipped her head, studying him. “You didn’t know about the Iron Queen, did you?”
“None of that mattered before I stole it, and it makes no difference to me now.”
“You want to know what I think, Barkley?”
Something shot across the corner of Vaughn’s peripheral vision. He cranked the wheel on instinct to avoid the familiar wolf that darted in from of the car.
The tires hit the shoulder of the road, the loose gravel tossing them into a vicious spin. Elena gripped her door with one hand and his arm with her other.
When the car slid to a jerky stop on the opposite side of the road, she yanked her hand back.
“Shit!” she cried out.
A transport truck thundered around the corner, moving too fast to brake in time. Tires squealed, headlights blinding Vaughn.
The car jerked to the right and flipped down the embankment, knocking him against the seat with every rotation. The car’s frame creaked and twisted, blowing out the windows. Chunks of glass peppered his face.
A dark shape appeared in front of them.
Elena yelled a moment before they hit the tree on an angle, setting the airbags off. The front corner of the car caved in on impact, propelling them in a wide axis that sent them careering toward another tree.
It took a minute to realize the world had stopped spinning, his reflexes still recovering from their bathroom encounter.
“Elena?”
He fumbled for his seat belt, his chest throbbing from the airbag. The car was totaled. Shit.
“Elena?” He looked to his left just in enough time to see her wiggling out of the car window.
Ears still ringing, Vaughn flung his seat belt off. Going to stone would heal him but it wasn’t an option with a resourceful sorceress trying to make her escape.
The frame was bent, preventing him from getting the door open. He climbed out the driver’s side window, his foot sliding in the mud before he caught the side of the car for leverage.
Elena hadn’t faired any better. Mud covered one side of her body as she limped away.
“I told you not to run from me again.”
“This is called walking, Barkley.”
He caught up to her easily, if he didn’t count the way the world occasionally slid sideways in his head. “Do you always have to be such a pain in the ass?”
“I’m sorry. I missed the part where I’m supposed to make abducting me easy.”
“You folks okay?”
Vaughn spotted the driver of the transport truck standing at the top of the embankment. “Yeah.”
“No,” Elena answered at the same time.
“Do not answer his questions,” he growled, trying to figure out if he’d been seeing things when he thought it was Rutger who ran across the road.
Although the rebellion’s leader hadn’t been happy when Vaughn retrieved the crown, even less so when he’d vanished for weeks to track the bastards who took Piper, he’d since called in every favor he could and signed off on Elena’s abduction.
But none of that explained why Rutger would run them off the road or why he’d be hiding now. Unless it hadn’t been Rutger at all but another wolf with a stake in the game.
Whoever they were, they were keeping their distance, making an already complicated situation that much worse.
Wary, Vaughn kept one eye on Elena and the truck driver and another on their surroundings, anticipating an attack.
“Is the car totaled?” the truck driver continued.
“Pretty much,” he hollered back. “We’ll need a tow truck.”
“I can call one for you. Sure I shouldn’t call an ambulance?”
An ambulance would mean police and questions that would draw attention he couldn’t afford right now, especially if someone realized he was driving a stolen car. Rutger had arranged for Dare to meet him with wheels, but when his friend hadn’t shown up at Elena’s, he’d been forced to improvise to avoid any of Elena’s friends stopping by.
“We could use a drive to the next town if you don’t mind? We’ll exchange insurance information and call about a tow from there.” If the driver saw they were fine he’d be more likely to forget about calling the accident in himself.
Vaughn thought about just walking back but didn’t want to risk getting stuck in the woods when the sun came up with Elena in tow. And definitely not with unknown player hanging around.
“Get your bag out of the trunk and head up to the truck.”
Elena sighed and followed him to the car. She unzipped the bag he handed her, noting the contents. She withdrew a lacy pair of her underwear and dangling them from the tip of her finger. “So was it your idea to pack these or your employer’s?”
The last thing he needed to see right now was her panties. It was already impossible to be around her without thinking of the night they’d spent together.
The night everything had changed.
“Put them away.” He grabbed his own bag and left the trunk open.
Elena reached the top of the embankment, taking the truck driver’s offered hand. She beamed a thousand-watt smile that even Vaughn couldn’t look away from.
“You’re a lifesaver,” she said to the truck driver.
The driver, a lanky guy in a blue Hawaiian shirt, a fresh coffee stain on the front, pretended not to stare at the curls of blue ivy that looked tattooed onto her face. “It’s the least I could do. You guys scared the crap out of me. Can’t believe I missed you.”
Missed them? The truck had knocked them off the road. Hadn’t it?
Vaughn and Elena exchanged confused glances, and then he checked the front of the truck. There wasn’t any sign of a collision.
The driver opened the passenger door and gestured to Elena. “After you.”
She touched his arm as she climbed into the vehicle. “Nice to see chivalry hasn’t died out altogether.” She gave Vaughn a pointed look.
He arched a brow at the dig probably meant to offend him and followed her up into the cab
He took advantage of their few precious seconds alone before the trucker made his way around to the driver side. “No hitting, punching or blindsiding me and no convincing this guy I’m a kidnapper or a serial killer.”
“But assassin is still on the table?”
“Better yet, you should have a nap. Go to sleep, Elena.”
“I’m not...” She yawned through eyes that were little more than narrowed slits. “I’m not sleepy.” She slid deeper into the seat. “I hate you.”
Good. It was easier when she hated him. That way he didn’t spend every moment remembering how he’d left her in Vegas without telling her it had been the best night of his life. Or what trading her for his sister would ultimately cost him.
By the time their make-shift chauffeur got into the truck, Elena wasn’t quite asleep, but she was definitely groggy.
“Did she bang her head? She really shouldn’t be sleeping in case she has a concussion.” The trucker’s gaze lingered on Elena’s tracings.
Vaughn had to bite back a possessive growl, wishing the stunning marks weren’t so visible. He hadn’t anticipated that particular side-effect of the Fae magic. “She’s just worn out. The excitement was a little much for her.”
Elena mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like asshole.
“I should drop you off at the closest emergency room,” the driver pressed. “I really don’t mind.”
Apparently it was too much to ask that the trucker be more preoccupied with Elena’s cleavage than her head. The closest medical center was at least 30 miles in the opposite direction of their intended destination, and he couldn’t chance it this close to sunrise.
He needed Elena contained by then and not asking questions that would make an already disastrous situation tumble right off the edge of a cliff.
Elena leaned into him as the rig revved to life and rolled back onto the blacktop. The instant warmth had the wolf arching at the back of Vaughn’s mind, reaching for Elena’s touch.
He could handle a lot of things right now, but that definitely wasn’t one of them.
He bumped her with his shoulder, ignoring the wolf’s protest. “Wake up, sweetie. We don’t want anyone worrying needlessly.” He waited a beat then nudged her again despite the part of him that ached to tuck her closer. “Wake up, Ivy.”
Her lashes lifted, her gaze unfocused for a beat.
“You’re feeling okay, aren’t you?”
“To be honest—”
“Tell the poor guy you’re feeling fine. We gave him one hell of a scare.”
She smiled tightly. “I’m fine. Nothing to worry about. The excitement, you know.”
The driver looked uncertain.
Vaughn spoke before the other man argued the point. “Are you from around here?” He held out a hand. “Sorry. I should have introduced myself. I’m Greg and this is my girlfriend, Opal.”
“Opal?” Elena mouthed.
The trucker didn’t notice. “I’m Jason. I live a few counties south of here. Doing my last run and then heading home.”
Vaughn spent the rest of the drive keeping Jason talking about his job and family, preventing him from engaging Elena in conversation.
The sorceress surprised him by saying little, no doubt occupied with running scenarios through her head, trying to find something to use against him.
Every now and then he’d sense her watching him, her body bumping against his a few times when Jason was paying more attention to the conversation than the road. It was a miracle Jason hadn’t hit them straight on given his tendency to forget he was the one behind the wheel.
“That motel up ahead will work.” Vaughn pointed to a series of cottages set in a diagonal line angled away from the main road. Bright yellow flower boxes were mounted beneath each cottage window, bordered in lights no one had taken down after the last holiday season.
Jason guided the truck into the mostly empty lot. Vaughn hopped out the moment the vehicle stopped. Elena lingered in the truck, her gaze considering.
Jason arched a brow. “Everything, okay?”
Unable to answer the trucker’s question, she fixed her gaze on Vaughn. “You know, I do think maybe I should get checked by a doctor.”
“Absolutely. Let’s check in and then we’ll see if there is a local doctor around here.”
Jason frowned as Elena jumped out of the truck.
“Thanks for the drive,” he said to Jason before he could offer any more help that Elena would try to take advantage of. “Have a good night.” Vaughn tucked the insurance information Jason had given him into his pocket, even though they wouldn’t need it. He closed the door, grabbed Elena’s hand and drew her away from the truck.
At least she didn’t pull her hand away until the truck was headed back down the road. “Do I get a prize for not telling him you were a serial killer?”
“That way.” He nodded toward the motel office that looked a lot more rundown than the cottages.
A bell chimed when they stepped inside and a sleepy guy in his mid-twenties emerged from a back room, a gamer headset hanging around his neck.
Vaughn pointed to one of the three plastic white patio chairs set up in the small room crammed with local artist knick-knacks and magazine racks filled with tourist pamphlets for various west coast destinations. “Take a seat.”
“Where would you like me to take it?” Elena quipped, unable to hide her flinch when she took a moment longer than necessary to move.
The wolf snarled in his head. He’d been told that the glyph would ensure her cooperation, but he hadn’t expected it to work like an electric dog collar.
She sat and flipped through a magazine while he got them a room.
“You two have an accident or something?”
“Or something,” Elena answered, before he could.
He glanced at her and she made a zippered-lips gesture and went back to the magazine.
Any other time he might have smiled. “We’ll take that one if it’s available.” Vaughn pointed out the window.
“The one closest to the woods?” The clerk pushed a key across the counter. “No problem. Sure you don’t want one of the closer units? Those ones have been refurbished.”
“We like our privacy.”
“He does anyway,” Elena said. “I’m more of an exhibitionist.”
He took the key and backtracked to the door. Elena stared at him expectantly, the fire in her eyes reminding him she was waiting for him to let her get up.
“Let’s go.”
***
Acid would be good, Elena thought.
Or something sharp, like maybe whatever mystical weapon had scarred his face. Either one of them would effectively take Vaughn’s controlling tongue out of the picture.
She wanted to sit down or run in the opposite direction, hell, she’d do anything as long as it wasn’t obeying Vaughn. Whoever had come up with this particular enchantment had created a special kind of hell.
Not long ago she would have thought herself immune to magic that weakened the Fae. Her mother had deliberately distanced herself from her and Emma to lessen the risk of them being exploited by their Fae heritage. Hearing she was actually half Fae hadn’t been any kind of setback as far as Elena was concerned.
At least it hadn’t been—until now. Her chest felt hot and the growing ache at the back of her skull had spread to her neck and spine, the pain worsening each time she tried to access her magic.
Which left her with a whopping two options. Find a way to slip the leash Vaughn had on her, or at the very least find a loophole in the magic he used to control her. Or she had to convince him not to make the trade.
With his sister’s life at stake, the latter seemed the less likely to succeed, but more than once she felt Vaughn’s gaze linger on her the way it had in Vegas. If there was even a small chance she might be able to take advantage of that, she at least had to try.
And hope it didn’t blow up in her face.
Exhaustion pulled at her, but she stayed a few steps ahead of Vaughn. The cottage looked like something from a horror movie. Fairly unassuming upon first glance, but once she crossed the threshold, the real action would begin.
The stairs even creaked under her weight as she paused at the top of the stairs, stepping aside for him to unlock the door. The narrow space didn’t leave much wiggle room between them.
He slid his bag off his shoulder, bumping into her as he stepped up and slid the key into the lock. “Sorry,” he said, then glanced down at her as if realizing he shouldn’t be apologizing.
He studied her cheek, his gaze lingering on the bruise she felt from where the side of her face had struck the window during the accident.
This time when he raised a hand to touch her, she didn’t try to stop him. She did, however, have to remind herself to breathe the second his finger grazed her cheek.
He traced the swollen area, his touch soft, careful.
And it was killing her. Self-preservation kicked in. “It only matters if I’m alive, right?”
Eyes so cold she barely recognized them snapped to hers. No playful wolf to be found, only detached, calculated Shadow.
“Unless this isn’t as easy as you want me to believe.” For a second she almost let herself believe it. Then she remembered the naïve woman who’d believed he was coming back the night he’d disappeared in Vegas. Never again.
“Activating the glyph was the only hard part.” He pushed the door open. “After you.”
Locking down the unexpected pull of the past, she stepped inside and found herself in a small room with a couch and television on one side and a small kitchenette and a table with two chairs on the other.
The door to the bathroom was ajar ahead of her. Two doors on the left led to bedrooms just big enough for a dresser and narrow space to walk around each double bed.
“Let me guess? I don’t get my own room?”
Vaughn closed and locked the door behind him, then crossed to the phone sitting on a table that might have been thrown up against the wall at some points and glued back together without thought for making sure the legs were even.
Chilled from the mud and bruised in more than a few places, Elena peeled her boots off and sank onto the couch. She probed the side of her head injured when Jeff Gordon lost control of the car.
She might have thanked whoever was responsible for knocking them off the road if she thought they were doing her a favor. Her luck didn’t usually run that way and she wasn’t so sure their mystery player was done with them yet.
But she’d been granted a slight reprieve and she planned on making the most of it. There was too much on the line to let herself be handed off to whoever had tasked Vaughn with her abduction.
She still hadn’t ruled out Morgana or one of her people, but the other sorceress likely wouldn’t bother with secrecy. She’d want to make an example of Elena and wouldn’t hide that she was coming for her.
Unfortunately, even if she could rule out Morgana, it didn’t exactly shorten the list. More than a few immortals still carried grudges against her for perceived slights and that wasn’t counting anyone who may have stumbled upon her other activities even if Morgana hadn’t.
There were enough immortals satisfied with the current power dynamic in Avalon who would be happy if Elena minded her own business.
She dragged in a breath, inwardly wincing at the ache in her chest.
Damn the wolf, and damn the way he kept looking at her when he didn’t think she was paying attention. The occasional flash of regret in his eyes, so brief she had to be imagining it, was probably just another head game designed to mess with her.
Like Vegas.
Do not go there.
“There was a complication. I need you at this address now,” Vaughn said into the phone, rattling off the name and location of the motel.
So another gargoyle was joining the party? Good times.
Vaughn glanced at her, then took a few steps away from the couch as he hung up and dialed another number.
She leaned forward, snapping the remote off the coffee table with a 3-inch burn mark ingrained in the scarred wood. She’d seen hole-in-the-wall convenience stores with security T.V.’s bigger than the television in front of her.
Still, they had paid options that looked interesting. She scanned the titles and picked one. The film began, diving right into the action.
Five…four…three…two…