Epilogue
It took several weeks for Blake to pick up a lead to find Max, the bear shifter who had been working with Kali. He assumed she had them on the move still, bouncing from place to place, so no one was ever in one location for more than a day.
“Are you sure the GPS is right?” Riley snapped, as the phone insisted that a small dirt path was a highway. Riley had a death grip on the steering wheel. He wished more than anything he could simply be out of the car, and away from Blake. It was driving Riley slowly insane being trapped in the confines of the small car they had rented, stuck with Blake’s perpetually worsening mood swings.
“How the hell am I supposed to know? I’m just telling you, the map says turn left here,” Blake grumbled. His body was crying out constantly. The pain and ache of losing his power was worsening, as if every day he went without it, another piece of him was chipped away. The scowl he felt on his face was in danger of becoming permanent.
“Would you two stop, please,” Mari begged from the back seat. She leaned herself forward over the font seat bracing herself against Riley’s seat back to reach for the phone on the console between them. She glanced down at the device and felt a small sigh escape her.
“The turn was a mile back. You’re going to have to turn around and back track. It looks like it’s just trying to find you any way to get back to that road,” Mari explained, passing the phone back up to the front seat.
“Nope! I’m done,” Riley fumed, slamming on the brakes. All three of them flung forward as the car came to an abrupt halt. “Someone else is driving. I can’t take directions from this lunatic anymore. You can’t even manage something as basic as telling me where to turn! What the hell, man?”
Blake growled in frustration and wrenched the car door open. He pushed himself out and slammed it shut behind him. He walked several paces away from the car. He had no idea why he was so useless at the moment, but his irritation settled squarely on Riley’s shoulders. The frustration was overwhelming, and he felt every nerve in his body screaming for him to just punch something. He settled on a nearby tree.
Mari watched Blake’s self-abuse unfold outside of the car. She wished desperately she knew how to get through to him. It was as if, on one hand, she could connect with him in their dreams like no one else; and on the other hand, he was erratic, and flew off the handle at the slightest provocation. She pushed herself up and climbed into the front seat and settled down next to Riley, her eyes turning to meet his.
“I know. I know,” Riley sighed in frustration as he met her clearly disapproving eyes. It would have all been so much easier if she could have just hated Blake right along with him. Riley couldn’t understand how someone as kind as Mari could put herself through the abuse of dealing with Blake.
Mari reached across the small car, and laid her hand over Riley’s, which was still gripping the steering wheel. She and Riley had been growing so much closer. She felt like something must be wrong with her as she swung like a pendulum back and forth between her feelings for both Riley and Blake. She had no idea how to navigate the muddied situation between them, while still managing to get to Kali and find her sister. It was taking every ounce of patience, focus, and determination she’d ever managed.
Riley’s eyes examined the soft lines of her face, and felt his anger ebbing slowly. He was struck by the feeling that her eyes seemed to look straight through to his soul at times. He wasn’t sure if it was just her, or if all empaths were that way, but it took him by surprise every time.
“He’s ridiculous,” Riley whined, “You can’t argue that. I know he told me to go straight. You better just drive, so that I don’t kill him before we get to find your sister. I could take him right now.”
Mari pinched the bridge of her nose as she felt a headache forming behind her eyes. They were driving her insane with their incessant bickering. She couldn’t see how they had once been friends. All the two men did was snap at each other and pass back-handed insults to each other. She feared if they didn’t find Max or Kali soon so that they all could blow off some steam. It was necessary for so many reasons.
“Fine, I’ll drive,” Mari offered, glancing over her shoulder at Blake who was still striking a tree repeatedly, “But you have to go get him, and you have to sit up here with me. I’m not going to get growled at for the next hour.”
“Women,” Riley sighed, pushing open the car door, “So demanding. ‘Be nice…Apologize…Make it right. Why can’t you just let us box it out and be done?” Riley felt Mari’s small hand swat at his butt as he rose from the car. He glanced back at her with a teasing laugh.
“I’ll get you for that one later,” he laughed, as he turned back and leaned down into the car. His eyes soaked up everything he saw in her. Her pale skin, smattered with freckles, small red marks still fading from the burns Blake left behind; the mess of angry, frizzy, blonde curls. He felt her edging further and further into his heart. It was nothing he’d ever felt before, and he was terrified of what it meant.
“Promises, promises,” Mari teased as she lifted herself up across the console and settled into the driver’s seat. She looked up at Riley, feeling that warm pull that had been steadily drawing her into him. She could feel the wave of his emotions, gently sweeping over her and she felt as calm as she could in the circumstances. She wasn’t sure how, but she was going to have to figure out how to handle the growing issue of being desperate for Blake when she was sleeping, and falling harder and harder for Riley while she was awake.
THE END