****
“I have to get back,” Cam said. Raul nodded, glancing at Keira nervously in the back seat of the car. “Reginald…” Cam shrugged.
“Reginald is courting his own disgrace,” Raul said. Cam half-shrugged.
“He’s still got powerful backing in the Pack,” Cam pointed out. “Powerful enough that no one is going to call him out.”
“I will,” Raul said, meeting the other werewolf’s gaze. He sighed. “As soon as I’m well enough, that is.” He could feel hunger gnawing at his stomach still, in spite of the food that Cam had managed to get into him while they made their escape from Reginald’s shed.
He’d been surprised to open his eyes—coming out of a hungry, weak doze—only to see his former second standing a few feet away from him. “You look like shit,” Cam had said lightly, the seriousness of his face betraying his playful tone.
“I feel worse,” Raul had replied. “I’ve lost a good ten pounds already.”
“Yeah, well—maybe next time when you go against Reginald, just call him out from the beginning. Save yourself some trouble.” Cam had begun unwinding the silver that bound him to the pillar carefully, making sure none of the metal touched his actual skin.
“Why are you helping me?” Cam had shrugged.
“Old time’s sake, or something.” He had met Raul’s gaze for a moment before looking away once more. “Things are getting worse between the panthers and us. Reginald is just…” he had shrugged again. “He’s risking revealing us to everyone.”
“The elementals haven’t shown up yet?” Cam had shaken his head.
“No. That worries me. I think Reginald is holding them out of this—and I think that panther Alpha is too. It’s not right.”
“So, your sense of justice is getting in the way of obeying commands?”
“Something like that,” Cam had replied. Raul’s former second had helped him into a car, and Raul had devoured the meat and sweet potatoes that Cam had brought for him. Days of near-starvation had made his connection to Keira’s mind more and more tenuous, and just as he’d dropped off, Raul had felt it go away—not in the permanent, dead sense, but with the kind of numbness that he associated with cold weather training.
Now that he was in Keira’s presence once more, Raul could feel the link between them starting to come back. “I’ve got a place to go to,” Raul said. “Friend of mine—we were in the same unit. He’s got a cabin he bought, next town over. I’ll hole up there with Keira for a few days until we can get in touch with the elementals.”
“Don’t tell me too much,” Cam said, shaking his head. “I need to be able to deny I know where you are.”
“That’s why I didn’t say the name of the town,” Raul said, smiling wryly. “Or where the cabin is. I’m not getting out of the car until we get there.” That would leave less trace of his scent; it would make him and Keira both more difficult to track. They both needed a few days—maybe a week—to recover from the punishments their own people had doled out to them. And there was another thing; Raul sniffed reflexively. We’re going to need to have a talk in private, once she’s strong enough to talk. The sight of the wheals on Keira’s back sent new rage through Raul’s mind; he wanted to go back to the panther Alpha’s home, barge in through the front door, and rip the man’s throat out. They had done everything they could—the assholes—to make it harder for Keira to heal from the beating they’d given her.
“Keep your head low, man,” Cam said, opening the driver’s side door and starting to climb out. “Wait until you’re sure you can get through a fight before you stir off the property you go to ground at.”
“You’re not going to be my second?” Cam chuckled wryly.
“If Reginald is in your sights? Sorry, man. I’m not interested in the Alpha.”
“Fair enough,” Raul said. He watched Cam climb out of the car and gathered up the meager remains of his strength, climbing over the center console slowly and twisting around until he was able to sit properly in the driver’s seat. Cam had already slunk off into the darkness, out of the range of Raul’s vision and hearing. He glanced at Keira, sprawled in the back seat, oblivious—or so he hoped—to what was happening. She needed rest, she needed a thorough bath, and she needed food; all of those things would be at the cabin. She’ll need even more food now, Raul thought, shifting the car out of park and turning it off of the shoulder of the rural highway. God. She’s pregnant. Pregnant with my baby. Raul didn’t doubt it at all; he could barely scent the shift in her pheromones, but he knew that if she was pregnant, it was his child inside of her. Raul sighed, calling on the self-discipline he’d learned the hard way—in Basic Training—and pointing the car towards the next town. Just being with Keira once more, even broken and battered as they both were, was enough to make him feel better. Raul glanced at Keira in the rearview mirror once more; he could barely believe that she was real, and really there. He told himself that he would wait until both of them had a chance to recover before he broached the topic of her pregnancy; it changed everything between them—and in their situations with their respective groups. Harold and Reginald both have to be eliminated, Raul thought grimly. It’s either get rid of them, or they get rid of us.