Jada held back panic by the skin of her teeth as she put the truck in gear. She’d never liked driving a stick, and liked it even less while naked. The wolves moved in closer as the truck started to move, no longer as afraid of Francine and the shotgun. Jada struggled to get out of first without stalling, and gritted her teeth as the engine whined and the clutch stuck. The truck crept along, bouncing and rolling onto the road, and Jada gripped the steering wheel until it felt like her hands would fall off.

Francine adjusted her grip on the shotgun, expression grim even as she said, “This is the slowest getaway in the history of the world.”

“That’s not helping,” Jada said, blinking her eyes to try and clear her vision. Cooper groaned from the floor of the passenger seat, but he didn’t stir and he didn’t open his eyes. “Hold on.”

She managed to coax the truck into a higher gear and gained speed, and the wolves slowed to sit on the empty road behind them. Jada didn’t want to relax just yet, not with the adrenaline pumping through her veins and making her a hell of a lot braver than she felt. It wasn’t until they were at least a mile away that she started to breathe normally. “You can put the shotgun down. Make sure it’s safe.”

Francine did, then started pulling on her clothes, tossing pants and a sweater up to Jada as well. She peered over the seat at Cooper. “What did they do to him? Is he going to be okay?”

“They shot him with something.” Jada’s heart jumped to her throat. Shot him at least twice, if her memory served. She couldn’t remember if there were two shots or three. “I don’t know what, but he’s totally out.”

“We don’t know where to go,” Francine said. “And we don’t have any money without him. What are we going to do?”

“We’ll figure it out. He’s going to wake up.” She really, really hoped he woke up. “Is he still bleeding?”

Francine clambered over the seat to wedge herself between Jada and Cooper’s giant mass on the seat, nearly kicking the gear shift in the process. Jada’s thoughts whirled as she tried to figure out what the hell to do. Save Cooper’s life first, then maybe find a place to hunker down and recover. Try to call Cooper’s friends? Keep driving? Take a stand against the wolves? Did they need to find a doctor for Cooper? She started to hyperventilate as the list kept growing, and she shook herself. She had to focus.

She had to focus. “How is he?”

“He’s still bleeding. There are two places, and then there’s a big bruise thing.”

Jada cursed under her breath. Think. She had to think. “How bad is the bleeding? Is it fresh red or darker?”

“Still red.” Francine looked back at her, her eyes wide and her nose red. “I’m sorry, Jada. If I hadn’t asked to play in the snow, he would be okay.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jada said. She squinted at the green sign up ahead. A town. Maybe there was a cheap motel where they wouldn’t ask too many questions about a half-naked, unconscious man being dragged into a room by an eighteen-year-old and a kid. “We’re going to figure this out. I don’t think we can keep driving too long without at least patching up where he’s bleeding. He should have healed by now.”

“Maybe bears are different,” Francine whispered. She hopped into the back seat and reached through the window to the bed of the truck, trying to reach Cooper’s duffel. “Do you think he has any bandages or anything?”

Jada tried another gear, wincing as the truck made a grinding and choking sound, and really hoped she didn’t kill the truck completely. “Get my bag.”

“You don’t have—”

“The side pocket, Francine. The... tampons.” Jada flushed, shaking her head. “Get out two of my tampons.”

Francine gave her a cockeyed look. “I don’t think boys need those.”

Jada’s hands shook as she moved the gear shift again, and the truck jumped forward. Okay. She was getting the hang of it. Some of the gears stuck, and the clutch didn’t like to do anything at all. Her calves started to ache with the effort. “Can you see where he’s bleeding? Put a tampon in the hole. Not too far, but enough so it can soak up the blood.”

Her cousin made a thoughtful noise, craning her neck to see the bullet wounds in Cooper’s side and back, and she shook her head. “He’s not gonna be happy to see this.”

“Well, he’s just going to have to deal with it,” Jada said under her breath. The podunk little town rolled by, no hint of a motel or a pharmacy where they could get supplies, and whatever hint of control Jada thought she had started to slip away. What the hell were they going to do? “Is his phone in here somewhere?”

“I can’t see anything on the floor. He takes up a lot of space.” Francine’s voice wobbled. “But I think…I think it’s working. There’s no blood coming out.”

“Good.” Jada released her death grip on the steering wheel so she could squeeze Francine’s hand. “We can do this, Franny. We can. We just have to be brave for a little while longer. What do we need to do?”

Lists helped. Sometimes lists could really help.

Francine wiped at her nose. “Help Cooper more.”

“Right. We need to look at his wounds and patch him up, and then we need to find a way to wake him up, right? Okay.” Jada nodded, trying to convince herself as well that everything would be okay and she could be brave a bit longer. “So we need a safe place to do that. A motel if we can find one. And we’ll need supplies, so a pharmacy or grocery store or something.”

“We don’t have any money,” Francine said. “Do you?”

“Cooper does,” Jada said. “We just have to find his wallet. Check the dash over there.”

They went on, step by step, to plan what had to happen next, and Francine kept patting Cooper’s face to try and wake him up. Cooper’s phone slid out from under the seat and Francine managed to find a motel several miles down the road, and Jada coaxed the truck into going faster as Cooper groaned and moved restlessly.

They were still a few miles away when Francine leaned against Jada’s arm and whispered, “How did they follow us so far? The wolves knew we were here. What do they want?”

“I don’t know, Franny.” Jada took a shaky breath. “I don’t think they want me or you. Maybe they’re mad at Cooper?”

“They don’t even know him.” Francine draped another shirt over him as they started to pass more cars on the road.

“They used to,” Jada said. “He grew up there, a long time ago. Maybe the wolves are mad he went away, or that he came back, or who knows. They don’t seem to have much reason for what they do, Franny.”

Francine patted Cooper’s cheek, tugging on his beard. “He was really scary as a bear.”

“Yeah. Handy, wasn’t he?” Jada tried to smile. She checked the mirrors as the truck rolled into town and she pulled up to the motel. It didn’t have many rooms or any inside hallways, and the small office looked almost as scary as walking back out of town to where the wolves waited.

She geared up for some acting and checked Cooper’s wallet. Cash would be better than a card, so at least if the wolves were somehow tracking them by the credit cards, they wouldn’t be as easy to find. She adjusted her clothes and shoved her feet into her shoes, then pointed Francine to the back of the truck. “I’ll go into the office and get a room for the night. You wait here with the shotgun, and start hollering if anyone tries to get in here. Okay?”

Francine nodded, though her teeth nearly chattered, and Jada squeezed her hand. “You’re doing so well, Franny. I promise. Just be brave another ten minutes, then we can barricade ourselves in the room and wake Cooper up.”

Francine took a deep breath and picked up the gun. “It’s easier to be brave with a shotgun.”

“That’s the truest thing I’ve heard all week,” Jada said.

Her knees still knocked together as she slid out of the truck and shut the door, clutching Cooper’s wallet like a lifeline. She could do it. Just like she told Francine, she had to be brave for ten more minutes. Jada walked into the office and immediately wanted to recoil: two men lounged inside, one smoking a cigar and filling the air with dense smoke, he other raised his eyebrows as he looked at her. “You need help with something, honey?”

“A room,” she said, ignoring the “honey.” She’d grown up with men a hell of a lot scarier than these two, and she was a leopard besides. She could crush their skulls with her jaws alone if she wanted to. Jada eased a little closer to her leopard side. She didn’t need permission to shift or draw on her other half. She smiled but let her teeth show, hoping the men got the message. “My husband passed out and needs to sober up. You have a luggage cart we can use?”

The guys traded looks and chuckled, shaking their heads in understanding. “Yeah. You parked in front of Room 3?”

Jada nodded, checking through the window until she could see Francine’s white face staring at her. “Yep.”

He handed her a key attached to a giant wooden paddle with a bright 3 in red paint. “There you go. Fifty bucks up front. Ice machine is over there.”

“Great.” She tossed the fifty dollars in cash onto the counter and took the key, then checked the window again. “Is there a pharmacy close to here? He’s going to have a hell of a hangover when he wakes up.”

“Right at the stop sign, half a mile down. You can’t miss it.” He nodded, tapped some ash off his cigar, and offered a wide smile. “Luggage cart is right over there. Let me know if you need a hand.”

And the way he moved his eyebrows suggested exactly how he intended to offer that hand. Jada let more of the leopard show. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

She left without giving him the opportunity to suggest anything else, and checked the parking lot before she grabbed the luggage cart and brought it to the truck. She went to the passenger side and frowned at Cooper’s unmoving bulk, and gestured for Francine to clamber out. “Get the bags, Franny, and open up the door. I’m going to try to wake him up so he can stagger by himself. I don’t think any of us wants to touch this damn thing.”

Francine darted around, managing to hide the shotgun as she dodged into the room, then held the door open, breathless as she searched for any hint of the wolves.

Jada crouched next to the truck and grunted as she shoved Cooper upright, though she took care with the wounds. “I need you to wake up, Cooper.”

He groaned, his hands flexing, and Jada really hoped he listened through the haze of whatever drugs they used to knock him out. Jada touched his cheek and leaned closer so she could whisper in his ear. “Let’s go to bed, husband. Just stand up and walk over to me.”

His eyelids moved, and Cooper grunted and his legs moved. Jada wanted to laugh even as sweat soaked her clothes from pure nerves. “You can do it, baby.”

Cooper staggered to his feet, swaying, and leaned on Jada. She propped him against the luggage cart, making sure he gripped the rail, and used it to keep him moving in the right direction. Her heart raced. It was working. It was actually working.

She ran her nails down his side, trying to hold the blanket up around his waist so Francine didn’t get an education, and admired the variety of tattoos across the broad expanse of his back and sides. Strange that Franny liked the dinosaur best. Jada shook her head and maneuvered the cart out of the way so she could walk Cooper into the dingy room, making a face when she saw the stained comforters and carpet. Quite a difference from where they’d stayed the previous few nights.

Jada aimed Cooper at one of the beds and Francine helped knock him down like a falling tree. They rolled him onto his stomach so Jada could look at his wounds, and Francine ran out to lock up the truck. They barricaded the door and Jada took a deep breath as she stared at her unconscious husband. So far married life wasn’t what she expected at all.