Chapter Fourteen

“What about...” Ceno shuddered a bit, his stomach rolling at the thought. “What about chickens?” He was sure it wasn’t normal, but his stomach churned every time someone mentioned it. They were foul, all right. His idiot brother Deno nearly poisoned the four of them with one of the smelly things when they’d first arrived on the planet.

The dumbass thought mold covering the rancid bird had been its feathers growing back, and he’d scraped it off and fed the spoiled meat to them when it was his turn to cook almost three years ago.

That was a supper the four of them would never forget. Not only had they choked it down because it was the only thing they had to eat at the time, it had tasted horrible and had the four of them fighting over the two bathrooms in the garage they had been using as a residence at the time.

So far, only he and Reno had moved out of the quarters over the service station they all ran together. Deno and Xeno still lived in the cramped rooms above the shop. Whether it was because they liked each other’s company or just wanted to save their money was anyone’s guess.

“Nothing. Gramps just likes puns.” Sela shook her head. “If someone cries foul, F.O.U.L. they are saying something is wrong or otherwise inappropriate or unethical. And the word fowl or F.O.W.L. is another word for chicken and game birds.”

She tilted her head and stared at him for a moment, her brows drawing down in a frown. “Why didn’t you know that?”

“I told you, Sela. He’s not from around these here parts, are ya, cowboy?” Clyde gave him a gimlet-eyed glare. “Spit it out, son. No one here at this table is going to turn you in. Not if you can find gold on our land.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ceno met and held the other man’s gaze until the old man squirmed and pushed his bowl to the center of the table. Raising his arm, he caught the waitress’s attention. “Check please.”

 

“Let Ceno drive home,” Clyde said as they left the restaurant. “I have a feeling we’re going to need him behind the wheel.”

“Gramps...” Sela shook her head with a sigh. “You know I don’t take stock in those weird feelings you say you get.”

“I know.” Her grandfather stopped her, his hand on her arm. “Humor me. Just once, darlin’.”

The old man appeared as though he might go down on his knees if she didn’t give in.

“Well...” Sela bit her lip and glanced down at the hand he held and the keys clasped in her palm. “Okay.” Rising up on her toes, she kissed her grandfather on the cheek. “Just this once, and just for you.” She smiled. “And it’s not because I believe you feel something off. I just don’t want you worrying yourself sick and having a heart attack on the way home.”

“Thank you, sweetie.” He smiled and opened the back door after she unlocked the truck and tossed the keys to Ceno.

“You wreck it, you bought it, mister.”

“Right.” Ceno stared at the beat-up truck for a moment, wondering how much it was worth. Not much by his estimation. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

With the new technology he and his brothers held patents on, they had never been lacking in the cash department. That was another reason he and his brothers owed the people of Magic so much. Without them, they would be destitute. Never would they have thought anything on their derelict ship would have been worth anywhere near what they had made with the new computer technology they had brought to the planet. On Zolon, the technology on board their ship had been obsolete. It was one of the main reasons Reno had insisted Earth was a backward planet.

“Look,” Sela said, her hands on her hips and hazel eyes flashing. “It might not be much to you, but it’s all we’ve got. Besides,” she added, raising a brow, “the car you drive isn’t all that new. How do we even know you could afford to replace it if you wreck it?”

“The insurance would pay for it. Not that it would need to.” He opened the passenger door.

“Thanks. But I can manage,” Sela said as she grabbed what Deno called the oh shit handle, and climbed into the truck. He closed the door, glanced at Clyde, and smiled.

“At least she gave you the keys. She never lets me drive anymore.”

“That’s because you drove through the front wall of the laundromat last spring.”

“That wasn’t my fault.” Her grandfather snarled and fastened his seatbelt. “You can blame that on that damned fool cow that belongs to Tommy Hauser.” He pursed his lips and stared out through the back window.

Ceno rounded the truck with a chuckle and climbed up into the driver’s seat. While Sela was quite a bit taller than many women, he still had to adjust the seat for his larger frame.

After checking the mirrors and fastening his safety belt, Ceno started the truck. “Do we have any other stops, or are we going back to the house?”

“It’s back home, as far as I can tell.” Sela crossed her arms and stared out through the front glass.

Backing out of the spot proved more difficult than he would have liked. Some inconsiderate ass had parked behind the truck, giving them little room to maneuver the huge vehicle.

“Some people just need to go back to driving school.” Sela frowned at the offending vehicle. “Who parks like that?”

“Yeah,” her grandfather agreed from the back seat. “Who parks like that?”

Something stirred the hairs on the back of Ceno’s neck, and he paused, his foot on the brake and inhaled deeply. He wasn’t sure what it was, but something didn’t smell right.

Reaching up, he locked the doors.

“What’d you do that for?” Sela frowned up at him.

“Just in case.”

“Oh, no. Not you, too.” She shook her head. “Just in case, what?”

“I don’t know. But I think your grandfather is right. Something doesn’t smell right.”

Her nose twitched. “What do you mean by that? I don’t smell anything.”

“I meant, something doesn’t feel right, obviously.”

Shifting the truck to drive, he looked both ways and pulled out onto the road. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.

Twenty minutes later, Ceno glanced through the rearview mirror with a frown. “I’m not sure, but I think we’re being followed.”

They’d driven most of the way back to the ranch already with no incident. He hoped he was just paranoid.

Still, something had made Clyde worry enough to want to put a stranger behind the wheel of their truck. Ceno glanced back at him. What kind of strange psychic powers did the old man have, that he could sense trouble? Would it be enough to make Magic a perfect new home for him and his Sela?

“Just keep driving.” Sela looked over her shoulder. “It’s probably that idiot JC wanting payback for embarrassing him yesterday.”

“I wish it was that no good JC, but it isn’t,” her grandfather said, his voice barely above a whisper. It was almost as though he was afraid if he put a voice to his fears, they would come true. “Don’t take the mountain road. Take the next left. We’ll take the long, slow way around.”

Ceno shifted his foot to the brake and slowed the truck, looking for the turn.

“Crap,” Sela said as they slowed to a crawl in front of the huge barricade blocking the first left. Behind the large metal sign sat a dump truck, which blocked the way, entirely.

“They mean business this time.” Clyde pulled his hand from his pocket, his fingers clenched tight in a fist. “I think they plan to force us over the side.”

“Oh, God.” Sela stared through the windshield, her hand over her mouth. “Why can’t they just leave us alone,” she asked through her fingers as she stared through the windshield, her wide eyes filled with tears.

“Don’t worry, baby.” Ceno patted her knee as he mashed down on the gas.

The truck shot forward, and he reached for what little advantage his beast could afford him while still caged deep within his body.

The tiger raged, wanting out. It needed to fight, to rend and tear at its unseen adversary. It stayed leashed, knowing there was no enemy at the moment and his humanoid side was better able to protect their mate—for the moment.

Ceno’s sight grew more acute, his hearing more sensitive. He became hyperaware of everything going on around him. Every sense came into focus as the things around him slowed, shifting into slow motion.

The car following them gained slowly. The lines on the pavement, once blurring together, crawled by while they approached the steep mountain road. He squeezed the wheel, his knuckles whitening as they began the last few, dangerous miles to Sela’s home.

The steep cliff on the passenger side loomed in the darkness. How far was the drop? He hadn’t been paying attention when he’d followed Sela home the day before. Even though he drove dangerously fast, the lights behind them steadily continued to gain ground.

“Maybe you should have been the one driving.” Ceno gripped the wheel tighter, the tires chirping against the pavement on a particularly tight curve. “You know the road better than I do.”

He straightened the wheel, his body tense, his beast hovering just below the surface, waiting to pounce on any perceived enemy.

Something slammed into them from behind. The truck jerked, fishtailing, and threw them against the shoulder belts. They bounced off the side of the mountain, and Ceno almost lost control.

Another hit sent them crashing over the edge and down the steep side of the mountain. The truck rolled, tumbling down the rocky slope before finally settling on its roof, a few hundred feet from the road above them.

The scent of gas drove Ceno and his beast into a frenzy. They needed to get out of the truck, and fast. Ripping the belt holding him to the seat, he fell to the roof and immediately found Sela. Like her grandfather, she was unconscious and still hung upside down, her safety belt holding her in place.

Using his newly acquired shifter strength, he yanked the belt free of the truck and Sela fell into his arms, still limp. Holding her close, Ceno carried her away from the wreckage.

The acrid smell of smoke permeated the air as he searched for a suitable ledge where she wouldn’t tumble the rest of the way down the steep ravine.

Once he had Sela wedged between two large boulders, he turned to make his way back to the mangled truck, intending to fetch her grandfather.

Greedy flames licked the underside of the truck, covering the bottom of the bed and the gas tank. He’d have to hurry and get Clyde from the wreckage before the fuel tank exploded.

He’d barely finished the thought when halfway back to the vehicle, the hot metal screeched. A flash of light blinded him for a moment, and a ball of fire engulfed the entire truck as the sound of the gas tank exploding rent the air and threw him backward.

With no thought for his own safety, Ceno climbed to his feet and rushed toward the truck, intending to pull Clyde from the blaze if it killed him. Try as he might, he couldn’t get close. The searing heat drove him away.

He stood staring at the wreckage, the heat and smoke burning his eyes and lungs. How could he tell Sela her grandfather was still in the truck? How could he face her, knowing he had failed them both?

A sound from behind had him spinning around in a low crouch, ready to do battle. Someone had targeted his mate for death, and Ceno determined he would find his enemies and exact retribution.

His beast, always close to the surface since he’d met Sela, strained for freedom. It wanted—no—it needed to protect its mate.

“Where’s Gramps,” Sela asked as she struggled to stand. Blood ran down the side of her face from a small cut near her hairline.

The beast receded, and Ceno hurried to help her climb down from the two large boulders. He didn’t know what to say. How could he tell her Clyde had still been in the truck when it went up in a huge ball of flame?

His chest ached, and his throat burned as he reluctantly met her gaze. He didn’t have to say anything. Sela read the truth of it in his eyes.

She shifted her gaze to the truck, tears streaming from her eyes and mixing with the blood on her face. “No,” she whispered, falling to her knees on the rough stone before he could catch her.

“We can’t stay here.” Ceno reached down and drew her to her feet. She didn’t fight him, but she didn’t help him either. It was as though all the fight, all of the will, had left her.

Taking her by the arm, he led her away from the light of the flames. It was his fault her grandfather was gone. If only he’d been a better driver. He should have paid better attention to his surroundings when he made the drive the day before. Hell, it had been his idea to stay for dinner. Had they went straight back to the ranch, perhaps they could have avoided the ambush altogether.

“We can’t stay near the wreckage. Whoever ran us off the road might make another attempt to kill us. Here, we’re sitting ducks.” They needed to make it back to the ranch and set out to find a place to hide on her property. Staying in the ranch house might prove too dangerous.

His beast was so close to the surface, he had no doubt he could shift at the least provocation. Her life was in danger, and his tiger knew it.

“Oh, Gramps.” Sela sobbed and met his gaze. “Why didn’t we leave him at home?”

“The results of that could have been just as bad.” Ceno stared grimly through the darkness at an orange glow in the distance. He hoped it wasn’t her ranch house burning on the next rise.

Sela followed his gaze and gasped. “No!” Pulling her arm free of his grip, she clawed at the side of the cliff, attempting to climb the steep rock.

“You can’t get there in time to make a difference, baby.” He placed his hand on her arm, gently attempting to turn her toward him. “Our best chance to survive is to allow them to think we’re all dead.”