Page 6 of Betrayed Kidnapped Mate

I glance into the back. Rosa and Kaila are also buckled in. A little teddy bear sits on Kaila’s lap.

“Hello?” Olivia asks, waving her hand in my face. I blink at her. It’s not often someone dares to do something so bold when I can bench press three times their body weight. “Let’s go,” she says, glancing over each shoulder.

Amon’s scent is still faint, but she’s right. The more space we can put between this Jeep and anyone from Amon’s pack, the better.

I pull out of the driveway, glancing up one last time and catching the door hanging off the hinges. I roll my lips, sigh to myself, and wish that my chance to see Rosa again could have been in any other circumstance.

We drive for a full hour before Olivia speaks up.

“So, how long until they wake up?”

I glance in the rearview mirror at Rosa and Kaila, who are still fast asleep.

“Couple of hours,” I say, “but, if we’re lucky, it will be longer. I can’t imagine Rosa is going to cooperate when she wakes up and finds she’s in the Jeep with me.”

“No, I don’t think she will,” Olivia says, chewing on her lip.

“Thank you,” I say quietly, “for telling her to come with me.”

“Oh,” Olivia says, shaking her head and waving her hands in the air. “Oh, no. Let’s get one thing clear—you and me? We are not on the same team. Do you get that? I hate your stupid guts for what you did to Rosa. That’s not going to change. I just wanted to go with you because, as far as I know, you’re not going to hurt us, and you’re built like a truck.”

“I—”

“I’m not done,” Olivia says, glaring at me fiercely. “You never deserved Rosa.”

“Are you done now?”

“I’m on intermission,” she says, still glaring at me.

“Is Kaila mine?”

A silence settles between us tangibly. I feel like I could reach out and touch it. It’s thick and suffocating, telling me what I need to know.

“That’s none of your business,” Olivia finally says.

“I think if I have a child, that’s pretty much my business,” I laugh, but it comes out cold. The words ring through my ears again, and I glance in the back seat.

If I have a child.

But I can feel it—Kaila is my blood. I can feel it like it’s my own arm we’re talking about.

“Well, if you have a child and you take off, leaving her and her mother alone and defenseless, then I’m not actually sure it is your business,” Olivia quips. Then, almost as an afterthought, she adds, “theoretically.”

I make a noise in my throat, and Olivia rolls her eyes like I’ve said something vile. Olivia has never been a fan of mine, but then again, Olivia was never a big fan of men in general. I always got the feeling that something happened to her in her past, something that made her inherently distrustful.

When we were dating, Olivia eventually got to the point where she could tolerate me. It seems I’ve lost all that progress and fallen back below my starting point.

“Have you been with her the whole time?” I ask quietly.

“Yes,” Olivia says, “unlike someone.”

“Wouldn’t it have been safer to leave the state?” I ask, glancing over at Olivia, who’s turning the vents away from her. I reach into the back seat and hand her the hoodie I discarded this morning. I can see she’s cold, but as someone over 300 pounds, I run hot, and I can’t turn the air conditioning down.

“This smells like sweat,” she grimaces. I shrug, and she snaps it out of my hands, gingerly placing it on her lap like it’s covered in bugs.

“So?” I ask, glancing at her again. I can’t help it—I’m curious. Why not just leave California?

Amon had a pretty big territory when I left, but even he didn’t cross state lines. Leaving California would have made it a lot more difficult for Amon to track them down.

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