Page 101 of Our Deceptive Heat

“What do you need?” Kelly asks loudly.

“Kelly, I need to vanish. My plan crashed and burned.”

“Go to the airport. There will be a ticket waiting for you under the name Sunny Wilder. Don’t worry about security, I’ll have it handled. You just get on that flight.”

I close my eyes, knowing I’ll soon be gone. This phase of my life will end. Auryn Raines will have to disappear, perhaps forever.

I pull out my phone and dial the second number I know by heart. It rings forever but finally picks up.

“Don’t hang up!” Kit shouts. “I’m running. He’s just about to get on the ice. I can catch him.”

“Kit-”

“I got him!” The alpha shouts into the phone.

I drag the phone from my ear and wince.

“Ryn?” Raider asks with deep concern.

“I’m running, Raider. This is goodbye. Can you pass those messages on for me?”

“Of course. You stay safe and hidden. You need anything. Come back here, and we’ll hide you. You’ll fit nicely in a locker!”

I smile even as I blink the burn from my eyes. “I love you, Raider. So much.”

“I love you, too, cousin. Now be safe and be smart.”

I end the call before I can get more emotional than I already am and continue walking through the theater. When I see a bin, I dump the phones, the microphone, and all my ID into a bin. The concert is ending. I don’t have much time.

For a split second, I think of taking a cab, but like he promised so many weeks ago, my hero, this strange old man from a little village called Carmine is waiting near his car. Leaning on it. I don’t know why, but I’m so fucking relieved to see him.

“Tony?”

He opens his arms and pulls me into a hug.

Fate has decided. In more than one way.

It’s helping me get away from them. Maybe this is all the story we get together.

He holds the door open. An offer, a truce, a kindness that makes it all hurt more. He doesn’t say a word, but the disappointment drips from his pores.

After a brief hesitation, I slide into the passenger seat.

“Why are you helping me?” I ask in a low voice when he starts driving.

“Because I don’t know what the hell they were thinking. Those idiots!”

I swallow hard. “It doesn’t matter now. I won’t be coming back.”

Tony swallows hard. “Isn’t there some way of…”

“You know all the details, Tony,” I say in exhaustion. “This was my last shot, my last chance. I’ve run out of time, and I smell like an omega now, nothing is getting rid of this scent. I have this ridiculous urge to do omega things like collect things for a nest I don’t even have. My days of hiding are over as soon as he knows. I’m as good as gone.”

Tony’s fingers flex on the steering wheel, his brow creasing. “I wish I could do more to help you than drive you to the airport.”

“There is something you can do,” I say hesitantly.

“Anything,” Tony says quickly.

---