Page 10 of Knot Playing Fair 2

“Drive,” Zalen said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“You read my mind,” I muttered, trying to ignore the alpha-shaped time bomb sitting behind me. I put the SUV in gear and pulled onto Missouri Avenue, heading toward the highway.

When I glanced in the rearview mirror, it was to see headlights pulling out after us.

I must’ve had my eyes off the road for too long, because Zalen craned around to look out the back window. Neither of us spoke for an uncomfortable beat, the silence broken only by the purr of the engine and Emiel’s ragged breathing.

“It could be nothing,” Zalen said after a long moment.

“And it could be something,” I shot back, bile churning in my stomach.

Another pause.

“Yeah.” Zalen took a deep breath. “Okay. Head for Collinsville. Don’t lead them toward Ladue, or the Hope Project. We’ll drive to the police station there and see if they peel off.”

“Right,” I grated. “Just a perfectly normal evening of chauffeuring a battered alpha to a police station twenty miles away while being shadowed by gangbangers. Why the hell not?”

I put my foot down and drove, wishing I’d never answered the damned knock on my bedroom door this morning.

FIVE

Luca

MIA LOOKED UP FROMher phone, her face drawn with worry. “Zalen says they’re on their way back now. No sign of the car that was following them earlier.”

I gave a tight nod to show I’d heard her, knowing there was no way I’d be able to get words out without my voice shaking. Zalen and Byron had been gone for hours. At first, I’d been the one texting Zalen for updates, but ever since he’d warned us that they were taking a detour to the Collinsville police department because someone was tailing them, my hands had been trembling too hard for me to type legibly.

It didn’t take a genius to guess who’d be interested in finding out where Emiel lived. Not after he’d beaten the shit out of several members of my old gang when they’d cornered Mia and me and threatened to drag me back to Blaze.

So, Mia had taken over texting duties, relaying updates as the others drove farther into Illinois and parked by the front door of a police station. My blood ran cold when she reported that the car following them had taken up a position across the street instead of immediately peeling off their pursuit. Byron and Zalen had tried to wait them out at first, but Zalen eventually got out of the SUV and went inside to get help.

It was all too easy to picture a car window rolling down... the dark cylinder of a gun barrel peeking out... bullets flying before Zalen could get through the door.

But apparently whoever had sent out the goon squad was more interested in gathering information than a body count. I tried to tell myself that it was sheer paranoia to think they were after me, specifically. They knew Emiel was involved with me somehow—and wasn’tthata joke-and-a-half. But he’d come to my defense, and he’d left with Mia and me in tow.

Deep down, I knew it was true.It’s not paranoia when they really are out to get you.

“ETA, twenty minutes,” Mia said. “Emiel’s still refusing medical attention. I’m sure you must find this development as shocking as I do.”

A choked noise that might have been third cousin to a laugh escaped my throat, and I buried my face in my shaking hands. I trusted Byron to be able to tell for sure that they’d lost their tail. He’d lived in that seedy underworld just like I had. He’d almostdiedin that world. If they were still being followed, he’d know it.

It was going to be okay now, I told myself firmly.

I looked up as Mia pushed the phone away and gave me her full attention. Both of us needed a solid night of sleep. I could only imagine how the alphas were feeling after so many days in the heat nest. I shuddered, pushing away an unwanted image of all of us tangled together in a happy pile of limbs, fast asleep and without a care in the world.

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