Page 36 of The Wolf's Kidnapped Mate

Well, maybe I would complain in my head.

Whatever.

I navigated the gear shift to reverse and turned with my arm over the back of the seat. I could feel Kylie watching me the entire time as bushes and low-hanging branches scratched the vehicle. Gravel kicked against the undercarriage. Dirt silenced the tires and then I turned back around to shift the Jeep into drive.

With my hand on the gear shift, I carefully maneuvered the backroad that Jermaine had instructed me to take. Though they were made of dirt and would possibly puncture a tire a lot faster than the main roads, it would keep us covered. We had to move quickly and carefully. I couldn’t let Bernadetti get a hold of Kylie.

Especially not after the way she’d reacted last night.

She was quiet as we traveled away from the cabin. I cast a glance in her direction, noting that the sunny-side-up smile that usually sat on her face was a dead-set frown.

Yeah, I wouldn’t be happy about this either. “I get it.”

She blinked, looked over at me, and cleared the frown from her lips. “What’s that?”

“I said, I get it.”

“What do you get?”

I gestured to the trees surrounding either side of the skinny dirt road. “This isn’t ideal. You were dropped into a foreign place and left without much instruction on what to do.”

“Oh?”

“I knew the moment you got here.”

She shrank into her seat. I didn’t have to look at her to know that she did it. I could feel it.

And I hated it.

“You knew I was here,” she said in a low voice. “You didn’t think to visit me?”

“I didn’t want to expose you.”

She sniffed and looked out the window. “I guess I should thank you for being so protective.”

“Yes, you should. I’ve done everything in my power to make sure you’re not hurt, Kylie.”

“My body might not be hurt, but I’m having a really hard time over here trusting you when you’ve embarrassed me and tugged my heartstrings and made me upset and…and…”

She squeaked.

Fuck, I shouldn’t have said that. I shouldn’t have told her anything. I should have just left her alone in the quiet of the car while we made our way out of the state.

But no, I had to go and make her cry again.

I gripped the steering wheel. “Kylie—”

“Save your apologies. Please. I get it now. I get how you and Liam just wanted me to live a normal life.I get it.”

I slouched forward in defeat. “Don’t you want a normal life? Aren’t you tired of running?”

“I could ask you the same question.”

“It’s boring.”

She barked with a quick laugh. “Then you have my answer.”

“So, you want to be chased? You want to be in this life forever?”

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