Possession (Shifters Forever More Book 3) Page 4

  He handed her the phone. “Let’s see what your friend can do.”

  She looked askance at him, and he wished he hadn’t said it so bitterly.

  Chapter Ten

  What the hell was wrong with Slate? You’d have thought she was trying to kill his brother the way he was acting about her asking Tito for help.

  She dialed the number she’d learned by heart long ago, from the first time Tito had ever helped her. She’d been a teenager back then, the bastard daughter of an illicit affair between her father and a woman who’d merely dropped her off at her father’s doorstep as an infant. She was his only child and a disappointment to the family because she had none of the sorceress skills the rest of the family had. A pathetic little light-haired, light-skinned, light-eyed misfit in a family of olive-skinned brunettes.

  Not to mention, the visions she had. Those gave the family a lot of amusement and added to the repertoire of nicknames they had for her. Nicknames she’d rather not remember anymore.

  She’d met Tito while on her European escapades, which had mostly been fueled by a need to find someone to call family. The closest she came to a family were the druids in the United Kingdom.

  “Pronto,” Tito’s voice came across the line, suspicion underscoring his tone, the phrase demanding the caller to talk.

  “It’s me.”

  “Svetlana.” He spoke her name with an Italian accent that was like smooth dark chocolate melting on a hot day. “Che cosa succede?” What’s going on?

  “I hate to do this again, so soon, but—”

  “You need something, cara?”

  Lana exhaled. He was the closest thing she had to a father or an uncle, and definitely the only one who acted like a father toward her. “I do. Are you in Italy? Not that it matters, but I need help not far from Bear Canyon Valley.” The valley wasn’t far from where she was relative to Italy, she supposed. But when you were on foot, it was pretty far. Not that the distance mattered. This had nothing to do with distance. “And I can’t call on Griz or Mae or any of them.”

  “So I am to keep this a secret? And whose phone are you using?”

  “The one we took off a bad guy.”

  “We?”

  She glanced at Slate, who was studying her with a narrow-eyed flinty gaze. “A friend and me. We’re in a bit of a jam. I’m going to put you on speaker.” She pressed an icon on the screen. “I need a car, a phone, and some cash. And privacy.”

  “Where exactly do you want these items delivered?”

  Bewildered. “I…uh, let me see.”

  Slate reached for the phone, pressed a few buttons then handed it back to her, whispering, “These are the coordinates to the nearest road.”

  She read them to Tito.

  “Un minuto.” There was silence on Tito’s end then he came back. “Be there in two hours.”

  “I owe you.”

  “Il assurdo.” Nonsense. “You do not owe me anything. What else can I help you with?”

  Slate took the phone from her. “We’ll tell you when we have a secure line. I don’t trust this phone.”

  “Assolutamente.” Absolutely. “I will await your call.”

  The line went dead.

  “Thank you.” Slate took her hand. “Really. Thank you.”

  “My skills?” Lana felt like she was beating a dead horse, but dammit, she wanted her skills back. They were all she had. Wait. All she had until she learned she could take shifter animals hostage.

  He worked his jaw, and, at the same time, his Adam’s apple bobbed a couple of times. “About that…”

  She crossed her arms, planted her feet shoulder-width apart. “Now what?”

  “I promise you. I won’t keep them longer than I need to. I just…it’s very important I find my brother. And every edge helps. Every single little edge I can get. And what if the visions reveal something you don’t understand but makes sense to me. Or something you might not know to look for?”

  There was something about this man. Something about his earnestness. Something about the fact he had his bear and he could tie her up or even kill her if he wanted to and keep her skills that way, and yet he was humbling himself and asking for her permission.

  “Fine. But I stay with you until I get them back. You are not disappearing on me.”

  “Understood. Now let’s go.” He took off at a fast clip. “I have a couple of questions while we walk.”

  Walk? This was more like a jog. Lana struggled to keep up with his long strides. It didn’t help that he was a good foot taller than she was. Though she had to admit, trailing him gave her a nice view of the way he filled out his jeans.

  He glanced back, and a tiny smile played on his lips. Her cheeks grew hot as she turned her gaze away, concentrating on the foliage instead.

  “I can’t really keep this pace up and talk,” she said, trying to keep from panting.

  He slowed down a tiny bit. “Better?”

  “Mm-hmm. What did you want to talk about?”

  “Your skills.”

  “Which ones?” Because now she knew she had the ability to render shifters into humans.

  “Good question. Probably both of them, but let’s start with the visions first. What all do you know about them? How detailed and accurate are they?”

  “I don’t know anything about them.”

  “Hold on.” He took her arm. “What do you mean you don’t know anything about them?”

  She stopped, jerked out of his grasp. “I wasn’t supposed to be a seer of any kind. I’m descended from sorcerers. Being anything other than a sorceress has made me a target of mockery. I couldn’t exactly explore a skill that was frowned upon. I didn’t acknowledge it for the longest. I still won’t talk about it with my family. If I actually have contact with them again.” She doubted she would, since she’d betrayed them by sneaking Allegra out. Even though her family had been in the wrong.

  He toed the ground. “I see. Have you thought about asking someone for insight?”

  Lana struggled to keep control of her temper. Of course, he wasn’t aware she’d recently arrived from Europe. Asking for help hadn’t been on her mind. She’d had to deal with Allegra’s issue. Then with helping Ciara out. When would she have had the time to think about her skills? Not to mention, though she did mention, “They’ve been much more active than usual lately.”

  “And mostly what have they been about?”

  “You. Your brother.”

  He looked at the phone. “We should get moving again. Don’t want to be late for when your beau’s car arrives.”

  She scoffed. “He’s hardly a beau.”

  Slate wasn’t talking anymore, it seemed. He’d begun taking those long strides through the forest.

  And she did what she could to catch up.

  Chapter Eleven

  Slate had a lot on his mind as they walked toward the designated meeting spot. In all the flurry involved in losing his bear and then dealing with Saizon, one thing had slipped his mind. It now came to the forefront. Her ability to take shifter animals was not a skill he’d sensed when he’d jacked her seer skills. How’d that happen? How was it he hadn’t sensed this? Or took it when he’d taken her other skill? And how did she not know she had it all her life. Maybe she didn’t have it all her life?

  He scratched his head. A mystery to be sure, but right now, far more urgent, was finding Dunn.

  That was when he noticed the sounds of her footsteps on his heels had gone silent. He turned around to find her leaning against a tree, her leg raised and crossed over her knee while she held her ankle.

  “What is it?”

  She looked up at him, eyes red with unshed tears. “Twisted it. I’m fine.” She placed the foot down and put some weight on it, taking a step closer.

  He appraised her, noticed the clenching of her jaw, the subtle flinching in her face.

  “You don’t seem fine.” Should he leave her here? Could he do that with a clear conscience, knowing Saizon was in the area? And
then there was a matter of still having her skills. He couldn’t keep them. He didn’t want to, but mostly because it wasn’t right. There was something else. Something about this woman…

  He turned away from her. “Hop on.” He placed his hands on his knees and dropped to a semi-squat. “I’ll carry you.”

  “What? No. There’s no need for that.”

  “We’ll be able to travel faster. Not to mention, you don’t need to make your ankle worse. Maybe it will be better if you give it a short rest.” He glanced at the time on Saizon’s phone. “We should be on schedule. Let’s stay that way.” He handed her the phone over his shoulder. “Keep us on course toward the meeting spot.”

  “Well—” she sputtered.

  “Just get on. You’re wasting time.” Time that Saizon’s team could use to find them. “Come on. Jump up.”

  She hopped on his back and secured her legs around his hips. Her arms circled his neck. The scent of her filled his senses. The musky, slightly sweaty, sheer womanliness of her could drive him to distraction. He fought against it, pushing back the base needs that responded to her. Trying to ignore the way his jeans felt a little tighter right around his zipper. Pretending not to notice the fullness of her breasts pressing against his back, her nipples’ hard tips weren’t easy to disregard.

  He inhaled deeply then squared his shoulders. He had a mission. Yielding to emotions or his body’s needs weren’t a luxury he had now.

  He took off, trekking between the trees while she clasped the phone and looked at the screen to verify their course every few moments. Conversation was kept to a minimum as Slate focused on getting them to the next step in the journey as swiftly as possible.

  One thing preyed on his mind, and one thing alone. Finding Dunn. Alive.

  “Need to adjust. We’ve gotten slightly off course. Bear right, just a bit.” Her breath was warm on his neck.

  Made him forget all the things he thought he’d managed to ignore. “Like this?” he croaked out, hoping he didn’t sound like a pubescent, turned-on teen.

  “Should be good. It’ll be clear in a few yards.” Her voice gave nothing away.

  “How much farther?”

  “Couple of miles. I hope I’m not too heavy. Sorry.”

  “You’re not. Shifters are strong.”

  “Jeez. So, if you weren’t a shifter, I’d be heavy?”

  Damn. “No, I didn’t mean it that way.” He sure had a way of sticking his foot in his mouth. “I’m just saying shifters are stronger, you know. So it’s less of a big deal than if I was just human. Shit! I don’t mean big deal, as if it’s big.” He cleared his throat. “I’m digging myself deeper, aren’t I?”

  He felt her movement before he heard it. She was laughing, belly-laughing, bouncing against him. Then the sound of her mirth was loud in his ears. A joyful sound. One he hadn’t heard in all the time they’d been talking.

  “I apologize,” was all he could think to say.

  Her laughter quieted, but he could tell she was still finding amusement from the jostling of her body against his back. After the day they’d had thus far, he didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm. God knew, she’d need every bit of a bright outlook she could have, considering what they were heading into.

  “I’m sorry,” she huffed out with a final chuckle. “I guess this is how the adrenaline’s releasing.”

  “I suppose I’m not exactly a smooth-talker,” he confessed.

  She adjusted her body, firming her legs’ grip on his hips, but didn’t respond while he picked his way through fallen branches and rock outcroppings. What seemed like forever later, she said, “We’re there. Or almost there. Put me down. Let me see how the ankle does.”

  He released his hold on her calves, and she slid down gingerly. Slate took her hand, letting her lean on him while she tested her footing.

  She took a dainty step, releasing a tiny wince. “I can walk on it.”

  “Not sure that’s a good idea.”

  “Hey, as long as we aren’t running, I’m fine.”

  He thought back to the vision. The two of them on the run. That would prove difficult, but he didn’t want to bring it up right now. He’d deal with that later.

  “Listen.” She cupped her ear. “Hear that?”

  “Road noise.”

  A smile lit up her face. Her green eyes sparkled. “Road noise. We did it!” She studied the phone, then handed it to him, pointing. “That way, 10 yards or so, there’s a pull-off. That’s where he’s supposed to be.”

  He doublechecked the screen. “Let’s go. Time for the next step.”

  A few yards later, they saw it. A dark-blue pickup truck with a silver banged-up toolbox. Next to it a luxury sedan with someone in the driver’s seat. A man leaned against the truck, his gaze darting back and forth, clearly searching for someone. For them. His eyes lit up when he caught sight of Slate and Lana stepping through the trees.

  “You made it.” He slung a backpack forward, handing it to Slate. “No names. I don’t need to know anything. Call him. Phone, cash, a laptop within. Some food and bottled waters, too.” He handed over the keys to the pickup and made for the sedan. “Good luck.”

  Slate looked from the man in the departing sedan to Lana. “Your friends are…interesting.”

  She shrugged. “Not my friend. I don’t know him. You driving?”

  He nodded. “Sure. I’d like to get some Wi-Fi and look for morgues.” He held the door open for her then closed it and came around to his side.

  As he opened the door, she said, “What are you going to do? Call every morgue and ask for your brother? Go to each one? Break in?”

  Slate started the pickup. A typical, run-of-the-mill, get-no-attention vehicle that would allow them to traverse the roads without notice. “I hadn’t thought that far.”

  “Well, it seems like a good way to get discovered.” She dug through the backpack, handed him a water, opened one for herself, then took the phone out and pressed numbers on the screen.

  He pulled the SIM card from Saizon’s phone, rolled down the window and it into the brush. Let them follow the signal to the side of the road. That wouldn’t tell them anything.

  Lana put the phone to her ear while she took a long slug from the plastic bottle. She swiped the coolness across her forehead. Slate could barely take his eyes off her. Somewhere in the last few minutes—hours, whatever—he found himself more and more attracted to this woman.

  “Tito,” she said into the phone. “We’re in the truck. Thanks. Can you do some recon for us? We’re looking for…” She paused, then continued, “We’re looking for Dunnigan Youngblood. He might be in a morgue. Maybe—”

  “He might not even be there in his own name,” Slate interrupted. “He traveled with aliases at times. We both have.”

  She pursed her lips. “He’s dark-haired,” she told Tito. “And he’s big. Professional football player big.” Her eyes traveled over Slate’s frame. “Yes, definitely a big guy.”

  “Ask him to keep his inquiries on the down low,” Slate muttered softly.

  “And don’t let anyone know who’s looking for him, why, and for what.” She paused, then said, “Thank you. I’ll keep you posted on what we’re up to.” Another pause, then she added, “We will. I’ll find somewhere to stay. And no, please, no Griz. In fact, no one else for now. We’ve got to make sure—” She fell silent. “No, it’s not that I don’t trust Griz. It’s that Griz may have been working with someone I—we—don’t fully trust.”

  Slate nodded. Precisely, he mouthed.

  “You don’t need to do that,” she said. “Stay with the Romanoffs. Stay in New York.” She rolled her eyes at Slate, shaking her head. “No, Tito. There’s no need for you to come out here.” Her fingers started a furious tapping on her knee. “No, no. It’s fine.” She huffed. “Bye.”

  Despite the circumstances, Slate wanted to laugh at the expression on her face. The sheer frustration compounded with helplessness made his lips twitch in mirth.

>   “Unbelievable.” She clenched her hand into a fist after shoving the phone into the backpack. “Now what?”

  “How about we go park somewhere, set up a hotspot, and use the phone’s data to access the internet? I’d like to find the morgues in the area.”

  “You think Dunnigan’s around?”

  “I’m pretty sure he was coming to Griz for help.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  Slate cleared his throat. “Something he said once, long ago, about trusting Griz.”

  Her eyes were ablaze with irritation. “So if your brother trusts Griz, why don’t you? Why are we not reaching out to him for help?”

  He averted his gaze, concentrating on the road once more. “Because Saizon knows I went there. He probably has the place staked out.”

  “He said he’s not a fed.”

  “Pffft. Like he has cred.”

  “Fine. Let’s set up a hotspot. But first, let’s get the hell off this road. We’d get too much attention here.”

  She definitely had a point there. Hardly any traffic seemed to be on the road. Plus, he had another reason to keep moving. “Yeah, we’re going to buy a burner phone. I’m going to call my brother.”

  “Use Tito’s.”

  He’s your friend, not mine. But he couldn’t tell her that. “I’d rather not.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Lana had talked Slate out of parking at a rest stop or a park. They may have been in a nondescript vehicle, but still, a lone vehicle could attract attention. So they’d driven to the nearest town that wasn’t a one-horse town where everyone knew everyone else and what they drove, and they’d parked at a truck stop that was busy as hell. When he pulled the laptop out, he’d noticed the truck stop had Wi-Fi.

  Again, she’d stopped him and told him to use the phone’s hotspot. Why? Because she wondered if anyone would ever check for someone looking into morgues. If anyone would put something together and pull the surveillance cameras and look for who was searching for morgues.