Breaking Out (9 page)

“Tell me about it.” I glanced at my palm.
Already healed. “I tried to exchange blood—kind of a
lets-agree-not-to-kill-each-other thing—but he wasn’t havin’ any of
that.”

“He’s a control freak.” Jay pointed to my
cheek, screwing his face up in sympathy. “That must’ve hurt.”

I didn’t want to go into too much detail. “He
did something weird. He tasted my blood.” Jay made a face. “I
thought it was creepy at first, but it put us somewhere…somewhere
else. I’d have guessed we were inside a line, but I’ve traveled
them so many times I’d have recognized the feel. No this was
someplace where magic was quiet.”

“Quiet?”

“Quiet on the outside, but talking some kind
of secret language that only I could understand. It was the coolest
place ever.”

“Sounds like some kind of acid trip.”

I laughed. “Yeah. Maybe it was. You never
know with Fin.”

He looked me over. “C’mon. You need to
eat.”

“Now who’s bein’ a mom?”

“You talked to her, right?”

“How’d you know?”

“You were worrying your ass off about it.
Other than the hurting, you look a lot more relaxed. Did she disown
you like you thought?”

“I didn’t think that.” I gave him a shove
with my hand on his shoulder, but he hardly budged. The guy was a
cement wall. “She was cool.” We walked another block. Samson
running a little bit ahead. “You eating again?”

“I’d never say no to another meal.”

“You’re going to explode, ya know. And when
you do, undigested corn chips and fast food burgers are going to
litter the street. The worst part is, the mayor will make me clean
it up.”

He patted his stomach and frowned. “We’ll go
for a run tomorrow. Samson can use a workout.”

“Umm hmm.”

“Where are we headed next?”

“Your dream destination.”

PART TWO: LOS ANGELES

IVY

CHAPTER NINE

It
had
to rain today of all days. It hardly
ever
rained in LA; at
least in the few months I’d been living here, so why today?
Couldn't it have held off for another six hours?

I pulled a short leather jacket over my black
V-neck, deciding at the last minute that a baseball cap would keep
my dark hair dry and in place. I’d end up with hat hair, but that
was better than a dripping mop. I'd spent longer than average on my
makeup, using shadow and mascara to bring out my hazel eyes, not
that it mattered much with all the rain, and had picked my favorite
shade of pink lipstick.

Today, even the rain couldn’t dull my
spirits, ‘cause thirty minutes ago, I’d gotten the call that was
going to change my life. I did a little spin in place, then,
realized I was gonna be late if I kept dancing around the room like
an idiot.

“
Ms. Lake, you’ve got the job. You’ll be
picked up at the corner of Melbourne and Riley in exactly one hour.
Look for a dark green van.”

I ignored the fact it was kind of odd Mr. A
was picking me up on a street corner, but I was so excited by the
personal call from one of my heroes that I'd filed it away as the
eccentric behavior of a top exec. After all, this guy worked in a
profession that catered to the bizarre, so I dismissed my uneasy
feelings, grabbed my bag and raced down the stairs at full
throttle.

Glancing at my cell, I frowned. If the bus
schedule was off, I’d be late and that couldn’t happen. Not today.
I picked up my pace, not taking any notice of the delivery truck
plowing too quickly through the large puddle in the street.

The screech of his brakes and the sound of
the wheels tearing though the dirty pool froze me in place. Bad
decision—should have run. Smelly, dirty water sprayed all over my
baseball cap, my only leather jacket, and my new jeans. I was
drenched and swearing at the top of my lungs. The truck driver took
one look at my furious face and hit the gas pedal. He might be a
careless driver, but he was also an intelligent man.

I wasn’t hurt, just miserable. By the time my
bus came, I was soaked to the bone and shivering. My sneakers were
soggy and my nice black jeans were rubbing against my thighs like
sandpaper. The other four occupants of the bus looked at me like I
was crazy, then looked away the minute my gaze focused on theirs.
Oh yeah. Crazy person here, so watch out.

I grunted and took off my hat, wringing it
out, then placing it back on my head. The brim had kept the water
off my face at least. I probably looked like a refugee from some
water park world, not exactly first-day-of-work-ready. But I'd
spent the last year preparing for this moment and I wasn't about to
let my future get screwed up by a little dirty water. Mr. A would
understand. He’d probably laugh.

The bus let me off on the corner of the next
block, so I walked back trying to keep under awnings and building
overhangs as much as I could. I stopped at the corner he’d told me
to wait at and looked around. There was a coffee shop behind me and
the smell of the coffee just about did me in. How long had it been
since I had a real cup of coffee? I bought the cheapest instant
stuff and used powdered creamer, which was okay, but…

I took in a long, deep breath, rubbing my
shoulders to warm myself up. I’d kill for a latte.

Shifting from foot to foot to keep warm, I
occupied myself by people watching. There was a werewolf at the gas
station across the street filling up the tank of his SUV, and a
couple of shapeshifter tourists, looking down at their map of
Hollywood. I always shook my head when I saw how the tourists were
extra careful to show their respect by not actually walking on the
stupid stars in the sidewalk on Hollywood Blvd. Jeez Louise, what
did they think? No one was buried under those stars. At least I was
pretty sure.

The rest of today’s crowd seemed to be human,
just going about their business as usual.

I looked at my phone. The van was late. Or
maybe it’d been early and it hadn’t waited for me. That would be a
disaster. I pulled on a stray lock of my hair, wrapping it around
and around my fingers.
C’mon, c’mon…

A royal blue late model rental car pulled up
alongside the curb in front of the boutique next door. A big, burly
guy got out on the passenger side, definitely a bear shifter,
followed by the driver, a slim guy with his blue hood pulled up,
another shifter—probably…a leopard. I was good at telling the
difference. Man, they were both so tall they could've played for
the Lakers, although the bear was built more like a football
player. They took a quick glance around, ignoring me completely,
and headed toward the entrance of the coffeehouse behind me. I
pulled my jacket closed and waited.

A few seconds later, a black van came to a
screeching halt directly in front of me. Two werewolves in human
form jumped out. The one wearing a brown jacket held a gun flat
against his thigh. I took a step back, not sure I was seeing
clearly. Was this guy gonna rob the coffee shop?

Only he was heading straight for me, his
expression lethal. What the heck?

As he reached for me with his chunky hand, I
yelled for help, turning to run, but not quite fast enough. He
easily caught hold of a clump of my hair that had escaped the hat,
snapping my head back with a hard jerk. I cried out, my eyes
already watering from the pain in my scalp. I tried to scream, but
he covered my mouth with his hand.

The taller thug in the black hooded jacket
opened the back door and shoved me roughly inside. I hit the floor
hard then screamed again when I saw a third wolf hiding inside the
van and swinging the butt of his gun toward my head. Everything
went black.

CHARLIE

CHAPTER TEN

Holy
shit
. I watched through the window of the coffee shop as two
wolves dragged a teen-aged boy into their van.

"Jay!"

"I'm with ya."

We raced back through the door of the coffee
shop, noticing a few shocked expressions as we barreled past an
elderly couple. Jay lunged at the guy with the gun who was getting
back into the van on the passenger side while I tried to open the
door they'd taken the boy through. It was locked, which normally
wouldn't have presented a problem, but a lot of people were
watching and I didn't want to attract attention by using magic.
That Ammon guy could still be keeping an eye on me. This was L.A.
not a shifter town or a campground in the Sierras, although I
noticed the human residents and tourists in this city could be
pretty whacked out.

The driver hit the gas, and Jay and I were
thrown away from the vehicle while the triggerman yanked his arm
away from Jay’s grasp and shut the passenger door. Jumping back
onto my feet, I took off running after it, happy that I'd switched
to sneakers before we'd decided to take a ride over to this part of
town. There was a red light ahead and I was hoping the van would be
forced to stop, or at least slow down, but no luck. He gunned
through the intersection, just missing another car, and speeded
away.

Crap. Now I had no choice if I was going to
help this kid. As a cheetah shapeshifter I could run the pants off
all but the fastest vampires. Problem was, using ramped up speed
would draw attention my way, especially from the supernatural
community.

Had to stay under the radar as much as I
could. I had only one option.

I gave Jay the 'keep your eyes on your phone'
signal then ran behind a tree, dissolving into the ley lines and
reappearing behind a tree further up the street. I followed the van
this way until the kidnappers pulled into a driveway and the van
came to a stop.

I waited in the shade of an enormous avocado
tree, standing frozen in the shadows, blending. Isaiah called it
shadow stalking and he was the only one who knew I could do it. I
took a few seconds to change my leopard scent to human and sent out
feelers to see if there were other supernaturals, besides the
wolves in the area. Nothing.

When two of the kidnappers pulled the boy out
of the car, his hat fell off. Dark hair tumbled behind his
shoulders, hanging down, and I could see his face clearly now. The
kid was a female. There was blood on her forehead but no other
obvious injuries. However, she was definitely unconscious, which
could mean concussion.

The wolf with the short beard carried her
into the house; her slim body limp in his arms. I hoped she’d just
fainted and bumped her head, because if the kidnappers had hurt her
seriously they’d be sorry.

I sent Jay a quick text, giving him the
address and trusting him to show up and be discreet about it. He
might act like a goofball half the time, but he was my second in
command, a guy who always had my back.

I took the lines into the house, blending
perfectly as I stood against the wall. It would take an ancient fae
or demon to sense me there, and I figured my chances were good that
neither of those species were hiding out in the attic.

They'd thrown her on a small bed, gagged her
with a washcloth and tied her hands behind her back, locking the
door behind them. I heard voices and peeked out the window,
watching two of the weres get back in the van, talking about
whether to pick up Chinese food or pizza. When they drove off, I
materialized at the head of the stairs at the end of the hall. The
third wolf had made himself comfortable in front of the TV in the
living room downstairs. A handgun rested in his lap.

What did they want with this poor girl?
Judging by the state of her wet, smelly clothes, she wasn’t rich,
so holding her for ransom probably wasn’t the deal. A few sicker
scenarios slipped through my head but I shook them off, deciding to
see what I could do about getting her away from here and cleaning
her head wound. It hadn't looked too deep, but head wounds were
serious.

I allowed myself to quietly materialize back
in her room, hoping not to scare her, but she was still out.
Bending over the bed, I placed my fingers against her neck to feel
her pulse. The strong steady beat of her heart was reassuring, but
the fact that she hadn't woken up tightened my gut. She had a
good-sized lump near her hairline, but the shallow cut had stopped
bleeding and wouldn’t need stitches.

She sighed in her sleep, wrinkling her brow.
If she woke up and saw me, she might panic and make noise, bringing
the man with the gun upstairs. I couldn’t leave her here, but I
didn’t want to get thrown in the middle of whatever was going on
with these wolves. Carefully, I tucked my arms under her body and
lifted, hoping she’d stay unconscious for little longer.

I glanced down as I held her in my arms. She
was so tiny, maybe only a couple inches over five feet, and she
weighed way less than Samson, who had some elephant genes somewhere
in his ancestry, I was sure. Her breathing
seemed
normal
enough, regular and not too shallow, although I was no expert where
humans were concerned. I shifted her body in my arms so that her
head rested on my shoulder.

She smiled and sighed.

I blended into the lines as smoothly as I
could, hoping they wouldn't make her sick the way they did Jay.
There was no other way to escape without the guy downstairs finding
out, but I didn’t think she’d complain as long as she was somewhere
safe.

I re-materialized in a wooded park a few
yards off the main road, shifting her limp body so I could see my
phone. Jay was on his way. Feeling grateful for Jay’s ability to
switch gears without complaining, I shot him a new text, describing
our location. So far we hadn't run into any problems that the two
of us couldn't handle.

Except for that note from the mysterious
Ammon and the park ranger from Faerie. Maybe I should’ve mentioned
the park ranger to Fin.

I was distracted when the girl moved again,
nestling her head against my chest, her skin glowing in the
California sunset. She was pretty, with dark wavy hair that framed
a sweet face. Her aura was human, but not, and her scent was really
different. Nice. Strange. Maybe she was only part human.