~Alaya
I didn’t get in the car straight away.
Instead, I stared the man down. My memories, even though they have been returned, are vague, and I don’t remember a time where I trusted Myles. However, as Aspen stares me down, waiting for an answer, and I consider the coldness around us, and the likelihood that Asher would find us, I climb into the car.
My mind begs me to turn around, knowing Asher had Myle’s working for him. At the same time, I remember Myle’s trepidations toward whom he was working for. He claimed he didn’t even know who was giving him the order.
I’m hoping my logic isn’t as flawed as I have a feeling it is, but right now, it’s this, or surely be caught.
“An explanation would be nice,” I claim, as Aspen follows me into the car. His face is drawn off and bled of all colour. These past few hours can’t have been easy for him at all.
“I’m here to take you away from here,” he comments.
He steps on the gas, lurching the car forward. As uncomfortable as this may feel, Myle’s is driving in the opposite direction to Asher and Sinful, which right now, is all I can ask for. Even if right now, his willingness to answer my questions seems vague and attached, but a part of me knows he has been like this from the start. When I met him all those years ago.
“I have a place you away from here. It’s your choice whether you decide to stay there or not,” Myles adds, looking at me through the rearview mirror. The more I look into those eyes, the safer I feel. It’s an odd sensation I’m blaming on where he is from. We are both Desire Pack members.
“Why do this?” Aspen breathes from beside me.
Myle’s sighs dramatically. “Why not?”
“For a start,” I say tersely, “you work for Asher, don’t you?”
He doesn’t reply for a while, instead looking off through the window to the road. There are no other cars on the road at this time of the morning, which only makes the situation more eerie. Aspen seems to be feeling it as much as I am right now, by the way he sites close to me, as if being separated right now would surely bring him death.
“Not anymore,” he replies. “Honestly. My work was once a year, however, Shanae killed me after you, and in return for helping you, Asher had me brought back as myself again. As an immortal.”
I shake my head, still trying to understand. “How did you know this was happening?”
“I figured. I heard about his plan earlier, and I assumed after meeting you that you wouldn’t allow that to happen. It was just a matter of when, which was harder to figure out,” he tells me, sliding his hands down the line of the wheel. He’s awfully casual for someone who is driving so fast. I can’t help but be grateful for that though, as Sinful’s mountain estate drowns more and more into the background.
My gaze meets his again in the mirror. Raising an eyebrow, I attempt to prompt him into telling me how he figured out what time Aspen and I would be scaling down that mountain, however, he keeps his mouth shut, entertaining me with only the sound of the car in the road.
“I just want to know why,” I say carefully. “Why help me, or us?”
Myle’s takes a little longer before explaining himself on this one. “I own nothing to Asher. That’s all you need to know.”
I keep my mouth shut for awhile. It seems clearly like something he isn’t interested in talking about, so I’m not going to press him. He’s taking us away from Asher, and for him to kick us out of his warm car now, I would have no idea where to go.
“Where are you taking us?” I ask after another few minutes, wishing I could see much out the window. Everything is a dark messy blur.
“Out of this territory, into Time’s. Sinful doesn’t mess with Time, so we should be safe,” Myles comments.
“Who is Time?” I ask.
Myle’s likes to take a long time to answer, which I assume is on purpose. I’m only curious about Time because he is mentioned so often, even by Asher. And for Sinful not to mess with someone? He messed with me the entire time I was there, so this Time guy has to have something interesting about him.
“He’s an immortal. An immortal who has been missing for years. Everyone just assumes he is hiding in different time periods, away from someone,” Myle’s tells me. I sit up in my seat, interested now.
“So he’s no real threat then…”
Myle’s laughs before correcting himself. “That’s naive of you to assume. He is a threat. A big one.”
“Why don’t you tell me then?” I prompt. “If I’m going to be staying in this guy’s territory, I want to know how he would kill me. Asher told me he hasn’t been seen for years, which should make Sinful okay with going into his territory. Right?”
“Not at all. Time isn’t just… Time. He’s different, okay, that’s all you need to know,” he says irritably.
I’ve reached the end of his tether, so I keep my mouth shut. Instead, I lean back and only think about who Time is. I hate that I’m so curious about who he is. Nobody I will ever see in my lifetime, I hope.
Aspen had fallen asleep with his head on my shoulder by the time we make it to the edge of Sinful’s territory. The sun has completely risen over the horizon, which means Asher and Sinful as presumably already in pursuit. Once we get over the border, though, Sinful shouldn’t have any allies to bring us in if they find out we are wanted.
The shadow of trees I remember from last time don’t seem to matter to Myles. He drives straight through, finding a road I didn’t think would exist in here. Last time we had to walk in, but that was a purposeful way to manipulate me.
By Asher. Of course.
I don’t say anything, just watch, as we make our way further into the darkness. The headlights to Myle’s car seems to be doing nothing for him, however, he doesn’t seem to be having any kind of trouble knowing where to go.
I jostle Aspen awake. “You might want to see this.”
When we emerge from the shadowed darkness, into a more moonlit area, I could see a house that reminds me of back home. A struck of homesickness hits me in the chest. I haven’t yet had time to think a lot about missing my sister. A wonder where she thinks I am… I wonder if she thinks I’m dead, or that I left her behind to finally move to another Pack. I hope not.
Aspen’s expression is blank as we pull up in front of the house. Immediately Myle’s hops out of the car, and we follow suit.
This place is in a small clearing, which seems as if it has been carved out of the dense forest itself. I refuse to look at the shadows lurking around the edge of the clearing, hiding who knows what in there.
“There are a few people here you will want to meet,” Myle’s says, as we follow him toward the front door.
Inside the house is nothing special. This place clearly is just a place to hide, considering the lack of furnishings around here. Nothing seems personal. As we wander into the lounge room, I notice two people sitting on a couch quite close to each other. Both are unfamiliar, however, something does seem familiar about the male sitting there. He has dark, smouldering eyes I swear I have seen before. His facial features, though, aren’t like something I have seen before.
The other girl isn’t familiar at all. She has distinctive Desire Pack features, with straight dark hair and eyes to match. Something about her gaze alone is terrifying. Even though she doesn’t look too old, she seems as though she has seen a lot, and been through more than I could even consider.
She stands, walking over to hold her hand out to me. “I’m Dawn, nice to meet you.”
Her smile seems friendly enough, but at this point, I’m not ready to trust her. The man behind her is immediately on my list of mistrust. The way he has his arms folded over his chest, his eyebrow raised. The feeling must be mutual.
“Before you find out in some ridiculous way, I might as well tell you I’m the Alpha of Purity’s mate,” Dawn tells me. My eyes widen. Alpha Rylan, I’ve only heard of him. “We had some differences, but we couldn’t be together.”
“I’m sorry,” I say softly, forcing myself not to press for more information curiously.
She shrugs. “It is what it is. So is this the Aspen man we heard about?”
Aspen nods his head, not saying a word. He’s awfully calm for this kind of situation, which means something’s going on inside his head. I’m hoping he isn’t having doubts about leaving with me.
“Do you guys really want to help us?” I question in disbelief.
It’s Myle’s who speaks up. “We are all here for different reasons. This is just a place to be safe from every danger that any of us might face.”
“Our being our mates,” Dawn says, “funny that.”
I almost ask her how she knows, but I’m sure Myle’s would have told her. Who knows how long Myle’s has known along with Asher. I don’t know what anyone does at this point. I’m just trying to get through the next few days without being found out by Asher.
“Who’s this?” I ask warily, matching the heaviness of the stranger behind Dawn’s gaze.
“Coen,” he replies. “My name is Coen, and I’m Alpha Kaden’s brother.”