We walked the rest of the way to the hotel and found Luke waiting outside the doors.
“Isabelle, may I speak with you for a moment, please?”
“Sure thing. What’s up?”
Luke glanced at me when she stopped to talk to him. I followed Grey and Ethan in, but waited just on the other side of the doors so I could hear.
“Bethi wants to speak with you,” Luke said. “Alone.”
“Alone seems to be pretty hard to do around you people.”
“You’re safe with me. He knows it.” Luke tilted his head toward me. “Because I’m Mated. Werewolves don’t stray. Ever.”
She rolled her shoulders slightly.
Grey, tell Luke to shut his maw. He’s upsetting Isabelle.
What is he saying?
He’s talking about Mates.
“Yeah… I don’t really care,” Isabelle said. “I’ll talk to her. But afterward, you owe me twenty minutes in the exercise room. Deal?”
“Deal,” Luke said. I could see the gleam in his eyes. He was still upset that Isabelle had brought his Mate to the ground.
“You will not mark her,” I said softly as he reached for the door.
He met my gaze, nodded slightly, and stood aside for her. I followed them to the exercise room, where Bethi was already waiting.
Isabelle studied the girl. The dark shadows under her eyes were nothing compare to the overwhelming scent of worry, fear, and desperation.
“You look like crap,” Isabelle said.
“The dreams… you need to help me,” she said.
I glanced at Luke and understood what he was allowing.
“You’re going to turn into a crackhead,” Isabelle said.
“I hear it’s a sexy look.” Bethi’s indifferent shrug was a lie to her desperation.
“Fine. You can sit on the sidelines. I’ll pull a little while I can drain it. But, you have my back at the next stop.”
Bethi quickly nodded, and I wondered why Isabelle would need Bethi’s support at the next stop.
“Ready to dance, Luke?” Isabelle asked, facing him.
I didn’t like that she was wearing that little smirk that drove me crazy. Not when facing him. He moved to the center of the room. I could scent his satisfaction and knew it had nothing to do with Isabelle helping his Mate. He was still angry with Isabelle.
“Luke,” I said in warning.
Isabelle glanced at me.
“Relax. She knows what she’s doing,” Luke said.
As soon as Isabelle turned back to face him, he jabbed at her face. She blocked it easily, but I didn’t like the aggressive way he continued to look for an opening. When he couldn’t find one, he used his speed to slap her side.
A warning growl escaped me. The next second, I felt something. The barely there brush against my mental wall. Had I not been so focused on tucking my anger away, I wouldn’t have noticed it.
I watched Luke slow and realized Isabelle had just pulled from him. She jabbed at his face, and he barely jerked his head back to avoid her. Bethi giggled.
“Luv, who are you rooting for?”
“My sister,” she said with a grin. “She needs to win.”
Bethi didn’t sound like herself. Again, I felt the brush against my wall as Isabelle pulled, and Luke slowed further.
“Focus, Luke. You know what I do. I steal emotions. It weakens you. So stop feeling. If you’re not feeling, I’m not stealing.” She jabbed at his face and connected. It wasn’t hard, though. I could see she was holding back on her punches.
“No frustration,” she said, dancing away from his slow counter-jab. “Get rid of it, or I’m taking it.”
She pulled again and Bethi heaved a relaxed sigh.
“Carlos, she needs to go,” Isabelle said without looking away from Luke.
Luke swung again, but she leaned to the side, ducking under his arm, and came back up with a fist to his jaw. He grunted when she connected.
“I’ll be right back,” I said.
Luke is sparring with Isabelle, I sent Grey as I picked up Bethi. Warn him not to harm her.
I left the room, carrying Bethi down the hallway. She lay limply in my arms, her gaze idly drifting. When I reached their room, it was already prompted open with the deadbolt. I nudged my way in and set her on the bed.
“She seems to know what she’s doing,” Bethi said, focusing on me.
“She’s been fighting a long time.”
“Not Isabelle. The taupe lady. I think she’s been stacking the deck this time. I just wish I knew why.”
Before I could ask what she meant, she closed her eyes on an exhale and drifted off to sleep. Hopefully, it would stay dreamless for her.
****
The car remained quiet as Winifred drove, but I could feel Isabelle’s growing agitation. Sparring with Luke had drained her. I was sure of that. When I’d returned from Bethi’s room, Isabelle had been fighting in that relaxed amused way she did when there was nothing left but her love of sparring.
“Seriously, are we almost there? I need a break,” Isabelle said, ending the silence.
“Gabby is guiding us through the nets. As soon as she finds a safe place for us to stop, Michelle or Charlene will make arrangements for somewhere to stay the night,” Winifred said.
“So, in other words, you don’t know when we’ll stop.”
I could hear the frustration behind her words.
“Try taking a nap,” Ethan said.
“It’s past that.”
I could hear the boy move slightly behind me.
“Not happening,” Isabelle said.
I glanced back in time to see her reach for his hand. Anger and jealousy pushed against the wall. She was full of energy, couldn’t spar to release it, and was turning to him for comfort. She looked at me and narrowed her eyes, as if daring me to object.
It should have been me in the backseat. Even the boy knew that.
We’re going about this wrong, I sent Grey as I faced forward once more. Instead of talking to Isabelle, you need to talk to the boy. I believe he’ll listen.
I’ll talk to him. Next stop.
As the tires ate up the miles, Isabelle’s irritation and the boy’s worry continued to climb. Eventually, she let go of his hand to grip the door handle instead.
We need to stop soon, I sent Winifred.
“Gabby’s found a safe spot,” Winifred said aloud. “She apologizes that it has taken so long. She said the Urbat changed their pattern slightly, and she wanted to watch it for a while to be sure they wouldn’t come back.”
“How could you possibly know that?” Isabelle asked.
“As an Elder, I can communicate with our kind in my mind. I asked Sam. Sam asked Gabby and relayed what she said to me.”
“Whatever. How long till we get there?”
“It’s another hour away. But Gabby said the way is completely clear now. Would you like me to find somewhere to stop?”
“Yes.”
Winifred took the next exit. She didn’t go far. Two turns brought us to a semi-rural road with fields between the houses. She pulled over beside one field.
Isabelle quickly got out and started walking. She didn’t stop to see if I would follow her, but kept going until she was a good distance away from the others. When she turned, her face was flushed and annoyance clouded her scent. Her gaze swept over me, and I almost smiled at what I saw there. She wasn’t just annoyed; she was annoyed with me. I was the complete focus of everything she was feeling right then. And I loved it.
Her lips turned down into a scowl a moment before she tried to punch me in the head. I blocked the move easily. Instead of pulling back to come at me again, she shifted her weight and tried to take off my knee cap with a kick. Then, she spun around and drove an elbow into my ribs.
I grunted so she would know she got me. A grin turned her lips up, and she pivoted and tried to hit the side of my head.
I caught her arm and pulled her back against my chest.
“Behave.”
A surge of her anger wrapped around me, the only warning she gave before she twisted in my arms. Furious didn’t begin to describe her sudden assault. She moved faster than any human should as she hit, kicked, elbowed, and kneed me. Most of her attacks connected because I wasn’t willing to risk injuring her by using more force.
Do you need help? Grey sent me. There was no humor in his message, just concern.
No.
I rode out her storm with growing impatience. When she finally stepped back, panting and less angry, I didn’t give her a chance to walk away. In one fluid move, I bent and took her over my shoulder. She made a sound of protest as I sprinted further away from the group.
We need a private moment, I sent Grey before he could worry.
The heat of her stomach warmed my shoulder, and the curve of her thigh baited my palm. I wanted to explore every inch of her. Instead, in the middle of the field, I set her back on her feet.
“What the hell was that?” she demanded, pushing her hair out of her face.
We stood so close, her breath teased my neck.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” I said.
She swallowed hard, and her gaze shifted to the side.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was angry.”
She was killing me. Dangerous one moment, soft and sweet the next.
“Yes. I know. Why?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She glanced at the road behind me, and I took her face between my hands to hold her attention.
“Isabelle, I’m struggling to control my patience with you. Why were you angry?”
She looked up at me and snorted.
“Struggling? You? I don’t think you even have emotions to struggle with.”