Holy shit.
Roke clutched Sally’s fingers in one hand and the box in the other as he headed straight for the nearby shed.
“That was quite a trick,” she muttered, her steps shaky as she struggled to keep pace.
“It won’t hold him for long,” he said in absent tones, his gaze skimming the barren landscape.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for a vehicle.” He hissed in frustration as he realized they had no easy means of escape. He hadn’t heard the approach of a car, but that was hardly surprising. It might be humiliating to admit, but when Sally was near he tended to be dangerously distracted. “How did the bastard get here?”
“On foot?” she suggested.
“Possible, but Mieras aren’t as physically strong as most demons. They rarely travel more than a few miles beyond their lair.” He muttered a curse. There were way too many questions with no answers. “We’re going to have to make a run for it.”
She staunchly squared her shoulders despite her obvious weariness.
“Okay.”
His lips twisted. He didn’t doubt she would drive herself until she collapsed into a coma. And all without once asking for help.
She’d been alone too long.
Been hurt too many times.
What she needed was a kind, patient man who could tenderly heal the wounds that life had inflicted.
Not an ill-tempered, loner of a vampire who’d made a vow to devote his life to his clan.
Unfortunately he was all she had.
“Will you trust me to keep you safe?” he abruptly demanded.
There was a predictable hesitation, but after a long pause she gave a nod.
“Yes.”
Something moved deep inside him.
A seismic shift that cracked open a vulnerable fissure he had no idea how to repair.
And no time to consider the long-term consequences.
Instead, he swept her off her feet, cradling her against his chest as he flowed silently through the night.
“Hold on,” he warned, leaping over a wide culvert.
She threw her arms around his neck, anxiously trying to glance over his shoulder.
“Do you sense we’re being followed?”
His arms tightened protectively around her slender body, his fangs fully exposed as he made a direct path toward the trees that filled the small valley below them.
Anything that tried to stop them, he’d rip out their throat.
“No, but there was something off about that demon,” he said. He wasn’t intimately familiar with Miera demons, but he knew damned well the one that attacked them wasn’t natural. “For all we know the creature might be capable of disguising his presence.”
She shivered, but her courage never faltered.
“We can’t keep running. It’ll be dawn soon.”
He brushed a kiss over the top of her head, so light she couldn’t sense the fleeting caress.
“Don’t tell me you’re concerned I might be sizzled into a pile of ash?”
“Of course I am,” she muttered. “I’m the only one allowed to make me a widow.”
His lips twitched. “I’m touched. Unfortunately, there aren’t many hotels in this area. Unless you know something I don’t?”
He leaped over a large boulder, briefly debating the possibility of taking the direct path over the edge of the cliff, only to instantly dismiss it. There might be caves they could use to wait out the daylight hours and the surging tide would hopefully wash away their trail, but Sally was only half demon and he wasn’t about to risk injuring her.
“Maybe.”
Not expecting a response to his teasing, Roke came to an abrupt halt to study her guarded expression.
“Are you going to share?”
She refused to meet his searching gaze. “My mother was paranoid to the point of obsession. Probably because she was hated by most people who met her.” She grimaced. “She has at least half a dozen safe houses in the area.”
Safe houses? Anger surged through him. “Why didn’t you mention them earlier?”
“I forgot about them.”
“No,” he snapped. Dammit. He’d known that she was hiding something from him earlier. Now it was obvious what she was plotting. “You intended to run from me as soon as the sun rose.”
She knew better than to try to lie, but a stubborn expression settled on her delicate face.
“I won’t be forced to go to your clan.”
“I told you . . .” He bit off his furious words. It was less than an hour before sunrise and they were on the run from a demon who could make the very air a weapon. Now wasn’t the time for this particular argument. “Which way?” he demanded through clenched fangs.
She kept her gaze averted. “Just keep heading south.”
In silence, he carried her down the steep bluff, entering the thick grove of trees. Sally shivered and he wrinkled his nose at the frost coating the underbrush and the sharp stones that cut into his moccasins.
He might be annoyed as hell with the female in his arms, but he couldn’t halt his instinctive concern. A vampire was impervious to the elements, but Sally was clearly uncomfortable in the chilled air.
“I don’t suppose your mother’s safe house is a penthouse suite at The Ritz-Carlton?”
She lifted her brows. “This from the vampire who lives in the middle of the desert?”
He shrugged, in no mood to admit his concern was for her welfare.
Sometimes she annoyed the shit out of him.
“I wouldn’t say no to a hot shower and a bottle of Remy Martin Louis XIII Black Pearl cognac.”
She grimaced. “Let’s just say that it has more of a Bear Grylls vibe to it.”
He swallowed a curse, silently reassuring himself that it would only be for a few hours. As soon as night arrived he intended to take her far away from this frigid, desolate spot.
“At least tell me that it’s sunproof.”
“You won’t roast. I promise.” She pointed toward an overgrown trail between the trees. “Follow that path.” They traveled over a mile before she pointed again. “There.”
Roke lowered Sally to her feet, frowning as he searched the small clearing.
“Is it an invisible safe house?”
“Something better,” she assured him, lifting a warning hand. “Stay back.”
“Why?”
“There are spells we have to avoid.”
He watched as she cautiously inched her way forward, her eyes closed as she concentrated on the invisible magic surrounding the small clearing.