Chapter 3
DIANA
You know, I would love to be doing all of this on a beach right now.
Somewhere with sand the color of pale cork.
Where the only thing biting at my skin is sunlight, not wind filled with fat snowflakes.
I’d dig my toes into warmth, let the ocean drown out every thought that’s trying to claw its way up my throat, and pretend the bond in my chest is just another ache I can forget.
I wonder what salt water smells like… They say there’s something metallic to it.
I’ll probably never know. Because I’m here, trapped in a metal box hurtling through a blizzard that seems determined to swallow us whole.
The wind turned feral within the last hour, clawing at the jeep windows, and I swear I can hear the snowflakes hitting the glass. Each gust hits like a living being attacking us, the sound of aggressive windshield wipers the only thing we listen to, the snow building in the corners.
I clench Judge’s shirt every time the jeep lurches over an icy patch, bringing it closer to breathe it in like he can protect me through sheer will alone.
Which just pisses me off, of course.
Jess slaps the radio again, the sound sharp in the enclosed space. “Come on. Come on—”
Only static answers. A low, crackling hiss that fills the silence like white noise, grating and useless.
We let the rendezvous team know we were on our way before the communication cut out. One second, we had a voice on the other end—calm, professional, confirming coordinates—and the next, nothing. Just that damn white noise.
Jess slows the jeep to a crawl, then brings it to a full stop.
The engine idles as snow sticks to the windshield.
“Okay,” she says, her voice tight with the kind of focus that only comes from forcing yourself not to panic.
“I need to refocus for a moment. The jeep can handle this, but I’m just worried about sliding off the road if we’re not careful.
” She pulls out a small toolkit from under the seat, her hands already moving with practiced efficiency as she starts tinkering with the radio.
“Let me try to get this working. Sometimes there’s a wire that gets loose…
“Well, sure as shit glad you can do that,” Selene says, leaning forward in her seat, brows raised with genuine curiosity.
“Yeah.” Jess doesn’t look up, her fingers already prying at the radio’s casing with a flathead screwdriver. “We’d be idiots where we grew up not having a ton of different skills.”
Rebecca gives a soft laugh. “Unless you’re an omega, and then they just teach you how to look pretty.”
The jeep falls silent again as we all wait. It gives me time to really look at Jess, who is all sharp angles and quiet competence. Her jaw is set, her focus absolute, and there’s something almost meditative about the way she works, sort of reminding me of Maggie when she’s deep in surgery.
“Do you want one of us to drive?” I offer. “We’re used to it. We make visits often in the winter, even when the roads are terrible. Then you can tinker with that without worrying about keeping us on the road.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she says, her tone distracted, messing with the radio’s guts, pulling at wires. “We’ve got enough gas, too. We just need to keep moving.”
The wipers swish back and forth, their rhythm ominous.
Swish-thunk.
Swish-thunk.
The snow outside is already making the world extra quiet, muffling everything.
Rebecca peers out through the fogged window, her breath leaving small clouds against the glass.
She wipes a spot clear with her sleeve, squinting into the white.
“I just wish we knew how long this was going to last or how bad it was going to get. It’s been like three hours since we left, at the least. We should be close to the rendezvous point. ”
“Yeah, just give me a moment,” Jess snaps, her tone sharper than before. “I just said I need to see if this works. Then we’ll keep going. If it’s being a bitch, one of you can drive.”
Swish-thunk.
Swish-thunk.
I pull Judge’s shirt closer, burying my nose in the fabric without meaning to. The bond pulses faintly in my chest as a distant throb, like a bruise. So far, I’ve been completely icing it over, shoving it down into some dark corner where I don’t have to feel him on the other end.
But I can’t ignore it forever.
With a shaky breath, I let myself reach into the bond, just a little. Just enough to see what he’s feeling. What if we seriously get stuck here, and he’s the only way we can get somewhere safely? I could always negotiate to let them all go if I return with him…
The sensation of him floods me. The rage and fear that were there before have settled. Not gone, never gone, but compressed into something sharper. Something focused.
He’s hunting.
Shit.
What’s he going to do with me? Is he going to kill the others, tie me up, and take me back?
I inhale sharply when I feel a push of his own energy, like he’s aware of me reaching out, and he’s acknowledging me. Desperation is clear in that push, an eagerness that makes me gulp and jerk my gaze back to the window. My heart kicks hard against my ribs.
“I think he’s coming,” I say, the words tumbling out before I can stop them. My voice sounds thin, stretched too tight. “He feels focused. Like he knows where we are. Can you feel anything, Rebecca?”
Rebecca inhales deeply, her chest rising and falling in a way that looks painful. Her face has gone pale, a sickly, waxen color that makes her look like she’s running a fever. She presses a hand to her sternum, fingers splayed wide, and for a moment I think she might be sick.
“Oh, god I shouldn’t have done that,” she says. “I think he’s being tortured,” she says flatly.
Swish-thunk.
Swish-thunk.
“Wait, you didn’t feel it before?” Selene asks.
Rebecca groans. “Maybe it’s the way that tonic works. Kept him at bay… let me focus and see if I can shut him out again.”
My heart races, and suddenly the reality of Dominion crashes back into focus, and now, the leader of that demon horde is my fucking mate. The man whose shirt I’m clutching like a lifeline. The man who probably ordered whatever’s happening to Jack right now.
I’ve been stuck inside Judge’s attic for so long, I’d kind of forgotten what it feels like to perceive him from the outside world.
To remember what he is when he’s not purring at me, or closing wounds with a delicacy I never imagined he’d possess, or looking at me like I’m the only thing in the world that matters.
Out here, he’s a warlord.
Out here, he’s the reason people throw each other under the bus to spare themselves.
I glance between the women in this jeep, really look at them.
Selene, fierce and unflinching. Rebecca, broken and defiant.
Jess, competent and guarded. What kind of trouble am I putting them in by having them associate with me?
What happens if Judge catches up before we make it to the Black Mirage?
I might really have to be willing to offer myself back over to him for their sake.
Walk straight into my cage.
Jess double-glances at Rebecca, concern flickering across her face. “You okay?”
“I just hope they fucking kill him,” Rebecca grinds out, her voice flat and venomous. “Shit, it’s hard as hell to push him back.”
“You don’t look good, Beck.”
“Let it kill me, then.” Rebecca’s laugh is bitter, humorless. “I’m done with him.”
“What’s that?” Selene asks suddenly, her gaze snapping forward. Jess leans into the windshield, one hand braced against the dashboard. Even Rebecca perks up a little, her pain momentarily forgotten as we all follow Selene’s line of sight.
I squint into the snow, my eyes straining to make sense of the shapes moving in the distance. At first, it’s just blurs—shadows against white, indistinct and wavering. But then the figures solidify, and I realize what we’re looking at.
Riders.
Someone on horseback, moving toward us through the storm.
We all lean forward even more than we originally were, as if those few extra inches will help us see better.
The horse is brown and hardy looking, its breath visible in great plumes of steam that the wind tears apart almost immediately.
When they’re close enough that I can hear the animal’s labored breathing, I still can’t tell if I should be panicked or relieved.
“That might be for us,” Selene says, her hand already moving to the dagger at her hip.
Her fingers curl around the hilt with practiced ease.
“If not, we could kill them and take their horses. Might be easier than the jeep if it keeps snowing. We just need to make it to the train station, and we’re already ahead of schedule.
No doubt Judge is following us, but he’s going to be stuck in this shit, too. ”
My body shivers at admitting, out loud, that Judge is following us. She’s right. There’s no way he’s not coming for me. I glance slightly over my shoulder, imagine him appearing in the snowfall.
The rider dismounts and I give him my attention, the person covered in thick furs that make them look like a beast himself. They tap on the window with a gloved hand, then moves to open the driver’s door.
We all just sit there, frozen. What are we going to do? Run into the snowstorm and freeze to death in five minutes?
Jess panics, her hands scrambling for the lock with the mess of a radio in her hands, but the door opens before she can engage it.
A snow-covered head appears, peering inside, revealing a man with a thick scarf covering everything below his eyes.
Snow dusts into the jeep, bringing with it a gust of cold that steals the warmth from the air.
“What’s the code word?” the man demands, his voice rough and unfamiliar compared to the softer tones that have filled this space for the last few hours.
Selene, who has her hand still on the dagger, lurches forward without hesitation. “Melons!” she shouts.
There’s a beat of silence. The man nods once, satisfied.