13. Hunter
THIRTEEN
HUNTER
“Odell, you can pull over and I’ll drive.”
My mate was staring straight ahead, barely blinking, his expression unchanged, with his mouth set in a straight line. The whites of his knuckles were visible in the darkness, and his paperclip ring was visible on his left hand.
But there was no reaction from my mate, no sign that he’d heard me, and he wasn’t easing his foot off the gas and pulling over.
“Odell?” My voice was edged with panic, mine and my beast’s. My wolf expected me to grab the wheel. And while I had the strength and skill to do that, I worried what it would do to my mate. The poor guy had been subjected to so much trauma. His life had been upended, and people he held dear had trampled on and shredded his trust.
The car’s engine strained under the stress Odell was putting it under, and one or both of them might break if we continued like this. I was less worried about the car than my mate. Not concerned about the damned car at all except it and Odell were heroes.
But if I dealt with this in the wrong way… but what was the right one?
“Odell, you’re doing so well. I’m so proud of you, but how about we take a break.” I kept my tone low and even. “If we pull over, we can have something to eat and drink.”
Nothing. The car continued plowing along the country road, the scenery outside zipping past in a blur.
“We’re safe. Those guys are not following us thanks to you. As you said, we left them in a cloud of dust.”
Did we? My wolf was confused.
It’s an expression .
The wind whistled past the vehicle as Odell’s breathing came in little spurts and starts.
“The poor old car needs a little break. Might need to top up the radiator with water.” My voice was no louder but firmer than before.“Dellie, can you slow down?”
Using the pet name his aunt called him, I hoped he might respond. Maybe I needed to reconsider wrenching the steering wheel out of his control.
His eyes flickered, just for a second, and his breathing altered. Not the sputtering, shallow breathing of before, but deeper and slower.
“You got us out of a situation that I couldn’t because I didn’t have the skill. But now, let’s take a break. You did the hard part, and I’ll do the easy bit.”
His clenched fingers released this grip on the steering wheel, and he removed his foot from the gas. His body started shaking and convulsing with heart-wrenching sobs.
I put an arm around his shoulder and placed a hand on top of his. “You did so good.” I helped steer the car onto the shoulder and yanked at what I hoped was the hand brake. The end came off, and Odell burst out laughing. Not a laugh that wrapped around my heart and brought me joy. The sound was manic and unfamiliar from the man in the driver’s seat.
Racing around to the driver’s side, I opened the door, my arms outstretched. But he ignored my offer of a hug. Instead, he pulled in huge ragged breaths between intermittent cries. His shoulders shook, and he scrunched up his face, his eyes shedding huge tears.
His gaze aligned on my face, and he threw himself into my arms. Time must have passed as I held him, but it took an age for his cries to quieten. I whispered it’d be okay over and over while brushing a hand over his hair.
Pulling him out of the car, I picked him up, and he clung to me. Maneuvering the back door open, I grabbed a water bottle and a packet of candy. Not the best choice of food, but he was in shock and needed sugar.
I carried Odell off to the side and sat on the grass, him on my lap. Tipping the water bottle, he gulped huge mouthfuls, some of it dribbling onto his clothes. I offered him a piece of sugary candy, and he sucked it and asked for another.
“Want something more substantial to eat?”
He nodded, but when I tried to get up, he clung to me, so I scooped him up and we sat in the back seat, devouring a slapped-together sandwich of bread and cheese with a side of strawberries.
The fruit juice skidded over his chin, and he took my hand and wiped it off with my fingers. He giggled, and I stiffened, thinking he might be going into shock again.
“That tickles.”
If we’d been anywhere else and had been getting to know one another, I would have counted that as a step toward him maybe liking me. We were a long way from being mates, but tiny steps.
You are mated . My beast was stickler for the rules.
Yes, but we’re mates in name only . I should have asked Flint and Ranger how they overcame their mates’ anger and fear at being kidnapped and made the leap to their humans falling in love.
Too late now, though when we reached the cabin, I’d have to let Flint know we’d been compromised. Could Draven have gotten the information from Stefan? But when we’d been discussing the plan, he’d been in the other room and the doors were soundproofed. I tried to recall what we’d said before moving to the monitoring room.
“I didn’t know I could do that. Pretending to be a stunt driver.”
This was the first time Odell had referred to the incident since we escaped those goons.
“There was no pretense. You were amazing. I couldn’t have done it.”
He giggled again. “You’re a crap driver, at least with a stick shift.”
“Thank goodness you were there to save my ass.”
He patted his back. “I did, didn’t I?” He peered at my butt. “Seems to be intact.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to say he couldn’t be sure unless I got naked and he inspected my ass. But it was too soon.
A tiny bleep from the dashboard had me leaning between the seats, wondering if the engine was dying. The beeping was coming from the glove compartment, and I opened it.
Two things happened. I spied a phone, an older model that I hadn’t noticed when we were being chased. At first I thought it belonged to whoever had owned the car.
But as I stuck my hand in, I dislodged the gun that had been in the bag earlier. I should have caught it, but I was distracted by Odell rubbing shoulders with me and peering into the front of the car.
It thunked onto the floor . “Shit, the gun!” My mate pushed open the passenger door, and it creaked and groaned. He fell onto the grass with a loud, “Owww!”
He took off, running into the night.
“Odell, come back.”
As I was much faster than him, I caught up to my mate as he raced along the side of the road, yelling, “Don’t touch me.”
It was dark, and he wouldn’t have been able to see much. There were no streetlights out here. If he continued running, he’d trip and maybe break an ankle, and I’d have to take him to the nearest hospital.
“I won’t.” I raised my hands. “See, no gun.” I had to think fast, not wanting to alarm my mate any further. “You didn’t need the second weapon because your driving skill got us away safely.”
All of that was true.
“You don’t understand, Hunter.”
“Try me. I might.”
“I freaked just now because…” He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. “Yes, it was scary, and I didn’t know what I was doing. It was pure luck we escaped.”
I went to speak, but he continued. “Scary as it was, I kinda liked it.” He glanced away. “I can’t look at you.”
With a finger under his chin, I tilted it toward me. “Nothing you say would stop me looking at you.”
He snorted, saying I was being overly dramatic again. I’d get on a stage in front of thousands of people and declare my love for him if that was what he wanted.
“Does that make me a bad guy? Enjoying running over someone, causing collisions and escaping into the countryside?”
I was so tempted to kiss away his fear. Instead, I told him the truth. “No, it just makes you human.”
His chest heaved with a huge sigh. My mate needed a proper meal and a bed.
“It’s too much.” He tugged at his hair. “I want to go home. I need Aunt Louisa. But how can I tell her what I did?”
We shouldn’t contact his family, but if it helped calm him, I’d do it in a second, though he should definitely leave out being shot at and driving a getaway car.
“Your aunt and uncle are being looked after, and when we reach the cabin, I’ll arrange for you to speak to your aunt.”
He wrapped his arms around his body. “You promise?”
“I do.”
He allowed me to take him back to the car, and I strapped the seat belt across his chest. My fingers brushed across his arm as I clicked it into place, and he didn’t rear away.
After closing the doors, I got in the driver’s seat. “Wanna give me a lesson on how to drive a stick shift?” If I could get his mind off the past few hours, maybe we could reach the cabin and I could get him into bed. He needed sleep and a proper meal and to speak to the one person, other than me, who loved him unconditionally.
“Sure.”
He gave me clear instructions on how to ease my foot off the clutch as I pressed on the gas. There were a couple of false starts and a lot of jerking, but I pulled onto the road.
I’d made a lot of mistakes in the last twenty-four hours, but here we were. I asked fate to make sure that Odell could overcome the crappy start we had to our bonding and put the shit behind us.
But would the universe listen?