Chapter 24 Shyanne
SHYANNE
The shouting that followed me as I jumped back into the car became a dull roar, drowned out by the hiss and thud of my pulse beating in my ears. I slammed the door and turned the key in the ignition, shoving my foot onto the clutch and jerking the gearshift into reverse.
The tires spun as the car lurched backward, kicking up the decorative gravel in the courtyard.
One of the last things I saw before twisting the wheel was the large bodyguard uncoiling the blankets around the golem Christian had created.
The thing had freaked me the fuck out. It was like some sort of anthropomorphic doll that moved like a real living being.
Christian and Jackson had both told me a more skilled sorcerer or someone who had a better understanding of the process could have created one that actually walked, talked, and fought.
It had something to do with being of a Jewish bloodline or whatever.
Either way, my skin crawled just from looking at it.
I didn’t care how it worked as long as it worked.
And from what I saw, it was doing exactly what we’d wanted.
The front end of the car spun away, rocking up and almost rising onto two wheels, but the sway bars helped me keep control.
I shifted to first and shoved my foot to the floorboard, cranking through the gears as fast as the transmission would allow.
An instant later, a deafening explosion erupted behind me, sending a shockwave toward the back of the car.
It blew out the rear windshield. Pebbles of safety glass burst across the backseat, stinging my neck.
I cried out in surprise, but never took my foot off the gas.
The car rocketed down the drive to the main road.
I’d known the detonation would be huge, but that had been insane.
I hoped Bryn was okay. I’d padded the false bottom well, since I knew our getaway would be chaotic and she wouldn’t be able to secure herself.
She’d done a good job swapping places with the golem.
The kid was fantastic. I doubted I would have handled this half as well as she was.
That being said, I pulled my foot off the gas a bit as we came to the road.
I was a good driver, but with the precious cargo in the back, I didn’t want to take any risks.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, I checked to see if anyone or anything was following us.
The driveway was empty and dark. No headlights, no sprinting dragons.
“Good,” I muttered as I pulled onto the highway and increased the speed again.
I was worried about Jackson. There’d been a lot of those drake assholes back there, and I had no way of knowing how many of them might have been killed in the blast. Plus, that whole mansion could have been crawling with other drakes ready to pounce.
Jackson was an alpha, and from what I’d learned, that meant he was strong as hell, but even lions could get overwhelmed by enough hyenas.
I couldn’t worry about that right now. My task was getting Bryn to safety. Once she was back with her family, then I could contemplate coming back to help. Though, what help I’d be fighting goddamn dragons, I didn’t know. All I did know was that I couldn’t leave Jackson there alone.
The car roared down the road, taking each turn like a dream.
Even though I’d been hard pressed for time, I was proud of the job I’d done on this thing.
Nervous sweat trickled down my sides, and I slammed the control knob to turn the AC on high.
A blast of cold air washed across me as I turned onto a small side street that led to the location we’d agreed on for the handoff.
A few moments later, my headlights swept around a curve and came to rest on a group of people who were huddled together and looking terrified.
Christian stood in front. Behind him, his younger brother clung to his mother, and their father, Tanner Bauer, stood to the left, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. The abject terror in his face was almost too much for me to handle.
This had all been a ruse to save his daughter, but we’d had to make it look as real as possible.
For the last hour, he’d believed his child was either on the verge of being killed or was perhaps already dead.
I couldn’t imagine the terror he and his wife had gone through in the time we’d been gone.
After parking the car, I got out.
“We did it,” I said. “Jackson—”
“Where’s my daughter, you bitch?” Tanner stalked toward me, fists clenched and eyes burning with rage.
“Jesus, Dad!” Christian hissed. “I told you, she’s a friend. This was all—”
“Hush,” Tanner said, rounding on his son and leveling a finger at him. “You knew this was going to happen, and didn’t say anything? How could you?” His voice cracked, and tears shone in his eyes.
“Honey, stop,” Christian’s mother said quietly. “If they didn’t do this, Bryn might be dead. They saved her.”
“No!” Tanner shouted, pointing at Christian. “He and Jackson seem to think our household has been infiltrated. Bullshit. None of our people would ever turn on us. He could have—”
“Jaden was the spy,” I said, cutting the man off.
Tanner looked at me like I’d lost my mind, tears still staining his cheeks.
“What did you say?” he asked dumbly.
“Jaden. She was a maid. Joseph Anitoli paid her off or threatened her or something. She was the one watching to see if Jackson spilled the beans. It’s why Jackson and Christian had to fight and make it look real.”
Tanner looked like he’d been slugged in the gut. While he worked through the revelation that his home hadn’t been as ironclad as he’d thought, his wife stepped forward looking tense.
“Bryn? Where is she?” she asked, her voice straining with emotion.
“Back here,” I said, waving at Christian.
Sprinting forward, he joined me at the trunk as I lifted the lid. The carpeted trunk looked completely empty, but I tucked my fingers beneath the lip of the hidden trunk and lifted, revealing the young girl. She looked up at us with sweat-matted hair.
“It’s hot in here. Can I get out now?” she asked.
“You can,” Christian said, almost sobbing as he reached for her.
Bryn lurched up to wrap her arms around his neck. Christian straightened, and Broderick and his mother ran forward and threw their arms around her.
“You guys are so dramatic,” Bryn said.
“I’m sorry,” Tanner said quietly from beside me.
Turning, I saw the deep lines in his face. He looked like he’d aged a hundred years in a few minutes.
“I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. I’m sorry.” His face pinched, and he sucked in a shuddering breath. “Thank you for saving my daughter.”
The sheer emotion he was showing—the sorrow, the sadness, and the relief—was so palpable I couldn’t respond. If this had happened to me, my father would’ve been beside himself with grief. Even now, knowing it had all been a trick, Tanner looked like he was on the verge of an emotional breakdown.
“No problem,” I finally managed to say.
He nodded, then went to hug Bryn with the rest of them. The girl craned her neck above Broderick’s arm and looked at me, her smile wide and eyes bright.
“How was my acting?”
I hadn’t seen what had gone on inside, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her.
“Fantastic,” I said, smiling back at her. “Oscar-worthy.”
“Yeah,” Christian said, his voice thick with tears. “Keanu will be handing you awards pretty soon.”
“Really?” Bryn said, turning to her brother. “I was that good?”
“Hell yeah, you were,” Tanner mumbled. “When we heard you screaming, I thought someone was actually hurting you.”
Again my heart ached at what we’d had to do. Bryn reached out and put a hand on her father’s cheek.
“Calm down, silly. I was just acting,” she said.
The whole family burst into laughter, and I couldn’t help but chuckle along.
Kids were damn resilient, and sometimes they were able to shrug things off that would destroy adults.
Did she even realize how much danger she’d been in?
Maybe? Maybe not? Who knew? At what age did people stop thinking they were invincible?
“I’ve got to get back,” I said. “Thank you for trusting us with your daughter. Jackson and I would never have let anything happen to her. We’d have done anything to keep her safe. I hope you believe that.”
“Where are you going?” Christian asked. “I thought you were coming with us? That was the plan.”
Shaking my head, I got into the car. “No. Jackson might need help. I’ve got to go.”
“I’m coming with you,” he said, extricating himself from his family.
“No, Christian,” his mother said, nearly in tears again. “Don’t.”
He put a hand on her arm. “Jackson is my best friend. He needs my help. I’m going.”
His mother looked like she wanted to argue, but his father put an arm around her. “He’ll be okay. Our boy is the strongest wyrm in several generations. An alpha. If anyone can help Jackson, it’s him.”
Without another word, Christian rushed to the passenger side and climbed in. I turned the car around, giving one last look to the four remaining members of his family, still standing in a circle with their arms around each other.
“How fast can we get back?” Christian asked as we got back to the highway.
Without Bryn in the trunk, I could be a bit more aggressive.
“You’ll see,” I said as I hit the gas.
The turbo spooled up, hissing. The exhaust rumbled, and we rocketed down the road, hitting sixty in less than four seconds.
“Holy shit!” Christian cried.
“She’s a beauty,” I said. “Kinda proud of myself, actually.”
The miles flew by in a blur, and soon we were turning back onto the driveway that led to the mansion where I’d left Jackson.
“We could hear the explosion all the way back there,” Christian explained. “It must have been huge. I mean we…oh…Jesus!”