up within the first two seconds. “Yes?”
“This is Bo Knight.”
“Hold while I confirm.”
Raising an eyebrow, Bowen leaned back in his chair. When Malachai came back on the line, he said, “How exactly do you confirm?”
“We have methods,” the BlackSea male responded. “You didn’t call to chat.”
“No. One of my people has picked up a woman in bad physical shape who wants to go to the sea.”
“Name?”
“She won’t give it, but I have a description.” He repeated it to Malachai. “She sound like one of yours?”
A pause, as if the BlackSea security chief was considering whether to confirm or deny. “Yes,” he said at last. “We can take charge of her if you give us a location.”
“Unless you call in a teleporter, you won’t get her to the sea any faster than she’s already going,” Bo told the other man. “She’s in a long-haul truck, safe and warm. You know how fast those truckers go.” And there was nothing else on the road that could take down a truck that big.
“We need to know where she is, nevertheless,” Malachai said.
It was Bowen’s turn to pause. If he gave them Isaac’s details, then he made the other man vulnerable. On the other hand, BlackSea had extended the hand of friendship, while the Alliance had let them down in return. Maybe it was time to even the scoreboard.
He sent the data. “You should have someone meet her at the beach. From the way she was described to me, I’m not sure she has the strength to take on the ocean.”
“We’ll organize that.” Malachai’s tone shifted slightly. “Pass on a message. Tell her to resist the temptation to shift. In her condition, the water near Canada is too cold for her—say her pack is on the way and promises to get her to warmer waters as fast as possible.”
“Consider it done.” Hanging up, Bowen passed on the message and alerted Isaac that he might end up with some company along the way. “Should be friendly, but if they give you problems, let me know. I’ll call in a few favors, get you help.”
“I’ll make sure she stays safe,” Isaac said before switching off.
Bo got another message an hour later: I’ve got an escort, front and back. Isaac had also sent through the vehicle ID numbers.
When Bowen checked with Malachai, the BlackSea male confirmed they were BlackSea vehicles. “They won’t get in the trucker’s way, but they need to be there for our packmate when she reaches the beach.”
• • •
LEILA Savea didn’t know why she trusted the man who’d rescued her—maybe because he’d rescued her or maybe it was because she’d seen the photograph tacked to his dashboard. It was of him laughing with a tall blonde woman who stood in his arms with no hint of fear on her face, though the man who’d introduced himself as Isaac was at least as big and as muscled as Malachai.
Whatever it was, she’d given in to her need to be clean of the ugliness of what had been done to her by showering far too long in the shower inside the living quarters of his cab. She’d probably emptied his water tank, but he hadn’t knocked on the door to tell her to get out. Instead, when she finally came out, it was to see he’d left a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt for her to change into.
His clothes would’ve fallen off her, but these kind of fit after she tucked the T-shirt into the sweatpants in a very unglamorous move and tightened the drawstring, then rolled up the bottoms of the pants.
Clearly, the clothes belonged to a taller, healthier woman. The laughing blonde? The idea made Leila happy, though both Isaac and the woman were strangers to her. And she needed to think thoughts of happiness right now. It was all that was keeping her from shattering, her psyche held together by a single fragile thread.
When she came to peek out at Isaac, he glanced back at her with a cheek-creasing smile. “You know,” he said before turning his attention back to the road, “you’re not the first girl I’ve rescued.”
The part of Leila that had kept her sane in the darkness scowled. “I’m a woman, not a girl.”
“Jessie was mouthy, too.” So much emotion in his voice as he touched his fingers to the photograph. “She drives big rigs now. Drives me crazy, too.”
“I’m a scientist,” Leila found herself telling him, and in so doing, reclaimed a part of her lost self.