“So you and Caia ready to hit the road?” he asked without preamble.
Lucien sighed down the other end of the phone. “Bored already, Ryder?”
Ryder grinned, his eyes darting to the rear view mirror at the sounds of sirens. The flash of light could be seen weaving between cars in the distance, and he pulled over in order to get out of the way. “Hey, do not get me started.”
“I thought-[ne naw ne naw ne naw] already.”
“You’ll have to repeat that man, police sirens just drowned out what I’m guessing is an irritating observation on my progress in this ‘rescue Jaeden from herself’ project you got me heading up.”
Lucien snorted. “I was just wondering what was taking so long.”
“I left three days ago.”
“And?”
“It’s a three day drive, not including rest br... you know what, never mind, I’m nearly there.”
“Yeah, well, Magnus has agreed to oversee the pack, so Caia and I are nearly ready to hit the road as well.”
Ryder smirked. “Nice.”
“Shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Thinking what?” he laughed.
“Shut up.”
“Well does this journey include a motel break, because in the interest of all romance, don’t. Last night I slept in a motel room where the carpet literally moved beneath my feet, there were so many fleas in it.”
“Beautiful.”
“Yeah well, I might just have to make a pit stop on the way back so Jae can enjoy the delights of the place.”
“You’ll go easy on her.”
Ryder groaned, as he glided into the next lane. “Yeah, yeah.”
“I gotta go.”
“Yeah. I’ll let you know when I retrieve our wayward pup.”
“Do that. Take care, man.”
“You too.”
Ryder sighed heavily as he thought about Jaeden. He was making pretty good time so he should hit the city by nightfall. He wondered whether she would be an adult about this and come in peace, or if he was going to have to physically haul her ass into the truck. He groaned and rubbed the tension out of his forehead.
“It’s pretty cool that you’ve started going hunting with us again.” Styx smiled sweetly as she stood up from kneeling, her machete bloodied by the dead vampyre’s neck juice. Jaeden felt a twinge of guilt at the mixture of hurt and hope in the young vamp’s eyes. Out of all of her new found comrades, Styx was the most sensitive and had clung to Jaeden from the get go. She was a baby for a vampyre, only sixteen, and Jae had felt sort of protective towards her. Styx was built like a child, fragile and small at a tiny five foot nothing. Her size was deceptive and the reason the big vampyre on the ground was dead. None of the bad teeth (as Reuben’s gang of misfits liked to refer to the rogue vamps) were expecting the sly strength of Styx.
Jaeden looked away from the dead guy and shrugged. “Yeah well, it gets Reuben off my back.” She winced as Styx’s face fell in disappointment. “And of course I missed hanging out with you guys,” she added quickly. The young girl smiled, but Jae could tell it was too late.
“Aren’t you happy with us, Jaeden?”
Oh boy, how to answer that question?