and Ronan expertly changed gears and sped away.
They drove for ten minutes—ten minutes in which she barely breathed—before Ronan pulled over.
“What are you doing? Are we here?”
“No.”
“Then why have we stopped?”
He scowled at her. “Fuck, you are new.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that?”
Instead of answering, he threw open the car door and got out, leaving Rose no choice but to follow.
“We’re about a fifteen-minute run from the apartment. But the police will have been called and they’ll be looking for this cab, and us.” He jogged away without another word.
Adrenaline coursing through Rose, she desperately tried to ignore the mounting felonies in her wake as she pulled her backpack over her shoulders and ran after Niamh’s surly brother.
Ronan threw himself down on a huge L-shaped leather couch, a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his temple. Rose took in their new surroundings. The residential area he’d jogged to was host to a spectacular penthouse apartment that he hadn’t used a key to enter. The other buildings surrounding this one were nondescript. Nothing about them screamed luxury, but inside was a modern, loftlike home filled with contemporary design details.
“How did you—”
“There you are.” Niamh wandered through a doorway in the middle of the left wall of the open-plan space.
Rose startled, her lips parting in surprise. Niamh had changed her clothes and was now wearing a yellow dress similar to the one she’d worn in Zagreb. “What—”
“I got here fifteen minutes ago.” She flopped down beside Ronan and tapped his knee. “Are you okay?”
He cut her a dirty look. “Do I look okay?”
“Go take a shower,” she suggested gently.
With a grunt of annoyance, Ronan stood, shot Rose a filthy look, and then vanished through the doorway Niamh had appeared in.
“I took the werewolves who stayed behind at the station on a little chase around the place until the security guards got involved. Then I teleported here.”
Teleported.
Rose frowned. “It’s called traveling.”
“I do like the sound of that better.”
“You can travel that far?”
“It took some practice and I’m always shattered after it, but yes. Can’t you?”
Shrugging, Rose crossed the room and sat beside Niamh, dumping her backpack on the floor. “I’m getting there.” She took in the glossy white kitchen and island, the doors beyond it that led out onto a balcony overlooking the tree-lined street. “How did you find this place?”
“We look up all the nicest places for rent in whatever city we’re in. Found this one.”
“What if someone turns up at the apartment?”
Niamh’s blue eyes darted away from Rose’s, almost guiltily, and Rose understood. “You mind-warp them.”
“Is that what you call it?” she whispered, her remorse evident in her tone. “I guess it makes me an awful person, but when you’re always running, sometimes there’s no time to legally rent a place. It would also leave a trail people could follow.”
Needing to reassure her, Rose reached across and placed a hand over hers. “I’ve done it once. To get my tickets to Zagreb. I was hoping I’d find you there.”
Niamh stood and strode into the kitchen. “I’ve done it more than once. Coffee?”
Rose could only nod, understanding the desire to bury your head in the sand when life forced you to make shitty choices. “I have so many questions.”
“I imagine you do.”
“Will they find us here?”
“The Garm?” Niamh placed a pod in a small coffee maker and shook her head. “I don’t think so. Unless they have something of yours. It’s more likely they’re watching the station. Since Eirik was killed, the new leader moved the Garm headquarters to Munich. That’s why Ronan didn’t want us to come here. The Garm consider the city theirs. They’ll have full-time guards on the train station and airport, and one of those werewolves sensed us there.”
Rose cursed inwardly. She’d unknowingly walked right into the danger zone, something that would never have happened if she’d had Bran. He and Fionn would’ve known that the Garm’s headquarters was in Munich. “Shit.” At least she could stop worrying that they’d somehow gotten to her parents.
“Eirik wanted us dead.” Niamh moved across the room to hand Rose a hot cup. “But from what I’ve heard, he wasn’t psychotic. He just believed in something. He got the job done and that was it. This new fella, his name is William. He’s a Brit, but he’s made his home here in Germany. And they say he’s a bit of a psychopath.”
“Vamp or wolf?”
“Vampire. Five hundred years old. He was Eirik’s second-in-command, and they never went on hunts together, which