“Don’t worry about who they are,” he replied. “Worry about staying alive.”

  “Someone is trying to kill me, Chaser. So far, there’s been two attempts. I can’t let it go. Not after everything you told me. I won’t go into this blindly.”

  He remained silent.

  “I’m in this up to my eyeballs, and I don’t know who you are, let alone what my father wants, because we both know these vampires who are after me are a thinly veiled attempt at sinking his poisonous claws back into me.”

  “That bullet was the farthest thing from a thinly veiled attempt as you can get,” Chaser said.

  “Who are they?”

  He ground his teeth. It was a wonder he had any pearly whites left in his mouth at this point.

  “Who are they, and why can’t we disappear someplace together?”

  “You need to stop trying to convince me to run away with you.”

  “I’m not going to stop because I want nothing to do with Fortitude…and neither do you.”

  “Yet another story you’ve made up to convince yourself that you have a chance,” he replied.

  “Pull over,” I demanded.

  “Not going to happen.”

  “Pull over.”

  “Nope.”

  “Pull over the car before I grab the wheel.”

  With a growl, he swerved to the side, the wheels flying into the gravel, and slammed his foot on the brake. I was flung forwards, and the seat belt caught and tossed me right back.

  “What?” he shouted. “What do you want from me?”

  “Do you think you’re the only tortured soul in the world?” I asked, seeing red. “Poor Chaser, leading the life of a hired thug. You’re powerful and immortal, but here you are doing the bidding of a dog.”

  “Sloane.”

  The warning was clear in his voice, but I wouldn’t back down. I was done. The back and forth, the false faces, the secrets and lies. It was time to snap him in half and find out what really made him tick.

  “You hate it,” I continued. “You hate working for Fortitude. You’re not one of them. You’re too good for it.”

  “It doesn’t matter who I am—”

  “It matters,” I argued. “Either you turn the car around and take me someplace else other than Fortitude, or I walk.”

  “Sloane, get it through your pretty little head. If you leave and go it on your own, you will be dead before the day is done. You get me?”

  “Oh, I get you.”

  “Then why are you still fighting me?” he exclaimed.

  “Because you’re taking me to the last place on earth I want to be. Because there’s more to you than just a mindless slave carrying out the orders of a werewolf. Because there’s something you’re holding back.”

  “You know nothing,” he snarled.

  Leaning towards him, I stared him straight in the eyes and curled my hands into his T-shirt.

  “You think I’m just some dumb girl with an attitude problem,” I murmured. “You think I can’t handle myself or make rational decisions. You think I need a man to save me. Well, you’re dead wrong.”

  His eyes darkened. “You need to let me go.”

  “You need to tell me the truth, Chaser. What aren’t you telling me?”

  “You’re walking a dangerous path…”

  “Why?” I tugged him towards me. “Tell me.”

  He growled and pulled away, throwing the door open and climbing out of the car. I watched as he paced in front of the bonnet, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

  Well, I supposed things were well and truly cracked open now. Might as well go the whole hog and roll around in the ashes.

  Getting out of the car, I strode towards him and raised my hand. My palm connected with his cheek and the crack echoed along the empty road. Epic improvisation right there.

  Chaser stared at me in shock, rooted to the spot. The blow hadn’t hurt him one bit, but the act had stunned him, nonetheless.

  I stared right back, not willing to back down.

  I had a feeling things between us would always come to this point. A tense standoff on the side of a road someplace, staring one another down like angry wolves on the border between the absolute truth and mauling each other to death.

  Someone was trying to kill me to get to my father? So what?

  Chaser practically kidnapped me? So what?

  I was a werewolf and didn’t know what any of it meant. Someone wanted me for unknown reasons. Other wolves were trying to kill me. The vampires…I wasn’t sure if they wanted the same thing, or if they intended to kidnap me, too.

  Chaser’s eyes began to change, the whites swirling with a blackness that alarmed me. My fight or flight reflex told me to stay still.

  Don’t move.

  Chaser looked at me for a long time before he spoke, but the blackness didn’t fade.

  “You’ve fallen headfirst into the snake pit, and you don’t even know it,” he murmured. “It’s better you stay in the dark.”

  “I passed the point of no return the moment you showed up. Full disclosure, Chaser. That’s what I want.”

  He tensed and the shadows in his eyes began to fade.

  “I’m ready,” I murmured. “I’ll drop the act. I’ll stop trying to run away. I’ll stop and listen to you. But you have to be honest with me. I want to make my own choices. I want to choose, you hear me?”

  “If I go…” He swallowed hard. “If I take you someplace else, it’ll never stop. You belong with your own kind.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “I do.”

  I tensed, my heart twisting inside my chest. “So the only choice I have is between two evils? You understand you’re taking away the one thing I want the most? You get that you’re taking away my freedom, right?”

  “I’m sorry, Sloane,” he murmured. “But if I have to choose between Fortitude or death, I’m choosing Fortitude.”

  Chapter 13

  Sloane

  That night, Chaser stopped at a little motel outside some nondescript town on the edge of the Eyre highway. From here, it was an eight-hour drive to the South Australian border.

  Since he wouldn’t let me drive, we were forced to camp out so he could get a little shuteye. Seemed like vampires needed sleep after all.

  Fossicking through my duffel, I took out some clean clothes and set them aside for the morning. Making a pile, I arranged everything else while Chaser banged about the room behind me.

  When my hand knocked against the heavy books I’d brought along for the ride, I paused.

  I’d already forgotten about my textbooks and the week of lectures I’d missed while we were on our cross-country road trip from hell. Still, I’d carried my work with me on the off-chance I’d be able to catch up at some point. I knew a part of me was still holding onto the life I wanted to have, even though it’d been snatched out of my grasp.

  This was one of those crossroad moments, wasn’t it? I was perched on a fence that was wobbling underneath my backside, forcing me to choose. If I didn’t, it threatened to toss me wherever it pleased.

  Glancing at Chaser, I thought about all the things he’d told me. I couldn’t quite articulate what it felt like, knowing I was a werewolf but having zero connection to it. It was kind of like a video game where the main character levelled up and was able to face tougher enemies, except I had no idea how to trigger the next level.

  Chaser had somehow forced me to see my situation in a different light. He’d given up something when he told me the truth. I wasn’t sure what it was yet, but it was something he valued. The way he’d shut down once we’d gotten back into the car was a glaring indicator.

  Watching as he unfolded a map and laid it on the table, I raised my eyebrows.

  “Wow, I haven’t seen a map like that in forever,” I said, speaking for the first time since our conversation on the roadside.

  Chaser grunted and leaned over the table, studying the lines. There weren’t that many of them.

  “Is there any good news?” I asked.

  “We’re stuck,” he replied. “There’s only one way from here.”

  “Then we go that way.”

  “The likelihood of trouble—”

  “Is a risk we need to take.” I nodded at the map. “Where are we?”

  “Here.” He jabbed his finger at a point in the middle of nothing. It fit the scene outside, but he could’ve pointed anywhere, and I would’ve believed him.

  “So, we either go back the way we came or go forwards.”

  “They’ll be expecting it.”

  “They’ll be expecting both courses of action,” I shot back. “We just have to deal with it. Be smart. Keep our heads down until we can shake them.”

  “We go forwards,” he said after a moment of deliberation. “Nonstop.”

  “If that’s the way we have to go, then so be it.” I sighed. We’d have to at least stop for fuel.

  Chaser grunted and sat on the edge of the bed.

  Standing over him, I went for the higher ground tactic. I wasn’t sure if it would override his vampire aura, but it was worth a shot.

  “You know, it would be much easier for me if I knew who we were dealing with,” I said.

  He stared at me, saying nothing.

  “I told you I was ready to drop the ‘too stupid to live’ act,” I said, giving him a pointed look. “But you need to give me something to arm myself with.”

  “What’s the catch?”

  “The catch is me having a chance to fight back and not rely on you. If I know who I’m looking for, it might be the difference between living and dying.”

  Chaser ran his hand over his face and glanced away.

  “I can fire a gun.”

  “I’m sure you can,” he said. “Though it won’t help much against a vampire.”

  “But it could if it was a wolf, right?”

  He shrugged.

  “Chaser, I’m not the kind of woman who just sits back and waits for the cavalry.”

  He turned his gaze on me, and his eyes burned right through me.

  “You know I’m right.”

  “Fortitude is in something,” he said slowly, choosing his words precisely. “Something big. It stretches beyond their normal dealings. This is dangerous stuff, Sloane. Your father saw an opportunity… Now they’re coming back twice as hard.”

  “I knew it,” I exclaimed. “Power-hungry son of a b—”

  “There’s a debt to be paid, Sloane. I’m sorry you had to be dragged into this.”

  “I’m the payment. Blood for blood,” I exclaimed. “After a lifetime of not knowing one another, they think I’m important to him?”

  “I’m here,” Chaser said, leaning forwards and placing his elbows on his knees. “If he didn’t care, I’d be someplace else and you’d be dead already.”

  “Thanks for the sunshine and rainbows.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  He spoke plainly for what felt like the first time since we’d met. Like I was an actual person and not a piece of cargo. He was softening towards me, and I wasn’t sure how to take it.

  “You saved my life twice. It’s time to start playing the game.” I sat beside him.

  “What was your name before?” he asked.

  “You’re changing the subject. Don’t be so blatant.”

  He raised his eyebrows and waited.

  “Didn’t my darling daddy tell you?”

  He shrugged. “Guess he knew it wasn’t important to you anymore.”

  “Betty,” I drawled.

  “You’re kidding?”

  “Lame.” I rolled my eyes. “He chose it, not my mum.”

  “Your mother… You said…”

  “I know what I said,” I drawled. “He killed her. Not directly, but he may as well have. A little bit of history repeating.”

  Chaser tensed but didn’t ask for an explanation. He was a good soldier. Keeping his mouth shut and his nose out of other people’s business were the hallmarks of a career criminal.

  “It’s just one thing after another,” I went on. “This isn’t anything new. Not really. Gravitate to my dad, and after a while you’ll end up as collateral damage.”

  “I know.”

  Maybe it was time to resign myself to the fact I wasn’t going to escape all this chaos. Being pulled back into Fortitude business was inevitable now that I knew the truth. If it weren’t Chaser and the mystery supernatural hit squad, it would be someone or something else.

  “These people…” he began, his tongue loosening. “They could be anyone and anywhere.”

  “It sounds more sophisticated than just a bunch of vampires and wolves. Those guys at the service station looked like bikers. And that guy who attacked me back at the pub… He was a vampire, wasn’t he?”

  Chaser nodded. “Appearances can be deceiving. Next time, we won’t be so lucky.”

  I rolled my eyes. Looked like I’d been living in a bubble of false hope if I thought giving him the slip had been a good idea.

  I squirmed and leaned back. “They’re two separate groups. Why?”

  “Vampires and wolves don’t mix.”

  “So, why are you working for werewolves?”

  “Because I am.”

  “You’re not going to tell me?”

  “No.” He bit back so hard, a little part of me withered and died.

  “What now?”

  “The safest place for you is with Fortitude. I still stand by what I said to you today.”

  “The lesser of two evils.”

  “Yes. It’s a matter of survival.”

  I didn’t want to accept it was my only option. What kind of life would I have back in Melbourne, trapped by the whims of my father, the alpha wolf of the Fortitude pack? It still sounded stupid saying it—wolves and packs.

  “So,” I began, my voice thin, “do I just sit around, locked in some room at Fortitude? Do I just go back to the life my mum died to keep me away from?”

  “That’s up to you and your father.”

  Great.

  Standing, I gave Chaser the dirtiest look I could and rounded the end of the bed. I shucked off my jacket, then kicked off my boots.

  “Whatever,” I said. “I’m taking a shower.”

  “Sloane.”

  “There’s something you’re not telling me,” I said. “About you, your supposed allegiance with Fortitude, and about my werewolf-ness. You’ve only told me the bare minimum, but why tell me anything at all?”

  “I—” He closed his mouth, and his jaw tensed.

  “Say it,” I murmured. “Just say it, Chaser.”

  “I care about you, that’s why—”

  “I don’t believe you.” I shook my head, shoving down the urge to slam my fist into the wall.

  “You’re asking me to run away with you,” he shot back. “You’re asking me to walk away from Fortitude. What you want me to do will put a target on my back. I can’t—”

  “You’re not stuck, Chaser. You can leave, you know. You could choose to take the risk if you wanted it badly enough, but I see you don’t. You’re too cowardly to walk away from something that’s destroying you. You’re a vampire. You can go anywhere and do anything.”

  “You don’t know anything about me,” he snarled.

  “I know more than you’ll ever realise.” I backed into the bathroom and slammed the door closed, shutting him out.

  Something had happened to Chaser. Something bad, but it didn’t make him special. Everyone had their own sad and broken origin story. He could be a thousand years old for all I knew and enslaved by a magic spell. After everything, I wouldn’t be surprised.

  And to think I’d thought he’d had a secret tumour.

  Those rival wolves at the servo wanted me dead. Chaser, too. The vampire at the Sailor’s Arms wanted me alive. Beaten, but alive. My father wanted me back, not because he cared—I was too smart to think otherwise—but because he needed me for something. I was valuable to the vampires, and the werewolves didn’t want them to have me. What Fortitude wanted was still a mystery Chaser wasn’t letting me in on.

  Was my father going to give me to the vampires? Was I just a commodity to him? Why?

  For the life of me, I didn’t know why I was so special.

  Chapter 14

  Sloane

  The next morning, we were back on the road before the sun had a chance to peek over the horizon.

  I leaned against the window, watching the sky lighten and the stars disappear. Red, orange, and gold streaked overhead, though the proximity of danger dulled the beauty.

  I didn’t like not speaking to Chaser.

  Even though he annoyed me more often than not, his silence made me uneasy. The things he’d admitted to last night should’ve settled some of the gnawing in my chest, but it hadn’t. Questions had been answered with words that’d stirred up even more unknowns. About the men who were trying to kill me, about Chaser and his involvement with Fortitude, and about the truth of who I was.

  “Have you ever seen the movie Thelma and Louise?” I asked sometime between dawn and midday.

  “No.”

  “Because you’re Louise, and I’m Thelma.” I waited, but he didn’t react. “Wanna know why?”

  He glanced sidelong at me. “Not really.”

  “Louise is the levelheaded one,” I said, not caring if he wanted to listen or not. I just needed some noise. “She’s got the clear-cut plan. Thelma is an abused housewife who goes on a trip with her best friend—that’s you—only to become the victim of an attempted assault. Louise saves her by shooting and killing the guy, so they go on this road trip across America to escape the law.”

  “I can see the parallels, but it’s not the same,” Chaser drawled.

  “Since when do criminals use the word parallels.” I rolled my eyes. “You’re not doing a good job of hiding your educated ex-Special Forces past.”

  “Who said I was Special Forces?”

  “I don’t know. Were you?” I gave him a pointed stare, which only earned me another full minute of silence.

  Nothing. He didn’t even flinch.

  “Stop looking at me, Sloane.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, as the movie goes along, Thelma awakens as this law-breaking badarse. She robs a gas station, and they blow up a tanker after the driver makes a lewd gesture at them.”