Chapter 441 Chapter 441
Emersyn looked at the driver again. She was so nervous around males she didn’t know. Noah seemed comfortable enough with him though, so she wondered if they worked together freeing others. What was his name again? Ash? Ashton, or something like that.
When she turned her head back, Wren was smiling at her. Her unofficial guardian, Penny was drifting off to sleep beside her. Emersyn raised her finger to her mouth so the girl would stay quiet. She nodded and looked down at the fastener on the seat she was in, her inquisitive mind distracted by it.
They’d been in this van since early this morning. After only two short stops, her legs were cramping and she could no longer feel her bottom, but she wasn’t going to complain. Aspyn was beside her and they were both free and safe.
The driver tapped his phone that sat in a holder beside the steering wheel, he turned and looked at Noah. “We’re stopping at a secure location for the night.”
“Before we cross?”
The man shook his head, “right after.” She saw him glance in the mirror and then she turned to look at the back of the van. There was no window, so she wasn’t sure what he could see in it.
Noah shifted in his seat and turned to look at everyone. His gaze stopped on the only other male aside from him and the one driving. Liam, she guessed was ten or eleven and he’d been very quiet the entire trip. “Can you give us a hand with the bags when we stop?”
The boy’s eyebrows went up, erasing the solemn look on his face. He nodded.
“Thanks.” Noah glanced at her for a moment, then looked at Aspyn as she slept. He seemed like he was checking that she was okay. His eyes flicked back to her for a second and then his expression blanked again just as he turned back around. “How long?”
“Half hour.”
Neither of them had spoken much on the whole drive. She knew Noah’s ghosts, or as close as anyone would ever know, but she wondered what haunted the driver. His eyes had that look in them, the one that said he’d known suffering. Was that why Noah accepted him? She opened her mouth to ask, then closed it again. Shaking her head, she reminded herself she was free now and allowed to talk when she wanted to. Swallowing the fear down, she sat forward slightly so they could hear her without her waking the others. “Do you work together for the Alliance?” Her voice shook, but she felt proud of herself for doing it anyway.
Noah glanced over his shoulder and looked at her, “different teams, but we’ve worked together a few times.”
The driver nodded, “from what I hear we’ll be spending a lot of quality time together in the very immediate future.”
Noah searched her face for a moment before he turned back to the driver. “I can’t express how much I’m looking forward to that, Asher.”
Asher, she thought, his name is Asher.
“Calum said you and Blair found some sort of journal with a lot of names and locations.”
She watched Noah nod. Emersyn thought of all the women that had come and gone in the houses she’d been forced to stay in. She closed her eyes for a moment and wished for them to all be found and freed. Opening them she watched Noah, she could only see the side of his face as he looked at Asher.
“Yeah, he said it went back to when he was around five.”
Asher jerked his head and looked at him briefly before turning back to watch where he was driving. “Holy shit.” He whispered.
“Yeah.” Noah nodded his head and then looked back out the window.
“Jesse said we’re going to get some of Konner’s clan next week.”
Noah’s head snapped to look at him, “they found more?”
Asher nodded, “it will be a joint effort again, there’s more than one location.”
Noah blew out an audible breath, “he’s got to be juiced about that, after this long.”
Asher rolled his head from one side to the other, his muscles must be sore from driving this long, she thought. “I haven’t talked to him, but I imagine after there only being a dozen of his kind this long that he’s stoked about it.”
Emersyn looked from one to the other. She had no idea what juiced and stoked meant, but she had to assume it meant excitement. It hit her then that Noah wasn’t going to be staying with them. She looked at her hands in the low light, she knew he had to go and help others, but had never thought about what it meant for him to do it. Her stomach tightened, panic filling her. She knew it was ridiculous, but since he’d found her, she felt like nothing bad was going to happen to her from now on. It was silly, to have a feeling like this about a man she didn’t know. About any man. She blinked when she thought that. She trusted a man. That was something she never thought would happen.
“How’s your nephew doing?” Noah shifted in his seat as if he were trying to get comfortable. That made her feel better, that it wasn’t just her suffering on this car ride.
“He’s recovering.” Asher made a low-sounding noise, “it’s really hard to watch,” he glanced at Noah, “if he could shift, it would be faster, but until his ribs heal more he can’t.”
Emersyn watched Noah tense. She knew he had scars and understood what Asher was saying.
“He’s a tough kid.” Noah finally said, his tone had more tension to it than it had moments before.
“Yeah, he’s a good kid.” Asher’s voice was quieter now. “There’s the crossing.”
“One of ours on?”
Asher nodded.
That was the end of the talking. Now there was just tense air inside the vehicle as they came to a stop. Emersyn sat back and watched between Asher’s head and the side of the van to see out the front window.
The vehicle in front of them had Calum driving, she had to assume the other van was behind them. All she could make out was a man standing beside the truck Calum drove, then he stepped back, and Calum pulled away. He motioned for Asher to go through, which he did with a quick nod to him as they went past.
“Ever have to get through without one of ours?” Noah asked softly.
Asher shook his head, “no, Zain is brilliant about getting our kind on duty and being there when we have to bounce over a border.”
“Let’s hope that never changes.”
Asher turned to look at him, “don’t even think such things. We would be sunk so fast.”
Noah blew out a breath and just nodded in reply.
“Mommy.”
Emersyn turned to see Aspyn rubbing her eyes. “I’m right here, baby.”
“I have to pee.” She said in a sleepy voice.
Turning she saw Noah looking at her, “five minutes?” He kept his voice soft.
Emersyn turned back to her, “we’re going to stop in just a minute, okay?”
She nodded and rubbed her eyes again. Emersyn brushed her hair back from her face. The very first thing she was doing when they got where they were going was bathing her child, even if it was in a sink. Feeling her hair this filthy and seeing the grime on her clothes made her feel like she had failed her on so many levels, it made her gut ache.
“This must be the place.”
She turned to look again. They were pulling up to a large gate. A woman ran out and opened it and they drove through. She tensed, not knowing what to expect from now.
“Hey.”
She glanced to see Noah looking at her. His look told her everything was fine.
“You’re safe here.” He said quietly.