Chapter 554 Chapter 554
Blaise hefted her pack over her shoulder and exited the bathroom. She had no idea where they were. She was great with directions on a normal day, but with the storm and most recent events, today wasn’t anywhere in the realm of normal.
Once they had gotten off the mountain, they’d found a small town that looked like it was closed due to the weather. It had been pure luck that the gas station was open. Most likely for the snow removal trucks, she imagined. The one elderly man behind the counter was nodding off, which had been to their advantage, otherwise seeing a tiger go into the bathroom would have had him question his sanity, and others his sobriety.
Griffin was standing beside the sled, glancing over his shoulder every three seconds. At least he was alert, that was good. She still couldn’t believe he’d dropped the one she hadn’t even known was there. In her defense, all she could taste and smell at that moment was blood. Later, she’d have to do a little soul-searching. She’d believed he was going to kill her and take off, but instead, he saved her hide. He’d done well driving through this. He had to be half frozen by now.
He turned and saw her, “sorry about the mixed messages, I don’t speak cat.” He hadn’t understood when she’d wanted him to put her stuff in the bathroom and open the door for her.
Her mouth quirked, then she sobered. “You caught on fast enough.” Securing the bag to the back of the sled, she looked around. “I need to figure out where we are.”
“I think we should get some fuel.”
She nodded, “yeah.”
“Uh,” he took off her hat and held it out to her, “I don’t know how to do it.” His expression changed to disappointment, “I’ve never been allowed to fuel anything.”
That reminded her of who he was and what kind of life he’d had. “I’ll show you. I just want to touch base with my boss and let him know we made it down.”
“Do you think more are following?”
Blaise looked at the mountain. “I don’t know how soon he’ll send more, I don’t think he’ll stop.” She glanced back at him, “get the sled over to the pumps.”
He studied her for a moment and then turned back to the machine.
Jamming her hat on, that was wet, but warm from him, she pulled her phone out of her pack. There was one message, are you dead? She smirked at Kenzo’s message. Hitting the call button, she watched Griffin look at the gas pump. He really had been locked up all of his life.
“Dead people don’t make phone calls, so this is a good sign.”
“We’re in some little sleepy town at the bottom of the mountain. I have no idea which side or where we are. We had to weave our way down with the snowmobile, so I couldn’t go in a straight line.”
“Hold on. I’ll get Illias to find you.”
She waited until she heard someone answer him.
“How many did you take out?”
“Two at the cabin, and two following,” she looked over at Griffin, “actually, Griffin shot the second one just before they got the drop on me.”
“You gave him a gun? Did you tag the bodies?”
Blaise shrugged, “he knows he’s dead if they get him—they thought he’d just taken off, boss. They had no idea we got him.” She squeezed her eyes shut, “I did not tag them, sorry.”
“That’s okay, Gideon is still there. I’ll send him on a search run.”
“Sorry, boss.”
“No. You did right, getting out of there. It’s just if the bodies are found in the spring—have you ever seen an x-ray of our skeletal structure? Looks like a jigsaw puzzle.”
Blaise didn’t know that and had never thought about it much. It made sense that a human two-leg form shifting into an animal had to have an unusual skeletal system.
“Did you say they think he took off?”
“Yeah.”
“Really? That’s good for us. We’re breaching two more locations in a few hours.”
She looked up at the sky, “in daylight?”
“The storm is working in our favor; they’ll figure we’re holed up riding out the storm.”
“True. Did you get enough of the teams to go in?”
“A few more on route should be here in time.” There was a pause, “okay, Illias knows where you are. Hang on.”
She could hear muffled speaking and wondered who he was talking to that he covered the phone.
“Blaise.”
“Yeah.”
“Devin says you’re close to his sister, Raquel’s place. Illias will send you the coordinates. Get there without pause.”
The prince’s sister? “Okay.” What was that going to be like? A mutt and a half-breed pulling up to the princess’s place?
“According to Illias, it’s about a forty-five-minute ride. Can you get fuel?”
“We’re at a gas station.”
“Perfect. How’s his animal?”
She turned to see Griffin lowering the nozzle to the gas tank. He must have figured it out. “He seems to be fine.”
“Keep an eye on him, we don’t need any incidents on the way.”
“Will do.”
“Are you—uh, all right?”
She smirked at his awkwardness. “I’m aces, boss.” Except I’ve found my mate.
“Good. Get moving.”
“Yes, sir.” She hung up and checked the battery before putting it in her pack. Pulling out some cash, she started to go over to Griffin when her phone buzzed. She opened the message to see coordinates and the message saying, you are here, with a smiley face. You are going here, and more coordinates. Smirking, she pulled out her map and went over to make sure Griffin didn’t spill fuel all over the machine.
“Everything good?” He asked her without looking up from what he was doing.
“Yeah. We have a safe location to go to.
He released the trigger on the pump and looked at her. She could see the doubt in his eyes.
“Prince’s sister’s place,” she shrugged, “probably a fortress with a lot of guards.”
The doubt turned to apprehension, “Good.” His tone didn’t reflect that he was happy about it.
She’d get him there, where he’d be safe and then she was moving onto the next assignment. Her cat let her know she was unhappy with that thought, but Blaise ignored it and found their location on the map.
He had enough going against him being related to Aiden Tomas and a half-breed. Nothing was going to come out of staying around him. If anything, just being with a mixed breed was going to make his life more complicated.