Chapter 721 Chapter 721
Zain looked down to make sure he still had feet. He hadn’t felt them in the last hour. Come to think of it, he couldn’t feel his face either. The next time he was running for his life, he hoped it was in the summer, or at least when there was no snow. Each step now took hard focus to make sure he was lifting his foot high enough and not trying to step with the other before the first one touched the ground again. “I’m taking a vacation somewhere on a hot sunny beach.” He mumbled.
He looked up and pulled the hood away from his eyes. The wind blew a gust of snow up into his face as soon as he uncovered it. “Nice. Thanks.” He blinked and looked around. He could see the outline of what he hoped was the next town. If he were able to jog at all, he would have, but without feeling in his feet, he was going to have to walk it. He hoped he was wrong, but it may be an hour or more before he’d be there. He closed his eyes and stood there for a second. A hot bath. Just think of the hot bath. Opening them, he pulled the hood forward again and started walking.
By the time he stepped across the invisible line that the sign indicated was the town marker, he was ready to lie down in the snowbank and take a nap. Now, all he had to do was find the street the house was on. The Alliance didn’t have a lot of places in little towns. The local people were too likely to notice strangers. Right now, he was grateful that they had one here. He wouldn’t have made it any further. He was also thankful it was a small town, so finding the street would be easier that way.
He’d often wondered how the Alliance came to acquire so many places scattered all over the continent. Did team members donate them, or did Shepard have people traveling around buying up places? When he was back in his office… He stopped and shook his head. He might never be back in the office again. Who was Zain without that job? He had no idea.
Walking faster, he squinted and read the street signs he was approaching. As soon as he soaked the cold off in a hot shower, he was going to sit down and figure out how to unravel this mess he was in. Without Shepard, he didn’t know who to go to. It was so long ago that he didn’t know who might know the details. Illias did, but as they’d been kids when all this had gone down, the important details were things they wouldn’t have thought to find out. They’d discussed it a few times over the years, but neither had wanted to go to their Alpha King and ask what was done about what had happened. Illias was happy in his world of techy stuff, and Zain was sure that was why he never wanted to pursue it. Illias, without his job on the tech team, was a tech nerd with no purpose. That wouldn’t be good for unsuspecting firewalls if he were bored.
Zain had only ever done what he was doing now. Or had been doing up until a few days ago. What else was there for him out there? Was he supposed to pretend he was a one-form and get a job at some fast-food drive-thru? That wouldn’t go well.
His only option was to find Shepard Addison and bring out the truth about what had happened. Others in the clan deserved to know. Hell, Zain deserved to know. He’d lost everything because of it, and while he loved who he had become, he wanted to be able to remember who he started this life as. Somewhere out there, he had relatives that he hadn’t seen since he was little. Did they ever wonder where he went? He didn’t know, but he’d like the option of finding out.
He whimpered like a lost pup when he saw a street sign with the right name on it. His wolf stirred. “You don’t get to have an opinion. You’ve been getting a free ride this whole time.” He shook his head. He was losing it. He smiled and then stopped as soon as his cheeks burned.
~
Unzipping his coat and pack with frozen hands was a hard task, but he finally managed to get the keys out. He looked at them. They were numbered. He hadn’t looked at the number on his list. He blew out a breath and shoved the hood back so he could turn his head and see the house numbers. They were far apart, so that was a good thing. He might be able to get in unseen.
When he found it, he tried to run up the snowed-over driveway and stumbled to his knees. Getting up, he moved slower until he reached the front door. Looking at the keys, he glanced at the lock. Of course, there was no lettering on it. “Okay. Silver lock. Let’s try silver keys first.” He tried the first one and it wouldn’t go in all the way. His hands were shaking and slightly purple he noticed. “Come on.” He whispered and tried the next key. It went in. He hesitated for a second, afraid to see if it turned.
A thunk right beside his head had made him spin around. Standing in the snow-covered drive was Oaklyn. She looked very unhappy. “Shit.” He turned his head to see a knife sticking out of the doorframe.
“That was low, Mister Sanders. Making a lady change a tire in the cold.”
He would have put his brows up and questioned the lady part, but his face was too frozen to pull it off. “How did you find me?”
“It was easy. I knew you wouldn’t go to Chicago because I knew that’s where you were going.” She took a few steps in his direction. “Calum told me to call him when I found you.” She sneered at him. “Open the damn door, so we can call him and be warm.”
Zain watched her come toward him. Was he really that predictable? She was going to call Calum. Fine. But if it wasn’t the right voice on the other end of the phone, he was going to tie her up and stick her in a closet so he could have a shower in peace before he took off again.
He turned back around and grabbed the key and held his breath while he turned it. The lock clicked. Opening the door, he hurried inside and stepped away from the door, so he could see her when she came in.
She paused in the doorway and pulled the knife out of the wood.
“You could have taken my ear off.”
She smiled at him; her eyes sparkling. “If I wanted to hit you, I would have.”
He grunted. “Whatever. Call Calum. Now.”
She closed the door, put her knife back in her run pack, and then pulled off her gloves and got her phone out of the pocket of her coat. “I don’t like calling him without messaging first. I never know if it’s a good time.”
“I’m sure he’ll forgive you. Call.” He worked his zipped down and shrugged out of his jacket. As she dialed, he looked around. Zeroing in on the thermostat, he sidestepped over to it and turned it up.
She put the phone to her ear. “Calum. I found him.” She nodded and then lowered the phone and taped the screen.
“Zain?”
Zain almost collapsed in relief. It was Calum. “Calum.”
“You have a bit of explaining to do. How long until you can reach the factory?”
Zain closed his eyes, trying to picture the map. “Uh, a few days. If her car makes it.”
Calum laughed. “Stop and get a better one. You know where they are.” There were other voices. “We’re heading to the factory now.”
They were back. “How did the…”
“No more island operation or boys camp.”
“That’s awesome.” He sobered. “Everyone all right?”
“Yes. Even my mother.”
Zain’s eyes bulged. “You found your mom?” He couldn’t imagine how that would feel. He thought Calum’s mother was dead—like his own. He looked at the floor.
“I did. Get to the factory, and we’ll sort everything out there.”
Zain nodded. “Calum?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t tell anyone you talked to me. I don’t know if there’s a leak or what’s going on, but things aren’t adding up.”
“I see. All right, I’ll talk to you when you get there.”
“Thanks.” The line went quiet.
Oaklyn looked at her phone and then at him. “What do you mean?”
Zain rubbed his hands together. “I’ll explain what I can, but right now, I’m going to take a hot shower.” He looked around. “We should be good here for now.”
“Should I leave my car where it is or bring it and park it here?”
He shook his head. “Leave it. I don’t know if this place is watched.”
She raised an eyebrow at him and then nodded slowly. “Alrighty.” She undid her coat. “I’ll go see if there’s a hot drink of some kind.”
Zain grabbed his backpack. “It should be fully stocked. We never let them run low on supplies.”
“Handy.” She smiled and walked by him.
Zain blew out a breath. The island was shut down. The boys camp, too, and Calum found his mom. They might be getting somewhere with stopping Aiden Tomas. He frowned as he walked down the hall, checking in rooms for the bathroom. All they needed to do now was find Shepard and get some answers.