Chapter 724 Chapter 724
He was quiet for a moment. “I get it.” He shifted in his seat and opened the map. “I’m not about to force the issue, trust me. Everyone I’ve ever cared about is dead or scarred because of the Tomas family, so a mate. Not a good idea.”
She scowled at the glass in front of her. “What do you mean? Everyone you cared about is dead or scarred?” Oaklyn wasn’t overly affectionate about her kin, but she was still thankful they were all living and healthy.
He was quiet for a long time, and then she heard him sigh. “I saw something when I was a kid, so I told Shepard. He’s my clan's Alpha—or was when I had a clan, I guess.” He drew in a sharp breath. “He took me somewhere I’d be safe until he dealt with it.” She heard him shift in the seat and looked over to see he was getting his notebook out of his run pack. “But, uh, a few years later, they took my mom, sister, and my best friend and tried to get them to say where I was.” He paused. “I don’t know if my mom ever knew for sure. If Shepard flew her around in circles like he did me, she may not have.” He blew out a breath.
“What happened?” The angst coming off him was crushing.
“They killed them.” He turned his head and looked out the window. “My friend got away but is scarred for life. Then Shepard sent him somewhere safe too.”
“They found you. That’s why you ran.”
“Sort of.” He looked back down at the notebook and started going through the pages. “I don’t want to talk about it right now. I’ll have to explain it all when I see Calum and the prince, who I guess is now the temporary king…”
“What do you mean?” She slowed down so she could navigate the turn without sliding into the ditch or bouncing off a snowbank. She’d done that before. Spinning in circles was frightening and disorienting.
“You don’t know. I wasn’t sure if Calum told you.”
“He told me I needed to find you.” She looked to see him watching her. “What? What don’t I know?”
“With the king missing...”
She hit the brakes, and the car slid, so she let up and slowly braked until they were stopped. Why hadn’t it registered what he was saying before? The king was missing. The man that was going to allow her into the Alliance was gone. What was wrong with her brain? Turning, she glared at him. “They’re going to get him, right?” They had to. How was he supposed to let her be part of the Alliance if he wasn’t here?
He looked out the window. “I have a good idea where he is, but I need to talk to Calum and Devin—” He looked at her, “Shepard’s son.”
“The prince.” She nodded. “Were you going after the king?”
He sucked in a deep breath and then nodded as he exhaled. “Which in hindsight, I now get that doing alone was not the smartest.”
“Ya’ think?” Turning back to the steering wheel, she placed her hands on it and looked at them for a moment.
“What are you thinking?”
She closed her eyes and processed her options for a few seconds before opening them again. “I’m trying to decide if I should send you on your way to Calum at this factory and I go after the king or if we should go get backup and then go.”
“How is it any better if you go alone than if I did?”
She gave him an ‘Are you serious?’ look. “From what I’ve seen so far, Zain, you are not equipped to sneak in somewhere and rescue a person.”
He glowered at her. “And you are? Able to sneak in somewhere and rescue someone?”
“Well, I’ve never rescued someone, but I’m very good at not being seen and getting into places I may not be allowed to be.” She smiled. “I got into your apartment and out, undetected, and I’ve found you twice.”
His expression blanked for a moment. “How did you find me?”
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the crinkled piece of paper and tossed it at him. Turning back to the steering wheel, she started driving again.
“I can’t believe it. So, you’re what, an amateur spy?”
She chuckled. “No, I just don’t accept failure.”
“You know they probably sent someone from the Alliance to my apartment, and they didn’t think of this.”
She scrunched up her face but didn’t look at him. “Are you complimenting me or making fun of me? Because you just did both.”
“What?” He leaned his head back against the seat. “Sorry, just a little out of it. This whole week has been the nightmare I’ve been waiting to have, and now I have mate—who, from what I can tell, would rather drop me into a pit of acid than be my mate.”
“It’s nothing personal, Zain. I just don’t want that whole kismet-hocus-pocus. I have plans, and as I said, failure isn’t an option for me.”
“You think having a connection with someone is failing?”
She looked at him and gave him a half-smile. “Didn’t you just say it wasn’t a good idea?”
He blinked. “Not for the same reasons you don’t.”
Oaklyn turned back to the windshield. “I think we’re just going to have to agree to disagree on some things, Mister Sanders.”
“Whatever you say.” His tone was so forlorn that she had to clench her teeth together to keep from saying something soft and reassuring to him. He’d been through a lot. She got that. Her life hadn’t been sweet-smelling either. She needed to focus on securing some kind of a life for herself. A safe life. There was no way she was going to be drifting around with no home when she was an old woman. Now, while she was young, she needed to do that. After that, well, she’d reexamine what fate had just shoved in her face.