Chapter 725 Chapter 725
A mate? A mate. His mate. For what was probably the one-hundredth time, Zain glanced over at her. She was his mate. How had he not noticed? Oh, right, because he was afraid of getting dead or worse. What was worse than dead? Living through torture sounded like it was right up there on the list.
He’d meant what he said—that having a mate wasn’t good for him—or rather, them. He wasn’t going to be able to have anything in this life until those wolves that were traitors in the king’s clan were gone. Erased from existence would be a good start, because, let’s face it, nothing else seemed permanent. The one sitting in a cell at headquarters proved that. He was ‘dealt’ with by Shepard Addsion himself, and yet—he was found out there free and still working for Aiden Tomas.
He looked at Oaklyn again. She was cute. He mentally patted himself on the back for having such a cute mate. Of course, what she could do with a knife was not cute in any way. His mate. Cute, lethal with a knife, and talked with an adorable twang, with sayings to match. His. But never could be his.
His wolf had been so silent and still since they’d started driving that he felt like there was a piece of him missing. How did one go about hugging their animal internally? He didn’t know, but a hug might make them both feel better. He felt a low snarl in his head and smiled. Turning, he looked out the window. At least he knew his animal was still there.
“You are strangely quiet.” She said out of the blue.
Zain shrugged and nodded at the same time because that’s how much clarity he had right now. “Processing.”
“I get that.” She glanced at him for a second. “I’ve exhausted all cuss words I know, swearin’ inside my head.”
“Swearing because you have a mate or because it’s me?” Where had that come from?
She hissed out a breath. “It’s not you. I don’t even know you. It’s fate or kismet or whatever name you want to call it. For this to happen to me—of all people—it is cruel.”
“How do you mean?” He twisted in the seat so he could look at her.
“If you knew what I’d been through to get to this point, you would understand.” She shook her head and flexed her hands on the steering wheel.
“Make me understand.” If there was one thing Zain’s job had programmed him to do, it was listen. Teams called in with issues or situations they needed to work through. It wasn’t part of his job, but it was at the same time.
Oaklyn gave him a weird look and then turned back to watch where she was driving. “It took me two years of stalling Horace until I could figure out a way to get out of there. When I did—” She snorted. “—it was two more years of hell at its best.”
He sat there, not speaking, not interrupting her. He honestly wanted to know what she’d been through and how she ended up here, helping Calum. He was trying not to repeat the name Horace because who named a child that?
“When I finally did, I damn near died of heat exhaustion the first month.” She looked at him. “A little tidbit, if you’re traveling down South, don’t do it in the high heat of summer.”
Zain nodded. That was all he needed to do so she’d continue.
“When I finally thought, I was going to survive and had it figured out—I was on this side of the border, and it was winter.” She laughed in an unamused way. “The snow is enchanting at first if you’ve never seen it. Then, when you let your guard down it tries to kill you in many ways.” She gave her head a quick shake. “I’ve almost froze, drown, and froze at the same time. I Got so turned around in a storm that I don’t know which way is up—” She gave him a wide-eyed look. “I’ve had to sleep in a dingy, disgustin’ public bathroom.” She grimaced. “As if the rest isn’t humiliating enough, that was the cherry on top.” She took a deep breath and exhaled it all at once. “Every time I think I can relax and not have to be looking over my shoulder, I get that feeling—you know, the one that tells you something isn’t right or someone’s watchin’ you.” She glanced at him. “And then I know he’s got his idiot friends out there looking for me still. Five years later. I mean, what is it gonna take for it to sink into his thick skull that I do not want him, and I will never want him?” She chuffed and then growled. “I need to pull over and get this window shut. It’s a terrible chill.”
Zain straightened in his seat. He thought she liked the fresh air on her face when she was driving. If the heater hadn’t been as good as it was, it would have been cold-blowing into the car for the last four hours. “You have to stop to put the window up.”
She glanced in the mirror and then slowed down. “The gears are stripped, so you have to put pressure on the glass and assist it to go up.”
Shaking his head, picked up his run pack from the floor. “I think we’ll deviate from this route and go get a car that doesn’t have so many issues.”
“Quirks.” She pulled over and stopped the car. “I call them quirks, so she’s not offended.”
Zain looked at the dash. She was afraid to offend her piece of junk car. “Okay. We’ll get one without quirks.” He watched her flatten her hand against the glass and push against it as she wound the winder slowly. He didn’t know much about cars, but it had been a long time since he’d seen one with a window winder and not just a button you push.
“That’s better.” She adjusted the heat setting and then moved around in the seat. When she put her hands on the steering wheel, she looked at him. “Well? Where are we deviatin’ to?”
Jolting, Zain got out the map and notebook. “Just give me a sec. I have to figure out where we are.”
She tisked. “We haven’t made a turn in the last hour, so it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.”
“I know.” He looked at his list of vehicle locations, then out the window, and then at the map. “Half hour, if we take the next right. We can double back and come back to this road.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You never double back. Never cross the same path more than once, or you can be found easier.” She gave him an amused look. “Like how I knew where you’d be coming back on a bus that took the same route as the one going the other way.”
Zain blinked. It was logical, if not a little bizarre at the same time. “Okay. I’ll find us a route without doubling back.”
“Good.” She pulled out and started driving again.
What she said made sense now. The times that the others had run into problems, they’d likely been on the obvious route. Jesse and Evanna had been found. Amari, he still couldn’t believe someone had gotten her. Those men dead now, of course, but still, they had to know what road she would be on. Gia was the same. He looked at Oaklyn and cocked his head. She was really smart and good at this surviving-on-the-run thing. Maybe fate wasn’t so bad after all. Of course, if she hadn’t been meant for him, it would be a lot easier to breathe without her scent making him dizzy and babble inside his head.
“You’re starin’ at me again.”
He grinned. “You’re a lot more interesting than watching the snowbanks go by.”
She smiled. “I really hate snow.”
Zain chuckled. “I think I was designed for a warmer climate. Not bake me, hot, but warm enough that there’s no snow, or just enough snow that it still looks alluring.”
She gave him a lopsided smile. “Alluring? What kind of man are you? Men don’t use words like that.”
Zain shrugged. “This man does. I don’t care what people think of me.”
Oaklyn nodded but didn’t look at him again. “At least you have some sense.”
“Clearly not enough, or I wouldn’t be on the run in the middle of winter.”
“I’d appreciate it if the next time you wait until late spring at least.”
Zain grinned and looked back at the map. “I’ll take that into consideration. Right now, my main goal is to live beyond late spring.”
“I get that.” She sighed and twisted her hands on the steering wheel but didn’t say anything else.