Chapter 726 Chapter 726
For a very talky man, he’d been quiet since they had picked up the vehicle. She hadn’t been any better. Most conversation was in her head.
Aside from fifteen minutes when he was scowling at his laptop, they hadn’t stopped in almost twenty-four hours. She glanced over at him. He’d told her to try to nap, but that wasn’t going to happen. She couldn’t even contemplate closing her eyes when she was in a vehicle with a stranger. She looked at the dash. This vehicle was caviar compared to her car. She bit her lip, wondering if her car would still be there when and if she got back there. If she were honest with herself, she wasn’t going to miss it.
“We should stop and rest.” He said in a quiet voice.
“A nap would be welcome.” Oaklyn leaned forward and watched in the mirror on her side for a second, checking if anyone was following them. “I can’t sleep in a moving car.” It was a small fib, but not a total lie. She just couldn’t sleep in a car with him driving.
“I understand that.” He looked at her briefly. “The feeling of always looking over your shoulder…”
“Yes.” That too, she thought.
“Another forty-five minutes, and we should be near another house.” He went right back to focusing on the road, saying no more.
Oaklyn looked out the side window. Another house. Until she had met Calum, she had never heard of the Shifter Alliance. How was that possible? This was something every shifter on the planet was supposed to know. She was going to have to reach out to Sissy and see if she’d ever heard about them. Sissy was a neighbor from her old clan. She was in her fifties, Oaklyn thought, but she always looked out for her. It was Sissy that helped her gather what she’d need to survive on her own when she was leaving. Her clan wasn’t high-tech at all, so she wasn’t concerned that she reached out to Sissy from time to time. If their clan were part of the Alliance, the crap she had to go through never would have happened. At least, that was her assumption.
“What do you think?”
She turned and gave Zain a big-eyed look. She hadn’t heard a thing he said. “I do apologize. My mind wandered off on me.”
He snorted. “Yeah, this tired mine is roaming too.” He yawned. “I asked if you want to stop and grab something hot to eat before we get to the house—” He looked at her. “Or we could take it to the house.”
“Take it to the house. If I eat a hot meal right now, it’s going to be night-night for me.” She wasn’t even sure when the last time was she’d slept for more than twenty minutes. That was her cap on how long a nap could be. Anything more, and she’d stay sleeping. Twenty was just enough to get up and keep functioning for another twelve or so hours.
He nodded. “Yeah. My thought too.”
Conversation would help both of them focus on staying awake. “What were you glaring at on your laptop when we picked up this car?”
He blew out a breath and then rocked his head from side to side. “Just checking on the status of an app.”
She looked in the mirror and then back at him. “An app?”
He nodded. “To make sure it was still working.”
“Was it?” She didn’t know how that could be important right now.
“As far as I can tell.” His expression was completely blank.
What wasn’t he sharing? She looked in the mirror. A car was behind them. Turning, she looked through the back window.
“I see it,” Zain said softly. “We’ll see what they do when we stop for food. Start watching for a place.”
Oaklyn turned and faced the windshield again. “What are you in the mood for?”
“Something that tastes better than protein bars.” His eyes flashed with humor for a second.
“That won’t be hard.” She couldn’t stand the taste of them. Then again, she’d lived on them for weeks at a time before. It was the only thing she had when she wasn’t in her wolf’s body.
“I just want to get to the factory so we can go get Shepard and find out how this happened.” He said it so quietly she wasn’t sure if he was speaking to her or himself.
“Are you going to tell me what this is?”
He looked at her, and she could see he was thinking it through. “I’m afraid to tell anyone.”
There was nothing she could say to that. She understood not sharing. She did want to know. Maybe she could help in some way. “I understand.” She turned and looked back at the car in the mirror.
She was not going to get attached to Zain. Her wolf was so comfortable with him. It made her batty. Her animal liked no one. Ever. If she was near another person, that was one too many for her. Blowing out a breath, she kept her head turned toward the window. She needed some space to sort her animal out. Normally, internal communication for her was best done while they were having a run. That wasn’t going to happen this time. They had to get to the factory. Whatever Mister Zain Sanders knew, she had a feeling everyone else needed to.