“You need to learn how to get away the next time you get jumped.” He grabbed a set of keys from his desk and opened the door.
I set my jaw as heat rushed to my face. “I’d say I handled myself pretty well, all things considered.”
“You got lucky. There’s a difference. You’re too weak to fight wolves and demons, and too slow to run away. We need to fix that.”
My neck hair bristled as I stepped into the hall. Weak? Slow? I’d always prided myself on being able to hold my own.
Maybe I should have blasted Jaxson with more wolfsbane.
29
Jaxson
We left Eclipse through the back. My rental truck was parked in the alley, and I didn’t want Regina or Billy or Sam wondering where we were going. My inner circle had been asking too many questions lately, and it was getting to the point that I would have to shut them down.
It was better to be discreet. Tensions throughout the pack were high, and parading around with the LaSalle woman wasn’t helping matters.
Savannah was a crucial asset. She could scry, she could draw, and there was a possibility I could exploit her connections with her family. She’d already procured a scrying potion, after all. But she was also in far more danger than I’d originally thought and become a major liability. It was on me to rectify that.
I probably couldn’t teach her to fight well enough to save her life, but I could help her run. A pair of enchanted boots would give her the speed she needed to get away.
Savannah climbed into the front seat. My gaze gravitated downward, and I couldn’t help but notice her legs in those high-cut shorts. She had legs for days and was fast for a human. The boots I had in mind would enhance her natural abilities—heck, she might even be able to keep up with me.
I wanted to chase her. To hunt her.
Something about that image sent heat through me, and I scowled. To her, I was a monster, no different than the demon we’d killed. She wouldn’t understand the chase.
Savannah was scrutinizing me closely, mildly annoyed. “Listen, if you’re too busy to take me wherever it is we’re going, don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine. I’ve handled myself well enough so far.”
“You can’t count on luck,” I replied, putting the truck in gear. “This trip won’t take long.”
She huffed, and I sensed her disbelief as I pulled onto the main street that fronted Eclipse. Sometimes, she was intolerable.
As we passed my auto body shop, a slight smile tugged at her lips, and I suspected she was pleased with herself after her raid the other night.
For all her protests, she liked to play games, too.
My wolf liked that.
Savannah glanced at the signposts as we drove through the intersection. “So, the LaSalles are forbidden from entering your territory. Where, exactly, does your pa
ck land begin?”
“Now you’re interested in where you should and shouldn’t go? Good. We generally claim everything up to 73rd. After that, you’re in the Indies and on your own.”
“Great. Just trying to figure out where I don’t belong.”
I looked over. “Billy got under your skin after all, huh?”
She shrugged.
“You handled yourself well. He has good reasons for hating your family, as Sam mentioned, but he’ll keep his claws in check.”
Savannah’s cheeks flushed red, and she averted her eyes.
I grinned. If she’d had any doubts that I’d overheard everything in the bar, those were now gone. The next part of that conversation had been particularly interesting…and Savannah, whose thoughts had apparently drifted in that direction as well, was quite embarrassed but a little aroused nonetheless. That was gratifying after the hell she’d put me through last night.
The scents of her desire and mortification were intoxicating, and it was easy to imagine her fucking me. I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. She was a LaSalle. Besides, in her eyes, I was just another murderous monster.