Tigress (Night Hawk Series) (7 page)

Chapter
Fourteen

Shock still filtered through my form at Michael’s words and the sun couldn’t set fast enough. I glanced at the magnificent colors painting the sky and couldn’t find the calmness they should have instilled in me, instead, death loomed, casting its dark hand over the earth.

The Welcome to Ohio sign loomed less than a tenth of a mile away and I shifted in the seat
trying to find a comfortable position.

When we passed the sign for the upcoming rest area, I said,
“I need to hit the next rest area,” with a voice that sounded foreign and strained.

He didn’t acknowledge that I had spoken, but he did take the gently curved exit into the rest area.

“We’re going to need gas too,” I said when he pulled into a parking space.

“You can get that after we do our business and grab a bite to eat.” He waved toward the building and I sighed, giving him a nod of ascent.

He pulled the keys out of the ignition and handed them to me before exiting the cab, leaving me to lock up as he hightailed it toward the restrooms. I thought about seeing if Damian was okay, but my bladder had other ideas and I made a mad dash inside.

By the time we had finished our business and bought our food, the sun had dipped below the horizon and I found my pace picking up as I headed toward the truck. Even though I was only awake for a few hours with Michael in the cab, the relief of having Damian back in the front with us drove my feet forward.

I threw the latch and pushed the gate up. Damian was already on his feet, pacing in the small space between the door and the mattress and the moment the door cleared his head, he jumped down on the pavement and looked at the bag in my hand before meeting my gaze.

“I’m ravenous,” he said. His voice soft and raspy and every bit as sexy as ever.

“Get in the cab,” Michael said as he walked past us. There was no leeway in his command and Damian and I exchanged a look.

Instead of
issuing a smart comeback, Damian reached up and slammed the door down, locking it before escorting me to the truck. He opened the door and let me slide into the middle of the bench seat before he slid next to me. The first thing he did after Michael turned the engine over was to crank the heat.

“We still need gas,” I said and pointed to the low fuel light.

“Damn machines,” Michael muttered and pulled into one of the gas lines. He drummed his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel and I traded a glance with Damian and he rolled his eyes at me.

A strained silence filled the cab and when we pulled up to the pump, Damian slid out and took care of gas
sing up the truck and then knocked on the driver’s side window.

“I can drive,” he said when Michael rolled the window down.

Michael kept his gaze for a minute and then nodded, relinquishing the driver’s seat to Damian and crossing around to the passenger side. No one spoke as we pulled out onto the highway.

The hum of the truck lulled me into a sleepy trance and my eyelids kept drifting closed.

“You’re welcome to use my thigh as a pillow,” Damian said, cutting into the thick silence.

“I’m fine,” I said and yawned.

A dimple appeared in his cheek and he sent a sideways glance that all but said ‘yeah, right”. I shook my head and rubbed my face to get the cobwebs out of my brain.

“I’m sorry I was such a prick earlier,” he said, looking over my head at Michael.

Michael met his gaze and nodded, accepting the apology in silence and then he yawned and settled into the corner of the cab with his head against the headrest.

“I’m sorry I broke your arm,” he said and closed his eyes.

Both Damian and I exchanged a glance. Getting an apology from Michael was more progress than either of us had hoped for and it alleviated some of my angst relating to our last conversation.

I wondered how Damian would take the news when we told him about my being a trinity.

“How long until we reach Connecticut?” I asked.

Damian glanced at the road signs and his lips moved as he silently calculated distance. “We should get home before the sun rises,” he said. “Even with a hunting break.” He licked his lips. “I won’t make it through the day without blood.”

Michael’s arm shot across the space. “We don’t have time to stop.”

Damian glanced at the offering and then back at the road.

“As much as I’d like to tear into you, Uncle Mike, I can’t. You are in human form, remember?” He didn’t even look our way.

Michael pulled his exposed wrist back and crossed his arms. “Then you’ll have to catch up to us,” he said.

Damian cocked his head, considering this before he sighed. “Okay, but you need to stay on this route and if you pull off for any reason, you’ll call and leave a message?”

“That’s reasonable,” Michael agreed. “But I think I need some rest before I take over driving again.”

“I can drive,” I said, and stretched, reminding both men that I was still in the car.

“You
’re sure?”

“Yes, I had enough sleep to be okay for a little while,” I said, glancing at the sparsely populated highway. “And I’d like to drive, anyway. I hate being a passenger unless I have a book or something, otherwise I just drift off.”

“Okay, I’ll get off at the next rest area,” Damian said.

It turned out to be another hour and a half before the next highway rest area and I was ready for a bathroom break from dinner. Michael snored against the door and I took the keys from Damian and headed inside. When I returned, Damian stood by the driver’s side and
gave me a small smile, nodding toward the cab and a still sleeping Michael.

“You might have to stop somewhere along the way for him. If you do, just text the mile marker and I’ll meet up with you. I’ll try to get ahead of you once I’m done hunting and I’ll text you what exit I’m at. Okay?”

“Are you okay?” I asked before he stepped away. We hadn’t had a moment since Michael joined us and his gaze flickered to the interior of the truck and back.

“I had some time to think today and
, while I’m still angry for the bullshit games he played, I think I can understand it. Especially when I step back and think of what I would have done in his shoes.” He shifted and reached for me, stopping just short of contact before lowering his hand. Frustration filled his features and he closed his eyes. “So yes, I’m okay. Are you?”

He opened his eyes and met my gaze.

“I’m fine,” I said and gave him a reassuring smile. I wasn’t about to tell him about the trinity or Michael’s ultimatum. Not until we were settled in the safety of a new home away from Michael and all the complications that came with dragging around an archangel in human form.

He pulled the door open for me and shut it as I settled into the seat. Before I had a chance to turn back to the window, the shuffle of feathers crossed over the windshield and he was gone, disappearing into the night.

Michael stirred, shifted and after a few minutes the snoring began again. With no radio to drown out the offensive noise, my nerves started to jump on edge and my jaw tightened against the rising bitch factor.

Chapter
Fifteen

I flexed my hands and gripped the steering wheel, grateful for the silence now that Michael’s snoring had ceased. He’s lucky I didn’t smack him at the height of my irritation, but he had been up since the middle of the prior night, so I gave him a break.

A quick glance at the clock
told me Damian had been at it for longer than normal. It had been over an hour since he flew off and I picked up my cell, pressing the button to see if he left a message, but my inbox was empty.

“Shit,” I muttered and Michael grunted.

“What are you cursing about?” he asked, his voice scratchy with sleep and grumpiness.

“Damian hasn’t
checked in.”

Michael wiped his face and sat up, blinking the sleep from his eyes. “How long has he been gone?”

“A little over an hour.”

Michael shifted in the seat, stretching his muscles before he glanced out at the night. “I wouldn’t worry.”

I handed him the phone. “Text him and see if he’s okay.”

He stared at my iP
hone and then at me like he had no clue how to text.

“Oh, for the love of God,” I said and pulled over into the breakdown lane. I grabbed the device out of his hand and showed him how it operated. I sent the text during the basic instruction and Michael offered me a half-assed smile of apology when I handed it to him and pulled back on the road.

“It will buzz when he replies, so you just need to touch the screen and you’ll see it,” I said and while he nodded, I kept looking over every few seconds. The burning in my stomach increased with each minute that passed and my foot got heavier on the gas, increasing my speed well beyond the speed limit.

Red and blue li
ghts flared in the side mirror.

“Crap,” I muttered and sent a sideways grimace in Michael’s direction.

His expression morphed into a grin and he glanced away.

The gravel bit underneath the tires and I slowed to a stop on the shoulder. I leaned over and opened the glove compartment, pulling out the rental forms before I rummaged in my small pocketbook for my license. A knock on the window pulled my attention away and I rolled down the glass, giving the officer and embarrassed smile as I handed over the documents.

“Do you know how fast you were going?”

“No, I’m sorry officer, I’m supposed to meet a friend at one of these exits and I haven’t heard from him. I guess I got a little...anxious.”

The officer nodded and sent a cursory glance at Michael before bringing his gaze to the paperwork. He turned and trotted back to his cruiser and I sighed, trading a glance with Michael.

“You were going fast,” he said and held up the phone. “And Damian is amused.”

My lips tightened on my response to Damian’s text.

I leave you alone for five minutes...

I grabbed the cell from Michael and texted, “Where are you?”

The passenger door opened and he tilted a brow at me, before making Michael slide to the middle. The door closed almost soundlessly under the slam of the police car behind us.

“Ma’am, there seems to be a problem with your license,” he started and his brow scrunched when he glanced in the cab, his gaze landed square on Damian before jumping back to me.

“What’s the matter?”

He flicked the license on his fingernails and then held the plastic between his index and middle finger. “Well, for a dead girl you look pretty damn spry.”

My face drained of all heat and I met his gaze, covering my mouth and trying desperately to think of something to say that would erase the trouble that was brewing. A nervous energy started in my toes and affected my eyelids, making them flutter with the stress.

“Oh,” I whispered from under my hand and I dropped it to my lap. “I must have given you my sister’s ID.” I added and pressed my lips together, reaching for the license. “I keep it with me...” My voice trailed off in what I hoped was a sad note.

His expression softened from the hard stern gaze and he handed me the license. I gave him a ghost of a smile and reached for my pocketbook, wondering just what in the hell I would give the officer in exchange. I didn’t have another driver’s license and I rummaged around the depths of my pocketbook and flipped through my wallet twice before I turned my panicked glare toward Damian.

He obviously was enjoying this and I squinted an evil eye in his direction. “Please tell me you packed my other purse,” I said, letting the stress bleed through in my voice. I widened my eyes in a silent plea for help and then glanced back to the officer.

“I packed everything,” he said and shifted, pulling his wallet from his pocket and slipping me his license instead. “Officer, it seems my wife’s license is packed in the back. You should be able to look her up
by our address and last name. Her name is Anna. Anna Andreas,” he said, using the alias we agreed upon when we got married. He sent a disarming smile toward the officer.

“She can’t continue driving this vehicle,” the officer said and snapped Damian’s license from my hand before disappearing to the squad car.

Damian got out of the vehicle and crossed around the front to the driver’s side and I slid over, letting him take the helm again. A simmering anger built, aimed at Damian and his piss poor timing. If he had sent a text earlier, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.

He glanced at me, sensing my irritation before swinging his gaze
back to the open window. The officer returned a moment later, handing both the license and paperwork to Damian. “Because this rental agreement checks out with your license, I’ll give you a break this time around. But you shouldn’t let speed demon, there, drive this rig.”

He pointed at me and heat filled my cheeks, I dropped my gaze to the floor and then slid it to Michael, who had kept unusually quiet this entire time.

“Thank you, sir,” Damian said and took the paperwork, handing it to me without a glance. As soon as we were underway and the police car sped into the distance, I smacked Damian’s arm.

“You scared the shit out of me.”

“You need to be more patient,” he snapped back. “And not drive like you’re in the Indy 500.”

“Fuck you.”

Damian grinned like Michael wasn’t even in the vehicle. Michael cleared his throat and Damian’s smile faded.

“How much longer will we be cooped up in this vehicle?”

We both turned to Michael and his impatient tone, like he was a child asking
Are we there yet?
He just raised an eyebrow waiting for one of us to answer.

“We’ll get there before sunrise,” Damian answered and focused on the road heading toward the unknown.