Chapter 53

Lucian

I slid into the driver’s seat of the car my brother had insisted we had to have when we reclaimed our pack. I thought the old truck the pack kept to haul supplies was sufficient, but Kieran was adamant and I saw no harm in indulging him.

Several years and packs later, I had to admit that the car was fun to drive.

Kieran loaded our suitcases and Zara’s backpack into the trunk, and then slid into the passenger seat. Zara took the backseat without complaint. She seemed excited, almost jubilant. I was worried.

“What if this is a ploy?” I sent to Kieran over our mental link.

“You think it’s a trap?” Kieran sent back.

“No, it’s unlikely,” I sent, “The other Alphas and the Rogues are unlikely to know what a private investigator even is, let alone be able to predict which ones Zara would contact. I’m worried about Zara.”

“What about her?” Kieran asked.

“She might decide to run,” I sent, “She has expressed a desire to go live among the humans, and she tried to escape to the other side of the veil twice.”

“I’m not too worried,” Kieran replied. “She has no idea how to survive outside of a pack, and she’s smart enough to know it.”

“She tried to run before,” I reminded him.

“Yes, but that was when she was terrified of us. Now we have a deal, and we’re helping her. She won’t run. Besides, she has no money, no identification. She’d be stranded, so we’ll be able to find her easily if she does try to run.”

“I suppose you’re right,” I agreed.

“What are you two thinking about so intensely?” Zara asked.

I glanced at her in the rear view mirror. It wasn’t exactly a secret that my brother and I shared a mental link, but we didn’t advertise it.

“I was plotting our route,” I answered curtly. “He is probably fantasizing about seducing a harem of human women.”

“Hardly,” Kieran protested while Zara snorted. “Human women are too delicate. Aren’t they?”

Zara shrugged. “My mother wasn’t, apparently.”

“Hm, good point,” Kieran said. “We should hit some bars or clubs. That’s where humans go to find mates, right? I read about them.”

I rolled my eyes. I knew that since we claimed Zara as ours, he’d had as much interest in other women as I did, which was none. But he had a reputation and he was determined to keep it up, even with me.

“We’re not on vacation,” I scolded him. “We are going to the human side for a purpose.”

“Right, right,” Kieran said. “You are seriously no fun.”

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to turn on the radio?” Zara asked. “Music makes a long drive less boring.”

“Right,” I agreed.

Kieran fiddled with the radio dial for several minutes before settling on a station he liked. I wasn’t particularly fond of the noise, but from the way both Kieran and Zara sang along, they liked it. I sighed and focused on driving. After surviving almost a decade as a Rogue and then conquering four packs, it would be embarrassing to die in a car crash because I was distracted by my brother’s off key singing.

A little after lunch time, we came to the edge of our territory. There was a small shack on our side of the marker for our guard patrols to rest, and a watchtower on the other side where a more paranoid Alpha posted a constant guard.

I waved to the watchtower and pulled the car to a stop.

“There’ll be supplies in the shack,” I informed Zara. “We can have lunch here, and then negotiate passage through their territory.”

“Sounds good,” Zara said. “I should’ve packed snacks.”

“You were in a hurry,” Kieran said. “I get it. You’ve waited a long time to learn anything about your mother.”

“Yeah,” Zara agreed.

“You should learn to plan and prepare better,” I said. “Your previous attempts to leave failed because you bolted without a strategy in place, without preparations.”

“Exactly what preparations do you think I could have made?” Zara argued.

I shrugged. I didn’t want to give her instructions on how to abandon us.

The guard shack was unoccupied, since I preferred that they patrol rather than sit on their tails. It was properly locked down and provisioned. I made a mental note to praise the guards on duty at this border.

I found some canned goods and dried meat in storage. It was easy enough to combine all that into a hearty soup. Kieran produced a pack of crackers he stashed in the car somewhere that would be nice to dip in the soup.

We ate dinner mostly silently, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Zara was likely preoccupied with thoughts of her mother and her excitement to pass through the veil. I busied my mind with contingencies for everything from Zara trying to bolt to a Rogue attack on the road. My brother hummed an annoying tune. I had no idea what he might be thinking about.

After lunch, we approached the watchtower. One of the wolves climbed down to speak to us.

“I am Alpha Kieran Graves,” I announced myself. “We have business beyond your borders, and ask only passage through your territory.”

“I will relay your message, Alpha,” the guard said with a deep bow. “I would offer you hospitality while you wait but it’s a tedious climb and there’s only a couple of benches and a pack of cards up there.” He sighed. “And it’s missing two aces.”

“No worries,” Kieran spoke up glibly. “We’ll be just fine down here.”

The guard nodded and climbed back up. We waited, and he returned and bowed low.

“Alpha Warren grants you passage through our territory,” the guard said, “and asks that you wait here for your escort.”

I raised an eyebrow. An escort, really? The guard winced and bowed again.

“So long as it is a short wait,” I said.

It was. A wolf arrived less than an hour later in a small truck. They pulled to a stop and leaned out.

“You the Alpha lookin’ to pass through?” the wolf asked.

I nodded.

“Great. I’m Gregor, Alpha Warren’s beta. I’m on a supply run through to the veil. You can follow me, I know all the shortcuts, and with me along you won’t be stopped at the barrier.”

That was actually convenient. I nodded to acknowledge him and climbed back into my car. Zara was already in the back seat, buckling herself in. Kieran waved cheerfully up at the watchtower then joined us.

The ride was long and uneventful. After several hours, we reached the border of the Warren pack territory and the barrier that separated our world from the humans. The truck pulled to a stop, and I parked next to it.

“Well, there ya go,” Gregor said, motioning towards the barrier. “Don’t look like much, does it?”

Honestly, it didn’t. For something that kept two societies almost entirely separated, the barrier wasn’t impressive to look at. there was a line across the road that you could only see if you looked at it out of the corner of your eye, and a shimmer in the air like the haze that rose off of the ground in the desert heat.

“I gotta tell you,” Gregor said, “you damn near gave Alpha Warren a heart attack. Thought you were here to challenge.”

“No,” I said honestly. “We haven’t chosen our next target yet.”

“Oh, that’s…” Gregor shrugged. “Well, when you do choose, remember that we were friendly, hey?”

Being ‘friendly’ was hardly a consideration. I chose my targets based on practical concerns, like territory resources. The barrier wasn’t enough of a valuable resource to make the Warren pack a viable target.

I nodded, and we went our separate ways. Gregor met with another truck, packed with large boxes, likely full of human trade goods. I drove through the barrier and down the road.

Hopefully, we wouldn’t have to stay long.