I was chosen. I was special. I was so freaking screwed.
I expelled the next words through gritted teeth. “When is this brilliant break-and-enter supposed to take place?”
There was no way I’d leave Mischa to do this. I could sense the aura of evil on those bitches, and if I didn’t come along I had no doubt they would leave her to the tender care of the prisoners in there. I had no idea how I would convince the Compasses and my father. They would fight us on this.
“Um … uh, it’s going to be, uh…” She started stuttering away and I worked very hard not to scream at her. “Tomorrow,” she finally finished. “We have to go in tomorrow.”
I should have known it would be soon. They were pretty much out of time. The deadline to free the king was upon us, and whatever plans they had to put into play, well, it had to be in the next few days. “I have to tell Dad and the quads.”
If something went wrong we would need backup.
Mischa worried at her lips even harder, her teeth leaving marks along the pink softness. “The twins won’t like it. Everything is a secret to them, but … I would feel better if Mom and Dad knew.”
She was barely even mentioning the Compasses anymore.
“Girl, how long are you going to hold on to this anger toward Maximus? It’s not healthy, you have to let it go.” I clapped my hands together. “I think what we need right now is a chance to run.”
I missed my wolf, and Mischa had definitely not spent enough time learning about her animal. We got a little crazy if we didn’t shift reasonably frequently. It was time.
She jumped on the spot, emotions flying across her face so rapidly that I was having trouble cataloguing them all. But she seemed mostly excited.
I was so feeling that. Together we moved from our room. I picked up the cell phone again, and scrolling through found the right numbers. I sent off very brief texts explaining where Mischa and I were heading. Without waiting for replies, I dumped the phone on the bench again and walked with my sister out of the apartment and into the elevator.
Mischa held my hand, both of us hating this shithole-box which was our only means of escaping the building. My twin distracted us both by sharing some of her heartache.
“I’m not mad at the Compasses, Jess, I’m embarrassed that I let myself get so involved in something that wasn’t real. It wasn’t like Max made me any promises or did anything besides be a good friend. Sure, we flirted, but that seems to be the way with those boys. They flirt as frequently as they breathe. I just wanted it to be real, and trying to deal with my own stupidity–”
“Led you right into another set of stupidity. Aligning yourself with the fruit twins was not your brightest moment.”
She sighed. “They were good to me, I won’t judge them yet.”
“They threatened to leave you in Krakov!”
“They just needed a way to ensure you’d help. It wasn’t personal.”
Holy shit. Dumbass alert.
Seriously, someone needed to save us from her bleeding heart, they were playing her like a violin. And all of us had to pay now. I was probably going to be caught by the Four and locked under the sea.
It was a relief when the elevator opened again. I pulled my hand free from hers and together we strolled out onto the cobbled path.
“Where do you want to run?” Mischa asked.
“The forest,” I said. I was less worried about the jinn now, it felt as if they’d made their point and would wait now to see what eventuated. Besides they could find me anywhere, and the forest was the place our wolves wanted to be. Quale had explained there was a massive expanse of woodlands, and that we were free to use them. There were no pack territories, and with so much space, other shifters rarely ran into each other.
As we stepped into the cool expanse, I felt my body relax. This was home, this was perfect. Mischa startled as footsteps sounded from behind us, but I’d heard them following us for a while. Not to mention there was no denying the power of an alpha.
“Mind if we join you?”
Jonathon and Lienda were already undressing, so it was a rhetorical question at the best.
I turned around and prepared to shed my own clothing. Once I was naked, I called on the energy of my wolf, dropped to all fours and my body flowed and shimmered. I watched ten fingers morph in a single movement into paws. Then I was wolf. No pain, all awesomeness.
Howls rang out around me, and I turned to find my wolf family waiting and ready. Hell yeah, we had never ran together. This was going to be fun.
Chapter 13
“Oh for fuck’s sake, you have got to be shitting me?” Maximus had been stomping around cursing like an ogre since Mischa and I had explained about the Romanian prison dilemma. He was only partially vamped, so he hadn’t completely lost control. “After Vanguard, I was determined that none of us would be going into any of the prisons again.”
Jonathon had his head tented in his hands. “It seems no matter what I do, I can’t keep my girls out of danger.” He didn’t look angry, more pensive, as if calculating odds and formulating a plan.
All of us were spread around the living room of our apartment, the Compasses doing their sexy lean-against-the-wall thing. Though Maximus was currently giving the carpet a workout as he marched and swore.
Mischa dashed across the room and stopped before our father. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize the trouble I’d be getting into by hanging around with the twins. They seemed so genuine at first and I just needed someone.”