Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Lilliana

Just to be extra safe, we walk through the extensively long house to reach the garage instead of cutting across the courtyard. I've never actually seen this wing, but it appears to be mostly guest rooms and otherwise unused spaces. A narrow covered walkway connects the main house to the carriage house, and once we're inside the room opens up considerably.

The first thought that hits me is that I didn't know how many cars I apparently own. There are actually three of the SUVs Maxwell drives me around in, all sparkling under the overhead lights. A few utility vehicles wait behind those, and then a collection of classic cars that someone clearly lovingly maintains.

My eyes must be as wide as saucers as we walk past the candy colored sports cars with gleaming chrome.

"Are these all… I mean, do these all belong to the alpha?"

The guys exchange a look.

Jared asks incredulously, "You didn't know that?"

"That explains why she's never driven one," Landon answers.

"We were wondering," Milo agrees. "We figured you just enjoyed being a passenger princess," he adds, kissing my forehead.

"I mean, I'd probably be terrified to take that out and drive it, for fear I'll get a scratch on it or something." I point to a shiny red car. The only thing I can answer confidently is that it's a Porsche, based entirely on the cursive writing displayed on the trunk.

"Nah, if that happened the staff would buff it out for you. Once we get past all this mess, you really ought to go for a spin." Milo reassures me with a wink. "You can drive stick, right?"

I lower my brows and roll my eyes. "No, I can't drive stick. So much for that idea."

"No biggie," Jared squeezes my shoulder. "We'll teach you."

I hate to walk away from the gleaming life-sized toys, but most of the activity is happening further along in the garage. We reach the crowd, and I spot several vehicles that I'm intimately familiar with.

"Ah, so this is where your cars go when you're here."

"Yup," Landon pats his Jeep. "They're safe and sound, and the garage crew take excellent care of them."

"Right?" Jared agrees. "I haven't filled my own gas tank since Lily arrived, and my truck is always spotless despite how much the two of you eat in it."

"I… nevermind." The instinct to chide them for taking advantage rises and falls like a wave in my chest. Technically, they are my fated mates, which makes them fated alphas , and the services here are just as much theirs as they are mine. I can hardly act like I don't enjoy never having to clean my toilet.

We walk a little way further on, and Jared announces, "There she is!"

Sure enough, a slightly battered, gold-colored minivan sits with both sliding doors open and waiting for us to clamber inside. Jared's sister Sasha waits nervously by the driver side door, twirling wavy black locks around her slim brown finger. Her eyes lift from her phone the second Jared's voice reaches her, and she slides the device into her pocket as we approach.

"About time. Of course you'd leave me here staring at all these gorgeous cars, knowing I'm driving this shitbox."

She glares at Jared, but greets the rest of us with hugs.

"Thank you for doing this," I murmur with a squeeze.

"Of course, alpha. Whatever you need, no thanks required."

"Hey, it's not my fault Dad takes better care of his vehicles than Mom does," Jared continues.

"That's not even the half of it, and you know it. You got the truck with like, a year and twenty thousand miles on it. This thing is almost as old as you are."

"Again, not my fault Mom hangs on to cars forever. You're the one who said you wanted it."

"Only because I would never dream that Dad would ditch his truck that fast. I thought you were going to be stuck with a shitty second-hand car from someone else."

"Yeah, and you were super grateful that mom gave you the van. And now we're all grateful that you have it, so can we get this show on the road?"

She huffs a sigh then turns resignedly toward the vehicle of contention and waves her hand forward, calling us as she walks away.

"Come on kids, climb in. Don't forget seatbelts! And no eating in my car, Jared ."

My eyes drift to Landon who snorts.

"Makes the food in the car complaints pretty rich coming from him, doesn't it?" Milo whispers in my ear. His warm hand presses to the small of my back, guiding me into the van.

The front has bucket seats, just like the second row. The third row is a bench, so I clamber in and claim the middle.

Jared stops short, confused. "You don't have to sit in the middle, Lily. Even without the front we've got enough space for the four of us."

"I know," I smile back.

A confused expression crosses his face. Clearly he'd walked around the vehicle to enter from the opposite side door and ensure he got a bucket seat. Perhaps he assumed I'd take the other.

Now it seems I've thrown his seat calculus to the wind.

"‘Scuze me." Milo squeezes past Jared in his indecision and claims the seat to my right, buckling in.

Landon's eyes dart between me and Milo, and I can read the math running through his head. If he takes the remaining back seat, Jared will be in the second row alone.

With a sigh, he settles into the bucket seat and waves his hand at Jared. "Just sit down, man."

Jared listens, buckling into the second row seat just as Sasha reaches up and presses a button above her head. The doors close automatically. "The car rules are no fighting, no switching seats while the car is in motion, and all body parts stay inside at all times. Anyone need to go potty before we leave?"

The sarcasm is thick in her voice, and Jared chuckles. I assume this is a speech their mom gave them before road trips.

"Hearing none, let's go!"

She pulls forward and the garage door opens smoothly ahead of her, letting bright morning light into the cavernous space. The windows in the back of the van are dark, almost black, blocking most of the scenery outside. To a casual observer, it probably appears Sasha is alone in her van.

When we pull out completely we join a long line of vehicles, including the three identical black SUVs I saw closest to the house. As if they received a signal, the line moves forward and we roll out in a ragtag convoy of sorts. The cars remain in order until we reach town, and then they splinter off in every direction, even some that enter neighborhoods and will eventually end up in the same places.

As we'd planned, Sasha takes a circuitous route that wanders up to her and Jared's house, pausing there for a few minutes before pulling out and heading toward Smoky Falls College. Even though Sasha graduated last year, she works part time as a teaching assistant and could theoretically be going in to work today.

She parks in the faculty lot and shuts the van off, leaving us in the vehicle to wait while she walks to the nearest building. A few moments later she returns, and we continue on our way.

All in all, it takes a good forty-five minutes before we head away from Smoky Falls toward Shuya's house. The car is silent, the air thick with tension when we cross the magical line that protects Smoky Falls.

Out here we're unprotected. Out here, we're on our own.

Well, us and the security team trailing us by about half a mile. Jared watches out the windows intently, switching between gazing ahead and behind us. He sends a few texts to the follow car and waits for a response.

When his phone vibrates a relieved expression takes up residence on his face. "Security said the only vehicle that was on the road behind us out of Smoky Falls turned off. So we're not being followed."

As if he let the air out of a balloon, the tension deflates, and the atmosphere becomes noticeably more relaxed.

Milo's arm drapes across the back of the seat, his fingers toying with my hair. I lean into his body, releasing a heavy sigh.

Even though everyone has relaxed a little, the van is still silent. Every road noise is clearly audible, even the thunk sound of the tires hitting a divot in the pavement.

Jared clears his throat, and says in a serious tone, "Hey Landon, did you hear about that guy on the track team at school who was afraid of the hurdles?"

Landon's response is hesitant, as if he's not sure where this is going. "No…?"

Jared continues seriously. "Yeah, he's a great athlete, but this was a big problem for him. No worries, though, he got over it."

There's a long, pregnant pause while we all think about it, and then Landon bursts out laughing.

"Holy shit, he actually did it," Milo comments.

"Did what? Got a new joke?" I tease, realizing a beat later that I'd sarcastically hit the nail on the head.

"No, he finally delivered a joke without ruining it before he could even deliver the punchline."

"You're right, he did. Good job, Jared!"

"It was still a lame joke," Milo adds quickly, "but your delivery is improving."

"Thank you, thank you!" Jared grins back at us, dark eyes sparkling below the bill of his SFC cap. "You know how big a zebra is?"

Milo and I exchange a concerned glance. "Not exactly," he answers. "Why?"

"It's a few sizes bigger than an ‘A'!" Jared chortles at his own joke with delight. "Get it? A ‘Z' bra?"

"A brief, shining moment," Milo comments sarcastically, "and then he's right back to normal."

"Wait, let me try another one." Jared shifts in his seat to launch into another joke.

"No, no, no!" Sasha calls from the driver's seat. "I can't take any more. I'm putting on some music."

She turns some dials and soon enough pop music plays over the speakers.

Jared turns back around in his seat and drops his gaze to the phone in his hand.

I settle back into the cozy crook that Milo's arm and body makes, and a yawn escapes my lips.

"What's the matter, Lily? Did you have a hard time sleeping last night?" Milo asks in a wry voice.

"As a matter of fact I slept very well, thank you," I answer curtly. "I just didn't get a lot of sleep. What I got was excellent, though."

"Why don't you try and nap, then? I'll wake you up before we get close." His lips press to the top of my head, and I curl into him, resting my face against his chest.

It's warm and familiar, his citrusy cedar scent in my nose, and the steady, powerful beat of his heart lulls me right to sleep.

True to his word, Milo shakes me gently awake while the van is still in motion. "Lily, we're just a few minutes from the turnoff to Shuya's house."

I straighten and stretch, yawning again. "Anything happen?"

"Not a thing. Jared just checked in with the security team and they said it's all good."

"Okay, that's good." I scrub my fists against my eyes, trying to shake off the haze of sleep.

Everyone else appears to have remained alert for the ride, and a brief pang of guilt hits my chest. I'm the alpha. I'm supposed to be protecting them. Instead, I was sleeping, and they all kept watch. I have to do better than this. It's my responsibility.

A few moments later, the van slows, and Sasha flicks her signal, easing onto the unfortunately familiar gravel drive.

Jared's sister wasn't here the last time, but the rest of us were. We watched someone die here, and for some reason, I didn't expect the sick swirl of feelings from that day to come rushing back at me.

My anxiety spikes, and I reach out to sample the feelings of my companions.

Sasha is a medium orange color, her anxiety simple.

The guys are more complex, their colors like a lamp that cycles through the rainbow.

Anger, fear, anxiety, dread, concern, and love revolve around me like some sort of psychedelic light display.

I know what they're feeling, because the same confusing mix is racing through my body, too.

Drawing a deep breath, I exhale slowly and focus on what I want to happen at the end of this driveway. Shuya will answer the door when we knock, and she'll be absolutely shocked to hear what Azalea has done, pledging immediately to help us save Derrek. She'll give us some sort of… magical thing we can take along to disable the collar. We'll leave swiftly and be gone before anyone could even know we'd been here.

We turn the last corner and face the well-worn cottage ahead, all the bizarre wind chimes hanging from the wrap-around porch exactly as before. Now a variety of pumpkins in every size, shape, and color line the stairs, and brown leaves have piled up around the bushes.

Jared's phone buzzes, and he reads aloud. "The security team stopped a quarter mile before the turnoff to avoid drawing suspicion. They can be here in 3 minutes if we need them. Are you guys ready?"

A shudder runs through my body, and even though I avoid looking at it I'm keenly aware of the spot where Jeremy bled out in front of our eyes. I peer out the windows but there's no sign of Azalea's souped up sports car, so I unbuckle. "Let's go."

Sasha remains in her seat but hits the button to open the side doors. "I'll leave the doors open and turn around so we can make a fast exit if we have to," she promises, a slight tremor in her voice.

Jared claps a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you, Sash." He steps out of the van on the right side, eyes sweeping the trees that surround us on three sides.

Landon hops out behind him, and Milo nudges me ahead so he can take up the rear. We move as one up to the house, taking the porch stairs with slow, deliberate steps.

I feel like some kind of movie star, only not in a glamorous way. The guys are big and protective, surrounding me with their bodies as if I'm some kind of frail weakling that can't defend herself. And it grates at me, to know in this circumstance I actually need their protection.

Jared reaches up and knocks swiftly on the door. "Ten minutes, guys, like we planned. Last time it took Azalea over twenty to arrive once we set off her ‘alarms', so we should be out of here in plenty of time. Landon?"

"Timer's already started," Landon answers grimly.

Steps approach the door, and we draw in a collective breath. It feels good to finally be doing something, moving closer to getting Derrek home and safe, with me where he belongs. Shuya can help, I know it.

The only problem is that when the door opens, it doesn't reveal the person we were expecting.