Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Gideon

I hated running. I hated it so much that I cried silently, trying to hide it from Fletcher, for the first half hour after we sped away from the house. I’d hated it the first time, when I’d run away from his home in the middle of the night with nothing but the linen robe on my back. I’d hated it two years later, when he’d caught up with us and Fletcher had whisked me out of our hiding place in the mountains.

I especially hated it now, because not only were we leaving the home we’d made and thought was safe, we could be leaving Artemis, too.

Thinking about Artemis made me cry more than anything. Or rather, thinking about his baby, that I now carried inside me. I didn’t know what kind of hope I could or couldn’t hold out that Artemis might want to be a part of the baby’s life. I didn’t know if Fletcher would be okay with having Artemis remain as our friend. Or maybe something more. I didn’t even know what I felt about Artemis or the situation we were all in.

All I knew was that I loved Fletcher so much. I trusted him. If he said we had to drop everything and jump into the car to run, then that’s what we had to do. He would keep me safe.

About forty-five minutes into our flight, I gasped and jerked to sit upright.

“My laptop,” I said, feeling genuine pain in my heart. “I left my laptop at the house. I have a book to finish.”

Fletcher sent me a guilty, sideways look.

I gasped again. “I don’t have any way of getting in touch with my agent or my editor. I have a deadline to meet. What are they going to do when it looks like I’ve just disappeared off the face of the earth?” I didn’t even want to mention my fans and the people who followed me on social media.

Although now that I thought about it, maybe that was a good idea. Malachi had said he had moles in my social media followers that he’d used to find me. Had he somehow hacked into my agent’s or publisher’s records to find my address? Had he convinced them to just give away the information? He could be creepily persuasive sometimes.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Fletcher said with a heavy sigh. “You know he’d be able to trace you through your laptop, through any device that connects to the internet like that.”

I sank a little in my seat. I could have brought my laptop and just not connected to the internet. Fletcher was right to be cautious, though. If he found me….

I couldn’t even contemplate the consequences.

The one bright light in the horrible situation was that Fletcher knew exactly what he was doing. He’d prepared for this happening .

About an hour after leaving the house, we stopped at a small rest stop. I hid in the backseat while Fletcher donned a medical mask and headed inside. He used two of the bank cards from sneaky accounts he’d set up in different names to withdraw the maximum amount the ATM would let him take.

We drove on, and fifteen minutes later, he stopped somewhere else to do the same with a few other cards.

Half an hour after that, he did it again.

Two hours after we’d left home, Fletcher had over twenty thousand dollars in cash. He drove us to a small, slightly seedy used car dealer that he must have scouted before, sold our car, bought an entirely different one with cash, then drove us on.

Ten minutes after we left the used car dealer, he pulled over in a secluded spot and got out to change the license plate.

If he was following us, he wouldn’t be able to trace us using our phones or electronics. He wouldn’t be able to find us by bank withdrawals. He wouldn’t be able to trace our car. He wouldn’t be able to find us by license plate number. Fletcher definitely knew how to disappear.

Artemis wouldn’t be able to trace us by any of those things either, though.

I only got more scared once night fell. Fletcher had hardly said anything since we’d left the house. I could feel how tense he was. It was the usual anxiety I would have expected from running, but there was something more than that. I’d been concerned about his health earlier, after his heat had ended, but now I was even more concerned.

What if Fletcher was pregnant now, too? That thought buoyed me for a second. We could have twins. Well, almost twins. It would be fun to go through pregnancy and childbirth together.

Then again, if our flight went wrong, neither of us would end up going through it and our babies wouldn’t get a chance to be born.

I was too afraid to ask what was going on or where Fletcher was taking me. I was definitely too afraid to tell him I was pregnant. Worrying about a brand new baby forming in me on top of everything else was the last thing my wonderful, brave husband needed now. So I kept quiet, stared out the window into the darkness of the wilderness north of Barrington, and waited for something to make sense.

I must have fallen asleep, because when the car stopped moving, I jolted awake.

“We’re here,” Fletcher said quietly, as if the car had ears.

I didn’t have the first idea where “here” was. Everything was black around us, indicating we were far away from any other civilization. I saw the vague shape of a small house outlined against the night sky, but it was completely dark.

Fletcher got out of the car, and I immediately had more clues about where we were. The scent of salt air hit my nose, and a strange roaring, crashing sound came to me from somewhere on the other side of the house. We were at the seaside.

I undid my seatbelt and climbed gingerly out of the car, looking around. It was definitely the seaside, but I didn’t see any sort of beach, and the crashing wave noise seemed to be coming from somewhere below me. That had to mean a cliff. In the other direction, there was nothing but thick, tall pine trees. I could only barely make out the drive we must have come up to get where we are .

“Where are we?” I asked in a tiny voice, turning another circle to take in our surroundings.

Fletcher had just pulled the suitcases out of the trunk of the car, where he’d tossed them when we bought it earlier. “I bought this house just after we bought the farm three years ago,” he said.

“You did?” I blinked in surprise. I really hadn’t been paying attention back then. I’d still been so scared after he had almost found us the first time, and if memory served, I’d gone into heat shortly after that, too.

“It’s okay, baby,” Fletcher said, carrying the suitcases up to the small porch that stretched along the length of the house. “We’ll be safe here. At least for a while. I bought the house under one of the fake names. No one can trace it to us.”

After everything we’d been through that day, I wasn’t so sure.

Then again, Fletcher had bought the farm under one of the fake names and it had taken him three years to track us down. I was certain he’d find us again, but it was possible we had years before he could do that.

“Let me help you,” I said, pushing myself to open the back door of the car and take out the basket of food.

Fletcher usually didn’t like it when I helped, but he stayed silent as we unloaded the car and took everything up to the porch. I was a little surprised when he produced the keys from a random box he’d brought with us and when they fit easily into the lock. My wonderful husband really had been prepared for this.

Artemis would be so proud of him.

That thought hit me out of nowhere, giving me a shiver. It was a good shiver, I thought. Maybe. I wished Artemis was there to keep both of us safe, but I knew it would break Fletcher’s heart if I told him that.

I followed Fletcher into the house, expecting him to reach to the side and flick on the lights. He didn’t, though, and as I squinted through the dark to get a better feel for the strange, musty space we were now in, I couldn’t see any light switches or fixtures at all.

“It doesn’t have electricity or potable water,” Fletcher answered the question I hadn’t actually asked. “I’m sorry for that inconvenience, baby, but it’ll make it that much harder for Goode to find us.”

I flinched at Fletcher’s use of his name. I didn’t ever want to say or hear that name again for the rest of my life.

“It’s okay,” I said, trying to sound cheerful. “I think I see a fireplace over there. Do you know if there’s any kindling or a way to light it?”

“There should be,” Fletcher said. “I come up here once a quarter, just to make sure it’s still standing and that it has everything we would need in case we need to use it.”

My brow shot up. I was impressed, but also a little annoyed that he’d done that without telling me.

Then again, he might have told me something, thinking that I understood what he meant when he didn’t. He’d gone off on day trips now and then, telling me he was checking on the house. I was usually so busy with my work that I hadn’t asked questions.

We fumbled around in the dark a little until Fletcher found a group of oil lanterns on the table in the kitchen. He was able to light them with the matches sitting next to them. The lanterns were surprisingly bright once the flame was at full height.

From there, we walked around the house, lighting a few more lanterns and getting a fire going in the living room. There was a second fireplace in the bedroom that Fletcher went off to light while I explored a bit.

The house was rustic, but it was also kind of cute. There was dust everywhere, and the whole thing was decorated in a style that had gone out of fashion three decades ago. The furniture was clean and sturdy, though, and I actually got a little excited about the possibility of trying to cook on the old-fashioned wood stove in the kitchen.

Fletcher really had stocked the place in preparation for our sudden flight. He had a lot of crates of bottled water in the pantry, and he said there were more in a storage cellar outside. There wasn’t a lot of food, though, which made sense. It would have been a waste to stock the place with food that would just sit there and spoil. We’d brought enough with us to last a few days, at least.

There were linens in a closet that I could use to make the bed and a few towels, too. The water wasn’t potable, but after testing the taps in both the kitchen and the bathroom, I was relieved to see it was running. There was no boiler to heat it, though.

After going over the house once, I stepped out onto the kitchen porch, which looked out over the sea. That’s when I started to figure out where we were. We had to be northeast of Barrington, along the rocky, rugged shoreline over a hundred miles away. The area had been popular with tourists a century earlier, but had fallen out of favor when transportation became easier and people were able to drive or fly south in the summer to warmer beaches.

I had always wanted to come to this part of the country. The People never traveled or took vacations, and since escaping and making a life with Fletcher, we hadn’t had time. I was here now, and despite the terrifying circumstances, I was excited to get to know the area .

“It’s remote,” Fletcher said, joining me out on the porch. “There’s not really much in any direction for at least a fifteen-minute drive. That’s why I bought it.”

“You’re so smart,” I said, slipping into Fletcher’s arms and hugging him. “I knew you would take care of me. You’re my dragon prince.”

Fletcher laughed, the sound low and soft, but I could tell from the tension in his body that he had a long way to go before he felt relaxed or safe.

“Is that a cliff?” I asked, glancing out over the ocean. The moon was out, but it was only a sliver. I could see a lot of stars, too.

“It is,” Fletcher said. “You’ll see in the morning. It’s pretty high and there are some jagged parts, but there’s also a staircase that leads down to a small beach area.”

“I love it already.” I hugged Fletcher harder.

He made a wry noise. “It’s sad,” he said. “This whole place, the house, no electricity, it’s all just sad.”

“It’s rustic,” I corrected him. “It’s like we’re in some remote outpost of the kingdom, safe from King Freslik and his evil plans.”

Fletcher laughed louder and pulled me in tight. He kissed the side of my head, then rested his head against mine. Finally, after everything he’d been through and all his efforts to keep me safe, he relaxed and let out a breath.

That lasted for two whole minutes as we stood breathing in the nighttime sea air before the crunch of tires on the gravel drive jolted us out of our moment.

“No!” I gasped, going rigid in his arms. “No, no, no! We just got here. We just made it to safety!”

“Come on,” Fletcher said, instantly on guard again.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me back into the house. We set to work blowing out all the lanterns, but we couldn’t do anything about the fires. Their scent would alert whoever had just come up the drive that the house wasn’t empty as much as the light from the lanterns in the windows.

We crept through the front room and up to one of the windows, keeping low so we wouldn’t be seen. I noticed Fletcher breathing harder and harder as we crouched and watched the car park and turn off, then as someone got out.

“Is it just him?” Fletcher asked, his voice a wild moan.

I didn’t understand what he meant at first. Just him?

I thought I understood a second later when the faint light of the moon and from the house lit the figure coming forward enough for me to see it was Artemis. It was just him, alone. No one else got out of the car.

“Artemis!” I called out, standing.

I wanted to run to the door and fly into Artemis’s arms, but much to my surprise, Fletcher beat me to it.

“Artemis!” he shouted, dashing to the door, turning the lock, and throwing it open.

I followed, but with a sinking feeling in my gut. A few other things were starting to become obvious to me. I scrambled onto the front porch just behind Fletcher, but I stopped at the top of the stairs, whereas Fletcher raced down them and across the overgrown path to the drive.

“Artemis!” Fletcher shouted again. “You found us!”

“Fletcher!” Artemis greeted him with just as much enthusiasm and relief. He threw open his arms, and when Fletcher reached him, he jumped up, wrapping his whole body around him.

My heart slammed wildly against my ribs as I watched the two of them embrace and groan in relief, then kiss each other with so much passion and need that I flinched. I was overjoyed that Artemis had found us, though God only knew how he did that, what with all the precautions Fletcher had taken.

But I also felt suddenly alone, left out. Artemis had come for Fletcher, not me. Fletcher had left me behind in the house without so much as a thought. The two of them were kissing now like I wasn’t even there.

I sucked in a breath as everything suddenly became clear to me. Everything. Fletcher’s odd behavior earlier in the day made sense. His tension as we’d driven farther from Barrington, the distance I’d felt between the two of us, and even the way Artemis had found us out in the middle of nowhere so fast, it all made perfect sense.

Somewhere in his heat, Fletcher and Artemis had bonded.

I pressed a hand to my stomach and the brand new spark of life growing there. What did this mean for the two of us?

My fears were eased somewhat when Artemis put Fletcher down and they both turned to me.

“Gideon, thank God you’re safe,” Artemis said, walking fast up the path to me.

My fears vanished for a moment as Artemis swept me boldly into his arms and kissed me almost as passionately as he had Fletcher. He held me tightly against him, though I didn’t wrap myself around him like Fletcher had. Not only did that embrace not terrify me, It made me feel safe again.

“Fletcher brought me here because he found us,” I whispered against Artemis’s neck as I buried my face there.

“I know,” Artemis said. He turned with me still in his arms and continued talking to Fletcher. “You’re never going to believe this, but that job interview I had to leave the two of you for? It was with Justice Goode at Arise Financial.”

I shuddered and buried myself against Artemis to hide .

“You’re kidding,” Fletcher said, stepping up onto the porch, then leading us all inside.

“He was agitated and in a hurry to get the interview over with because he said he had urgent family business,” Artemis said, picking me up and carrying me into the house and all the way to one of the dusty sofas by the fire. “I’m so glad you told me your story, Gideon,” he said to me. “Goode let one too many details slip, and he got a phone call from someone who knew about the farm while I was there, so I was able to put two and two together. I went straight back to the farm as soon as I left the interview to warn you.”

“Gideon’s brother called us less than an hour after you left our house to say Goode had found us,” Fletcher said. “I’ve had an escape plan for years, I just never thought I’d have to use it like this.”

“I was able to get to the farm before Goode,” Artemis said, “but I have a bad feeling it was him who arrived just as I was leaving. I’m just glad the two of you were long gone by that point.”

“I’m glad, too,” Fletcher said, settling on the chair opposite us after relighting some of the lanterns. He rubbed his face, but I could see, even in the dim light just how relieved he was, now that his alpha was here. “I’m surprised you were able to find us,” he said.

“I just followed?—”

Artemis stopped, and suddenly both men were looking at me with wary, guilty looks.

I swallowed hard, scared of what the future held, scared of losing the only alpha I’d liked in years, and scared of losing my husband.

“It’s okay, I know,” I said, lowering my face and gripping a hand over my stomach. “You followed your bond with Fletcher.”