Chapter 5

Kylen

"So… anyone wanna tell me what that was about?" I asked, shifting under the discomfort of the anxious energy buzzing through the car.

It seemed that, of everyone here, I was the least worried about the turn events had taken in the last thirty minutes, and I'd just been kidnapped.

Okay, so maybe kidnapped was an overstatement.

I had already accepted a ride before I was thrown in the car, after all. It had just been far more hurried than expected. One moment I'd been fielding questions from the little dud witch in front of me, and the next I was hustled into the back of the car like we were dodging paparazzi in the middle of LA.

I eyed the profile of the guy in the driver's seat. He could totally be a celebrity. His smooth, dark skin was expertly highlighted and powdered, and his eyelids shone with golden shadow framed with a dramatic dark wing of eyeliner. He was beautiful, and I could see him walking the carpet at the Met Gala. If I had any sense of self-preservation, I would be insanely attracted to him. Instead…

I slid my gaze toward the scowling bombshell to my left. Her arm stretched across the back of the seat, her fidgeting fingers brushing my shoulder as she shifted to check the road behind us at regular intervals. I wanted to ask her to sit down and buckle her seatbelt because the way she was half kneeling had images of blood and broken bones screaming through my head. Was a car accident likely? No. Was it worth the risk? Definitely not.

"Can you buckle up, please? Driving is dangerous in inclement weather, and the risk of a wreck increases exponentially with the deterioration of conditions."

She gave me an odd look, but thankfully reached for the belt and fastened it across her chest. An improvement, even if it wasn't what I'd hoped.

A low-level buzz vibrated in the air, an energy that made me twitch with the need to move. To do something. It increased with every unintentional brush of her fingers, and I felt a warmth building low in my gut. Cutting another look at my seatmate, I froze as realization dawned on me.

She was the source of the anxious feeling. And while most of it could be attributed to her behavior verging on paranoia, I knew some of it was something else. A knowing. We were meant to meet.

The fates were at play here.

"So…" I said, trying to catch her eye. She glared intently out the back window before finally sitting in her seat properly with a grunt.

"Addie tells me you're on a quest? That sounds exciting."

"Addie needs to keep her mouth shut."

I cringed, glancing toward the seat in front of me where the poor girl's shoulders were curled up to her ears. Harlow followed my gaze and sighed.

"It's fine. Yeah, we're on a full-on vision quest—"

"Epic Road Trip of Destiny," Lindsay crowed from the driver's seat.

Harlow rolled her eyes and pointed at the guy. "Yeah. That. Apparently, Spells Hollow is the place to be these days. Why are you going?"

I perked up, always happy to talk about my research.

"I'm a botanist. I've been searching for a rare plant for years. Actually, my mom first started the research, and I took it over when I finished my degree. The plant is supposed to have sedative properties that will revolutionize the way we practice medicine on supernatural beings, and I'm determined to find it. Do you know how many shifters have broken bones set poorly and then have trouble with their shift because of the speed of their healing? It's the same reason they can't be operated on. Their body absorbs the anesthetic too quickly for surgeons to operate. I learned that the local fauna in Spells Hollow is unique because of the town's history, so I'm hopeful this might be the place to find it."

"That sounds interesting."

I watched Harlow steadily for a moment, looking for the telltale signs of boredom, but while she wasn't as enthusiastic about the discussion as I was, she also wasn't already looking for the exit.

"So it's kinda like a family thing? Does your mom still help you with research?"

I flinched. The truth was, I hadn't had a mom for a long time now.

"My parents aren't around anymore. They died in a car accident when I was—"

"Dog!" Addie screeched, throwing her arm to point out Lindsay's window. The car swerved wildly before settling back on course. My heart leaped into my throat, and I briefly wondered if literally shitting myself in their car would be a stretch of this new friendship.

With a slow, deep breath, I encouraged my fingers to release the death grip I had on the seat below me as the car straightened out. Shit. That was close.

"Jesus, fuck, Addie!" Lindsay growled, batting her hand away from his face.

"Did you see it? I swear, it was the same dog. He's following us!"

I glanced out the window. Rain streaked along the glass, and beyond it was a gray landscape where nothing appeared to move. "I don't see anything."

"He was there, I swear."

Harlow sighed and turned back to me. "Sorry. That was kind of shitty timing, considering what we were talking about."

"It's fine." I shrugged.

"So tell me more about botany."

We settled into an easy conversation, and it was less one sided than I feared. Harlow knew more about plants than I would have suspected, even if she did claim it was only things she remembered from high school. The way Lindsay snorted made me think it wasn't something she learned in science class. As the weather outside devolved into a howling, soggy mess of a day, I got to know the people I was traveling with.

Harlow chuckled. "So then Lindsay gets this bright idea to go under the fence with all the warning signs."

"They were more of a suggestion than a direction," he cuts in, his dark eyes gleaming with humor in the rearview mirror.

"And he was shocked when—"

Harlow cut off as the car lurched hard and fishtailed before Lindsay brought it back under control.

"Shit!"

"What was—"

A vaguely familiar motorbike pulled up to the driver's side window. The rider lifted his leg and kicked at the door. Harlow cursed, Addie screamed, and the seconds seemed to slow as a scene straight out of my nightmares played again. Lindsay tried to speed up and lose him, steering wide to avoid hurting the guy, but the wheels lost traction on the wet road, and the car went into a spin.

Gripping the seat with aching fingers, I saw it all play out. Broken glass. Blood. Silence. I couldn't handle going through it again. My chest heaved as images of little Addie covered in blood assaulted me. I'd just met her. I couldn't lose her already. I'd lost so much.

A face slowly registered in front of me. Resolving into two bright eyes, a delicate nose, and lips that looked tasty enough to kiss.

"You with us, big guy?" Harlow asked, squeezing my shoulder.

I blinked away the images in my mind's eye and looked around. The car had come to a stop facing a grassy field, completely undamaged and up the right way. I glanced around the interior and found everyone in the same shape they had been moments ago.

"I guess I overreacted a bit, huh?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck with a self-conscious chuckle.

"Not at all. But now I know you're okay; I have some business to attend to." Harlow gave my shoulder one last reassuring squeeze and pushed out of the car to confront the asshole who had almost killed us.

"Isn't that the guy from the gas station?" I asked as Addie wriggled into the backseat to get a better view of the road.

"Yup. He's why we had to leave real quick. This is going to be so cool."

"Cool isn't the word I'd use," Lindsay grumbled, climbing through after her. "Someone crack open the window so we can hear better."

Outside, wind whipped at Harlow's hair as she stalked toward the asshole in black leather who leaned casually against his bike like he wasn't asking to be struck by lightning with all that metal under his butt.

"You can come after me; I don't give a shit. But you never threaten my family," she shouted over the howling gale.

The guy reached up and slowly drew off his helmet, turning to rest it on the seat of his bike. A now familiar buzzing streaked through my chest, and I cursed at the implication. Why was I always attracted to the dangerous ones? Dammit. Luckily, it seemed like I wasn't alone this time.

"Damn. If I wasn't so pissed about him threatening Harls, I'd take him for a ride. I swear I could change him."

I snorted at the earnest look on Lindsay's face.

"Unless you're going for a whole star-crossed lovers vibe, I don't think you and him are in the cards, my friend."

His shoulders slumped for a moment before he straightened with a wicked grin on his face. "Oh well. It'll be just as fun to see her hand him his ass."

I grunted in agreement and turned my attention back to the confrontation outside.

"I'll give you a choice. You can come with me, or I can kill you and leave you on the road."

"Why does he have to sound sexy when he's threatening the life of my bestie?" Lindsay moaned.

Addie elbowed him. "Ssh, I can't hear."

"I choose option C," Harlow growled, lifting her fingers to show—Was that electricity dancing over the tips?

"I've already seen your party trick. You're going to need a lot more than that." He raised his arms, and the rain intensified, the winds whipping at the water until it began to swirl in a controlled funnel, like a mini tornado.

"Shit. The storm is his," I breathed. Glancing at the two beside me, I found matching smug grins on their faces. "What? What don't I know?"

"Just watch." Lindsay nodded toward the rear window. The biker had created a dense funnel of water that looked ready to crash into Harlow any minute.

"Come with me now or die."

Harlow threw her head back and laughed. The sound was slightly hysterical, but still filled me with warmth as she reached her hand toward the wall of water. Lightning arced from her fingertips, racing through the water and knocking the biker backwards over his bike.

In an instant, the rain stopped, and Harlow cursed as the water crashed down over her. Running her hands over her face, she stepped around the bike and crouched over the twitching form of the biker.

"I bet she's saying something cool, like I told you I chose option C ," Addie whispered as we all watched in awe.

Harlow straightened and strode toward where we all huddled in the backseat.

"Should I have made popcorn for you?" she snarked, ruining the attitude with the affectionate smile she sent to the two beside me.

"That would have been great. Why didn't you think of it earlier?" Lindsay asked, opening the back door so we could all pile out. He headed straight toward the trunk and pulled out a towel. "Here. Do your best."

Harlow accepted the offering with a grunt.

"I think we need to take him with us. Can you guys move the bags to the backseat?"

I wasn't about to argue with the woman who'd just dropped someone with lightning, but I was curious if they were in the habit of kidnapping people. Or maybe it was just a kidnapping kind of day. Either way, now the weather had cleared, it took a relatively short amount of time to move the bags to the backseat and the unconscious man into the trunk.

Once everything was situated, Lindsay looked up the nearest motel, and we made a plan to meet there. Harlow slipped into the driver's seat and Addie called shotgun, so I squeezed in with the luggage as Lindsay mounted our new friend's bike.

"See you soon." He saluted and took off with a roar as we followed to find somewhere to dry off and get ready for an interrogation.

How the hell had my life changed so much in a matter of hours?