Page 35 of Glass
14
FELIX
“She’s doing better than expected,” Doc muses as we stare out the RV window at Poppy playing horseshoes with the kids in the fading daylight. Everyone is still rattled, but she’s done a good job taking the kids’ minds off it.
She’s fucking phenomenal is what she is. “She did better than me in a crisis, Warwick.”
“Using my real name; this must be serious.” Doc waits for me to glare at him before he smirks. “Oh, come on. Let me enjoy this. It’s not often The Lost get to see a mate bond.” He looks out the window again, but his eyes glaze over as if he’s imagining himself somewhere else. Maybe there’s a story somewhere about Doc’s own mate, but now isn’t the time for me to ask.
If we’re going to Brooklyn tonight, we need to go soon. Every minute we wait the higher the chances are that we lose any chance to find Frank. Even if we leave now, we’ll arrive at sunrise at best.
Our odds are already bad, we don’t need to stack them any higher against ourselves.
“She wants to go to Brooklyn.” I’m still not sure it’s the best choice.
Doc raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, wasn’t that the plan?”
“Sure, when I thought maybe being away from the pack could help her bond with me and the kids. Now it doesn’t seem safe to take the kids away, and she wants to go track down that poacher who’s been trying to win over our park rangers.” My voice is thick with bitterness. This guy has been a thorn in my side for way too long. And this time his hired hands got far too close for comfort. My mate and the five young kids could have died this afternoon.
“Shit.” Doc stands up and turns away, fixing himself a cup of coffee from the coffeemaker wedged into the small amount of counter space in the RV.
“Little late for coffee, isn’t it?” I ask him, already turning my head to look out the window again. I’m having a hard time taking my eyes off of Poppy after knowing I almost lost her. I’ve barely had her a day, and already we’ve lost the honeymoon phase and made it to survival mode.
I really wish she would have stayed in the fucking tent this morning.
“It’s not too late for coffee if I’m going to have to stay up trying to track this guy while you’re driving all night. What are you going to do about the kids?” I’ve always been able to rely on Doc. And the way he easily finds his role in this new plan is exactly why.
“The kids need to stay. I’ve already put a call in for them to stay with Kiara. She knows to let Corey take the lead with the kids, and Shelby won’t give her any trouble. Kiara’s brother is going to come get them in his work van. No one ever pays attention to the fishermen coming and going. But I want you to help check in on them while I’m gone. If anything happens to them—”
“Nothing will happen,” Doc interrupts. “I brought those kids here myself; I couldn’t live with myself if we didn’t keep them safe. I promise you that much.”
Everything is in place. There’s no reason I can’t give Poppy’s idea a chance. If we get to Brooklyn and can’t hunt down Frank, at the very least maybe it still might turn out to be the bonding time we need. I can’t wake up every morning to a cold bed wondering if she’s gone for good.
In Brooklyn, she’ll see that being Lost doesn’t always mean camping and chaos. For the most part, our lives are as quiet as any other shifter’s.
“I need her to pick me, Doc.” I can feel his eyes on me, but I hate how damn vulnerable this admission feels. “I know she was fated to me, but it’s not enough if she doesn’t fucking pick me.”
* * *
“You’re quiet.”
I glance over, but Poppy isn’t looking at me. Her gaze is fixed out the window, her whole body slightly turned away from me. Fuckingouch.
“Didn’t seem like you have much to say to me.” Any hope of bonding I had went out the window when we got in the borrowed, nondescript sedan. Poppy has been an ice queen, answering me with one word answers that stalemate any hopes of conversation.
She huffs. Sassy. “It’s nothing personal, Felix.”
“Feels personal,” I mutter knowing full-well she can hear me clearly.
“I have a life among other shifters… I have a family. I can’t disappear into a national park the way the rest of you can. I understand why you do it, but it’s not for me. And as long as that’s your life, I don’t know what kind of future we have.” She sounds almost robotic, as if she’s been practicing the words in her head.
“Maybe you should have thought about that before we marked each other.” I scowl so hard I squint at the road.
She doesn’t have anything to say to that. We’re back to uncomfortable silence. We’re not even halfway into this drive yet. It’s going to be a long damn night.
* * *
We have another fucking problem. I didn’t think Frank would try to hit us again so soon, but there’s been a black SUV following us for at least twenty miles. I got suspicious after five. At ten, I got off on an exit only to get right back on the highway.