How many abs did he have? Was that all muscles in those thighs? And just how thick could a cock get?
No.
She pulled her eyes back to the road and spotted a gas station. She parked the truck in the back away from the street. Or rather, so Zane could put on some clothes in privacy. No one else needed to see that work of art.
Zane grabbed his change of clothes from the back of the truck and slid on a pair of jeans and a green tee. Raven didn’t want to mourn the lost sight of his abs, but Zane made the shirt strain in the most delicious way, so at least there was that.
“Hop back in the truck,” Zane ordered. “We can’t just stay out here in the open like this.”
Raven wanted to argue with him and take offense to the fact that he had given her a command. But she couldn’t. Not after the showdown in the street in front of the store.
“Holy…shit. Zane. They were going to kill me. Like, full-on attack me in the street. In broad daylight.”
She slumped in the passenger seat as the realization crashed into her.
“Yes, I am sorry for that,” Zane said, putting a hand on her thigh after taking his seat behind the wheel. “I was wondering when the shock and panic would take adrenaline’s place. Are you okay?”
“I think so?” It sounded more like a question because it was.
Raven didn’t know if she was okay.
She replayed the last thirty minutes of her life, completely stunned by the events she had just survived. Zane drove away from the gas station, and Raven didn’t pay any attention to where they were going until the scenery out of her window changed.
They were driving out of Salem.
“Hey, just where are we going?” she asked, panic tingling in the pit of her stomach.
“Someplace safe. The order won’t think to look for you there. I promise you will be safe.”
“Where? And what about Cerise? Astra and Selene are still out there, too. They’re witches, they’ll be targets, too. We need to go get them.”
“Every witch from the Bishop bloodline is under protection. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry? I was shot at, and my twin sister and cousins are out there. Sitting witches. You need to turn back to get them.”
“Raven,” he said, squeezing her leg. “You need to listen to me. All three of them are with a member of my team. Wolves, like me. They’ll be safe. You’ll all be kept in separate safe locations.”
“Why are we separated? Wouldn’t it make more sense to keep us together?”
Zane gave her a side-eye. “Do you think it’s a good idea to keep all of you Bishops in one place like sitting ducks like you said? All we know is that the four of you are the first intended targets. Keeping you apart and away from Salem is the best plan we could come up with on such short notice.”
Raven took her phone out of her back pocket and unlocked the screen. She was surprised it was still there and intact after all that she’d been through. Her favorite black skinny jeans had a hole in the knee now. She picked at the threads with her fingers as she scrolled down her contacts to get to her sister’s number.
“Gimme your phone,” he ordered.
Thinking he needed it to make a better plan on how to deal with the psychotic order, Raven slid her device into his hand and watched as he chucked it out of the window.
“What the heck!” she screamed, turning in her seat just in time to see the smartphone smash on the road. “What did you do that for?”
“We have no way of knowing if they’re tracking you with your phone. Do you have any idea how easy it is to get someone’s location from those stupid smartphones?”
As he spoke, Zane reached inside the glove compartment and took out an old flip phone. The small compact silver thing was so small, Zane could have crushed it in his palm if he wanted to.
“This is the only phone we can use.”
She ground her teeth and took a deep breath. “Well, that’s all fine and good, but I don’t know her number by heart.”
Raven felt the anger rolling off her in tidal waves. Zane might be a hot wolf who had saved her life, but he had just destroyed the only line of communication she had with her sister and her cousins.
And this jerk was her mate?
No way. Yes way. Stupid hormones. No. Fuck no. She would never give her heart to him. Not after that. Raven crossed her arms and imagined locking her heart far away where Zane would never find it.
Chapter Nine
Zane
Zane gripped the steering wheel that much tighter.
“I can’t believe you threw my phone away. I didn’t even get a chance to call someone to lock up my shop.”
“I’ll have a deputy handle it.”
She pressed her lips into a tight line. “Thanks.”
He couldn’t quite believe what he had just done. He’d thrown Raven’s phone straight out the window without warning her or thinking the action through. He could tell she was furious with him. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she was tapping her foot rapidly.
Every ten seconds or so, her head would whip to stare at him. She would sigh heavily and turn her head forward again.
“You know what?” she said, sitting up straighter in her seat. “No. I won’t have this. Turn this car around right now and take me to my house. I need to see my sister.”
“I’m sorry, Raven, but no, I can’t do that.”
“I swear,” she said through clenched teeth, “if you don’t take me to my house right now, I will jump out of the car.”
Zane’s head snapped to Raven, his eyes wide. Her hands were already clutching the handle with a determined look in her eyes. His wolf demanded he slam on the brakes, lest she actually decided to leap out of a moving vehicle.
“Don’t be silly. You’d kill yourself. If you just calm down…”
Raven inhaled sharply, her eyes shooting daggers at him. Zane had the vague memory of a few females in the pack mentioning there was nothing worse than being told to calm down.
“Sorry,” he backpedaled. “I didn’t mean to say that you shouldn’t be upset. Obviously, you have every right to be upset. I just meant that hurting yourself is not the answer. Going to your apartment isn’t the answer. Your sister won’t be there. She’s already in protective custody with someone I trust with my life. It’s too dangerous. The Order has already attacked your place of business. The other logical place to look for you is your home.”
“Take me to my condo.” She grumbled under her breath. “Please.”
Zane took a deep inhale to ground himself. The air in the cab of truck was tinged with fear and deceit. There was no way Raven would actually jump out of the car. He could tell, but he wasn’t taking that chance. His mate hated him already. All because of how he had handled the situation.
And he also didn’t want to cause her any more distress than she was already feeling. With a resigned sigh, Zane pulled the truck onto the curb and turned to face her.
“If we go to your condo, you have to listen to me. If I spot any danger, you have to follow what I say. I have wolf instincts, so I might sense danger before you.”
“Fine,” she said, but there was deceit there.