Page 43

Story: Darkness Echoes

Jay allows himself a brief mental vision of his fierce omega opening the door and climbing atop the roof so he can jump on the hood of the van and rip the occupants’ limbs off before he shuts it down.

“Remember our babies, yeah?”

“Fine,” he grumbles, and the blue light fades, but he sucks his scent up, creating a vacuum that makes Rowan bang his head gently on the window a few times in agitation.

He needs to get his baby enigma back in the game. “What’s next, Rowan?”

“Fuck, okay. Shit, the app says we’re coming up on a strip of construction, so there’s a traffic delay. What are we going to do?”

The white van bumps the SUV from behind, this time hard enough to cause them to swerve into oncoming traffic, narrowly missing a head-on collision with a transport truck.

“Fuck!”

Whoever is in the van is not letting traffic or bystanders deter them, and if they stop the SUV, there’s no telling what they’ll do to get what—or who—they want. Jay will be damned if he’s going to make it easy.

“We’re ready, Jamie. Just do what you need to do. Right, Luca?”

“Right,” Luca whispers, clearly uncertain if he means it.

“Hang on. When we stop, Rowan, get them out and run. You hear that, Leo? Nix, I mean it. You run and take care of Luca.”

Miraculously, the traffic never slows. There is no construction, and they hit two more green lights with no traffic, as they keep moving at top speed to the police station.

Jay takes the corner into the parking lot way too hard, slamming on the brakes directly in front of the building. “Go!”

The three of them are out of the SUV and running inside the building just as he’d asked, in mere seconds, as Jay watches the white van speed past—this time with Gideon on their tail.

“For fuck’s sake.”

He’d been so worried about his omega warrior, he’d forgotten to be worried about what Gideon might do.

He dials Finn. “Call him off, Finn. Gideon! I know you can hear me. Stop. We’ll be ready next time.”

There’s growling and muted arguing, and then silence.

Finn comes back on. “We’ll see you soon.”

“No, don’t come here. Head back to that mall we passed a few minutes ago. Dump the truck, and stay there until I can come. Going dark—no phones. And Finn?”

“Mmm?”

“It’s going to be okay. Just…”

“Don’t let Gideon out of my sight. Got it. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Jay abruptly disconnects when he hears a gruff voice laced with skepticism. “Mr. Rhodes?”

Two uniformed state troopers are standing with Nix and Luca, their postures stiff and their gazes sharp. One, a tall man with a thick mustache, folds his arms over his chest and looks Jay up and down, his expression unreadable but far from friendly.

The shorter one glances at Rowan, who is pacing with barely contained fury, the air around him spiked with an almost tangible heat that makes the officer’s jaw clench.

“Your…uh, husband,” the taller one says, his tone weighted with disdain, “claims you were chased by a white van. Are you sure about that?”

The taller of the officers steps up to the side of the Escalade, his gaze lingering on the fresh scrapes of white paint along the rear fender. He squats down, running a hand over the damage with exaggerated slowness,then stands and looks back at Jay with a faint smirk.

“Sideswiped a van, huh?”