Page 65 of Alpha's Embrace

I slowed to a stop and rolled my window all the way down.

The strong light stung my eyes and I saw Misha tense.

As I came to a stop at the window and started to say, “Hello,” the man inside glanced up. He had a paperback novel in his hand and looked at us with a dazed glare. Then without any expression, he casually waved us forward.

I thought for a second he was waving us to the side, but then I saw him turn away. He had waved us on. Given us the okay. And he had never asked for I.D. Sometimes it was that way in Tarn. It was stricter for people leaving the country than entering, not because of Tarn’s laws, but because of high strictures enforced by other countries.

I took it as a good sign that Tarn was welcoming us. It would be right about now that the nurses would be discovering Misha’s absence. We’d beat the clock.

Driving past the checkpoint, immediately the trees seemed taller, the air fresher, cooler. It was a north country, so the winters lasted longer.

I breathed in. It smelled like freedom.

“Do you smell it?” I asked Misha.

I saw his chest rise beneath the t-shirt as he took a deep breath. “What?”

“Your new kingdom.”

In the dim light, I saw him flash me a smile so big it nearly eclipsed his face.

*

I drove on into the morning hours. I never felt tired. My body had relaxed a little, but I couldn’t fully release my tension. I wouldn’t feel safe until we pulled into the little tree-lined driveway of our new home.

The sun rose over the tops of the trees, turning the sky pale green and pink.

We had two more hours to go.

Misha sighed and moved sleepily against my side, waking.

“Are we close?” he asked.

“Yes.” I put my hand on his head.

After a few minutes, Misha sat up, saying, “Being this long in a car makes my stomach feel funny. I’ve never ridden in a car before.”

I cracked my window and cold air poured in. “Take deep breaths and look straight forward out the window. It will help you orient your brain.”

Misha was silent for a minute.

“Let me know if you need me to stop.”

“I won’t be sick,” he said quietly. “I promise.”

“You don’t have to promise something like that.”

“I’m still a little scared of what might happen to us.”

“I won’t let anything happen to you. Do you believe me?”

He nodded hard.

When I finally pulled off the highway to the exit that would take us to the correct address, Misha was leaning forward to look out his side window, head moving back and forth. The light of the morning made everything look golden.

Two left turns and one tinier street later, I pulled into the driveway lined with pine trees.

“Your kingdom is beautiful,” Misha said. “Whose house is this?”