Page 81 of My Solemn Vow

I check the side mirrors myself. “What are you seeing?”

Jack shakes his head, and we take a wrong turn away from Kerrianne’s school. “Call Declan back. Tell him we need him.”

With one hand, I dial Declan again, and with the other, I open the glove box to pull out another gun.

“Yeah, boss.” He answers on the first ring.

“Change of plans. Again.” I hate sounding like a flake, and I put it on speaker.

Jack knows what I’m asking for and starts talking about what he sees. “Follow our vehicle on the GPS. We’ve got a possible tick, and I don’t like it. Gray late model hybrid of some nature. Not your usual assault vehicle.”

“I’m comin’ from the other side of the school. Give me a few. Keep them circling,” Declan answers, accent thick.

I catch a glimpse of the car that Jack thinks is following us. He’s right. It’s not the usual style vehicle we’d see if they were looking for a shoot-out or a display of power. No, that’s a vehicle designed to be invisible. To follow, to intercept and cause chaos, but then completely disappear.

Like the kind of vehicle someone would take our pup in.My wolf, on edge, agrees with me.

I chamber a round, and despite having Declan on the phone, I start texting, alerting those in the area of the potential threat. I hesitate when I get to Antonella’s number.

Before I can dial, shots ring out. They pepper the back of the SUV before working their way up the left-hand side. The bulletproof sides hold strong with loud plinks of metal on metal. The windows crack and spiderweb, but the caliber of the round isn’t enough to pierce it. When the vehicle pulls in front of us, they shoot, and the windshield also cracks up but holds in place.

The vehicle wobbles.

Jack curses. “They got the driver’s side tire.”

But as fast as the attack happened, they’re gone.

“Think they’re circling back?” Jack asks, slamming his fist against the wheel.

The vehicle comes to a stop in the middle of the road, rendered immobile.

Jack is dialing someone on his phone, and the screen shows it’s my parents’ emergency line.

“Jack?” My dad barks gruffly as he gets moving. “What’s happened?”

“Valor and I were shot at. Vehicle is disabled. Declan is on the way to us, but it’s suspicious. It’s like they were waiting for us to leave the office.” Jack growls, moving and bending to look through the fractured glass.

It’s not the first time we’ve been sitting ducks in an SUV that’s practically a tank.

“Where were you headed? Should I send a team?” my father asks, completely calm.

“No. No team. We need to move quickly. We’re on our way to Kerrianne. She’s irritable and Antonella said it looked like the flu,” I say.

“A growth spurt,” Dad groans.

“How convenient is that?” Neil asks on the line. “Antonella knew you were coming to get Kerrianne, and you’re attacked en route? That’s suspicious.”

“What are you implying?” I snarl.

Neil doesn’t back down. “That it’s possible your new bride set you up.”

Dad’s phone is muted, and Declan pulls up on my side of the vehicle. I get out, gun drawn, checking back and forth as I walk around to the passenger seat of Declan’s car.

Jack climbs through the SUV, also going out my door, before climbing into the back seat on Declan’s side.

“School,” I snap before Jack even has the door closed.

Declan guns it, flying through traffic.