Page 33 of Pit Stop

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

SKYE

While initially looking around the property, I thought there wasn’t much to see besides the dilapidated buildings and the rickety fences, but after lingering too long on the porch, Bet finally told us to go explore. She was tired of us looming.

“The potion Atherton gave you won’t hurt you at all.

It just prepares you for tomorrow. Dulls things a bit.

You can go about life like you normally do,” she says before narrowing her gaze.

When we don’t move, she whistles, and Jex appears around a corner, his shirt off, his hair slightly damp.

“Jex, take them out of here. They’re driving me nuts. ”

Jex eyes us, his stare landing on my dad, and his lips curl. “Can do.”

“We should wait for Forest,” my dad interjects, but Jex just waves him off.

“Trust me. He’s fine. He’s in good hands with Ten.”

“And how do we know this?”

“Because I saw them. Forest is just fine.”

Jex leaps off the porch and saunters toward the edge of the woods, cocky as fuck. So much like Red. I can see a resemblance, too. I bet they’re related.

As Jex stands on the forest’s edge, the trees looming above him, he looks almost feral.

“Come on. Don’t be afraid,” he says with a dark laugh.

I don’t trust this guy at all. He’s wild. Dangerous.

Maverick’s arm tightens around me, and I lean into him. For comfort and reassurance, but it doesn’t work like it used to. His strength doesn’t move through me like before.

I can’t quite make out how he’s feeling with the potion hindering the bond. Blocking it.

I don’t like it. Not at all. It feels…lonely somehow. I feel numb.

“Lots to see out here, but don’t worry, Daddio. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

My dad arches an eyebrow as Sage moves up to Jex, poking him in his chest.

“Don’t hit on my dad. It’s weird.”

“Should I hit on you instead?” Jex asks, leering at my brother. He snaps his teeth, and Sage glowers back at him.

“I’d prefer you kept your smarmy eyeballs off all of us, but if you have to leer, pick me. I’ll take one for the team. I’ve done worse than you.”

Jex lets his gaze slide up and down Sage before shaking his head. “Nah. No thanks. Prefer the older ones. You’re too pretty to be an alpha anyway. You sure you’re not an omega?”

“Fuck no. I’m an alpha and I have the knot to prove it.”

“Maybe I should check and see?—”

“Maybe you should?—”

“No one is doing anything of the sort,” my dad growls, and Jex peers over at him, his cheeks flaring with heat, his eyes darkening.

“Mm, that’s what I like to hear. Give it to me. Boss me around before I fuck you.”

My dad ignores him again, which only makes Jex lurch into the tree line.

“Come on!” he shouts. “You wanna see what’s out here. I think you’ve never seen anything like it.”

He disappears for a moment, only to reappear in the shadows of a large pine. His claws are out, eyes gleaming. He looks completely feral, and for a moment, I wonder if this is safe.

This has to be a setup. Maybe Red sent us here for a reason. Maybe it was all a nefarious plan because I didn’t agree to his terms.

But as we continue forward, Jex runs down the trail, continuing to guide us through the woods, moving down worn paths until we arrive at a large lake. With the sun in the sky, it sparkles—silver, gold, and blue.

What the hell? I’ve never seen anything like it.

“Oh,” I breathe.

“Yeah, nice, right? This place is pure magic,” Jex says and then waggles his eyebrows at my dad, who just stares off into the distance. He’s done with everyone’s shit, it seems. He raised four boys and lost a wife. He doesn’t have time for Jex and his flirty, alpha shit.

“Want to go in? Attie says it has healing properties. But you need to take your clothes off for it,” Jex goads.

Dad just walks past him toward the edge of the lake. His shoes hit the sand, and he leans back, inhaling.

Jex watches him before turning his gaze to us.

“Come on. Let’s get in.”

“No,” my dad says. “We stay here. Clothed.”

Jex doesn’t know what to make of him, I can tell. He’s used to bullying people and them bending the knee, but my dad is stronger than he looks. Even if he’s not a shifter. Even if he’s just a businessman with a degree in marketing and a pension waiting to be used.

Jex moves his gaze back to Maverick and me. I can feel his energy pulsing off him, like he wants to shift, to run free, but he’s restraining himself.

“Why don’t you two take some time away? I know what it’s like to have a bond broken,” my dad says after a moment of silence.

“Do you?” Jex asks him, but he goes ignored.

To be honest, I do want to sneak away with Maverick, to stay in his arms a little longer. Our time is ticking away. Minute by minute. Pretty soon, we won’t be bonded anymore.

It bothers me more than it should.

It should never have come to this, but it has. And we both have to face the consequences.

“There’s a cave a half a mile down the path.

If you run, you can make it in record time.

You two can fuck, just like I know you want to, and be back in time for dinner,” Jex says, and I watch him, trying to see if he’s being a dick.

It seems ingrained in him, like he doesn’t even try at it.

No one I’ve met here has impressed me all that much.

But maybe that’s just how shifters are.

Is he trying to set us up by sending us away? Or maybe it’s just me he’s after? I know Red has a stake in this, and I still don’t know what he wants from me. It could be something evil, or it could simply be that he likes how I smell.

I have no idea.

“Come on,” Maverick says. “We’ll be close enough that they can hear us if we call.”

“Yeah?” I ask, and he nods, pulling me forward. “You think it’s safe?”

“It’s fucking safe,” Jex calls. “We have nothing to gain if you die. Just the trouble of burying you. And that’s fucking exhausting!”

That’s not reassuring, but then again, he seems to have a thing for my dad. Intrigued at least. Maybe it will be enough to keep us safe. Maybe there really isn’t anything to worry about.

“Come on. I get a little more time with you. Let’s find this cave. Or at least pretend that’s where we’re going.”

“Is my dad safe?”

“Your dad can take care of himself.”

I look and see Sage wandering around the edge of the lake, eyeing the wildflowers that grow in this part of the state. We don’t have those back home, so I know he’s taking an interest.

I glance back at Maverick, and he grins as he tugs me further down the trail. His voice lowers as we move, the birds in the trees chirping as we pass. It’s wild out here, I can feel it. I can sense how untamed the land is. It’s so different from where we live.

“It’s weird, right?” Maverick asks, and I nod, unsure of what he’s talking about, but realizing all of it is weird. All parts of this journey have been strange.

“I can’t feel you as much. That potion,” he adds, and my heart sinks slightly.

“I know. It is weird. Even in the short time that we’ve been bonded, I’ve gotten used to feeling what you feel. And now…it’s muted.”

“I don’t like it.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was my fault. I bit you.”

“You did, but I also let you. I wanted it.”

Maverick doesn’t respond as we continue to traverse the trail, his fingers weaving through mine.

“Have you thought about what you’re gonna do after we break the bond? When summer is over and you’re back at college?”

“Well…” I wet my lips. “I suppose after this, Red will want first dibs?—”

“Aside from that,” he growls. “I don’t want to hear about that. Fuck, that makes me rage.”

The way his nostrils flare, the way his hand clenches mine roughly, I can tell. That I can feel. “I shouldn’t have brought it up—I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I know what the reality is, and I do want to know what your plans are.”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead. I just…I guess I’ll have to figure something out. I know the campus offers services?—”

He stops and spins me around, holding on to my biceps with his hands. His eyes meet mine, and I can see the glow inside of them. “You can call me. If you need me. I can be there for you.”

“I don’t want to bother you with it. It’s my problem, not yours.”

His forehead gently hits mine. “I don’t mind, Skye. I really don’t. I’d love to be there for you. If you need me.”

“You shouldn’t have to do that. Drive all that way…not for me.”

He breathes heavily, his chest heaving as he clings to me. “I’d travel the world to get to you. You just need to call.”

My eyes grow wet, wishing I could feel him, but the realization that I’m unable to is gutting me. The potion is working hard, numbing us both. I can barely make him out anymore. He’s just a dull throb in the middle of my chest.

What will it be like when it’s finally severed?

The absence of him.

I have no idea. No one I’ve known has actually done it. It’s just not done.

“Come on. Let’s see if we can find this elusive cave.”

We step over a fallen tree as we move down the path, noticing the wet ground has wolf paw prints embedded in the mud. The shifters have run here , I think as we continue down the path, ending up in front of a thick grove of vines.

“It’s here,” Maverick says, and I cock my head.

“The cave? I don’t see it.”

“Me either, but it’s here.”

Maverick pulls the long dangling vines back, and I see it, a dark opening. Shit, he was right. How did he know that was here?

Must be some kind of alpha sense.

Maverick puts his head inside and sniffs.

He must deem it safe because he places his hand on the lower part of my back and leads me inside. The light from the sun filtering through the vines illuminates the space enough that we can make out basic shapes, but as we move farther into it, I notice that the rocks themselves are glowing.

Purples. Pinks. Emerald greens.

Not gems, but something else. It almost seems to throb with life.

“What the hell?” I ask, and Maverick looks stunned.

“What the hell is right. What is this place?”