As Darkness Falls by Riley Storm

Chapter Sixteen

Iwould have run all the way back to Seguin if I could have. Across the countryside, farms, forests, rivers, and fields. I would have pushed my wolf until we broke.

Thankfully, Vir had talked some sense into me. Aaron had followed that up once he and his men caught up with us. It was probably a good thing, because even now, I sat curled up into the passenger seat of Aaron’s truck, my wolf out cold. We’d never run so far, so fast, and now, we were paying the price. So was the rest of the team. The other truck had been filled with snores even before the doors closed as those who didn’t have to stay awake to drive immediately passed out.

We’d stopped an hour into the drive, and Fred, the original driver, had switched off with someone to take his turn sleeping. At least, that’s what Aaron told me. Of all of us, he was the only one still on his feet. He was tired, but he wasn’t relenting. We’d reached the trucks, and when Vir had offered to drive, Aaron had simply set his jaw and said he was fine.

Which was why Vir was now passed out in the back seat while I rested my head on the seat in front of him, staring at nothing.

“It’s for the best,” Aaron reminded me as if sensing my impatience. “We can’t go in there unprepared.”

“I know,” I said. “You made very good arguments about that, and I’m not going back on my agreement with them.”

“But you don’t like them.”

“No, I don’t,” I said. “Who would?”

“I know this isn’t easy, Dani,” Aaron said gently, looking over at me, resting one hand on the wheel while the other propped himself up on the console. “But we’re going to get her back.”

“Yeah. I hope,” I said.

“We will get her back,” Aaron said, his voice cold. “We just have to go about it the right way.”

“Yeah. Trust me. I don’t want you going up against Lars’s enforcers without being properly equipped.”

Aaron grunted. “One for one, my men could take any of them. Fred could probably handle any two of them. But there’s going to be a lot.”

“At least twenty,” I said. “Possibly more, depending on who all is at the manor. Then there’s Lars, himself.”

“I’m not that worried about him,” Aaron said. “Either Vir or I should be able to take him, and even if he does have Irr’s dagger, between the two of us, we should be able to contain him.”

I didn’t ask how he intended to do that, because I doubted I’d get a straight answer. Whatever Aaron was, he was incredibly tight-lipped about it. He’d not answered one question or even given a hint as to what it was that had allowed his men to run all night. As he’d said, they couldn’t keep up with Johnathan, Vir, and me, but they hadn’t been far behind. It had been impressive.

“It’s just a numbers game,” I mumbled blearily. “I know.”

“You can sleep, you know that, right?” Aaron said. “You’re safe now.”

I was safe, wasn’t I? Unless Aaron veered off the road, but he was too alert, simply too good, to do something like that. I could let myself sleep.

“Are you comfortable with this?” I asked, changing the topic instead of replying. “This mission, I mean.”

He didn’t need to start having ideas that I meant anything else by my question.

Aaron stared at the road ahead, his jaw clenching slightly and then relaxing. It was the only sign I had that he’d heard me. At that point, I was too tired to banter, and I simply waited, head resting sideways against the headrest, for him to either answer or not answer.

“I’ve tried to avoid tangling with you shifters over the years,” he said at last. “You have this really bad habit of bringing other packs in when one of you is bothered by an outsider, and it can get really sticky really quick. I’d just as soon not be hunted by a bunch of werewolves.”

Whether Aaron knew it or not, he confirmed that he’d been aware of shifters before me. By the sounds of it, he’d known about us for some time. Had my father brought him into the loop when they first started working together? Or had he already known?

What if, I thought suddenly, it wasn’t my father who sought Aaron out for his help, but the other way around?

I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it bore more thinking about when I had time.

“So, does that mean you want to bail?” I asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Aaron growled defensively. “I just said I’d rather not get involved. A contract is a contract, though.”

I made a sound of agreement as I studied the side of his face while he drove. There was a lot he wasn’t telling me. For instance, the contract that he’d just mentioned was only to drop Johnathan off at the side of the road in front of Aldridge Manor. That’s it. There was no mention of rescue, or combat, except if we were intercepted by Lars at some point.

Yet, he’d agreed to the farce of “returning Aaron to the room Jo was being held in” as the change in his contract, and he’d done so without batting an eye. Not that I called him out on it, nor would I. This was just Aaron’s way of showing he was a good guy, without him having to be forced to admit to it.

“Doing this will put you on a lot of people’s radar,” I said instead.

“I know,” Aaron said quietly. Without hesitation. He knew full well what he was getting into, and he was doing it anyway.

As I said, a good man.

I let loose with another power-yawn, feeling myself being pulled toward Aaron as I blinked back sleep. He would make a nice shoulder to rest on as we drove. I trusted that he would support me. Whether I deserved it or not.

Behind us, Vir stirred abruptly and sat up.

I stiffened and pulled away from Aaron, only noticing now how close I’d gotten as a spike of adrenaline raced through me, bringing me back to alertness.

You need to be more careful. Can’t let yourself do things like that just because you’re sleepy. What if you hadn’t been in a vehicle and that had been Vir? Next thing you know, you’re cuddled up to a god, and it’s impossible to say no to the Soulbond.

It was hard. Really hard.

In the span of a week, I’d gone from resisting as hard as I could the call of a man I hated to being torn between two different men, both of whom called to me in different ways.

Aaron was dark, cool, and full of mysterious sexual vibes that parts of me ached for, even if they shouldn’t. He promised me unparalleled sexual satisfaction and the promise of a man who was tough on the surface but gentle where it counted.

Vir, on the other hand. Vir was a god. A literal g-o-d. It was still hard to fathom that, to accept it as reality, but I was trying my hardest. Our Soulbond was strong, even though it was only a few days old, and it whispered all sorts of warm, fuzzy pleasantries about him that, unlike Johnathan, I could actually believe.

Though, of course, I had to remind myself that I wasn’t being torn between two men. Neither were human. Maybe Aaron was half-human, but he most definitely was part something else, and Vir only looked human.

Just something else I was going to have to remain aware of while in their company.

Probably best if you don’t let yourself fall for either of them. Not emotionally, at least. But maybe some fun could still be had.

My wolf perked up at that, but I pushed her down. Whatever it was that ended up happening, if anything at all, it certainly wasn’t going to happen now.

Yet, we were slowing down.

I glanced over at Aaron. “What’s this for?”

“Gas,” he said, pointing a finger lazily at the dash, where I’m sure the fuel gauge said it was low or something. I didn’t know. I couldn’t tear my gaze from his face.

We drove into the service station just off the exit and right up to a pump. Aaron stopped and then waited expectantly. I started to frown. Was he waiting on me?

“Well?” Aaron said.

I almost started to reply before I noticed he wasn’t looking at me but rather the rearview mirror. At Vir.

“What?” Vir asked, looking back and forth at both of us grumpily.

“We need gas,” Aaron replied flatly.

Vir stared right back at him.

Oh, for—

“He doesn’t know how,” I growled at Aaron, wondering how long I could put up with their bickering.

“Actually, I do,” Vir said to me, his voice full of pep and energy. The exact opposite of the way he’d spoken to Aaron. “I’m a god, remember? Perks of the job. I’m just not pumping his gas.”

The way he said it was like Vir expected me to be proud of him for not doing as Aaron said.

Meanwhile, the other truck had pulled up, and Fred was already out and hooking up the gas pump to the tank. He saw me staring at him and waved, smiling big.

“Oh, for fucks sake,” I snarled, reaching for the door. “I’ll pump the damn gas.”

Vir followed me out, standing around while I started pumping. I didn’t speak to him. He didn’t speak to me. Which was mildly amusing since there was a lot we should have been talking about.

Until I was ready to discuss the fact that I, a mortal, was now bound to an immortal, divine being who was thousands of years old, there wouldn’t be much talking. And it didn’t seem like my mind was going to truly wrap itself around that concept any time soon. So instead, we stood in silence.

For a bit.

There was another question, one that had been eating at me more and more as time went on.

“Vir,” I said quietly, looking up into the shifter god’s deep blue eyes. “What am I?”

I shivered as I asked the question, fearful of his answer. I shouldn’t have been. His answer wasn’t anything I expected.

He grimaced in apology. “I don’t know, Dani.”

“Me neither,” I whispered as the pump clunked to indicate it was full. “But I need to find out. Somehow.”

But if a god didn’t know, how was I going to do any better?