Chapter 15: Less Than an Hour
1145 Words
Kai’s words left no room to argue.
Pack a bag. Only what you need. We have less than an hour before this house stops being safe.
I stood frozen for a second before my body finally moved. I went upstairs with Kai following close behind me. He didn’t enter my room this time. He stayed in the doorway, watching the hallway and the stairs while I pulled a bag from the closet and started throwing clothes into it.
My hands were unsteady.
The mate bond felt tighter than usual, reacting to the urgency in him. Every few seconds I could feel his attention on me even when I wasn’t looking.
“Don’t take anything heavy,” Kai said from the doorway. “We may need to move fast.”
I nodded and kept packing. A few changes of clothes. My phone charger. The small knife my mother had once given me for “just in case,” even though I had never used it. When I zipped the bag shut, Kai stepped inside and took it from my hand without asking.
“Is that everything?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He looked at me for a moment longer, eyes dark and focused. Then he reached up and brushed a strand of hair away from my face, his fingers lingering near my cheek.
“Stay close to me once we leave this room,” he said. “No matter what happens.”
“I will.”
We went downstairs together. The house felt different now—quieter, heavier. Richard was standing near the front door with his phone in hand. He looked up when he saw us.
“The car is ready,” he said. “Two of our wolves will follow at a distance. Don’t take the main road.”
Kai gave a short nod. “I know.”
Richard’s eyes moved to me. For the first time, there was something almost like regret in them. “This is temporary. Once the threat is handled, things can be… discussed more carefully.”
Kai didn’t respond to that. He simply placed a hand on my lower back and guided me toward the door. The contact sent a warm current through the bond, steadying me more than I wanted to admit.
Outside, the afternoon light felt too bright for the tension in the air. Kai’s black car was already waiting. He opened the passenger door for me, put my bag in the back, and then walked around to the driver’s side.
The moment both doors closed, the silence inside the car became thick.
Kai started the engine and pulled out of the driveway. I watched the house grow smaller in the side mirror. A strange feeling settled in my stomach—like I was leaving behind whatever version of normal I had left.
“Where exactly are we going?” I asked after a few minutes.
“A pack property about two hours from here,” Kai answered. “It’s more isolated. Stronger borders. Wolves I trust live there year-round.”
“And your father is fine with this?”
Kai’s jaw flexed. “He doesn’t have a choice.”
We drove in silence for a while. Kai kept checking the mirrors more often than necessary. His body was tense, one hand tight on the steering wheel while the other rested near the gear shift. The bond between us stayed active, feeding me pieces of his focus and controlled anger.
After about twenty minutes, Kai’s expression changed.
He glanced at the rearview mirror and held it there longer than before.
“What is it?” I asked.
“We’re being followed.”
My blood ran cold. I started to turn in my seat, but Kai’s voice stopped me.
“Don’t look. Face forward.”
I forced myself to stay still. “Blackridge?”
“Most likely.” His voice was calm, but the gold was already beginning to flicker in his eyes. “Two cars. Keeping their distance for now.”
“What do we do?”
Kai didn’t answer right away. He took a sudden turn off the main road onto a narrower one lined with trees. The car accelerated.
“We don’t lead them to the pack house,” he said. “We lose them first.”
The trees grew denser on both sides. Kai drove fast but with complete control, taking sharp turns without warning. I gripped the edge of my seat as the bond in my chest reacted to his rising adrenaline.
After several more minutes, Kai spoke again.
“They’re closing in.”
One of the cars appeared briefly in the side mirror before disappearing around a bend. Kai’s grip on the wheel tightened.
“Hold on.”
He cut hard onto a dirt path that barely looked like a road. Branches scraped the sides of the car as we plunged deeper into the trees. The ride became rougher. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.
Then a loud impact jolted the entire car.
Someone had hit us from behind.
Kai snarled under his breath, eyes flashing full gold for a second as he corrected the car and pushed it faster. Another hit came, harder this time. The back window cracked.
“Kai!”
“I know.”
He suddenly spun the wheel. The car drifted sideways in a controlled slide before he straightened it again, now facing a different direction. Through the trees, I caught a glimpse of one of the black cars trying to follow.
Kai’s voice was low and deadly when he spoke next.
“When I tell you to run, you run. Do you understand me?”
I stared at him. “What?”
He glanced at me, eyes burning gold.
“There’s a small service cabin half a mile from here,” he said. “If they force us off the road, we won’t outrun them in the car. I can hold them off long enough for you to reach it.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Yes,” Kai said firmly. “You are.”
Before I could argue, the second car appeared on our right, trying to side-swipe us. Kai jerked the wheel to avoid it, and the tires hit a patch of uneven ground. The entire vehicle lurched violently.
For a moment, it felt like we were going to flip.
Kai fought the wheel with both hands, muscles straining, and somehow kept the car upright. When he finally brought it back under control, his expression had gone completely cold.
He looked at me once, eyes pure gold.
“They’re not trying to follow us anymore,” he said quietly. “They’re trying to stop us.”
A second later, something heavy slammed into the side of the car hard enough to make the windows shatter.
- Writer
