The Hidden Luna

Train to Nowhere

The first knock was polite. The second wasn’t.

Ash was already awake when I touched his shoulder. Wolves don’t sleep deep when they’re hunted, I suppose. At lease I never had. He sat up, silent, gauze stark against skin. My concern as a nurse kicked up.

The knock came again. “Ms. Vale?” A man’s voice sounded through the wood. “Maintenance.”

Wrong hour. Wrong tone. Total lie.

I went to the peephole. Navy jacket, private security patch I didn’t recognize. Hands loose at his sides like he’d been trained to look harmless. His partner stood to the right, almost out of view. People who stand out of view have plans and usually aren't harmless.

I pointed to the back window. Ash nodded. We had talked about the escape route last night - window to fire escape to the roof and down the next building. No heroics. Pure exit. It's why I picked this place.

“Ms. Vale,” the voice repeated. “We have a gas leak report. Open up, please.”

Gas leak. Really? That was the best they could think up.

I slid the window, lifted the swollen frame, and eased the screen aside. The city blew in, cool and damp, coffee ghosts from the shop two doors down. Damn, I wished this was a normal morning.

The doorjamb creaked. The lock held. He either wasn’t a wolf or didn’t use all his strength.

“Rowan?” Ash said, quiet.

“Go,” I said.

He went first, slow and controlled to keep the sutures from tearing. I swung out after him and landed on the fire escape, the metal groaning solftly under our weight. We moved up carefully, listening for the door behind us.

We were out of site and on the roof when it slammed open. The flimsy chain and deadlocks was no match for supernaturals.

Feet stepped into the apartment. A voice: “Window!”

We followed the plan, and were soon scalingdown the fire escape on the far side of the other building. Dropping the last level, we hit the alley. He groaned, but recovered quickly. The shock of cold went up through my sneakers as I landed and into my bones. Wish I'd thought to sleep in my shoes.

We ran.

The alley led us out into a street, thankfully still half-asleep. A delivery van idled. Ha, the movie van I amgined last night, I chuckled inwardly.

A woman in a gray coat walked a dog that looked like a fluffy cloud. A man smoked under a flickering sign and pretended not to watch anything.

Oh, sh!t.

A black SUV turned the corner and drifted to the curb without headlights. Enforcers got out. Different suits. Same posture. Same eyes.

“Rowan Vale,” the nearer one said, like my name tasted sweet, like it meant something. “We need you to come with us.”

“Need,” I repeated. “That’s an interesting word. I needed my pack. I needed family, friends. Where were they then? I don't need anyone now." I'd have ran but that didnt really seem like an option.

“You’re in danger,” he said smoothly. “We’re here to protect you.”

"I've been in danger my whole life an the people who should have protected me didn't. I want nothing to do with any of you anymore."

Ash stepped half a pace in front of me, not blocking my view, just giving me his shoulder. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”

I looked between them both, not knowing who to trust. And also annoyed that this injured i***t thought to protect me.

The enforcer’s gaze flicked over Ash, dismissive. “Rogue. You’re not on this invite.”

I didn’t like that. I left the pack, kind of. That made me a rogue too. Some us us weren't giving choices.

“Everything about her is my business,” Ash said, his words steadied me more than I wanted to admit.

A second SUV slid in behind the first. Boxed. Two men on the sidewalk. One near the SUV’s rear door. The last somewhere I couldn’t see. There’s always a last. Plus the men inside. I was screwed. We were screwed.

“Ms. Vale,” the first enforcer said, “the Alpha will be very disappointed if you’re harmed.”

"Well, that was the nicest threat I've ever heard," I sany sweetly.

Then pull hit me like a plucked wire from far away. Brief. Hot. It faded before I could name it. I kept my face still anyway.

Ash saw the change I couldn’t hide. “You felt that?” he asked, quiet enough that only I would hear.

“Nothing,” I said, even though we both knew it wasn’t true.

The enforcer’s smile grew by a hair. “Bonds reach.” Typically when a fated mate cheats, the other feels physical betrayal pains. I never felt those. I assumed it meant that whatever magic removed my scent and blocked our bond blocked that too. There’s no way he’d been celibate all these years. He's the king. And he's mated. Besides, I hadn’t.

“Words don’t,” I said. “If he wants to talk, he can send a message. Not a crew of thugs.”

How he knew who I was now when he didn’t before is beyond me.

“Stubborn,” he said, almost approving. “I can work with stubborn.” I really didn't like that smirk.

“You can work with a wall,” I said. “I’m very good at being one.” My words were a delaying tactic while my eyes scanned for possible escape roots. It’s just as likely she sent these men there to remove her competition.

“This isn’t necessary,” he said with a sigh. “We can do this the easy way.”

Ash angled his body, eyes cutting to the left. “Alley, three doors down,” he murmured. “Angles to the subway.”

“You’ll never make it,” the enforcer said, the pleasant tone never slipping. “He won’t, at least.”

“Try me,” Ash said, and I heard his wolf there, a low growl under human words. And again his protectiveness of me heated something I’d hidden deep inside.

A door opened across the street. The bodega owner came out with a broom, and decided we looked like trouble he didn’t need and turned his back on us. I lifted my chin. “No.”

The nearest enforcer adjusted his stance. He flicked two fingers, and movement stirred behind the SUV.

Ash didn’t wait for it to bloom. “Run in three,” he mouthed. Then he took my hand and ever so softly squeezed: One. Two. Three.

We ran.

The alley opened to a chain-link gate. Locked. I yanked a pick set from my back pocket, slid, twisted, felt the tiny click. We shoved through as footsteps hit the alley mouth. We cut right, down a service lane, over a low railing, and into the subway access where the air cooled and the sound echoed.

We dropped to a maintenance catwalk and then onto the platform with a handful of commuters who had perfected the art of seeing nothing. We caught our breath quickly. I watched with concern as my patient turned partner winced.

Ash’s hand didn’t touch me this time, but he stood close enough that his body heat melded with mine. A strange shudder that had nothing yo do with fear flickered through me.

The train screeched in. We stepped into the last car and let the doors close between us and the men who thought they owned my choices. We had no idea where the train was headed but I had bigger concerns. Royal with an army sized concerns.