Page 50 of Thrown into the Mob

My hand tightened on the receiver because even though we’d been lying pretty low—apart from Arnie’s arrival, the movies, and grocery shopping—I’d been loving this quiet time so early in our relationship.

Madd was leaning on the wall beside me, watching my expression, and he tensed, probably because of what he witnessed on my face.

“Vasik was spotted yesterday off Route 9, forty miles south of your position.”

Forty miles. My dragon urged me to let him fly, but that was a no and I held him back.

Wait until I have more information.

If we wanted to escape, we had to do it as humans because I refused to leave Madd by himself. The last time he was in his wolf form, he took a bullet, one that was probably meant for me.

Route 9 ran north to south through three counties. If Vasik was on it, he was working a grid. I’d trained him to be thorough but couldn’t say I was proud of him for searching for me.

“Was he alone?” I asked.

“We don't know. He was in a store buying food, and we only had one confirmed sighting.” Flint rattled off more details. “We didn’t get a vehicle ID. He paid cash and the security footage was poor.”

“He wasn't alone.” I knew how Vasik operated. He worked in pairs with one person visible and the other trailing. He'd been spotted, but his partner hadn't been. “He'll have at least one other with him. Possibly two.”

Madd's posture had changed. He stood up straight, and I could see his wolf in his gaze.

“How long before he reaches your location?” Flint asked.

Vasik was doing his searches in human form during the day because unless it was an emergency, dragons preferred to stay out of sight doing daylight. He’d take his scales after sunset and search us by our scent.

I focused on what I knew about his movements today. Vasik wouldn't be driving straight here because he didn't know where here was. He was checking towns, motels, gas stations, and anywhere two men might be lying low. He had forty miles of grid to cover with limited information.

The last thing I’d be doing was letting my beast out because at night, Vasik’s ability to scent would be heightened, and that would leave us, and in particular Madd, vulnerable.

“Conrad, are you still there?” Flint’s voice broke my concentration.

“Yes, sorry. I’m just thinking. Ummm, two days if he's lucky. Four or five if he's thorough and doesn’t catch a break.”

“Have you left a trail?”

“No.” The apartment was rented under a name that didn't connect to me. We'd paid cash for everything. Flint knew we had no phones or credit cards. We hadn’t been online at the local library, so we’d left no digital footprint.

But Vasik didn't need anything digital. He needed a scent, and once he was close enough, he’d scent me, and that would lead him to the apartment building. No cash transactions wouldn’t help us once he was in town.

“The juniper.” Madd shook my arm. He'd heard enough to follow the conversation. “We've been masking our scent with it whenever we go out.”

“That covers the street, laundromat, and grocery store but not the apartment.” I looked at him. “If he gets within a block, the juniper won't matter. Three weeks of our scent is in those walls.”

Madd gasped and peered up at the cloudless sky.

“Options.” I liked how Flint used few words to get his meaning across.

We could run again to a different town and use more fake names. But Vasik would find us again, and every time we moved, it would increase our exposure.

Flint listened to my reasoning and responded with, “Or?”

“We come back to La Luna Noir. Your security is better than what I can provide in a rented apartment, but if Vasik comes, he's coming into your place, not neutral ground.”

Flint didn’t speak straight away because he was probably weighing the cost to his pack of bringing the dragon threat closer to his families.

“There's a third option. You come back and we stop hiding. We let Evander know exactly where you are, and we prepare for what comes.”

I hadn't expected that. “You want to draw him out.”