Page 10 of The Wolf and the Monarch

Benji just sat with that statement for a moment before he nodded once. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Spence flashed him a quick smile as he readjusted himself in the seat to face forward again.

“Now leave me alone. I need to get some sleep.” Benji leaned his chair back as far as it could go and folded his arms across his chest before he closed his eyes.

“Oh, so this is my fault now?”

Benji smirked. “You’re the one that woke me up.

“You’re the one that wasn’t even sleeping.”

He didn’t say anything in response to that (unfortunately) true statement. “I need to make sure I’m awake for the drive to the location.”

“Don’t trust in my snow driving skills?”

“Not even a little.”

He heard his uncle snort but nothing else was said so Benji could continue his attempt at sleeping.

“Pass me my burger.” Spence took his hand off the steering wheel and held it out towards Benji.

“I would really prefer if you kept your hand on the wheel while I get this ready,” he muttered as he dug through the bag.

“Oh, c’mon. It’s not that bad out.”

And just like clockwork, as soon as he said that, the wheels of the car lost some traction and Spence turned the wheel left and right so they didn’t spin out. Briefly, he glanced over to Benji who was just staring at him with the most agitated stare. “Like I knew that was going to happen?!”

“Look out of the window, Spence.” Benji growled while he unwrapped the burger and handed it over to him. The weather was horrendous. It was a total white out. They couldn’t see a foot in front of the car. If the flying hadn’t totally fried his nerves, driving with Spence was going to do it.

Spence just rolled his eyes. “I clearly am.”

“Not well enough.” Benji muttered, reaching into the bag to retrieve his own burger. They had stopped at a drive thru since they didn’t have time to sit down anywhere considering how bad the weather was. And the weather was a big part of the plan of getting Benji to the location without being seen. According to the GPS, they had about another hour before they would be close enough for Benji to start walking there. Which, admittedly, he wasn’t looking forward to. It beared repeating that he hated the cold.

Luckily, the rest of the drive seemed to go pretty smoothly. There were no other random patches of black ice. Spence kept them generally safe and sound. That was really all that Benji could ask for at that moment.

Parking the vehicle on the side of the road, Spence turned it off and glanced over to his nephew. “Ready?”

“Yeah. As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Spence nodded and slapped Benji on the shoulder before he got out of the SUV, heading towards the trunk. He, on the other hand, took another couple of minutes inside before he had to step out into the tundra that was Philadelphia, apparently. He put on his gloves and hat and just relished the warmth for a bit longer before he forced himself to get out and met his uncle at the trunk.

“I’m going to set up not too far from here.”

“SUV will be fine here?”

“Yeah, I think so. The snow will have it covered shortly.” That was true. There was no sign of the storm slowing down.

“Got it. Guess I’ll start my journey then.” Benji flicked on his comm and began to walk forward.

Spence reached out and grabbed his arm then pulled him back so he could wrap him up in a hug. “You got this.”

Benji couldn’t help but sigh as he returned the gesture, nodding a bit against Spence’s shoulder. “Yeah.”

“I’ll check on you in a bit.”

“Okay.”

The two parted and Spence flashed Benji a quick smile before he turned back towards the trunk so he could finish gathering his supplies.