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Derek smiled at my reaction and for the first time since he’d picked me up, it actually reached his eyes. “Don’t worry about money, okay? I’ve got us covered. I just wanted you to have something nice.”

While we waited for the train, Derek helped me pair the earbuds with my phone. Then, when the train arrived, he took one earbud and I took the other and we listened to the music I liked.

He would occasionally have me pause the song we were listening to and ask me questions about whether I’d ever seen the band, which songs were my favorite, and all the rest. I barely noticed that we were heading out of the city. Not until we were fully through the network of tunnels and only five stops away from the airport, which was fifteen miles south of Seattle.

I paused the music and took my earbud out. “Derek, where are you taking me?”

“I need you to trust me,” Derek said softly, slipping his hand into mine. “I’m going to explain everything, I promise.”

That was not reassuring and it wasn’t an answer to my question, either.

But I did trust him.

He’d been there for me every day since the moment we met. Of course I trusted him. Even if he hadn’t been my destined person, I still would have. He’d earned that from me.

My unease ratcheting up, because the situation had gone from odd to outright insane, I nodded.

“Are you doing okay, though?” Derek nodded to the half-full train car. “We can get off at the next platform and see if there’s a less crowded place to sit, maybe further back?”

I could hear the heartbeats of the passengers around me if I focused on them. But with Derek right next to me, it was manageable.

Though, I wished I’d pushed through my embarrassment at having James watching me consume blood and finished my drink earlier. I was much hungrier than I ought to have been—more than was probably safe.

It was stupid of me.

“I’m okay,” I assured him, giving his hand a squeeze. But an automated voice—feminine and pleasantly neutral—announced that we were entering Othello Station. We were now three stops from the airport. “You’re not planning on flying me out of the country or something, are you?”

“Don’t tempt me,” Derek replied, much too seriously. “But I’m guessing you don’t have a passport.”

I shrugged. “It was never something I got around to.”

He nodded. “An airplane isn’t good anyway. Too many people, too confined. I don’t want to put you through that.”

I wanted to ask him a million questions about what he meant by that. And maybe I should have. But he’d asked me to trust him. And I was going to.

We got off at the SeaTac/Airport Station. The light-rail station connected to the massive airport parking garage and virtually everyone around us had luggage.

“Are you sure we’re not taking a plane?”

“Not tonight,” Derek assured me, taking my hand and leading me to the escalators heading down to the street level.

“Derek. I’m getting kind of freaked. Everyone is probably wondering where I am.”

Though, my phone hadn’t buzzed once. Not even a check-in text from Sadie. James had probably told them all that I was with Derek. I’d had to convince Sadie to join us on our double date the night before.

Maybe it was hypocritical of me, since I’d asked him to never lie to me, but I hadn’t been completely honest with Derek. Sadie thought I was being overly cautious and had only reluctantly joined us. She was certain that I was perfectly safe around humans now. Especially with my mate at my side. Something about how it calmed my vampiric nature.

“We can call them soon,” he assured me. “I promise. I’m not kidnapping you. Not exactly.”

“Not exactly?”

He shrugged, avoiding my eyes. “We need to get going.”

“You’re officially freaking me out.”

“I can’t explain it here. I need you to trust me a little while longer.” His gaze swept mine and his eyes were pleading. “Can you do that? Please? I do want to tell you everything. And I will.”

I hesitated. We were on an unfamiliar street, no one knew where I was, and my mate wasn’t telling me what was up, even though something absolutely was.