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But I couldn’t say no to him. Somehow, gazing into Derek’s eyes, I didn’t even want to. As if he’d used some sort of fated mates hypnotism on me.

Or maybe it was because, deep down, I knew that Derek was terrified.

He had been giving off the chalky-sweet smell of fear since picking me up at the bar, hadn’t he? And now more so than ever.

“Look, I get it. You’re right to be freaked, okay? I’m acting weird. But we need to get somewhere safe first.”

A new thought occurred to me, and it made me feel as though I’d been encased in ice. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”

Derek cast a nervous look around—there was a bus stop at the base of the escalator and none of the patrons were paying us any mind. Then, very slowly, he nodded.

I swallowed hard.

This entire time, I had been thinking about myself—that this situation was strange and potentially bad for me. I hadn’t put any thought at all into the idea that Derek—my sweet, kind, loyal human mate—might be in real danger.

But everything pointed in that direction, didn’t it? The phone, the cash, not waiting for Sadie, fleeing the city…

“Okay,” I said softly, even though my fear had reached a peak. But the idea of anything happening to him, to Derek, was enough to make me do anything to avoid that. “Let’s get somewhere safe. And then you’re going to tell me everything. Deal?”

Derek nodded. “Deal.” Then he paused, his gaze locked with mine. “Thank you.”

I returned the nod, my mind racing with the possibilities. I trusted Derek, but what did I really know of his life? I hadn’t even pushed myself to see his apartment. Maybe he was an assassin. Or a member of the CIA. Or maybe he was a high-profile drug dealer or something?

None of that made any sense, though. Derek couldn’t be any of those things.

And he would have told me, wouldn’t he have?

He led me to the bus stop, and we waited in silence until it arrived. Then we took the bus three stops and crossed the street to a massive U-shaped three-story motel that dominated the entire block. It wasn’t shabby, but it wasn’t nice, either. It looked like the sort of place that catered equally to weary travelers and to clientele that appreciated it if you didn’t ask too many questions.

At the front counter, Derek paid for a room in cash. He only requested that it be on the second or third floor. He hesitated before handing the bored-looking female front desk attendant his ID, but only for an instant.

The front desk attendant didn’t notice it.

But I knew immediately what it meant: Derek was worried about being found.

And because he wasn’t actually an assassin or part of the CIA or a drug dealer, or anything else bad for that matter, that could only mean he was worried about what the front desk person might say if someone came around asking questions. Or called the hotel to ask questions.

“Put the room in my name,” I said, catching the attendant’s eye and pushing with my vampiric powers.

She stopped dead and blinked at me rapidly. “Okay. I can do that.”

I fished my wallet out and handed over my ID.

“Quinn, you don’t have to—”

“No, it’s better this way, right?”

He went silent and nodded.

When the attendant was done entering my details into the system and handed the room keys to us, I caught her eye again. “We were never here. You helped some clients book a room and noticed nothing weird. You don’t remember what we look like and you don’t remember our names.”

Her expression went wooden and blank. It set my teeth on edge to see it. I hated using my hypnotic powers. I’d only ever used them for doing very bad things in the past.

But this wasn’t a bad thing.

I hoped.

Because the truth was, I was placing an awful lot of trust in Derek.