Chapter 5

• An eerie, early morning glow settled over the fog that fell on the acres of rolling farmlands outside my window.
• We made it over the Oregon border into Washington after a few hours had passed and neither Luca nor myself had spoken a word.
• I kept my head turned towards the window for most of the ride so he couldn't see the slow, silent tears rolling down my cheeks. I already missed my family and Mady.
• There was also the issue of the fact that I was exceedingly uncomfortable-not just because I was somewhere I didn't want to be and alone with someone who I only knew to be a murderous tyrant, but also because my hair was still damp from the rain that had also soaked through my shirt and pajama pants.
• My bare feet were freezing, despite the heat being on in the truck. When Luca noticed me fidgeting uncomfortably in my seat, he sighed.
• "We'll stop when we get to Spokane," he said. "You can change there."
• I turned to look at him with eyes that were red and swollen from crying.
• "Where are we going?"
• He glanced at me for a moment, his features softening, before turning back to look at the road in front of us.
• "Montana," he replied.
• "Northern Montana. That's where my pack is. It's only about three hours from Spokane. We should getthere sometime after lunch."
• Luca drew in a deep breath before speaking again.
• "You still haven't told me your name, amore." I let out a shaky sigh.
• "Caroline Blair. Everyone calls me Carrie."
• I saw the corners of his mouth draw upwards in a slight smile.
• "What?" I asked, eyebrows furrowing.
• "I like that." he said.
• "My name?"
• "Yes. It suits you."
• Well, here's hoping. I couldn't very well change it if it didn't. We were quiet for a few moments before Luca spoke again.
• "Are you an artist?"
• "I'd like to think so," I mumbled, trying my hardest not to fall into the trap of conversation that he was setting.
• Luca startled me by reaching out in front of where I sat to open the glove compartment, pulling out a notebook. "I'm assuming this is yours, then?"
• I immediately recognized my sketchbook, gasping as I reached out and took it from his hands.
• "I never thought I would see it again after I left it in Vegas."
• "I'm glad you did," he said.
• "That's how I found you."
• Luca reached over and flipped open the cover to reveal the 'if lost, please return to' box where my old address was written. "Oh," was all I could say.
• "I picked up your scent back up at your hotel and I followed your address from there. The rest of your things are in the back as well."
• I turned around to look into the backseat and see that mine and Mady's things we had taken to Vegas were sitting next to my suitcase.
• Thank God, I finally have my toothbrush.
• "How did you find me in the first place?" I asked.
• "It was my Beta, actually," he said.
• "When he came back from dinner the night before last, I could smell your scent on him. I asked him where he'd been and we retraced his footsteps untilwe landed back at the hotel. I thought it was just stuck to him at that point. But when we were leaving our hotel the next morning to go to the meetings, I picked up the scent again and we followed it to the Mandalay Bay."
• "You were in the casino?"
• Luca shook his head. "No, I was in the aquarium when they called to tell me that they had given chase to you and your friend, only to lose you soon after."
• I couldn't help the smirk that rose to my lips.
• "I should congratulate you on that," he continued.
• "I've never known anyone to be able to successfully evade my men like you and your friend did."
• "Maybe you should tell them to block all exits before they start a keg-tossing contest with the slot machines next time," I remarked.
• "Noted."
• We were silent for a few moments before I realized something. "Why couldn't I pick up on your scent?" I asked.
• I should have been able to if we had truly been that close in the Mandalay Bay.
• "Cedarwood and pine," he answered simply. "My men and I use it to help disguise our scents. I didn't want any of the other Alphas to know that we were in Vegas."
• I sat in my seat quietly after that, digesting what Luca had said but also realizing that I failed at keeping my mouth shut and had fallen into his conversational trap.
• "Are you---"
• "Look," I said sharply, cutting him off, "I appreciate that you're trying to be friendly now, but I shouldn't be talking to you."
• I saw Luca's jaw clench.
• "Amore, I am just trying---"
• "Stop calling me that," I interrupted again. "I told you my name."
• "You don't like my name for you?"
• I couldn't bring myself to say no. That would have been a downright lie. Instead, I leaned forward and turned on the radio. The sound of Steven Tyler's voice floating through the speakers interrupted whatever Luca had planned on saying next.
• We didn't speak for the rest of the drive.
• Once we had arrived in Spokane, I fished out a pair of tennis shoes from the bag I packed for Vegas and went inside the gas station, finding a bathroom to change in while Luca was filling his truck's tank.
• It felt great to get out of my damp pajamas and into clean, dry clothes.
• I brushed my hair and pulled it back out of my face into a ponytail.
• Luca was browsing the aisles looking for snack food whenever he looked up and saw me emerging from the bathroom. "Hungry?" he asked.
• "No, thank you."
• I passed him and returned to the truck, ignoring my growling stomach as I did so.
• A few minutes later, Luca walked out of the gas station with a plastic bag that was full of food and drinks.
• As he got into the truck, he put the bag on the floor at my feet.
• "I didn't know what you liked so I got an assortment."
• "I told you that I wasn't hungry."
• "No, you lied and said you weren't hungry. You've been awake for hours and haven't eaten anything. I'm not an idiot."
• When I didn't say anything, Luca sighed and leaned forward to hit ignition button.
• "We can stop somewhere if you don't want what's in the bag,'' he offered as the truck's engine started.
• Stop trying to be nice, I thought. You're making this so much harder.
• "Thank you," I said, "but I'm okay."
• Luca didn't press any further as he drove away from the gas station and got back on the highway.
• "How long am I going to have to deal with the cold shoulder?" he asked, glancing at me.
• "I think it's a little early in the relationship for the silent treatment."
• "It's also a little early in the relationship for me to be living with you," I countered.
• "We're mates," he said, shaking his head. "This is completely normal."
• "You just stole me away from my family, my job and my home against my will," I said, counting his sins on my fingers.
• "That's not normal."
• "You make it sound like I kidnapped you. You told your father you were coming with me and you packed your bags and got into the car yourself. I didn't force you to do any of that."
• "You were going to kill my dad if I didn't... I didn't have much of a choice," I said.
• He sighed. "I have over five-thousand people in my pack, amore. I can't just abandon my duties as an Alpha to stay in Oregon with you."
• "No one said you had to stay with me."
• "You expect me to have met you and then left?"
• "Yes."
• Suddenly, Luca veered off the road and pulled over to the side of the highway, stopping in the gravel that lined the shoulder. He turned to me, putting a hand behind the headrest of my seat.
• "You and I both know that I couldn't have left you there, not even if I had wanted to," he argued. "So, I'd appreciate it if you would stop pretending that what I did was completely uncalled for and unexpected."
• "You act like you need me to survive." I said. "You don't even know me."
• "You're my mate," he argued.
• "I do need you."
• "I apologize, but the feeling isn't mutual."
• He shook his head.
• "I don't understand why you're treating me like this," he said honestly.
• "I thought everyone looked forward to meeting their mate."
• "I looked forward to getting swept off my feet by Prince Charming, not getting my legs knocked out from under me by a man who murders women and children."
• "Murders women and children?" Luca repeated incredulously.
• "I've never laid a hand on a woman, much less a child. Who the hell told you that?"
• "But you have killed people," I said pointedly, ignoring his last question.
• "Only men who would have killed me and those in my pack if given the chance."
• We were quiet for a few moments before Luca spoke again.
• "Is that what this is about? You're afraid of me?"
• When I didn't answer him, Luca's hand moved from behind me to gently grab my jaw. Turning me to face him, he looked so deeply into my eyes I wondered for a moment if he could read my thoughts.
• "I promise to you that I would never hurt you, amore."
• I had never been so simultaneously turned on and also ready to cry as I was in that moment. He let go of my face just as I thought I was going to puke from allthe butterflies that I felt in my stomach.
• When Luca turned away from me, I finally found the breath that had escaped my lungs. My heart rate, however, was still erratic. His attention returned to the empty highway in front of us and we were soon back on our way to Montana.
• As the trees and forests around us grew thicker, the tension between the Luca and I seemed to dissipate with the silence. I eventually caved in and grabbed a water bottle and Snickers bar from the bag of junk food Luca had purchased from the gas station.
• A few hours went by before Luca reached down to grab his phone from the cup holder where it sat. Picking it up, he dialed a number before holding the phone to his ear.
• "Lincoln, I'm about thirty minutes away. I'm going to drop a cell phone off at the watchtower for you to connect to a VPN."
• Luca looked at me briefly as he listened to the voice on the other side of the call.
• "Will do." With that said, he hung up.
• "You need to turn off your phone," he said, placing his back into the cupholder.
• "Why?" I asked, despite already reaching into my backpack to pull my phone out.
• As soon as the power had been turned off, Luca reached out and I warily handed him my phone.
• "I don't need anyone to be able to track you here," he said, placing my phone next to his.
• "I'll order you a new phone tonight, but for now I'm getting one of my men to connect your phone to a VPN so it's untraceable."
• My eyebrows furrowed. "I had to show my dad how to download a pdf from his emails last week; I very much doubt that he knows how to trace my phone."
• "It's just precautionary."
• It wasn't long after this that Luca got off the highway and began to drive on a private, unmarked road towards a dense forest.
• When we drove a little way into the tree line, we came across a large, black gate. It was every bit of twenty feet tall and a matching black steel fence stretched out from its corners and disappeared into the trees that lined the road.
• "Welcome to Pack Possente Lupo," Luca said, a tinge of relief in his voice.
• Before I could say anything, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see a man walk around the other side of the fence. He was dressed in all black with a kevlar vest buckled over his shoulders and chest.
• I pretended not to notice the knife strapped to his outer thigh and the gun that was holstered at his belt.
• Immediately recognizing Luca, the man pulled back the gate so that we could drive through. As we drove past, I noticed a woman who stood on the other sideof the road that was similarly dressed. She watched us as we drove by. Her grip was tight on the assault rifle she held close to her chest.
• "Are you running a prison camp?" I asked incredulously.
• "They're only there to keep people out," Luca said.
• "Pack members are free to come and go as they please outside curfew hours."
• I raised my eyebrows.
• "You placed a curfew on your pack?"
• "It's from dusk until dawn and it only applies to those that live within the borders," he defended. "Car inspections and identification checks are executed more effectively in the daylight."
• Definitely running a prison camp, I thought.
• We drove down an unmarked road for a few miles, passing several regular-looking suburban homes as we did so. Everything looked so normal, like a regular neighborhood. It wasn't the barbed wire fences and concrete buildings I had expected.
• I looked over to Luca.
• Maybe not all of my preconceived notions about the man sitting next to me were true.