Page 55 of Wolf's Gambit

Will you behave? I asked her, feeling her come forward. She gave me a look of indifference, and I felt her lack of interest at my ire.

I need to shift, you’ve stuck me up a damn mountain, and I’m naked.

Had I not known better, I could’ve sworn she shrugged at me.

I shifted, but I kept tight control of my awareness and her. We left the den, and once I was more aware of where I was in the Rockies, I turned tail and headed south. We traveled for three days when we finally came across the first scattering of cabins.

Stealing clothes in summer is a lot easier. People put washing outside to dry, but in the winter, everything is indoors. Naked, blonde-haired teenage girls stand out in stark weather.

A flannel shirt in the back of a truck was the first thing we took. Old combat boots that were too big were next, and on the edge of a familiar town, light fingers snatched a forgotten pair of work jeans in a garage with a broken window that I wiggled through in the rain and stayed dry until morning.

In my borrowed clothes, I skirted the town, keeping to the woods for a few days before I felt I was familiar with the patterns of the townsfolk once more.

Under the cover of the night, I slipped up the small path, hesitating before my knock on the wooden door finally connected.

Apprehension coursed through me as I waited, finally hearing the fall of footsteps.

The problem was they weren’t coming toward me from inside.

They were behind me.

I heard the telltale click of a gun. Turning slowly, I came face to face with familiar blue eyes, which widened in surprise as he lowered the gun.

“Zia?”

“Hey, Vance,” I greeted him with a tight smile, shoving my hands into my jeans. “Guess I wasn’t lucky.”

CHAPTER 15

Kezia

“What the fuck happened?” Vance demanded, shoving the gun into his jeans. “And why the fuck are you here?”

His anger took me by surprise, but with Vance, his temper was as unstable as his morals. Pushing past me, he opened the cabin door, and I followed him inside.

“What do you mean, what happened?”

In three strides, he was across the floor at his kitchen counter, and I watched him as he poured an unhealthy amount of liquor into a glass. He drank it in one swallow. Pouring himself another one, I waited as he downed that one too.

“Why did you come to me?” he asked me while he ran his eyes critically over me.

“I need money,” I told him honestly. “You got a fight for me?”

He was already shaking his head. “No,” he bit out. Suddenly, his glass slammed on the counter. “Actually not no, it’s fuck no.”

“What’s wrong with you?” I demanded, my temper rising.

“What’s wrong with me?” He looked both bewildered and furious. It was a strange expression to see. “Do you know you’re presumed dead?” He gave a bitter laugh at my shock. “You’re either dead or a murderer. Or a dead murderer.”

“Stop saying murder!”

“Why are you not asking who you murdered?” Vance shouted at me. “Or do you already know?”

Looking away from his angry glare, I gave a half shrug. “My guess? Bullet?”

“You really killed him?” Vance asked me in a stunned whisper.

“Don’t judge me,” I scoffed as I looked him over. “Last time I saw you with him, he was hanging from the rafters in the warehouse, and someone had beat the shit out of him.”

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