Page 2 of Pledge Of A Bobcat

My mind raced. I exhaled another long breath, knowing I needed to calm down. It was just a flat tire. People changed flat tires all the time by themselves.

“Are we gonna be okay, Mommy?” Serenity asked, her little voice trembling a tiny bit.

“We’re going to be fine, sweetie. I just need a few minutes to get this tire changed, and then we’ll be back on the road.”

Another gust of wind hit me, and I felt the first few drops of rain. Wonderful. I shifted my attention back to the jack.

How hard could this be?

I’d seen it done before, and I wasn’t exactly helpless. I could do this. However, as I tried to jack the car up, I couldn’t seem to get the jack to work right. Frustration built. Why did everything have to feel so impossible today?

I gritted my teeth as I yanked on the jack handle. I could do this. I just needed to put a little more oomph into it and then take it one step at a time.

My gaze drifted to Serenity watching through her window. I made a silly face at her, which earned me a smile. Shifting my focus back to the jack, I pumped the handle like the directions said, but nothing happened.

What was I doing wrong?

“Come on,” I muttered. “Work with me here.”

The wind whipped my hair around my face again, and more fat raindrops fell. I pumped the thing once more, giving it my best shot, but it still didn’t do anything.

Alarm nipped at my insides.

If I couldn’t get this tire changed, we were screwed. We were still too far away from Aunt Maribel’s to walk—especially carrying groceries—and there was no cell service to call and ask her to pick us up or to even call for help.

“Mommy, is it working now?” Serenity asked.

I flicked my gaze to meet hers and forced a smile even though I felt like screaming. “Not yet, sweetheart. But it will. We’ll be at home eating grilled cheese soon.”

The truth was, I wasn’t sure I could do this. I needed a freaking miracle. As though my prayer was answered, the low rumble of an engine made its way to my ears. Headlights bounced down the road toward us. My heart skipped a beat as I dusted my hands and stood.

An old pickup truck pulled up behind my car, its headlights blinding me.

“Who is that?” Serenity asked.

“I don’t know, sweetie.”

“They can help you,” she assured me.

I flashed her another small smile and then returned my attention back to the truck, hoping she was right. Shifting my weight from foot to foot, my stomach twisted into knots the size of my fist.

Please don’t be trouble. Please don’t be trouble.

2

ELLIS

Iturned my radio off, feeling like I needed silence while I traveled the narrow road toward the address Waylen had gotten from his mate Lyra’s grandmother, Alma. These woods weren’t familiar to me or my bobcat, and that put us both slightly on edge.

The storm rolling in didn’t help.

Of course, just when I finally felt like we’d kept a low profile long enough to be sure Xander wasn’t following us—and wouldn’t figure out we were planning to seek help from Maribel, an eccentric raccoon shifter and shaman who could pull the spirit of Lucius from his body—the storm of the century rolls in.

While I’d tried not to think about what my crew would do if the old woman refused to help us, it was hard not to, especially now that I was headed to her place. If she said no, we’d be back to square one. I doubted Astrid, Xander’s sister, wanted our only other option to end this nightmare with Lucius’s spirit to be killing Xander, even if he was Lucius’s vessel.

The road curved again, and when I rounded the bend, I spotted a car pulled off to the side. My bobcat perked up asmy headlights landed on a woman crouched near the rear tire, fumbling with a jack.

Fat raindrops hit my windshield as I eased off the gas, slowing down as I got closer. The woman stood, dusting her hands on her jeans and shifted her attention to something in the backseat of the car, before returning her stare to me.

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