Page 25 of For Love and Blood and Fury

Elena’s gaze softened under apparent regret. “You’re not safe here,” she said, her voice gentle but firm. “I’m sorry, but you’re involved now. And I have to keep you safe.” Her perfect brows furrowed. “He saw what you are. You’re not safe here,” she repeated with a desperation that made Marisol’s vision blur again. “I cannot allow you to stay.”

The pain in her chest hit her first, followed quickly by the churning in her stomach. Her old life was gone, leaving her with no idea of what the new one would bring.

Chapter Sixteen

Crammedin the front seat of Zuri’s offensively small car, Elena took a deep breath when they pulled onto the highway. She’d never been happier to see Miami traffic in her life. And then she realized Zuri had gone south instead of east. Without knowing why, instinct told her she needed to go east. To the water.

“Why are you going the wrong way?” Elena snapped.

Zuri glared at her, eyes wild like a knife-wielding maniac was still holding his blade to her. The expression softened Elena and she reached for Zuri’s arm. The one that had been sliced open, but now only bared a long, jagged pink mark.

Staring at the scar, the rage of impotence hijacked Elena’s thoughts. She was the protector among them, and she’d failed to keep Zuri safe. She’d been worse than helpless. She was the reason Zuri and Marisol had been hurt. The reason they were running with her. Her belly flashed with a burning agony. Worse than putting them in danger, she had no way of keeping them safe. A situation she’d rarely experienced in the nearly 300 years of her second life.

“There’s not a chance I’m taking you back to your place,” Zuri said before snatching her arm back to put both hands onthe steering wheel. “Someone followed me from your office. I’m fucking sure of it.”

There was a tremble pushing in at the edges of her words. Fearless Zuri was afraid, a realization more agonizing than the pain in Elena’s head.

“We’re going somewhere I know no one can touch us,” Zuri added.

Self-loathing melted into anger. According to Zuri, she’d been attacked on her turf. How was that possible? She struggled to remember, tired of being so out of control. So weak. Without admitting that Zuri was probably right because she’d be insufferable about it, Elena crossed her arms and decided to be annoyed that Zuri hadn’t brought her a change of clothes.

“Bambi, is your cat going to be okay without you?” Zuri glanced at her backseat passenger in the rearview.

“My name is Marisol,” she replied, an unexpected edge to her tone. “And what cat are you talking about?”

Zuri shrugged and Elena resisted a smirk. Hazing Marisol because she was jealous shouldn’t amuse her, but she couldn’t suppresseveryemotion.

“I don’t know. You just look like the kind of person who’d have cats. A few of them.” Zuri zigzagged across the relatively light traffic, attention constantly trained behind her. “Is there anyone you need to notify so they don’t call the police? Friends? Family? Landlord? Houseplant?”

Marisol’s energy dimmed and Elena felt it like fingers curling around her aching heart. She didn’t like the idea of Marisol being so alone.

Needing to change the subject, Elena shifted in her seat and was rewarded with a stabbing pain straight up her spine. The pain was improving, but so slowly she couldn’t imagine how long it would take to heal at this rate. “I don’t know why we have to bein this toy car.” She yearned for the leather seats that molded to her body. “Couldn’t we have picked up mine?”

“I’m so very sorry there wasn’t time to get your rolling Viagra commercial while I was trying to save your life.” Crossing four lanes of traffic in one diagonal move, Zuri scoffed. “What did you plan to do with Bambi? Strap her to the roof?”

Behind them, Marisol suppressed a laugh that lightened the discomfort lodged in Elena’s chest. She was happy to be a target if it put Marisol and Zuri on the same side.

An hour and a half later, they’d reached the furthest reaches of civilization. On a pitch-black, unmarked dirt road, they bumped toward a place Elena hadn’t expected to see again. She relaxed, grateful that Zuri was driving slowly for her benefit.

Flanked by a nature preserve, Zuri’s property was miles from anyone. It felt more like Zuri’s home than her apartment in the city. This was where her soul lived and flourished.

“And this is supposed to be safe?” Marisol asked after Zuri turned down another unmarked dirt road, this one littered with more potholes than the last. “A place in the middle of nowhere. Someone will definitely hear our screams.”

Memories returned with every familiar turn. Even Elena would have had a hard time finding Zuri’s place if she didn’t know where it was. The human scents were few and far between, and the overwhelming smell of the wild everglades masked so much. The dirt and gravel roads absorbed the smells within hours. And that was without the wards Zuri had on every inch of her property.

When Zuri smiled into the rearview, Elena was sure she would not be polite. “You’re very welcome to get the fuck out, Bambi.”

“Be nice,” Elena warned, even though Marisol looked like she wanted to challenge Zuri to a duel. She wanted them to get along, but a part of her relished the tension.

“Fucking pretty face,” Zuri mumbled before taking several more turns into the dead of night.

She pulled up to a chain link fence and got out of the car. Standing in the beams from the headlights, Zuri set to disarming the guardian wards before unlocking the fence.

“She’s not usually this cranky,” Elena lied when she turned her head to look at Marisol while Zuri worked.

Flushed cheeks visible under the cabin light, Marisol’s dirty blonde waves scraped the top of her shoulders. Worry bled from her big hazel eyes, and Elena wanted more than anything to soothe her disquiet.

“I’m going to fix this,” Elena vowed with every fiber of her being. “I promise.”

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