Page 14 of Dallas

As usual, his attitude got under my skin. “We don’t need you to ride with us, either of you,” I added with a glance at Owen. “Women are perfectly capable of driving in a storm.”

“You know how to drive a car?” he asked with a knowing smirk.

“I was referring to Leslie and Isla. I know everyone in your clan can drive.” Whether they were any good at it was another story altogether, but I guessed we could always use our powers if need be to keep the SUV steady.

I hoped I was right.

“I’m sure I can handle it,” Leslie offered.

“And I can drive the other,” Owen confirmed.

Dallas’s face fell, but only for an instant before he regained control of himself. He’d wanted to drive, I could tell. This was another way for him to prove himself, to stand out. It was tough not to laugh as we divided our numbers, grabbed our bags and each went to one of two SUVs.

Callie split off from my group, making my heart sink.

“You’re riding with them?” I asked, crestfallen.

“Someone has to,” she shrugged. “I’ll be fine, sister. See you at the cave.” She said something else, too, but a deafening clap of thunder drowned her out before she climbed into the front passenger seat of a shiny, black SUV that looked as though it had never been used. I even heard her light, carefree laughter before she closed the door.

I took the same seat in the second almost identical vehicle, my heart heavy. Something about the way this had worked out didn’t sit well with me. I hadn’t been without Callie—or any of the coven in my entire life, but especially not Callie—not even when it came to something as simple as travel.

But this wasn’t simple travel. This was watching her SUV roll away as we brought up the rear, knowing she was the only witch inside and wondering if all would be well. I didn’t know this Owen from Adam. There was no guarantee he’d be able to maneuver the vehicle through the storm.

Then again, I didn’t know Leslie, either. She always struck me as sort of a silly, flighty thing. Always giggling, ogling men on the TV—athletes, mostly, while the men watched games for the sake of enjoying the sport.

The look of determination on her face as we started was completely foreign. Her sharp jaw, so like Owen’s, was set hard, as was her mouth. “Don’t worry,” she said, eyes forward. Like she felt me watching and knew what I was thinking.

Had my shield slipped or weakened?

“It’ll be okay,” she assured me with an easy smile, glancing my way from the corner of her eye. “I haven’t killed anyone yet.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” I muttered.

To my surprise, she laughed. I couldn’t help but laugh with her. It was all so ridiculous and unpredictable.

Soon, however, it became clear that this was no laughing matter.

“Whoa!” Iris cried out as a tree limb blew across the road. We just managed to avoid it thanks to Leslie’s quick reflexes, when she cut the wheel to the left to steer around it before bringing us back into our lane.

I shuddered to think what might’ve happened if there had been oncoming traffic, but the roads were mercifully free of other vehicles.

“Nicely done,” I breathed.

If there weren’t so many trees, so many obstacles, and potential hazards, we might have been able to control them and create a bubble around the car. But there was just so much—signs rattling and threatening to fly free, sagging power lines and the wooden poles which held them up, some of them looking as if they were ready to blow over, entire trees swaying in the wind. The ground was saturated and loose, leaving virtually anything vulnerable.

“So long as Owen maintains a steady speed and doesn’t bolt off, we should be fine.” But the tightness in Leslie’s voice belied her words, as did the way she clenched the wheel as though her life depended on it. Perhaps it did. Perhaps all of our lives depended on it.

A sick chill ran through me at the thought, and I suddenly felt more nauseous than I had in the jet. My heart thudded like a bass drum, and once again I questioned whether this was the right course of action. A sense of dread settled over me, wrapping itself around my heart and my mind, squeezing painfully tight.

“This is certainly a sink-or-swim situation, isn’t it?” She grinned. The woman was a maniac, plain and simple.

“How can you be so flippant?” I asked as lightning lit the sky as bright as day.

“Come on, now,” she coaxed. “I’m the one driving on the opposite side of the car and the opposite side of the road from that which I’m used to. If I can grin and bear it…”

“Oh, don’t tell me that,” I begged with a shaky laugh as she steered us around a fallen tree. We ran off the side of the road, two tires in the mud, but somehow managed to make it out.

“Nothing to worry about,” she assured me.

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