My wrist was throbbing again by the time I’d managed to wrangle myself into the loose sweats and hoodie I’d been given. No shoes, though I doubted I would have been able to tie laces anyways. I hissed a breath when the hoodie slipped over the gashes in my side; at least I didn’t have to wrestle with a bra. The hoodie was loose enough it shouldn’t matter.

My bare feet made no noise, which impressed even myself, as I made my way back to the small clearing the pickup was parked in. The vampires would be able to easily follow the tire marks back to the paved road, but after that it was anyone’s guess where we would go.

Lunch. I hope we went to lunch.

Poor Valorie was still unconscious as she was gingerly loaded into the bed of the pickup. Jonah looked up and met my eyes for a brief second before they flitted down to the wrist I held gingerly against my body. The throbbing had lessened now that the argument with my clothes had ended, but it still hurt like a motherfucker now that the adrenaline was leaving my system.

Noah muttered something to Jonah before jumping into the bed of the truck and perching like a cat on the edge.

I approached Jonah at the truck, holding out my arm silently, trying not to think about what I had seen earlier that was now—thankfully, yet disappointingly—covered. The nakedness still unnerved me, and it shouldn’t. We were wolves—it was an unavoidable necessity. But I could appreciate his earlier shirtlessness. Jonah, for his part, simply took my arm and inspected the blossoming bruises that revealed more on human flesh. It must have been fine because he nodded once before letting go of the arm and moving to lift the bottom of my hoodie.

Reflexively, I smacked his hand away and jumped out of his reach. He raised an eyebrow in response. “I can manage that part.” My voice may have come out an octave higher than usual.

“Trust me, little wolf,” he said me in his usual, flat tone, “I’m only doing my job. Besides, you’ve seen more of me than I’ll see of you.”

My face flared red. If a satellite was passing over my head, I bet my face would be visible on Google Earth. I didn’t look at him as I carefully lifted the hem of the hoodie to reveal the oozing scrapes. Efficiently and fully professionally, my ribs were cleaned, inspected, and wrapped by Jonah’s capable hands. I muttered a quick thanks, still refusing to look at him, just as my father hung up his cell on the other side of the truck.

I walked around the truck in brisk strides and my father enveloped me in a tight hug.

“I’m glad you’re alright,” he whispered. He pulled back and flicked my nose.

“Ow!” I protested, even though it barely registered.

“Next time, no playing hero. Understood?” I gave him my best pouty face, complete with fluttering lashes and sagging shoulders. He pointed a finger at me. “That won’t work this time, young lady. Now, get in the truck.”

I sighed dramatically but obeyed. I certainly didn’t want to be standing around here longer than necessary.

The cab only sat three, and I took up the middle, smaller seat. Noah slid in beside me as Jonah hopped into the back with Valorie. My father paused to talk to him, and I tried to be nosy and hear what was said, but Noah interrupted my snooping.

“That was extremely rash,” he commented.

I stared straight ahead. Anger caused adrenaline to surge in my veins at the prospect of another fight, even just a verbal one. “I was just trying to fix your mess,” I bit out, crossing my arms.

“My mess?”

“Were you, or were you not, supposed to be her backup?”

“I would have been her backup had she not wandered off on her own while I was checking out what Connor thought he had found.”

My sails deflated a bit. I could see Valorie doing that, thinking there was no harm in wandering off since all the vampires would be asleep anyways. Potentially finding something worthwhile.

“Regardless,” I continued after a beat, “no one was doing anything. I wasn’t going to just sit around while everyone twiddled their thumbs and waited for someone else to tell them what to do.”

“You could have been killed.”

“Inaction could have killed Valorie.”

“In that case, it would have been her own fault for not following the plan.”

Oh, he did not just say that. My fists clenched, knuckles turning white in a monumental effort not to slug him in the face.

“I’m not the type of person to leave someone behind,” I managed to get out behind clenched teeth. “Where’s the sense of pack in that?”

He fully turned toward me, clearly ready to defend his point, when my father opened the driver’s door and slid in. He had to be aware of the frigid temperature between Noah and me, but chose to ignore it. Noah slowly turned to face forward again. But it was clear in his clenched jaw that he was furious.

Whatever. I closed my eyes and fought another dramatic sigh as my father started the truck and began the drive back to the compound. I was either going to be stuck with emotionless brooding man or unreasonable heartless man. It was looking like a lose-lose at this point. So what was the point in even trying any more?

But now was not the time to be worrying about my impending marriage to someone who didn’t want me when one of my two best friends was laying unconscious in the back of a truck. She should have woken up by now, and I was becoming increasingly concerned.

I half-turned in my seat, giving Noah my back, and looked down at Valorie as her fur whipped in the wind. I couldn’t tell if she was breathing, but I figured Jonah would at least knock on the window or something if there was a problem.

I turned back and slouched in my seat, picking at the string laced through my hood. I thought back to that vampire that definitely had not met my expectations for what a vampire was. I felt like an oblivious child, which needed rectifying. And while I could wait to ask someone from my own pack when we got back, I wasn’t sure who would have the answers I sought. But my father was available right now, which was not common with everything he was in charge of to keep the pack running.

It took a few failed attempts before I managed to get out my first question. “How was that vampire awake during the day?” I felt Noah start next to me. I didn’t want to know whether he was disgusted by my lack of knowledge or just surprised.

“Well,” my father started. “I wasn’t there, but I would guess it was a newly changed vampire.”

“He was,” Noah confirmed. “When a vampire is newly turned, it takes time for their bodies to fully die. It’s like a wasting disease that can take weeks to a month to kill them. During their transition, they slowly become nocturnal. It’s not an immediate change.”

“So, it’s not like Interview with a Vampire?”

My father chuckled. “No, it’s not like that.”

I considered that for a moment before another question popped into my head. “And what about the tracking? Can they not just scent us in the woods and follow that back?”

“Before we answer that,” Noah interjected. “How much have you been told about vampires in general?” My father cleared his throat once, shifted in his seat, and checked the rearview mirror.

Interesting. It was obvious to me that my father was uncomfortable; his tells were always the same. I still remembered how he reacted when I had first started my menstrual cycles. At least this time he didn’t start choking on a drink.

“What I’ve seen on television or in movies,” I answered him. “Although I’m not so naïve to believe that they’re like the twinkly ones in Twilight.” Noah’s anger was slowly decreasing as I noted the tension in his shoulders lessen. He ran a hand through his already disheveled hair.

“So, next to nothing.” He didn’t say it like a bad thing, just stated it as fact. And while I could still see some tightness around his eyes, at least he didn’t seem angry at me anymore.

The wave of relief that washed over me was…confusing. My heart lurched as I realized that I knew enough about his mannerisms to notice these subtle changes. Again, being wolves, we were very into body language, but I hadn’t thought I’d been around him long enough to notice his.

Unless I had been paying attention.

Noah interrupted my internal panic by answering my question. “Once blood has been spilled, a vampire can track it if it catches the scent while the blood is still fresh.” I shivered, and it had nothing to do with my cold feet. “Being in the cab of the truck will contain your scent enough that they won’t be able to follow it. Especially when taking a roundabout way back.”

“What about Valorie?”

“She wasn’t bleeding anywhere, thankfully.”

I turned to my father. “On this roundabout way back, can we stop for some food?”

“Eliza,” Noah said with exaggerated patience. “We have an unconscious wolf and my brother in the back. That’s bound to draw some unwanted attention in a drive-through.” I tried not to roll my eyes.

“We have a tarp in the back to cover the bed,” I answered in the same tone. Noah’s mouth formed a straight line as he pursed his lips, and I raised my eyebrows in a who, me? expression.

“No can do, honey,” my father apologized. “Strict orders from the bosses.”

My stomach chose that moment to protest, loudly. I brought my knees up to my chest, wrapping my good arm around them, in an effort to quiet the noises. I knew it wasn’t going to work. As soon as we got back, I was grabbing food from the kitchen for both me and Valorie and then waiting for her to wake back up so I could strangle her for scaring me so badly.