Page 35 of On the Road

“We so fuckin’ are.”

And apparently, we had a full-grown pupper now.

CHAPTER 10

If Zander knew anything that might mean a loup-garou wanted him dead, then he didn’t know he knew. He did, however, know a great deal about dildos, which meant Zee and Zander bonded over dicks and bubble tea.

After that apparently necessary conversation reached its climax, we discussed taking Zander back to the No Tel Motel with us, but decided he was probably safer with the vet. At least until we figured out if he had been the intended target.

“You guys really are great,” Zander said. He’d scooted up, making room for Zee on the other end of the snug couch. Both of them had brightly colored bubble tea that they fished around in with fat straws. “I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t been there. Or what I’d do now. How can I repay you?”

I waved him off. “It’s fine.” We might have been Heroes of the City, but that definitely did not make us good guys.

“This is what Adam does,” Zee said around a mouthful of bubbles he’d just sucked up his straw. He gulped, and added, “Saves Lost Ones. It’s his thing. He doesn’t get that it’s his thing, but the rest of us do.”

“That true?” Zander asked me. “You save Lost Ones?”

The praise made me squirm in the chair and I rubbed the back of my neck. “It’s not really like that. I don’t plan to save people, it just sort of happens. Most of the time I’m in the wrong place at the right time.”

“You guys could have left as soon as they dropped Cameron’s body on you. Just ridden outtah town. Not many people would have stayed after being accused of murder, especially if you really didn’t do it. So why are you here . . . really?”

“Adam’s on the run, and because we love him we’re on the run too.” Zee said it so matter-of-factly I almost missed how he’d just neatly voiced the one thing I’d been trying not to mention.

“Wow, you guys seem pretty tough.” Zander slurped bubbles up his straw. “What’s so bad that you gotta run from it?”

“Meh.” Zee shrugged, still fishing for bubbles. “Whatever it is, we’ll end it. We’re actually pretty good at this hero schtick.” He flicked his gaze up to see if I was paying attention. Just like Victor, he’d always known this vacation was a smokescreen, but unlike Victor, he’d decided to play along.

I gave Zee my thankful smile, hurting a little bit inside because of the lies he’d seen through.

A phone rang on the little side table next to the couch. Zander scooped it up and tucked it under his chin. “Oh, right . . . Okay, yeah, thank you. Yeah, they’re still here. Okay. Thanks, Mia.” He hung up, and his gaze shot straight to the front window. “Duke’s here.”

I got to my feet and took cover against the front wall beside the window, then peeked outside. “There’s a beat-up old pickup across the street, outside the vet’s. It wasn’t there earlier.”

“That’s gotta be Duke’s,” Zander confirmed.

Zee poofed beside me, peeking from the opposite side of the window. “What the fuck . . . did the mist follow him here?”

He was right. The sun had vanished and a bank of mist had rolled in, thickening as we watched, obscuring our view of the truck and the street.

“Does it usually get misty like this here too?” I glanced back at Zander.

“No idea. I don’t come up this way much.” He tried to sit up and winced. With his broken limbs and bandages, he wasn’t going anywhere on his own. “I have not had enough drugs for this.”

Zee’s glare turned serious, and when he spoke, he’d lost all his bouncy, easygoing vibe. “The loop-guru ain’t getting through us a second time.”

“Loup-garou,” I corrected.

“Whatever, Victor.”

I almost laughed, and caught his quirking lips.

“Do you think it’s him then . . . Duke?” Zander asked, pulling his blanket under his chin. “Is it Duke doing all this?”

“He’s been frosty toward us the whole time we’ve been here,” Zee said.

“And he didn’t much like Galbraith asking us to help out,” I added. But it still didn’t explain why Duke would murder Cameron and then go after Zander. Where was the connection? Maybe there wasn’t a reason. Some people did crazy things for reasons known only to them. And Duke did eat the local wildlife, so maybe he’d escalated to people?

“Maybe I should go talk with him,” I suggested to Zee.