“She’s got a mouth as dirty as she fucks, but here’s the deal…” I add, leaning away from her so she doesn’t kill us both. “I can’t kill her, or her father. As much as I promised this transaction, there are things you left out telling me too, like who I am, and the fact that I have the affiliations that I do. You promised our freedom for her, you didn’t say anything about Victor…”

“Where are you taking me?” Her fight dies out as she leans her head on the window. I watch as she follows the lights that pass us on the road, reading every sign we go by.

I bare my teeth, cranking my neck. “I’ll do the transaction because I promised, but you gotta leave Victor out of it. That’ll be too messy. It’s bad enough you’re taking Ruby.” She’s silent now, and just when I think he’s not going to respond, he clears his throat. “See you in the morning.”

Then the line goes dead. We have a four-hour drive ahead of us, and that’s a whole lot of time put between her and me… and what could happen between now and then. I need to figure out a way that I don’t blow this whole fucking shit up.

She wants me to be a lost little pet for her papa, but she doesn’t know that I’m the wolf who would find her.

Chapter Seven

It feels as though time has been suspended in the air for the past three hours. I haven’t spoken another word to Wicked, because as much as I want to know what the hell is happening, I’m smart enough to know not to waste my breath. If he wanted to tell me, he would have by now. Me acting a fool and demanding answers that I know I’m not going to get sounds exhausting. I thought I knew who he was, who Poppy was, but I’m beginning to feel like maybe I didn’t. That my papa let a snake into our home, and now we are going to pay for it for years to come.

I lean forward and push the power button on the radio. Goose bumps break over my skin and I run my hand up and down my bare arm.

Wicked reaches for the back seat, tossing a hoodie on my lap. “Put it on.” His voice is low but laced with a dark undertone that he has done well keeping away from me.

I push the material off my thighs. “I’m good. Thank you.”