Intent on His claim (Beauty and the Beast #3)

Chapter 39

We spent the next morning with Aunt Lily and the family before Warren flew us back to Los Gatos.

He still refused to let me drive his car and laughingly kissed me when I pouted, so he was driving when we neared the town.

We'd been cruising peacefully down the highway and I was just thinking we were making good time when Warren suddenly pulled over, his body vibrating with tension.

"What? What is it?" I asked anxiously, studying is face.

The eyes that flickered to me were amber with his alpha power, then he glanced around us urgently.

I scanned our surroundings too, my heart racing as I used my extra senses.

Warren was out of the car in the time it took me to blink, and I undid my seatbelt.

"A moment, love," he said, rushing round to my side. He caught my door and pushed it closed again, leaning into me.

I stared up at him confusion but didn't fight him on the door. "What?"

He gave me a tiny smile even while he was clearly on high alert. "I truly adore this car," he said playfully and I heard the lock system arming. In the second it took me to realise what he'd just done, he was backing away from me.

"Warren!" I yelled, pushing at the door.

He only flashed another smile and raced off. I was left fuming as I tried to shove the door open. He loved this car... In other words I wasn't allowed to break it to pieces.

I huffed in annoyance and briefly considered destroying it anyway. There was danger, that much I knew, but he was keeping me out of the fight. Still, my own admiration for the car won out and I sat back, my mind racing.

I slid into the driver's seat as a thought occured to me. He could always get it fixed if I simply hotwired it...

I froze just before I ripped the panel off and analyzed my plan.
If I drove a car I couldn't break out of into danger then I'd be a sitting duck. And there were high chances that it would get destroyed anyway. Not to mention that I didn't know if the car would make it where I was headed, or if it was too deep in the woods.

I slid back into the passenger seat and rummaged for something slim and sharp that I could use to lift the locks, muttering angrily as I was losing precious time. I finally happened on hair pins – Ashley's, I figured – and quickly set to the painstaking but quick process.

When I heard the click, I tossed the pins away and quickly stepped out of the car. As I strode forward, I let the air wrap around me until I pinpointed Warren's scent and started running.

I was headed deep into the forest so I used all my speed in an attempt to catch up. Soon, I heard the sounds of fighting up ahead of me and shifted my direction slightly, still zipping through the forest.

I could scent the whole pack, including Dane, and what seemed like eight vampires. I frowned – what was such a large coven doing here?

I happened on him almost instantly and came to an abrupt stop, my eyes widening. I had been completely unprepared to run into a vampire before I met up with the others. It was chaos around me but I could see this vampire clearly.

I froze.

He turned to me and suddenly all I could hear was my rapid breathing. The world seemed to slow down as he assessed me, then he bared his fangs and attacked. And I couldn't move, didn't even flinch.

There was a flash of movement and Warren was in front of me. He shoved me to my knees with one hand, making me a smaller target, while he raised his other arm to fend off the attack. The vampire's claws swiped over the jacket he'd balled over his arm as everything returned into sharp focus for me.