One Bite

Chapter 4-1

The travel from the Eastern territory to the West was long, boring, and at Cole's insistence, quiet. I tried books on tape, twenty questions, to which every question he gave the same noncommittal answer, and plain talked to him. He couldn't have had less interest in anything I had to say.

Anything.

We left the vacation resort-like Eastern territory packhouse late in the morning. I didn't understand since we had more than two full days of driving time and would've loved to sleep overnight, but Cole insisted on our staggered leave times. Raina and Elena had left overnight with half my father's security team, then the other half left the following morning Idris and Rose.

Six hours into our 'road trip,' irritable didn't begin to describe how I felt. Lumi floated in the back of my mind, asleep from boredom. The silence, except for the sound of our breaths, was thick and tense.

Cole's body language was tense. His shoulders hunched up to his neck and his fingers squeezed the steering wheel like he wanted to rip it off. His styled brown hair was disheveled and his face wore a permanent scowl that deepened the farther he drove.

After thirty more minutes of this stifled, uncomfortable silence, I whooshed out a sigh. "I'm going to go crazy if we sit quiet for much longer." I reached for the satellite radio station but he swatted my hand away.

"No radio."

"Why not?" I groaned.

He also vetoed my books on tape, grumbling about werewolf romance novels and him not growing a vagina while being forced to listen to them.

"The second you tap into a satellite connection, we're a dead giveaway, Princess." He grunted, as if connecting to a radio station was a dead giveaway.

I think he doesn't want to admit he has bad taste in music.

"Ugggghhhh..." I bumped my head into my seat's headrest and looked at the ceiling. "Don't you think you're overreacting a little?"

I flapped my hands at the deserted road in front of and behind us, which Cole could have driven down the middle of and been fine. "We haven't seen a single car since we left."

He didn't answer, but shifted his eyes in my direction. Given his sparse communication, that led me to one conclusion.

He's hiding something.

"Cole..." I glared at him through narrow slits. "Why haven't we seen anyone yet?"

"We're... taking a slightly different route," he admitted, fixing his eyes ahead but his shoulders rose up.

My jaw dropped so fast that my ears tingled. I turned my head so fast that his hulking form blurred. "What?"

His only response was silence, so I glanced out the window for clues. My eyes widened at the sun setting outside my window. We weren't going in a western direction. A few mental blinks reminded me we headed south.

South?

Looking out the windshield, the road was narrower than the main highway. It was paved but unkempt grass and brush leaned in and brushed up against the outside of my door. There was no shoulder space to pull over.

If we break down then we'll never be heard from again.

"We're still in the East, but I'm going through some of the back roads in the Southern territory," he explained. "It'll take a little longer but it'll be worth it. Definitely safer."

"Safer until we're lost," I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Relax." He scoffed, knuckles protruding as he wrenched the steering wheel. "I know these roads like the back of my hand."