Not even twenty steps later someone sounded the alarm, literally. She bit her lip as she quickened her pace as the blaring alarm threatened to make her head explode. She was about twenty yards from what she believed was the edge of the woods when she heard someone running towards her from that direction.
Mentally cursing whoever just wrecked her plans, she abruptly turned and ran towards the left side of the house
When the ground suddenly gave out beneath her she opened her mouth to scream only to find it suddenly filled with ice cold chlorine flavored water. With a choked gasp she broke the surface of the ice cold water and swam towards what she hoped was the side of the pool.
“I heard something over here,” a man shouted just as her hand closed around the cold metal of the pool’s ladder.
With a muttered curse she sucked in a deep breath and ducked back under the water, using the ladder to help push her deeper. She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to ignore the cramps that were forming in her lungs until she had no choice but to get some air. As gently as she could manage it she broke the surface and sucked in a deep breath before ducking back beneath the cold water. At least the cold water numbed the pain in her butt, she thought as she fought to go longer without air.
The water was too cold, she realized. There was no way she could stay in the pool for much longer. She’d have to make a run for it and hope that she came across someone before frostbite set in. Since it was still dark out and no one had tried to scoop her out she figured she at least had a chance.
As carefully as she could she broke the surface and nearly screamed in frustration when she opened her eyes and saw that not only was the pool suddenly lit up, but so was the backyard. When she spotted the man glaring down at her she may have let out an embarrassing little squeal that seemed to piss him off more than anything.
“Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. There. Now,” he bit out through clenched teeth.
She automatically reached for the ladder to comply when survival mode kicked in. With a firm shake of her head she shoved away from the side of the pool just as he reached down to grab her. Halfway to the other side he stopped her dead in her tracks when he made a very valid point.
“I’ll just catch you,” he said, sounding irritated.
“Damn it!” she muttered, knowing he was right.
“We don’t have time for this shit, Izzy. Get the f**k out of there. We need to go, now!” he snapped.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. She was not going anywhere with him and she damn well was not going to leave this pool until she came up with a decent escape plan.
“Exactly how long do you think you’ll be able to stay in there, Izzy? It’s barely forty degrees outside and the pool has to be at least twenty degrees colder. It’s going to make it really hard for you to keep treading water and you know damn well the weight from your clothes is going to bring you down. So why don’t you save us both a lot time and bullshit and get the f**k over here!”
“I’ll stay in here for as long as I damn well please!” she snapped back, sick and tired of being yelled at and bossed around.
“If you don’t get out of there right now I swear to god I will spank your ass!”
“No!” she yelled even as she anxiously looked for a way out. She knew once she climbed out of the pool she was going to have to make a run for it and right now she really didn’t think that was possible. She was beyond exhausted, her arms and legs were getting tired, she was freezing and unfortunately Chris was right about her clothes. They were making it really hard to stay afloat. She just wanted to find some place warm, curl up and go to sleep.
Chris clenched and unclenched his hands as he glared down at her. “Have you ever heard of a man named Kale Quinn?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“No,” she answered slowly, having a bad feeling that she wasn’t going to like whatever he was about to tell her.
“He is over nine hundred years old,” he said, causing her eyebrows to arch and her mouth to drop. “Most importantly he’s an Alpha who has not shifted to his beast form in centuries. Do you have any idea how much power that takes not to shift?”
“N-no,” she answered numbly. She had absolutely no idea about anything because no one would answer her damn questions!
“He’s a mercenary, Izzy, and he’ll do any job for the right price and right now that job is locating you and I can’t let him find you here, Izzy. There’s no way in hell I can let this war come to my door.”
She was just about to remind him that he was the one who was keeping her here when he said something that floored her.
“Please,” he said, holding out his hand to her. “I can’t put any of my family through that, Izzy. Madison’s pregnant and my grandmother, brother and sister are completely vulnerable and if they find Marc,” he said, his voice breaking on his little brother’s name. He sucked in a harsh breath before he continued. “I just can’t let that happen, Izzy. We need to leave.”
She was already swimming towards him, more frightened at the moment for his family than for herself, which was saying a lot because right now she was scared out of her mind.
Chapter 21
“I’m going with you,” Ephraim said, reaching for his emergency pack.
He really didn’t have time for this shit. “I’ve got this, Dad.”
“Bullshit.”
“Wow, your faith in me is so overwhelming that I may cry,” he said flatly as he added two more fake ID’s and an envelope of money to his pack.
“This has nothing to do with having faith in you and everything to do with the fact that you have Kale Quinn on your ass!” Ephraim snapped, his eyes flashed red and Chris knew his father was scared out of his mind for him.
Not that he could blame the man, because right now he was f**king terrified that Kale Quinn was going to find a trail that would lead him straight to his family. He needed to move his ass and bring the man’s attention the hell away from his family, New Hampshire, hell, the whole east coast. He did not want a f**king Alpha known for doing anything and everything to complete a job coming within a hundred miles of his family.
Everyone in their world knew that if Kale Quinn was after you, you were as good as found. There was nothing and no one that would come between Kale Quinn and his mark, which was the reason why no one flinched at his insane asking price. Hell, he knew for a fact that the Council had tried to hire the man more than once over the last few centuries, but he refused to work for Sentinels. It hadn’t mattered that the Council had supposedly offered to double his fee, Quinn turned them down flat.