Fear crawled through her. This was not right. She really didn't want to be here.

Abruptly a sense of urgency grew, as if time was running out, though she didn't know how she knew that. Except then she thought of Vishous. If letting go meant giving up her love for him, that so wasn't possible.

Chapter Forty-nine

Vishous was driving Jane's Audi like a bat out of hell through the rain, halfway to Havers, when he realized she was not in her car with him.

Her corpse was.

His panic was the only energy in the enclosed space, his heart the only one that pounded, his eyes the only ones that blinked.

The bonded male in him confirmed what his brain had been denying: In his blood, he knew that she was gone.

V let his foot ease off the accelerator, and the Audi coasted for a stretch, then slowed to a stop. Route 22 was empty, probably because of this early spring storm that was blowing, but he would have stayed right in the middle of the road even if there had been rush-hour traffic.

Jane was in the passenger seat. Belted in upright, with the seat belt holding his muscle shirt against her chest wound as packing.

He didn't turn his head.

He couldn't look at her.

He stared straight ahead, down the road's double yellow line. In front of him the windshield wipers flipped back and forth, their rhythmic slapping like the sound of an old-fashioned clock, tick… tock… tick… tock…

The passage of time was no longer relevant, was it. And neither was his rush.

Tick… tock… tick…

He felt like he should be dead, too, considering the pain in his chest. He had no idea how he was still up and around when it hurt this badly.

Tock… tick…

Up ahead there was a curve in the road, the forest coming up to the asphalt's shoulder. For no particular reason he noticed that the trees were all crowded in tight together, their leafless branches interlacing, creating the impression of black lace.

Tock…

The vision that came to him crept up so quietly, at first he didn't know that what his eyes were registering had changed. But then he saw a wall, a subtly textured wall… lit by a bright, bright light. Just as he wondered about the source of illumination…

He realized it was a car's headlights.

The blare of a horn snapped him to attention, and he stomped on the gas while wrenching the wheel to the right. The other vehicle fishtailed by on the slippery pavement, then resumed its course, disappearing down the road.

V refocused on the forest and in quick succession received the rest of the vision like a movie. With numb disregard, he watched himself take actions that were arguably unconscionable, witnessing the future as it unfurled, taking notes. When no more was revealed, he took off with a desperate purpose, heading out away from Caldwell proper at twice the speed limit.

As his cell phone went off, he reached into the backseat, where he'd thrown his leather jacket, and took the thing out. He turned it off, then pulled over to the side of the road and cracked the back of the Razr open. Taking out the GPS chip, he put it on the Audi's dash and crushed it with his fist.

"Where the fuck is he?"

Phury hung back as Wrath paced around his study, and the other brothers stayed out of the male's way as well. When the king got all bulldozer like this, you got out of his path or he'd mow you into the carpet.

Except apparently he was looking for response. "Am I talking to my fucking self, here? Where the hell is V?"

Phury cleared his throat. "We don't really know. The GPS conked out about ten minutes ago."

"Conked out?"

"Just went silent. Usually it'll nicker when he's got the phone with him, but… yeah, we're not even getting that."

"Great. Fucking terrific." Wrath popped up his wraparounds and rubbed his eyes while wincing. He'd been getting headaches lately, probably from trying to read too much, and it was obvious that an AWOL brother was not helping the sitch.

Across the way Rhage cursed and hung up his phone. "He hasn't shown up at Havers's still. Look, maybe he's gone somewhere to bury her? Ground's frozen, but with that hand of his it wouldn't be a problem."

"You really think she's dead?" Wrath muttered.

"From what I saw she was hit square in the chest. By the time I got back from killing that lesser, the two of them were gone, and so was her car. But… yeah, I don't think she survived."

Wrath looked at Butch, who had been totally silent since coming into the room. "Do you know how to find any of the females he used for sex and feeding?"

The cop shook his head. "Not a one. He kept that part of his life very private."

"So we can't track him that way. More good news. Is there any reason to think he'd go to that penthouse of his?"

"I stopped there on my way back," Butch said. "He wasn't in and I honestly don't think he'd land there. Not considering what he used the place for."

"And there's only two hours of daylight left." Wrath sat behind his Louis XVI desk, but braced his arms against the flimsy chair, like he was going to bolt upright at any moment.

Butch's phone went off, and he scrambled to answer the thing. "V? Oh… hey, baby. No… nothing yet. I will. I promise. Love you."

As the cop hung up, Wrath turned toward the fire in the fireplace and was quiet for a while, no doubt reviewing, as they all were, what kind of options they had. Which were, like… none. Vishous could be anywhere at this point, so if the brothers scattered to the four arms of the compass, they'd be doing the needle-in-the-haystack routine. Besides, it was pretty obvious V had killed the GPS chip. He did not want to be found.

Eventually Wrath said, "The pin's out of the grenade, gentlemen. Now it's just a question of what gets blown."

V picked the place for the car accident with care. He wanted to be close to their destination, but still far enough for discretion, and just when he got within range, a curve in the road offered itself up for use. Perfect. Putting his seat belt on, he stomped on the gas and braced himself. The Audi's engine roared, and its wheels spun faster and faster on the slick road. Pretty damn quick it ceased being a car, morphing into nothing but a fuckload of kinetic energy.

Instead of going with Route 22's sharp turn to the left, V headed straight for the tree line. Like a well-behaved child with no survival instincts, the car flew off the shoulder and held air for a split second.

The landing bounced V right off the driver's seat, knocking his head into the car's sunroof, then slamming him forward. Air bags exploded from the steering wheel and the dashboard and doors as the sedan pummeled through brush and saplings and…

The oak tree was immense. Big as a house. Just as sturdy.

The Audi's crash cage was all that saved V from annihilation as the front of the car crumpled into an accordion of metal and engine. The shock of impact snapped V's head on his neck, banging his face into his air bag again as a branch pierced through the windshield.

In the aftermath his ears rang like they had fire alarms going off in them, and his body did a self-scan for broken bits and pieces. Dazed, bleeding from cuts left by the branch, he undid his seat belt, forced his door open, and stumbled out of the car. As he took some deep breaths, he heard the hiss of the engine and the wheezing deflation of the air bags. Rain fell with steady, graceful disinterest, dripping off the trees into shallow puddles on the forest floor.

As soon as he could he went around the car to Jane.

The impact had thrown her forward, and her blood now marked the windshield and the dash and the seat. Which was what he'd wanted. He leaned in and released her belt, then picked her up as carefully as if she still lived, arranging her in his arms so she would have been comfortable. Before he started through the woods, he got his leather jacket and draped it over her to protect her from the cold weather.