Luke went straight to the exercise room, and I was surprised to see Bethi already there.

“You look like crap,” I said, taking in the shadows under her eyes and her pale complexion.  Worry, fear, and desperation clouded the air.

“The dreams...you need to help me,” she said.

I knew what she meant.  And I wanted to help her; I couldn’t imagine dreaming about dying over and over again.  But I also knew what would happen when I did what she wanted.

“You’re going to turn into a crackhead.”

“I hear it’s a sexy look,” she said with a shrug.

I glanced at Luke.  He watched Bethi with concern.  When he felt my regard, he met my gaze and nodded.  He’d seen Gabby.  He knew what could happen.  I sighed.

“Fine.  You can sit on the sidelines.  I’ll pull a little while I can drain it.  But you have my back at the next stop.”

She eyed me for a minute then nodded.  I liked her more for not asking what I wanted from her before agreeing to my terms.

“Ready to dance, Luke?” I asked with a grin.  He moved to the center of the room.

I felt a wisp of vengeance and smirked at him.  Yep, he was remembering the punch to the face.  I rolled my shoulders and shook out my arms.  I’d be using my fists this time.

“Luke.”

The way Carlos said his name had me turning.  Carlos remained focused on Luke.

“Relax.  She knows what she’s doing,” Luke said.

I wondered what Carlos would do if Luke managed to make contact.

Facing Luke once more, I waved him forward.  He went right for my face as I’d expected.  Pay back.  I blocked it easily and let him stay on the offense.  He grinned wickedly and started moving too quick for me to deflect.  I winced at the openhanded whack to my side.

Carlos growled behind me.  He actually growled?  It almost distracted me.  Annoyed, I pulled.  Bethi’s desperation flooded me, as did Luke’s smugness.  I grinned at him as he lost his momentum.  Then, I jabbed at his face.  He jerked his head back at the last second, so my knuckles only whispered along his jaw.  Bethi giggled.

“Luv, who are you rooting for?”

“My sister,” she said with a grin.  “She needs to win.”

Her giggle wasn’t real.  I felt no humor coming from her.  Just more worry and fear.  I breathed again.  Her fear filled me, and Luke’s annoyance burrowed under my skin.  I scowled when he slowed further.

“Focus, Luke.  You know what I do.  I steal emotions.  It weakens you.  So stop feeling.  If you’re not feeling, I’m not stealing.”  I jabbed at his face again.  This time I connected.  It wasn’t hard, though.  I didn’t want to hurt him.

I felt his burst of frustration.

“No frustration,” I said, dancing away from his slow counter-jab.  “Get rid of it, or I’m taking it.”

I pulled again.  He’d managed to get rid of his frustration because I didn’t get a thing from him.  However, Bethi’s worry seeped into me.  She heaved a relaxed sigh.

“Carlos, she needs to go,” I said without taking my eyes from Luke.

Luke grinned at me and swung again.  I leaned to the side, ducking under his arm, and came back up with a fist to his jaw.  I caught him in the same spot as before.  He grunted.

“I’ll be right back,” Carlos said.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him walk Bethi from the room.  I stopped pulling and laid into Luke.

*    *    *    *

I stared out the window, resisting the urge to ask if we were there yet.

“Are we there, yet?” Ethan asked in a whiny, high voice.

I grinned.  God, we thought alike.

“No.  And if you ask again, I’ll pull this car over,” Winifred said.

Winifred had learned to keep her emotions in check, so it made it hard to tell if she was teasing.  I looked at the mirror and caught her smile.  At least someone else in the car had a sense of humor besides Ethan and me.

Carlos sat in the front with Winifred.  His precise posture and silence annoyed me after his stunt last night.  He obviously felt something.  Why keep it so hidden?  I shook my head slightly.  No.  I didn’t care.  I didn’t want to know.  However, I did appreciate that his emotional nothingness helped make the ride somewhat bearable.

Ethan, on the other hand, had grown a little lax in his boredom, and I felt something from him every now and again.  I couldn’t blame him, though.  It had been a long car ride so far, and we hadn’t made much progress as we zigzagged across the state.

Despite the emotional ease within the cab of the car, every time we passed another vehicle on the road, I inadvertently absorbed emotions.  It tended to happen too quickly for me to block; Winifred drove like a demon.

As the sun crested the sky, so did my impatience to get wherever we were going.  My skin tingled with it, and I struggled to resist the urge to smack Carlos in the back of the head just because he was so annoyingly calm...and because I was itching for a fight.

“Seriously, are we almost there?  I need a break.”

Ethan glanced at me, studying my face.

“Gabby is guiding us through their nets.  As soon as she finds a safe place for us to stop, Michelle or Charlene will make arrangements for somewhere to stay the night,” Winifred said.

“So, in other words, you don’t know when we’ll stop.”  The thumping behind my eyes intensified, and it had nothing to do with anyone else’s emotions.  It was plain ol’ annoyance from me.

“Try taking a nap,” Ethan said.

“It’s past that.”

He frowned, and I could see him flex his right hand.  He was testing his shoulder, most likely trying to gauge if we could pull off onto a back road for a little sparring.

“Not happening,” I said, taking his left hand.

He didn’t ask what I meant, so I knew my guess was right.  I’d just have to sit in the car and wait out the ride like everyone else.  Carlos shifted in his seat and glanced back at our hands.  I narrowed my eyes at him.

I managed to contain my irritation for another two hours; although, I did have to give up my hold on Ethan’s hand.  Ethan remained quiet beside me, his worried glances telling me I wasn’t successful at hiding my problem.  My grip on the door handle tightened with each passing mile.  A tiny part of me was thinking about opening it and jumping out.  Not to die but to escape.  What, I wasn’t sure.  The car remained soothingly mellow.

“Gabby’s found a safe spot.  She apologizes that it has taken so long.  She said the Urbat changed their pattern slightly, and she wanted to watch it for a while to be sure they wouldn’t come back.”

“How could you possibly know that?” I asked.

Winifred met my gaze in the mirror.

“As an Elder, I can communicate with our kind in my mind.  I asked Sam, Sam asked Gabby and relayed what she said to me.”

What she was saying twisted in my head.  Werewolves could do everything, it seemed.  Everything except leave me alone.  I almost twitched with the need to glare at Carlos.  This was all his fault.  I so didn’t want to know anything more about what his kind could do.

“Whatever.  How long till we get there?” I bit out.

“It’s another hour away.  But she said the way is completely clear now.  Would you like me to find somewhere to stop?”

“Yes.”

Winifred took the next exit.  She didn’t go far.  Two turns brought us to a semi-rural road with fields between the houses.  She pulled over beside one field.

My breath clouded as I stepped out.  It was cold enough to shiver, but I barely noticed.  The rest of the cars pulled up behind us.  I didn’t bother searching out one of the other guys in the group.  I walked into the dead field, knowing Carlos already followed.

When I turned, his gaze swept over my face.  His expression gave nothing away.  I grew even more annoyed and realized my need to vent wasn’t so much the emotions I’d absorbed but rather my own emotions I had tried to ignore.

Once he was close enough, I attempted to punch him in the head.  I was irritated that he could so successfully block his emotions from me.  I kicked out at his knee.  And, pissed as hell over the stunt he’d pulled in the bathroom, I spun close and drove an elbow into his ribs—a new move for him.  His grunt made me grin; and I spun around, trying to hit the side of his head.  He caught my arm and pulled me close.