Hunter's Heart

Chapter 36

Nearly two hours later, Quinn found herself staring out of the passenger side window of a dull silver SUV that Christian had 'liberated' in the warehouse district of town. When she'd asked him how he knew about stealing cars, the Alpha had simply looked away in embarrassment and growled something that sounded like "youthful rebellion" under his breath. That had been surprising to her, since Christian St. Clair, Mr. Control At All Times, had never seemed like the type to rebel. Ever.

They had been extremely lucky in that the area they had emerged from the Hunter facility was empty of people. The last thing they needed was to run into someone that recognized her and then have to explain the state they were both in. Despite having healed him earlier, Christian still had that shadow of a bruise on the left side of his face. There was still a hint of a black eye and his lip still had the evidence of a split in it. His clothes were also torn up and stained with blood. And it wasn't like her appearance was any better. If anything, she looked worse, thanks to what Jessa had put her through, and she moved stiffly from the aches left after she'd drawn on her gift to try and deal with the worst of the damage she'd taken.

Beside her, Christian drove in pensive silence, though every now and then she could feel his gaze flick to rest on her briefly before he refocused on the road. Without the benefit of the bond anymore, she couldn't hear his thoughts, so she couldn't tell what he was thinking. But she could sense he was worried and he was also seething.

"Are you going to tell me what had you so concerned before?" he suddenly asked, breaking the silence in the car.

Quinn reluctantly tore her gaze from the trees to look at her Alpha. His attention was now focused almost completely on the dark road ahead, no longer glancing at her.

"Well?" he asked when she didn't respond, a slight impatience creeping into his tone.

Quinn shifted uncomfortably in her seat. This wasn't the conversation she wanted to have with him in such an enclosed space. He wasn't going to like what she was going to say.

"It's just," she began slowly, organizing her thoughts. "The guy that jumped us in woods outside Caine's. He spoke about purposefully kidnapping and turning people so that he could plant spies in the packs. I can't help thinking about how many spies are in our midst."

Christian's grip on the steering wheel tightened. "You think the explosion at the bonfire was set by a spy."

So, he'd been considering the same thing already. Once again, Quinn felt the acute loss of their bond. What was he going through, knowing that there were traitors in his pack? The pack he had been born into had been destroyed because of a traitor. And now to find out the same thing was happening in his own pack again?

Reaching out, she took hold of his hand and threaded her fingers through his. "We'll find the culprit, I promise."

Christian managed a tight smile for her and squeezed her hand. "Of course we will."

The car fell silent again and Quinn turned to look out of the window again. She meant what she had said. They would find out who the traitor was and she would do whatever she could to help Christian with that task. The pack was more than just his people. Being their Alpha, their protector, made Christian the man he was. There would be no peace of mind for him until his pack was made safe again.

"How long will it take us to get back to Alpha Caine's?" she asked softly after a long while, watching as the sun dipped below the tops of the trees that lined the road. From what she remembered of the trip, it had taken at least two hours for them to get to the Alpha Prime's home from Christian's territory. She had been unconscious when she'd been brought to her pack, which meant she had no idea how far away it was from the town she'd been taken from. For all she knew, it could take days for them to get back to where they needed to be.

"Driving nonstop?" Christian began. "About two days. And we'll need to take the back roads."

"You think we'll be followed?" Quinn asked. "We covered our tracks pretty well back in town."

"Better to be safe than sorry."

Quinn turned her gaze back to her Alpha, taking a moment to really look at him for the first time they had escaped their cell. Despite her using her ability to heal him earlier, there were dark circles beneath his eyes and an air of fatigue and anxiety surrounded him. It was the first time she'd seen him so exhausted. She'd been able to heal the physical wounds on his body, but it seemed mental fatigue was really starting to set in.

"Maybe I should drive for a while?" she offered. "Just for a couple of hours. It'll give you a chance to get a little sleep. You look like you really need it."

Christian's lips turned up at the corners. "After what we've just been through, I think we could both use some rest. There's another small town coming up soon, one with a motel on the outskirts. We can get a room and clean up there."

With what money? Quinn wondered with a frown and Christian's smile became mischievous. As she watched, he lifted the lid on the cubbyhole between them and pulled out a brown leather wallet.

"So not only do you steal cars," Quinn began as she took the wallet and looked through its contents, finding a credit card, a licence card and several hundred dollars inside. "You steal people's wallets too?"

She looked at him sideways, managing a smirk. "You realize you're not exactly setting a good example for your subordinate here, Alpha."

Christian chuckled softly. "The wallet was in the cubbyhole already. At any rate, they should have a phone in the room, which means I'll be able to contact Caine and let him know where we are. Hopefully he can send someone out to pick us up."

And tell Christian what had happened after the explosion. While in the Hunter facility, there hadn't been the luxury of thinking about anything else besides getting them both out alive. But now there was nothing but time to think of other things and he had to be worried about his siblings. If he was worried, he was doing a really good job at keeping that buried so that she couldn't sense it. Quinn herself was worried as well. Melissa was heavily pregnant. Was she okay? Was her baby okay? What about Liam and Sophia? They had just made their mating bond official. They had their whole lives ahead of them. Were they okay? And what about Caine? She would know if he was in trouble right? He was the only real family she had left.

Christian's hand on hers tightened again and he brought it up to his lips so that he could kiss the back of it affectionately. The unexpected gesture sent butterflies flitting about her stomach and a warm blush spreading across her cheeks. But as pleasant as it was, it didn't change the fact that he was still exhausted and she hadn't missed the fact that he had tried to divert her attention from her offer to drive by telling her about getting to the next town.

"Pull over," she said firmly, turning in her seat to fully face him.

Christian glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. "Is that a request or an order?"

"It's whatever you need it to be if it gets you to pull the damned car over," she replied impatiently. "You keep driving when you're this exhausted and you're likely to drive us off the road."

Christian was silent for a long minute and then let out a resolved sigh. "Alright, little wolf. You win."

He slowed the car down and pulled it to the side of the road. Without another word, he got out of the car and Quinn slid across into the driver's seat, surprised at just how much she needed to adjust in order to be able to drive. Besides the back rest of the seat and the rear view mirror, seat itself was pushed so far back her feet didn't even reach the pedals.

"Why are you so freaking tall?" she whispered under her breath, just as Christian slid into the passenger seat and he chuckled at her comment.

"Just close your eyes and get some sleep," she told him slightly irritably, reaching down to release the seat so that she could pull it forward. "I'll wake you up in a couple of hours."

Christian leaned back into his seat and folded his arms across his chest, closing his eyes. "One hour."

Quinn sighed and put the car in gear. Stupid stubborn Alpha.