Intent on His claim (Beauty and the Beast #3)

Chapter 49

She was real.

I had to find her.

I was running out of time.

Of these things I was fully convinced. My desperation to find her, to help her, increased with each passing day.

Who was she? Where was she? How was I going to find her? What would I do once I did?

Yeah... I had no clue.

As the sunlight streamed in through my car window, I opened sleepy eyes and gazed out at the field where I'd chosen to park and spend the night.

I blinked and sat up, stretching with a yawn. I unlocked the truck and stepped out into the crisp morning air, stretching some more while I tried to figure out my plan for the day.

I'd had no choice but to sleep in my car after that first night.

As soon as I was fully clear of Los Gatos and was sure no one was tailing me, I'd driven into a remote car lot and talked the sales guy into trading my Volvo for an old truck.

I'd then spent the day on the road, following the instinct in me that seemed to have a general sense of where I needed to go. I'd left my phone and all traceable gadgets behind, even leaving my credit cards – after a series of small cash outs – so that I'd be under Roger's radar. His obsession with tracking people and things was alarming.

I had, however, taken the 5 fake IDs and their passports with me. I didn't know if I'd need to leave the country yet but if I did, I'd need to use these to throw everyone off my scent.

So after driving all day, I'd considered getting a room at a roadside motel but decided against it. The cat inside me had been restless since recognizing Warren as my mate and had been bugging me to turn back with each mile that passed. I couldn't trust myself to remain calm and not give myself away around people so that first night, I'd decided to ditch the truck and rough it in the forest.

It was close to dawn when I woke violently, feeling like I was falling off a cliff. It took a minute to realize that I had just jumped down a steep incline and was even now running full tilt through the dark forest.

At first I was confused, wondering why I had such a vivid dream. Then I realised that I was running on all fours and the horrific truth dawned on me.

Somehow, I'd shifted in the night and my cat was currently in control. Even as I realized this, a memory of Warren's scent wafted through my mind and I felt the cat...melt.

"Wait, I can't go back," I thought to myself.

"We must be with our mate," the cat responded stubbornly.

I was shocked into silence for a few minutes. Even though I'd been warned that this would happen sometimes, I was still completely unprepared for it.

I mentally shook myself. "Okay, you can talk. Look, you need to turn around."

"There is danger on this path. Our mate will protect us."

"I know it's dangerous but if we go back, we'll just endanger him too."

"No, he is strong. And we will be stronger when we mate with him."

"Listen -" I broke off when I realized that I was still streaking through the forest and the sun was about to rise. Were there even panthers habitually moving in this forest?

I thought fast and fought to stop the racing cat. Somehow I ended up missing my footing and crashing into a tree. When I stood up, I was growling dangerously.

"Don't growl at me," I scolded. "I'm you, you can't hurt me."

"We need our mate!"

I pulled up the memory of Warren hurt and bleeding on the concrete floor after I'd accidentally blasted him into an exposed wooden beam.