"Then try again later. It's still very early."
Not for Jack. And not for Rhoan. He'd probably be in a state of panic by now, and I seriously doubted whether sleep would be on his agenda. "Why don't you try?" Kade reached for the phone and dialed a number. He listened for several minutes then pressed the end button. "Recorded message telling me it's the wrong number."
I nodded. "So who did you try ringing? One of your mares?"
"No. After all this time, they'd be with someone else."
"So who?"
"Are all wolves this nosy?"
I shrugged. "I like to know a little about the man I eventually intend to fuck."
Heat flared in the depths of his velvet eyes. "Eventually?"
I nodded. "Escape first, fun later."
"A plan I could live with."
"Good." Because as much as I was attracted, I wanted safety more. We might have found ourselves somewhere to have a bit of a breather, but I very much doubted we could stay here for long. The orsini looked like hunters, and I had a bad feeling they wouldn't be fooled by our little walk through the river. "So, who were you calling?"
He grinned. "My business partner."
"And your business is... ?"
He studied me for a moment, his dark gaze somewhat assessing, then said, "I'm a building contractor."
"Houses or offices?"
"Houses. Ever heard of J. K. Constructions?"
"Not a whisper."
"Not surprising, really. We're one of the smaller building contractors in South Australia."
The cold lump in my stomach got larger. "You're from Adelaide?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"I'm from Victoria."
He stared at me for a moment, then closed his eyes. "Fuck."
"Yeah. And maybe that's the reason the phone wouldn't work." Because we were no longer in the same state, which meant I'd have to use the proper state code to get through to either Jack's phone or Rhoan's cell. Unlike many cell phone systems the world over, Australia's didn't automatically get shunted to voice mail if the caller was out of range.
I picked up the phone and dialed Jack's work number, this time adding Victoria's STD code. It barely rang once before it was answered.
"Parnell here."
I closed my eyes, never in my life more relieved to hear my boss's gruff tones. "Jack, it's Riley."
"Jesus, girl, where are you? We found your car - "
I cut him off. "I have no idea where I am, but I need you to come and get us."
"Us?" His voice was sharp.
"Yeah. Long story, but I'm here with a shifter by the name of Kade Williams. He helped me escape what I think was another gene research lab."