“Is it because of Cain or a mate thingy?”
“Both.”
Ethan instructed her to sit behind him and where to put her feet. Because of the slanted build of the bike, she was forced to lean forward. This wasn’t a joyride like on a Harley Davidson. This bike was intended to shred the highway at the fastest speed possible.
He opened the garage door with the remote he had on his person and cranked the Kawasaki engine alive. Beyond them was a narrow dirt path through the woods. Ethan told her to hold on tight before he launched the bike forward. Sookie pressed her faceshield against Ethan’s broad back, thinking how uncanny the situation was. They were like Batman and Robin storming out of the batcave. It might look cool but it scared the crap out of her.
Luckily, Ethan was an exceptional rider.
He navigated the path easily at full speed as if they were racing in the arena. Sookie flattened herself and clung to him for dear life, shifting her weight to become one with the bike. A few times, he made some sharp turns that their knees almost grazed against the ground. She was no longer interested in watching her surroundings. It made her dizzy and scared her even more. She prayed over and over that she wouldn’t get thrown off the bike. They hit an uneven slope that caused the bike to fly in the air. She felt her heart was at the back of her throat. This was more nerve-racking than Jesse’s grave robbery stint. No matter how high they were airborne, Ethan always successfully landed without missing a beat. If it were her driving, she would have been thrown up into the tree canopy.
The Kawasaki roared from the dirt path and skidded onto the asphalt street just as she decided to open her eyes again.
Shiiiiit…
“You okay there?” Ethan’s voice loomed from the headphone.
“Peachy.”
He replied with boisterous laughter.
Sookie grumbled. “Well, I’m glad you find this amusing.”
“This is nothing, beautiful. We’ve just begun.”
“What do you mean?”
“The fun.”
As soon as she closed her mouth, she heard the muted shrieks of motorcycle brakes behind them. She looked over her shoulder and paled. Two riders in similar motorcycles burst out from the wooded area. She tightened her grips on him. “You know we’re being followed?”
“Graystone warned me over the phone. The war has just begun and the first thing my cousin will do is try to find and kill me. Us.”
Crap. “Should we go to the police or something?”
Ethan laughed again. He didn’t seem concerned that they were chased by people who were hell bent to make sure the two of them perished from their mortal existence. “Police? You’re joking, right?”
Sookie realized how stupid her suggestion was. It wasn’t like they could go to the authorities and say, “Help us, officers. There’s some werewolves out to kill us.”
Sookie lamented. How did things go so wrong? “What are we going to do now?”
“We find Cain and kill him first, of course.”
Fantastic. Besides grave robbery, fraud, blackmail, now I’m going to be an accessory to murder. Just fucking awesome. Could my life get any worse? “Where are we going to find him?”
“He’ll move around, just like me. He’s not going to lounge like a sitting duck while his men fight his battle. If we are going to find your brother, we need to make Cain sing like a canary. It won’t be an easy feat, I must warn you.”
Sookie quieted. Each time she was reminded of her brother, her heart sank to her guts.
“Susan,” he called.
“Yeah?”
“Hang tight, baby.”
Ethan made a sharp turn around the bend that almost scraped their knees against the hot asphalt and zipped onto a highway toward the loop. There was a couple angry honks from the cars they were illegally passing. But they left them in the wind within seconds. The two men on motorcycles tailed them not far behind.
&n