Star Cursed (Zodiac Wolves #2)(36)

“Get dressed,” he said when he turned to find me still naked.

I clenched my jaw as I grabbed clothes out of the bag and put them on. I understood why he denied me, but it didn’t make his rejection any easier to stomach. While Kaden salvaged anything else he could and put it all in his backpack, I found my shoes beside a dead wolf, where they'd fallen off while I'd shifted. The rest of the clothes I'd been wearing had been torn to shreds when I shifted, but at least these had survived. I checked the car again, and found my burner phone miraculously intact, along with my lip gloss. Thank the goddess for small favors.

As soon as I finished dressing, Kaden started down the road, heading in the direction we'd been driving, with his bag slung over his shoulder. I followed after him, leaving the car and the dead wolves for the Taurus pack to deal with.

They were allies of the Leo pack. I sighed heavily as I realized Jordan must have changed his mind about letting me go and had sent them after me. Kaden was right—Jordan didn't care about me at all, except as a prize to be won or a tool to be used. Brother or not, I was done defending him. If the only way out of this was to kill him, so be it.





Chapter Sixteen





We walked in silence for about an hour. For once, I didn’t try to break it. My emotions were too tangled up, and I was too busy trying to figure them out to even think of trying to get Kaden to talk. Not a single car passed while we were alongside the road, and our only company was the waning moon hovering over us. Finally, I was drawn out of my thoughts by the glimmer of lights on the horizon.

“Is that a town?" I asked.

Kaden still didn’t look over at me, but I saw him frown as he considered the question. “Looks like it. We’ll stop and rest there.”

“Oh, thank god,” I said. My whole body ached now that the last of the adrenaline fading. My wolf healing was taking care of it, but I was starving and exhausted and tired of traveling. We'd been driving or walking since dawn, not to mention in a bad car accident and then a battle for our lives, and all I wanted was to lie down for a while.

"How did the Taurus find us?" I asked, suddenly worried they might be able to follow us here too. "Was it the mate bond?"

"I don't think so," Kaden replied. "They probably tracked down the car somehow. I should have changed it out when we split up from the others."

When we reached the town limits, I nearly sighed in relief. There wasn't much to look at, just a sleepy little pit stop in the mountains off the side of the road. The buildings looked like something out of an old Western movie, but they had a gas station at least. Hopefully, they had somewhere where we could rest for the night—and shower. And forget that this day ever happened.

"There's a motel or something this way," Kaden said, looking at his phone. "I think. Reception is terrible out here."

We continued walking until we came across what looked like an old Victorian house, painted in pastel colors. All the outside lights were on, and a wooden sign read, Cascade Bed and Breakfast.

“Looks like this is our stop,” I said, and we walked up the steps together.

No one was in the lobby when we entered, and I went up to the counter and rang the little bell, feeling like I'd gone back in time. A back door opened, and an older woman with a cheery face and red cheeks bustled out. Despite the late hour and the fact that we still had traces of blood on us, she beamed at us. Top-notch customer service skills, I thought wryly.

“Good evening. You need a room?” Before we could answer, she unhooked a key from the wall behind her. “I only have the one left, but you folks got lucky. It’ll be the perfect room for you.”

Her eyes twinkled merrily as Kaden reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He flipped his card onto the counter, and the woman ran it. “What a lovely couple you are. You will make such beautiful babies.”

I looked down at my feet, a denial ready on my lips, but I didn’t speak it out loud. A pang went through me as I thought about how that would never happen.

Kaden frowned and held his hand out for the card and the key. “Thank you.”

“Your room is right up the stairs. Enjoy your night, dears.” She waved from behind the desk. “And if you need any food, feel free to ring me. We have some leftovers from supper."

“Thank you,” I managed past the lump in my throat from her earlier words. "Food would be great."

We hauled ourselves up the creaking wooden stairs to our room, and Kaden unlocked the door with the big brass key. When he pushed the door open, he just stood there, staring into the room.

“What?” I peered inside. At first, I didn’t see anything wrong. The room seemed perfectly nice, though very outdated, and the king-sized bed had a cacophony of pink pillows on it, but it looked comfortable enough—

“Oh,” I said.

There was only one bed.

Kaden closed his eyes briefly as if steeling himself, before walking inside. “I’ll take the floor.”

“The hell you will,” I said, shutting the door behind us and throwing the lock. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s a king-sized bed. There’s plenty of room for both of us. We can even put pillows between us if you’re worried about me being a cover hog or something." I paused to look at the sheer amount of pillows. Really, why did people feel the need for so many? "There’s definitely enough of them."