War of Hearts(26)

“She’s as well as when you left her.”

“I’ll want to speak to her and James in the morning. That’s not a request.”

Ashforth hesitated but then, “Of course. Now will you tell me what has happened?”

“Someone who knew what I am attacked us. Thea got the better of me in the confusion. I came to and the car, my phone, and my money are missing.”

“Someone else is after her?”

“Aye. Now I know that, I can be more vigilant.”

“I told you she was tricky.”

“Aye, an understatement. I need a car, money, and a new phone.”

“Find out where you are, and I’ll arrange everything. I’ll also track down the other car. She probably abandoned it, but it’ll give you a starting point.”

Conall curled his lip, impatient to catch up with the lethal brat. “No need. I know where she is.”

“Of course.” Ashforth sounded extremely satisfied, gloating almost. “It’s wonderful to know she’ll never be able to outrun me again.”

Outrun me, Conall corrected inwardly. She’ll never be able to outrun me. That knowledge created an unexpected feeling of satisfaction for Conall too.

“I’ll see if I can find out who might be after you,” Ashforth continued. “Now, where are you?”

Conall returned to the cashier to ask where they were. Finally, after a long moment of miscommunication, they figured it out.

Conall waited at the petrol station for an hour; he felt the cashier’s eyes constantly on him. Just as he was sure the guy was readying to call the police, two cars pulled up outside, and a stranger got out of the first. The man strode inside, his eyes going straight to Conall’s.

“Chief MacLennan?” he asked in a thick, Polish accent.

Conall nodded.

“Come with me?”

Following the man outside, he huddled next to Conall and handed over the car keys. He then discreetly passed over a wad of cash, along with a new phone. After Conall thanked him, the man nodded, walked to the second car, got in, and the car drove off.

Conall pondered this, wondering at Ashforth’s connections, that he could pull this off in a little over an hour. He threw his rucksack into the car and turned back to the station. Grabbing some food he could snack on as he drove, he paid for it and then added extra as a thank-you for the use of the phone.

The cashier remained unsure, but he smiled his thanks and Conall tried his best not to hurry. Neither he nor Thea needed the police joining the hunt as a second outside entity.

As he pulled onto the motorway, steering with one hand and holding a protein bar with the other, he ripped open the packaging with his teeth and made a sound of anticipation in the back of his throat. Thea Quinn would be back in his grasp and he would enjoy the moment she realized he hadn’t been bluffing—when it finally sunk in that no matter where she ran, he could find her.

It would be interesting to see if she gave up on the manipulation and decided the solution was to rip his heart out.

Not that he would ever give her the chance. He was far more understanding of her capabilities now.

Conall frowned as he followed her scent, realizing she’d turned southwest instead of west toward Germany.

She was in the Czech Republic.

“Fuck,” he grunted, pressing harder on the accelerator. There was someone else after the lass and Conall was determined to find her first.

And this time, he’d know better than to turn his back on her.





Wolf Boy’s car was somewhere in Lubawka, Poland. Thea had dumped it a thirty-minute walk from the train station, where she’d then boarded a train to Prague. Nervous energy filled her. She had a huge Scottish wolf after her—and a mystery hunter.

It wasn’t Thea’s first time in Prague. It was one of the first cities she’d stayed in after she’d escaped Ashforth, so she was familiar with it. She’d exchanged all Conall’s zlotys at the train station for Czech koruna and asked the cab driver to recommend accommodation. He’d dropped her off at a three-star hotel on a tree-lined street where neoclassical buildings towered symmetrically one after the other. In the middle of all the light sandstone, a block was painted in the palest of pinks.

This was Thea’s hotel.

Although basic, it was the nicest place she’d stayed in for a long while. After discovering her in a hostel, it concerned her that Conall might look for her in the cheaper hotels if he managed to catch up with her in Prague, so the three-star was a necessary “luxury.”

The hotel was only ten minutes from the historical center of the city and Thea reluctantly stepped out into the world the next day in search of work. Instead of finding work, however, she bought clothes she wouldn’t be able to afford if she didn’t find a job soon. But clothes were now a necessity, since Conall had dragged her out of Kraków with only the clothes on her back.

Buying two pairs of jeans and a few shirts was easy.

Finding a job was not.

Wearily, Thea returned to the hotel after a day of searching, anxious about paying for another night but doing so for her safety. The next morning, however, she checked out, realizing she’d just have to risk a cheaper place for fear of running out of funds. Thea was betting on the fact that both her pursuers would guess she’d get the hell out of Europe, or at least travel farther than the Czech Republic.