Page 39 of Blade

It was probably a good idea that the ranger knew that.

Wide eyes.

That was very good in this situation.

Swallowing hard, he nodded slowly. “We’re not the bad guys. I promise.”

“Let’s hope so.” Giving him a bright smile and a wave, I rolled the window back up and started around the corner.

Blade licked me again.

“Still driving, dork.” His chuffing laugh made me roll my eyes. “Some people don’t learn lessons the first time and the deputy seems stubborn. I wanted to make my point clear so we wouldn’t have any problems.”

He could give decent directions, though, because finding the back of the house was easy. The only issue was the woman waiting for us who was definitely an adult but not adult enough to be in her forties. I was terrible with women’s ages, but I was going to guess she was somewhere in her thirties.

Not that I was going to say that out loud in case I’d gotten it wrong.

Unlike the ranger, it only took me once to learn an important lesson.

“Let’s remember the plan. I won’t threaten them and you won’t attack unless absolutely necessary. If shit goes wrong, the flashbangs go off and the bracelet goes on. We run back to the truck.” It was probably entirely too simple of a plan but it was the only thing I had. “I think the fact that we’re in town will work in our favor. There will be too many witnesses this early in the day.”

Blade gave me another lick but I was pretty sure that was to calm me down. “I’m not worried. It’s smart to know your backup plans.”

I just wished we had a Plan C as well.

The only one I could come up with involved my gun and a lot of messy violence and I was hoping it wouldn’t come down to that.

We’d end up on the news and then my family would definitely find me.

Turning off the truck, I did my best to look serious and neutral the same way I would if I were going to see my family.If it worked on one set of dangerous idiots, it might work on another. “We’re polite but we don’t take shit from anyone.”

I could fake it for a while and it generally looked believable. I wasn’t sure Blade liked it, though. He let out another rumbling purr and nodded before nuzzling his face against mine. “Thank you.”

We could do this.

“I’m going to get out first, and provided they don’t attack right away, I’ll keep the door open for you.” We were going to stay together. “We’ll get the tablet out if we need to, but like I said before, I want both hands free for the time being.”

Giving me another nod, he did his own version of a deep breath and then whined out what I thought was the start of the Superman show we’d been watching. “Yes, no matter what, later we’re going to do nothing but relax and watch another episode.”

As long as we weren’t on the run.

From what I could tell, the ranger hadn’t figured out where I was staying so that would work in our favor too. “Let’s do this.”

Blade wanted his body back. We were going to make it work.

Fingers crossed.

Calm.

Confident.

Frown.

Everyone took frowning men more seriously than they did happy ones, so I did my best to channel my father or one of my brothers as I climbed out of the truck.

So far so good.

No spells.