Roarke realized that was true, and yet it seemed he’d known her far longer. Logically, Aidan had a point, but in his gut Roarke knew he could trust Abby. Convincing Aidan wouldn’t be easy, though.
“Couldn’t we just tell Gentry that we’re taking Abby to New York and we’ll accept responsibility for her?”
“Number one, he wouldn’t just let us go because he doesn’t trust us to do the right thing. He doesn’t approve of the freedom the Wallaces have given Emma, let alone an unknown person like Abby. Second of all, if you took Abby back home, our father would put her under lock and key, too. He doesn’t have any more reason to trust her than Gentry does.”
“Except his son’s word that she won’t betray us.”
“In order to get that blessing, you’ll have to take her back there, and I’m telling you, Gentry won’t just let her go. We’ll have to force the issue.”
Roarke gazed at his brother. “So what is going to happen after we bust her out of here?”
Aidan met his gaze. “I’m leaving that up to you.”
Roarke realized that although Aidan didn’t have reason to trust Abby, he was willing to trust him. That was a hell of a lot of responsibility. He took a deep breath. “Thanks, bro.”
“Roarke . . .” Aidan hesitated. “We could make this escape a lot better as Weres.”
“Yeah, but Abby and Donald couldn’t keep up with us.”
“I’m not thinking of the running part. I’m thinking of the fighting part.”
Roarke glanced at the bathroom doorway. “Don’t tell Abby there might be fighting.”
“I won’t, but we both know it could happen.”
“We can’t shift. I’ve promised Abby we’ll get Donald out, and he can’t see us in wolf form.”
Aidan looked at him. “So we’ll blindfold him.”
“And we’ll tell him we’re doing this because . . .”
“Because . . . it’s the only way he’s getting out of here and he has to trust us that it’s the best thing.”
Roarke frowned at him.
“Hey, don’t expect me to come up with all the answers. Maybe Abby will have an idea.”
“For what?” Abby walked out of the bathroom dressed in her rumpled hiking clothes.
Roarke turned to her. “Giving Donald a good reason why we need to blindfold him.”
“Why blindfold him at all? That’ll create a serious problem for the poor guy.”
“Because Aidan and I will be most effective for this escape if we operate as wolves. Our senses will be sharper.”
Abby stood with her hands on her hips, her gaze thoughtful. “All right. I’ll tell Donald we’re making our escape with the help of two very large, very protective dogs, which are . . . part wolf. That way you don’t have to blindfold him.”
Roarke wasn’t crazy about masquerading as a domesticated dog, but losing the blindfold would mean they wouldn’t be leading Donald around all the time. “And where did these dogs come from all of a sudden?”
“They’re mine, but Grandpa Earl’s been keeping them up here for me until I had a place big enough for them in Arizona. They dug under the fence and tracked me here.”
Aidan nodded. “It’s flimsy, but it might work, and I have to admit it’s an improvement over the blindfold. Abby, if you don’t mind turning around, I need to take off my clothes.”
“Wait, bro,” Roarke said. “We don’t have a plan.”
“Sure we do. We shift, use the tunnels to get Donald, and leave.”
“On foot? Or in our case, on paws?”
“Of course not. I rented a Town Car, which is sitting in the circular drive. We sneak around to that and make our getaway—people in the front, wolves in the back.”
Abby glanced at the dim light filtering through the curtains. “We’re running out of darkness to sneak in.”
“I know,” Aidan said. “But that can’t be helped.”
Roarke stared at her bright red hair. “I wish you had a hat. That hair is like a beacon.”
“Well, I don’t, and borrowing Donald’s neon-green hat isn’t going to help matters.” She looked at Aidan. “I’ll drive the Town Car. Donald will be a nervous wreck by then.”
Aidan reached in the pocket of his slacks and handed her the keys. “I hope you’re as cool under fire as you appear to be, Abby Winchell.”
“Don’t worry. I am.”
“She absolutely is.” Roarke took off his watch and gave it to her. “I don’t want to leave this.”
“Good point.” Aidan took off his and handed it to Abby as well.
She looked at Aidan’s watch. “I suppose yours is as pricey as Roarke’s.”
“Not quite, but close.”
“So I’m going to be carrying two timepieces with a combined value of a million and a half smackers?”
Aidan nodded. “Close enough.”
“Cool.” She put one on each wrist and pulled her sleeves down to cover them.
“Oh.” Aidan handed her his BlackBerry. “If you’ll keep this for me, too, I’d appreciate it.”
“Sure thing.” She tucked it in the pocket of her jacket.
“I just thought of another complication,” Roarke said. “There’s the not-so-tiny matter of the Sasquatch. I left them in a cave and they’ll stay there until I come to get them.”
“That’s handled,” Aidan said. “I contacted the Seattle pack and they’re sending a helicopter to the Portland-Hillsboro airport. The pilot will await our instructions.”
Roarke wondered if he’d ever truly appreciated the strategic skills of his older brother before. “I owe you one, Aidan.”
“And never doubt I’ll collect. Okay, we need to move out. Abby, if you wouldn’t mind turning your back, I’m going to strip.”
“Hold it.” Irrational though it was, Roarke rebelled at having Abby in the same room with any nak*d man other than him. “Go into the bathroom. I’ll shift out here.”
Aidan shrugged. “If you say so.” He went into the bathroom, but didn’t close the door all the way.
Roarke took note. Aidan had more experience at shifting in front of humans than he did. Aidan could teach him some things about conducting human-werewolf love affairs. But that would only be necessary if Roarke pursued such an activity.
Abby stood there watching, obviously waiting to see how he planned to handle this. “Are you going to make me turn my back?” she asked.
Roarke began taking off his clothes. “Maybe, under the circumstances, I should give you the choice.” Anxiety gripped him at the thought of shifting in front of her, but she deserved to make that decision.
“Then I choose to watch. I’ve seen you as a man and a wolf. I want to know what happens when you go from man to wolf. And vice versa, when it comes to that.”
“All right.” He hesitated in the act of shucking his clothes as he thought of something he needed to say. Soon he wouldn’t be able to talk to her. “I want you to promise me something.”
“Depends on what it is.”
Roarke sighed. She was so damned independent, but then, that was one of the things he lo—Nope, wouldn’t use that word. “Here’s the deal. No matter what happens while we’re trying to escape, just worry about yourself.”
“I can’t promise that.”
He glared at her. “I mean it, Abby. Aidan and I will be fine. Donald’s a survivor and Gentry doesn’t want him, anyway. You’re the target. Get away the minute you—” Roarke paused as the bathroom door swung open.
His brother came out, and the look in his golden eyes needed no interpretation. Clearly Roarke was holding up the show. Aidan’s dark, silver-tipped fur seemed to glow in the light from the bedside lamps as he moved toward Abby and Roarke.
Abby’s eyes widened as she stared at Aidan. “Amazing. Truly amazing.”
Roarke chickened out and headed for the bathroom now that it was available. This wasn’t the time to put on a demonstration for Abby, especially with Aidan there. She might freak out and they didn’t need that. Or more precisely, he didn’t need that. His nerves were stretched thin as it was, because he wasn’t convinced Abby would do everything possible to save herself. Lying on the bathroom floor, he initiated the shift.
Aidan led the way through the tunnels, pausing every few feet to sniff the air. Abby buried her fingers in Roarke’s thick pelt and held on as they navigated the dark passageway. Touching his warm fur helped ground her and reminded her that this wasn’t a crazy dream.
She’d wanted to watch Roarke change into his wolf form, but maybe that was best left to a more private moment, assuming they had another one of those. If she had anything to say about it, they would. Two people—or rather, a person and a werewolf—who shared such intense experiences couldn’t just break off the relationship and go on as if they were nothing to each other.
Roarke might not want to mate with her because of her handicap of being human, but she thought that was a highly prejudiced viewpoint. If she could overlook his shape-shifting, he could overlook her lack of ability to grow fur at will. She was prepared to tell him exactly that once he was in a form that allowed for proper discussion.
For now she was grateful for his strong, calming presence in this subterranean maze. The tunnels were cold and damp, but the wolf padding next to her radiated warmth and protection. She figured that he and Aidan were using telepathy to communicate, because Aidan seemed to know where to find Donald’s room.
Aidan sniffed the floor, too, as if retracing Roarke’s earlier trail. When Aidan stopped and sat, Abby figured they’d reached the right set of stairs.
She could barely make them out in the darkness, so she used her hands to feel her way up as she had the first time. As she climbed, she rehearsed the big fat lie she was about to tell Donald. She was counting on his fear to make him willing to believe anything that would promise him a way out of this spooky place.
Rapping softly on the revolving panel, she heard a little yelp of fear from inside the bedroom. She pushed the panel open a couple of inches. “Donald, it’s me. Can I come in?”
“Abby!” The panel flew open and Donald dragged her into the room. “How’s your leg? I should have asked that before.”
“Much better. The antibiotics really helped. The bleeding’s stopped and the swelling’s down. I can walk fine.”
“Good, good.” Donald was fully dressed and every light in the room was on. “Abby, I have a theory about the people living in this place. Gentry and the rest.”
Her pulse skittered. Now was not the time for Donald to get smart. “You do?”
“Yeah. You may have figured it out, since Gentry seems to think you know something you’re not supposed to.”
“Yes, but I really don’t know anything.” Abby groaned inwardly. She hadn’t anticipated Donald stumbling onto the truth.
“Okay, then I’ll tell you what we’re dealing with, so you’re prepared.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “They’re vampires.”
“Vampires?” Abby almost laughed, she was so relieved.
“Keep your voice down. You don’t want them to think we suspect. But it all fits, with Gentry being so secretive and staying up until all hours of the night. I’ll bet the tunnels are filled with coffins.” He looked very proud of himself for coming up with that.
“I don’t know if you’re right or not,” Abby said, “but I think I can get us out of here, if you want to make a run for it.”
“God, yes! I don’t want to be their next meal, do you? I mean, snakes are scary, but vampires are worse.”
“Just so you know, I haven’t encountered a single snake in my travels through the tunnels.”
“That’s good to know, but I’ll go, anyway.”
“Okay.” Abby reviewed her story quickly in her head. “I’m not sure if you realize that the Gentrys and my grandfather are neighbors.”
Donald’s color started returning. “You mean we could escape to your grandfather’s place?”
“Maybe.”
“Would we be safe there?”
“Temporarily, at least, until we decide what to do. Anyway, here’s my idea. We use my dogs to help us get out of here.”
“You have dogs?”
“Yes. I’ve been keeping them at Grandpa Earl’s until I had a place for them in Phoenix. They dug out of their enclosure and tracked me over here. They got into my room through the tunnels.”
“Wow. Smart dogs.”
Abby nodded. “Big dogs. They’re part wolf and they’re very protective. With those two dogs to guard us, I think we can find our way out of here and make a getaway.”
“On foot? I’m not a very fast runner.”
She realized this was where the story got really dicey. “I managed to get the keys to a Town Car that’s sitting out in front of the house.”
Donald didn’t bat an eye. “Excellent.”
She relaxed a little. Donald was scared shitless and wouldn’t question anything she told him. “So, let’s go.”
“Wait. What about Roarke? Is he still here? We can’t leave him. I know he’s a big strong guy, but vampires have superhuman strength. He’d be no match for them if they decided to sink their fangs into his neck.”
She admired Donald’s loyalty, but wished he hadn’t started thinking again. “Uh . . . Roarke’s going ahead, to clear the way for us. He told me to take the Town Car, you, and the dogs. He’s meeting up with us later.” She gazed at Donald hopefully. Please don’t question that unlikely scenario.