The Moonlight Breed 8: Leap in the Dark by Gabrielle Evans (chrysanthemum read aloud .txt) 📕

The rest of the trip passed fairly quickly as they tossed around ideas from where the book should be set to what kind of shifters they would use. Would it be a single book or did they want to write a whole series in the same world? There were a lot of things to consider, but it never felt like work.

“Okay,” Keeton said a while later. “I wasn’t joking. I really have to pee.”

“We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Have you noticed that bucket of bolts back there?” He jerked his thumb over the seat toward the back window. “I don’t know how long they’ve been following us, but I first noticed them about an hour ago.”

Yes, Braxton had noticed as well, but he hadn’t thought much about it. They were traveling on a two-lane road without any exits and only a few turnoffs. “They’re probably just headed toward Hiland or somewhere.”

“They’ve been riding your bumper for fifty miles, Brax.”

Braxton glanced down at the speedometer and then back up to the rearview mirror. He was driving the speed limit. Maybe the people behind him were in a hurry. Easing his foot off the accelerator, he slowed the vehicle and stuck his arm out the window, indicating it was safe for the truck to pass.

He heard the engine rev behind him, but instead of passing, the pickup slammed into his bumper, making the wheel jerk in his hands as his vehicle lurched forward. “What the fuck?”

“It’s those assholes from the diner,” Keeton informed him as he turned around in his seat to get a better look. Unlike when they were having lunch, however, he actually sounded afraid this time.

“Put your seatbelt on and call Logan.” They weren’t far from the front gates of Haven, and if he could make it that far without being run off the road, everything would be fine.

Keeton flipped around and buckled his seatbelt. He reached for the phone, but before he could dial, it began ringing in his hand. “Xander, we’ve got trouble.”

“Let me have it.”

Keeton shook his head and pointed through the windshield. “Drive. I’ll put it on speakerphone.”

“Braxton, what happened?”

“I’m almost to the front gates.” He pressed harder on the gas pedal but swerved dangerously close to the shoulder when the pickup rear-ended him again. “What the fuck is wrong with these guys?” They had to be seriously homophobic to follow him the entire two-hour trip back home.

“Keep both hands on the wheel and floor it. We’ll meet you at the gates.” The line went dead, and Braxton couldn’t help but feel a little abandoned. Logically, he knew there wasn’t anything Xander could do for him until he made it to the coven, but he’d felt a lot better having his mate on the phone with him.

The pickup behind them veered toward the divider line and accelerated once more, catching Braxton’s bumper on the corner. The wheel spun through his grasp, and the backend began to fishtail. Just when he thought he was going to be able to get it under control, they were rocked again, and Braxton knew he wasn’t going to be able to keep them on the road this time.

Two of his wheels left the road, tilting them sideways for only a second, before gravity took over and flipped them across the ditch on the shoulder of the road and rolled them into the adjacent field.

When the world finally stopped spinning, Braxton found himself hanging upside down by his seatbelt. He was shaken, a little sore where the airbag had smacked him in the face and chest, but miraculously, he was otherwise uninjured.

“Keeton? Keeton, are you okay? Talk to me.”

“Yeah,” Keeton groaned. “My head hurts like hell where it banged against the window, but I’m fine. The guys are never going to let us leave the house again.”

“Do you blame them?” Braxton reached above his head and placed his palms flat against the crumpled roof. “Unlatch my seatbelt.”

“Did you hear that?” Keeton whispered. “I heard footsteps.”

Braxton tensed, but his anxiety passed quickly when he heard his name shouted. “The cavalry has arrived.” And he’d never been more grateful for the rescue.

Chapter Three

“I’m fine,” Braxton huffed when they were back in the living room of the dorm. “I’m sorry about your truck.”

“I don’t give a damn about my pickup.” Xander cuddled his mate in his lap with his good arm, refusing to let him move an inch. “It’s insured. You’re not.”

He thought his heart was going to climb up his throat and out of his mouth when he’d heard the crash. When he’d seen the mangled heap of metal, he was pretty sure that the damn thing had stopped beating. How Braxton and Keeton had survived with no more than a couple of bumps and a few scrapes was beyond him.

“Did you see the guys that were following us? Did you call the police? What if they come back?”

“No, we didn’t see anyone. They were long gone by the time we got there.” He tucked Braxton’s head under his chin and took deep breaths, trying to push away his anger. Unfortunately, each time he inhaled, there was a putrid scent that tickled his nose and fueled his rage. “I’m almost positive that they’ll be back.”

“What?” Braxton sat up straight and stared back at him with wide eyes. “Why? What do they want? This is insane. They followed us all the way here and tried to kill us because we’re gay?”

“Oh, chulo.” He brushed the pad of his thumb just below a cut on Braxton’s cheek. “Baby, I don’t think they give two rips if you’re gay or not.”

“Then what the hell do they want?” Keeton demanded from Logan’s lap. “They said they didn’t tolerate ‘our kind.’ What else could that mean?”

It meant they had a big damn problem. “It means they could probably scent me and Logan on the two of you, and they were referring to shifters, not your sexual orientation.”

“So, they’re supes?” Braxton