The Cowgirl Rogue

Chapter 50

We were getting close to where Joel wanted us to meet when Corbin stirred beside me and leaned forward, and I glanced at him from the corner of my eye before I turned my attention back to the road so that I wouldn't hit any trees.

He was staring straight ahead, his face white as a ghost with his lips pressed into a thin line and jaw set, and his eyes seemed to move back and forth as if he was trying to see what was going to happen.

"C-"

"Turn off your lights," he said in a tone that he normally used when he was on business and with his group, interrupting me.

"What?" I asked shocked and aghast that he would tell me to do such a thing, especially since we were in the middle of the fucking woods with trees popping out of nowhere. "C-"

"Turn off your fucking lights, Kellum!" Corbin exclaimed, interrupting me again while he slammed his hand on the dashboard.

I growled and bared my teeth while I gripped my steering wheel tighter with my wolf growled out in anger. "Watch it," I snarled, baring my teeth while Nova slammed against the barrier between the two of us while she tried to take control. "We are in a tight space with an angry wolf, and I do not know how much longer I can keep holding her back."

Corbin sighed and moved a hand through his hair and across his face, shaking his head while he pursed his lips into a thin line. "I am sorry, Kel," he said while he continued to use the same tone as a member of his group. "But turn off your lights, Kel. Please."

"Why? You are the one that has been freaking out every time a tree seems to pop out of nowhere. Do you want us to hit one and crash?"

I swerved the truck around a tree, muttering every curse word under my breath that I knew because we had actually almost hit that one but missed it with a second to spare. 'Stop fighting me, Nova,' I said and grabbed my steering wheel tighter in my grasp while my nails started to lengthen. 'We are going to fight him later on today. However, right now, I need to focus on this fucking road and making sure that we don't get killed.'

'We should just hit a tree and kill him,' Nova said while she growled and narrowed her eyes. She slammed against the barrier that surrounded her, trying but failing to break it. 'That will teach him to be stupid.'

'But we could end up killing ourselves as well, Nova. Do you want our mate to end up mateless and lose the whole pack?' I paused and let that sink in, and my wolf growled and narrowed her eyes. 'We already are losing him.'

"We are getting close to Joel," Corbin said, oblivious about the fight that I was having with my wolf. "We don't want them to know that he is there, and he is going to help us. Do we?" He gave me a pointed look and raised both eyebrows in unison.

I turned to look at him with my eyes shifting into my wolf as well as my teeth longer while Nova continued to fight for control, not caring that. I didn't say a word while I stared at him before I turned my attention back to the dirt path and missed another tree in the process.

Realization dawned in Corbin's eyes, and his eyes grew wide while his face grew pale. "Shit," he said, and his voice went back to normal. "I'm sorry, Kel," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I didn't mean for it to sound like that, but please, turn off your lights."

I hesitated before I did what I was told to do and turned the lights off, leaving us in complete and total darkness. I didn't say a word while I continued to fight for control over my wolf, hating the fact that she kept trying to fight for control when we did not have time for it.

'Nova, please,' I said, growling in frustration. 'Stop. We will fight him later, and I will let you have control over that fight, but we need to worry about this first. We have to stay alive for our mate, so please stop this madness until we get shit done.'

My wolf growled but relented, receding into the back of my mind and stopped fighting for control, and I couldn't help but breathe a small sigh of relief while I released my grip on the steering wheel. 'Fine, but know that I do not like it.'

I bit back a small snort and pressed my lips into a thin line. 'I know,' I said, 'but please, remember, I do not like it either. He has pissed me off for the last time today, but we can not do anything about it yet, especially since we are in a fucking car, and I am driving.'

Pop!

Pop!

Pop!

I growled and gritted my teeth while I narrowed my eyes and swerved around another tree. "How close are we?" I asked, swerving around another tree and continued that way. "We should be close."

"We are close," Corbin confirmed with a grunt, and his voice was still back to normal and not as hard and cold as it was when he used his group voice. "We have about two miles before we are at the ravine."

I breathed a small sigh of relief and slowly nodded, but I kept my eyes on the road while I continued to drive, swerving to the left and following the path that had been set for me, glancing at the screen every so often to make sure that I was going the way that I needed to go.

Bullets continued to hit my truck while I continued to go towards the spot where I prayed that Joel was waiting for me, but for some reason it sounded as if they were getting further and further apart and less frequent.

"Do you hear that?" I asked and glanced at the man beside me before I turned my attention back to the road.

Corbin set his jaw and narrowed his eyes. His eyes glanced back and forth before he looked at me. "The bullets getting further apart?" he asked, and I nodded in confirmation. "Do you think they are running out of bullets?"

"Possibly," I said and swerved around another tree before I pushed the gas pedal closer to the floor board, and my truck seemed to roar in anger before it started to go faster, all of the dials turning to the right side, making our way bouncier.

"Still don't stop bec-"

"Does it look like I am stopping?" I snapped, interrupting him. I scowled and narrowed my eyes, pressing my lips into a thin line. "We are going faster, stupid."

Corbin muttered something under his breath that I couldn't hear but didn't say another word. He kept looking out of the windshield and then his window, grabbing the "oh shit" bar tighter in his hands. His whole body was tense, and I knew that he was not enjoying this at all.

Neither of us were...

I kept my gaze straight ahead and out the windshield, even though there were multiple cracks in it from the bullets that hit but bounced off, ricocheting in one direction and then another.

Trees started to thin out on either side of the unseen road we were on, and Corbin slowly started to sigh in relief.

"Don't do that just yet, Corbin," I warned while I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. "We are not out of the woods yet. We still have t-"

Once we reached the edge of the woods and was almost clear from the remaining trees, there was a loud thud as if something landed on the hood of the car, and we jumped out of our seats, with me yelling "shit!" and slamming my foot hard on the brakes and twisting the steering wheel sharply to the left.

The truck screeched and lifted to one side until we were on two tires, but thankfully we didn't roll over while I jerked the wheel to the other way, steadying ourselves.

The thing that landed on my truck roof seemed to have held on because once we were steady and stopped, there was this blinding bright light that covered the whole car and the woods before it stopped, leaving nothing but...

...Silence...