Their Pride

Their Pride Part 54

Chapter 53

“I don’t like this,” Ned mumbled from the driver’s seat. 

I inched forward as much as the seatbelt would allow me, and said, “Nothing bad is going to happen.”

Seb wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me back.  We were sitting in the backseat, like always.  I never understood their aversion in allowing me to sit in the passenger’s seat.  What was going to happen to me if I was one seat up?  Nothing.

“One positive thing about it,” Seb whispered in my ear, “is that you get to sit next to me.”

A small smile crossed my lips, and I shrugged.  “It matters whose opinion you take.”

“The only opinions that matter are yours and mine,” he said.

Glancing over at him, I pecked him on the lips before sitting straight once more.  I didn’t want to admit it, but Ned was right.  Something didn’t feel right.  Now, I was beginning to wonder if my orders were good ones.  Should I have kept Ned with me?  I knew he wasn’t one of the few who had enough mental capacity to keep the dark magic from taking over, but earlier, I hadn’t thought of that.  I had sent the only one of my guards, still with us, into the Jeep behind us, the Jeep that I could not see any more if I glanced out the back window. 

Fog curled around us, making anything five feet away invisible for even shifter eyes.  It felt odd, it felt as if someone had planned this, but that couldn’t be right, could it?  The threat wasn’t here; Zeke was going after the threat.  Zeke knew where the threat was, and it wasn’t in the direction we were going.  So, why did I have an uneasy feeling slinking down my spine every time I glanced out the window?

Seb’s arm tightened around me.  “Ned is right,” he whispered.  “Something is wrong.”

“Not out loud.”

He glanced over at me with a questioning look before shrugging.  “What’s happening?”

“I gave them Andrew because they needed one that was strong enough to fight off whoever was after us.  I never thought of the fact that the only one who cannot fight the black magic, in this car, is the one who is driving.”

“Shit,” he whispered.

Knowing he was blaming himself, I pushed closer to his body for comfort.  “It’s not your fault.  We both should have thought about that.  I don’t know where he is taking us, but I don’t think this is Ned.”

“Why?”

“When have you known Ned to be quiet and not lecture me the entire time about what I should be doing to protect myself?  This is Ned we’re talking about.”

A chuckle whispered through my mind.  “You’re right.  Now what?”

I shrugged against his chest.  “We let them take us where ever it is that they have planned.  If they were smart, they would realize how much they’re helping me out.”

“How’s that?”

I looked up at him.  His brown eyes held all the love and acceptance I could ever want, and I knew that whatever happened, I wouldn’t let him die.  When we left the vehicle, their gang of traitors would be waiting for us.  If I could, I would push Seb out of the car; I would make sure that he was safe.  I couldn’t though.  The only thing I could do was keep us both alive, because without one, there will never be another.  Without Seb, I know I would never be the same, and if I died, he would die with me.  He had no bond mate to keep him grounded when the pain hit him.  He had no one to bring him back from the brink of death if something were to happen to me.