I laid my head back against the headrest but my body was too tense to relax. Scott moved, turning his face toward me and his eyes tried to focus on my face. “Why do you hate me?” His voice was small and vulnerable like a little boy’s and I was too shocked to respond. It took me a long moment to remember that his mind was messed up and he probably had no idea who he was talking to. “I wish you didn’t hate me,” he mumbled sadly.

“I don’t hate you, Scott.” It was the truth. I didn’t like him, but I did not hate him either.

“I’m glad.” His head lolled to the other side and he pointed at the empty parking lot. “What a funny looking camel,” he said before his eyes closed again. Definitely messed up. I bit my lip. Scott and I might not get along but I didn’t want to see him hurt.

I was still puzzled by Scott’s strange behavior earlier and why he had hung around the rest stop in the first place. It was almost like he had been waiting for me to come out of the diner. But that couldn’t be right. The last person Scott Foley would willingly spend time with was me.

A few minutes later, Judith’s car raced into view. I sagged in relief. “It’s Roland,” I told Peter who lifted a hand in acknowledgement then let it fall back to his side.

Roland ran over and tried to open the driver door. I hit the unlock button and he yanked the door open. He stared open-mouthed at Scott before his eyes moved to me sitting behind the wheel and then to Peter on the back seat. “What the hell happened to you guys?”

I let out a shaky laugh. “It’s a long story. Can you look at Peter first? He’s been stabbed.”

Roland helped me out of the car because my arms and legs felt a little like wet noodles. Then he pushed the seat forward and leaned in to look at Peter. He withdrew and gave me an encouraging nod and spoke low so Scott could not hear him. “He’s okay. It takes us a bit longer to heal when we’re not in wolf form. As soon as we get him somewhere private, he can shift and heal that in a few minutes.”

“Oh, thank God!” I sat on the driver’s seat again and rested my forehead against the wheel. At least I hadn’t gotten one of my best friends killed. I wasn’t a total screw-up.

“We heard the police were called for a commotion out on the highway an hour ago. They said a crazy girl choked a guy at the rest stop and tore out of there in a red Mustang, banging up cars and being chased by a black SUV. I guess I don’t need to ask if you know anything about that.”

“I only hit one car, and that man deserved to be choked for stabbing Peter.”

Before he could reply, a motorcycle roared around the corner of the church.

“You called him,” I said accusingly.

“I didn’t have to. He’s been all over my ass since you disappeared from Dylan’s. He probably put one of those damn trackers on the car before I took off to look for you.”

The motorcycle stopped a few feet from us. Nikolas leapt off and strode straight for the Mustang. His hand closed around my arm and he unceremoniously hauled me from the car. “Do you have a death wish?” he shouted.

“Hey!” I protested but my mouth clamped shut at the thunderous look on his face. He pulled me closer until I could feel the heat radiating from him. Oh crap, was he in one of those rages Chris had mentioned?

I struggled futilely. “Let me go.”

“Forget it. You’re coming with me since it’s obvious you can’t be trusted to take care of yourself.”

“Now wait a minute,” Roland protested, coming around the car as I tried to pull away from Nikolas.

If Nikolas had hackles I swear they would have been raised at that moment. “I’ll do whatever is necessary to protect her, even if it’s from herself.”

My own outrage boiled over. “The hell you will! You don’t own me.”

Surprisingly it was Peter who stepped in – figuratively from the back seat – to play referee. “Hey, this is not helping anyone. Before you all go off half cocked, why don’t you let us tell you what happened?”

Nikolas nodded stiffly and released my arm but did not move away from me. Ignoring his towering form, I explained to Roland how I had met with David as planned and I was about to call Phil to pick us up when the man named Tarek showed up. I heard Nikolas’s sharp intake of breath beside me but I refused to look at him. When I got to the part about arrival of the witch, I saw comprehension dawn in Roland’s eyes and I knew his thoughts mirrored mine. Why were the men from the marina after me? I had been in such a panic to get away from the rest stop that I didn’t think to ask the witch that question.

Nikolas cut in. “You’re sure about him, what he looked like?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that face after what he did,” I said, unable to keep the quiver out of my voice. Thinking about the way he had touched my mind made me feel violated all over again.

“What did he do?” Nikolas’s voice took on a dangerous note I’d never heard before. I paused, afraid to tell him what happened next.

“Sara, did he hurt you?”

“No, not really. He tried to do something to my mind. It felt like something… awful got inside my head and took control of me. I couldn’t move or say anything.” I shuddered at the memory. “It was the most horrible feeling, like I’d never be clean again.”

Roland blanched. “Fuck! How did you get away?”