“There is no Adam Young—at least not one married to you.”
“Oh…is that what this is about?” Lora sighed. “His name is Andrew Young, not Adam. You got the name wrong.”
Tav snorted loudly and rudely, his foot falling heavier onto the gas as they whipped through town so fast, Lora was shocked they did not get pulled over.
“You mean Oliver got the name screwed up,” he retorted furiously. “There’s no husband, Lora. Oliver—if that’s really his name—lied to you. About all of it.”
Defensiveness shot through Lora.
“His name is Oliver. I saw his credit card. What has gotten into you? You left me with him! We saw the same news story! I don’t understand why you’re acting like this all of the sudden!”
Her voice reached a fever pitch of alarm, but Tav did not slow down.
“I know you don’t believe me right now, Lora, but it’s true. You’re not related to that guy, and you’re not married. When we get home, I’ll prove it to you.”
“Stop and let me out of the car right now, Octavius!” she shouted, tears of fear welling in her eyes. “You’re scaring me!”
Tav’s face softened slightly, but he did not make any move to slow down.
“I can’t, I’m sorry.”
“You can!” she cried out, the tears slipping down her cheeks, but he fully turned his eyes away, full lips firming at the sight.
“You’re making this more difficult than it needs to be, Lora. Don’t forget, I’m the one who found you and brought you to safety.”
“And now you’re kidnapping me!” she yelled back. “My brother is waiting. He’s going to be freaking out.”
“He’s not your brother!”
There was a distinctive roar to Tav’s words, and it was enough to silence Lora. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and looked out the window, daring not to breathe, lest she upset the beast inside him.
How could I have been so wrong about him? She thought mournfully, blinking rapidly. How could he act so normally and then behave like this?
A part of her screamed that there had to be a logical explanation, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Tav had been watching her from the moment he had supposedly left her at the hotel. She recalled how she felt like a pair of eyes had been on her, and now it made sense.
She wondered if he had been stewing about letting her walk away, the way she had been regretting leaving him.
But he didn’t even put up that much of a fight when it was time to go. He offered to take me anywhere I wanted to go.
She considered that perhaps there had been a catalyst to his behavior, that maybe he had really learned something in the time that they had been apart. But gauging by his actions, she wasn’t sure she could believe anything that came out of his mouth.
He never intended to let me go. He was just biding his time to take me away.
And now, Lora was trapped in a truck with a madman who would not stop prattling on about wolves.
She cast him another glance through her peripheral vision, and he did the same. They were sizing one another up in that moment, but neither was particularly happy with what they saw.
9
In his gut, Tav knew what he was doing was wrong, but he could think of no other way to protect Lora. It was gnawing at him, creating a hole in his gut. The look on Lora’s face and her reaction did nothing to alleviate his stress, but there was no other solution he could think of in the interim. The louder she fought him, the more determined he became to bring her to quiet safety, at least until he could get his head on straight and figure out a way for this matter to be resolved. Lora was being too stubborn to hear him out, and if he let her go, he knew that Oliver would do something terrible to her, like he had when he’d left her in the woods.
Did he leave her in the woods or was that someone else? It seems odd that he was looking for her here when he was from New Mexico. He certainly knew where to find her. He must have been responsible for leaving her where I found her. But why?
There were so many questions about who he was and why he had done what he had, but Tav was no closer to finding the answers than he had been in Alamosa. Lora’s constant demands were not helping to clear his mind either.
“What are you going to do with me?” Lora asked dully as he steered his vehicle back up the mountain roads. “Are you going to hurt me?”
He cast her a sidelong look laced with some annoyance, but he was more hurt than anything by her query.
Hurt you? If I were going to hurt you, I wouldn’t be doing all this, he wanted to bark at her. But somehow, he managed to keep his composure, knowing that yelling at her was not going to make the situation go any smoother. Things had already gotten too out of control, and raising his voice was not the response.
“I’m taking you home,” he replied curtly. “Of course I’m not going to hurt you.”
She didn’t look convinced, but she continued to stare at him with impassive brown eyes.
“What are you going to do with me?” she insisted. “Why won’t you tell me what you intend to do?”
Again, Tav checked his temper.
“What do you think I’m doing with you?” he snapped. “Have I done anything to hurt you so far?”
“I have no idea what your intentions are. Two hours ago, I would say that you were a gentleman, but now…”
“Now, what?” Tav growled, sensing the answer before Lora blurted it out.
“Now you’re acting completely irrationally. Can you tell me what changed? What happened?”
“I’m trying to explain it to you, but you’re not listening,” he complained.
“That’s because you’re not making any sense at all! What wolves? What does that even mean?!”
Tav inhaled deeply and tried to collect himself before answering. He understood why she was so nervous, but after the time they had spent together, he had hoped that she would have a little more faith in him.
“Look,” he said, managing to keep his tone reasonable. “I learned some things about that man that tell me he’s not who you think.”
“In two hours?” she demanded. “After we looked into this together?”
“Yes,” he replied simply. “I found out after I dropped you off.”
“That’s convenient.”
“Actually, it’s decidedly inconvenient,” he retorted. “If I’d known earlier, I could have saved myself the trip and not had this fight with you.”
He eyed her and sighed.
“Lora, don’t forget that I was the one who showed you the news story. If I were out to hurt you or hide you, I wouldn’t have done that, would I?”
“I guess.”
The dubiousness in her voice told Tav that his work was an uphill battle, and for a fleeting moment, he wondered why he was bothering. It was clear that Lora had already made up her mind about Oliver. In that short time they had spent together, the wolf had convinced her of whatever it was he wanted her to believe.
Could I be wrong? Could Oliver genuinely be someone who is concerned for her, even if he lied about who he was? He certainly seems to know her.