Free Flutter by Amanda Hocking Page A

isn’t it?” Ezra continued to pretend to be dumbfounded.
    Leif and Dodge exchanged looks. It was clear that both of them were skeptical of Ezra’s performance,
    even though I thought it was top notch. Then again, they probably had keener vampire
    senses than I did.
    However, based on Dodge’s casual shrug and Leif’s nod, neither of them thought we were a danger to them
    either. We probably weren’t, so that made sense.
    “This is lycan territory,” Leif explained, looking gravely at us. “It’s best if you don’t wander around
    here too much.”
    “Sorry. We’ll be more careful in the future,” Ezra apologized.
    “Make sure that you do,” Dodge winked at us.
    42
    Ezra nodded at them, then started ushering me away, back the way we came. The lycans
    didn’t move
    from where they stood, and I felt their eyes watching us as we hurried through the forest towards the car.
    Ezra kept his hand on my back, making go at a much faster rate than I would’ve enjoyed. I started to say
    something several times, but he shushed me every time until we got to the car.
    “What are we doing?” I asked when he unlocked the Range Rover and got inside.
    “Get in,” Ezra commanded and then slammed his door shut.
    “It’s only one-thirty,” I insisted climbing in after him. “We have plenty of time to look for Peter.”
    “If they caught us in the woods again tonight…” He trailed off.
    When he threw it in drive, he made sure that the doors were locked before racing down the snowy
    road. He kept glancing in the rearview mirror, making me increasingly nervous. I turned around, half
    expecting to see a pack of wolves chasing after us, but there was just an empty road. His demeanor did
    nothing to calm me, even though I couldn’t see exactly what had freaked him out so much.
    The lycans hadn’t
    been all that terrifying. Other than their insanely quick speed and appearing act.
    “What’s going on? They didn’t really seem that bad. In fact, other than the Finnish one in the River,
    they just seemed like your ordinary vampires.” I’d actually seen scarier vampires at the club in Minneapolis,
    and I assumed that Ezra had seen much worse.
    “That’s not the whole pack,” Ezra answered softly, his eyes flitting back to the rearview mirror. “They
    were following us back, and that’s why I wouldn’t let you say anything in the woods. Now they’ve seen us and
    they know what vehicle we drive. One of them is probably following us back to find out
    we’re staying. We
    can’t do anything more tonight.”
    “You’re just being paranoid,” I shook my head, but his certainty was unnerving.
    The road had patches of snow and black ice, and the signs on the side of the road warned that it was
    reindeer crossing all over. In spite of all of this, Ezra sped faster than I had ever seen him drive before, and
    his eyes very rarely stayed on the road on front of us. The green glowing in the sky had started to disappear,
    so I stared out my window at the fading display.
    “I don’t want to freak you out,” he confessed randomly.
    “Thanks,” I replied dryly.
    “I’m not sure how many lycans are in his pack anymore. At times there were as many as
    fifteen or
    twenty, and other times there were as few as four. It just depends on what kind of mood he’s in. He’ll wipe
    43
    out his entire pack for the hell of it, and start over fresh,” Ezra talked as if he was explaining something to me,
    but he was starting in the middle of the idea, making it hard to follow.
    “Who are you talking about?” I looked over at him.
    “Gunnar.” His eyes went to the mirror again, as if by seeing his name he could summon
    him. “He’s
    being leading a pack in the Lapland for the better part of the past three centuries. They winter up there, and
    summer in Russia and Siberia.”
    “How do you know that he’s still the leader? When was the last time you saw him? Have you ever
    even saw him, or is this all just gossip?” I pressed,