Free Alpha's Captive 04 - Haven by V. M. Black Page A

something.”
    “Getting yourself killed is something, all right.” Her sarcasm was biting. Trust Harper not to pull any punches.
    “Look, I tried to do it the right way—make plans, get a team, all that stuff,” Levi said. “I went through all the proper channels, you know. Stood in front of the damned clan council. And they just shot me down. Too risky, they said. I didn’t have proof, they said. I’d just make it worse for them, they said.”
    Harper’s eyes found his in the rearview mirror. “Were they wrong?”
    “They’re going to be wrong, dammit,” he snapped, stomping his foot into the bottom of his other shoe. The stolen shoes were slightly tight around the toes and loose at the heels, but they’d do. “I understand their decision, okay? I didn’t know what form the data would take. I didn’t even have proof that there was data—I just thought there had to be, or else all the ridiculous crap that Mortensen was doing didn’t make any sense. So, yeah, it was a big risk without knowing that stuff and an even bigger risk without approval or backup or, or anything.”
    He glared at Harper in the rearview mirror. “But it was either go for it myself or stand by as we were all pushed farther and farther into the boondocks, hiding out in the mountains because we didn’t dare stick our noses out. Some of the culls haven’t left their families’ property for years because they’re too damned scared. That’s not life. That’s a prison.”
    “So you decided to jump on your motorcycle and steal it yourself without even knowing for sure what it was,” she said. “For the family that you don’t even see anymore. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea to me.”
    “Someone on the council leaked,” Levi said, every word dripping with bitterness. “That’s the only thing I can think of. They were ready for me when I got there, and they knew who I was.”
    T he edged, angry light in Harper’s eyes faded. “You can’t really trust anyone, can you? And you did it anyway. For them.”
    He laughed. “That’s the whole of the thing, isn’t it? There’s always a vampire hanging around, looking for an angle, looking for leverage. The SOB on the council probably didn’t think he had a choice. But if this works….”
    “If it works, you’ ll all have choices,” she finished. “You’ll be free. I get it. You went off on some damned suicidal mission out of a messed up sense of loyalty—”
    “They’re my family, Harper.” He cut her off. “What would you have done?”
    Her eyes flickered back to his again, and there was the tiniest hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth. “Probably the same stupid thing. But I’m not exactly known for my good life choices.”
    Levi angled in the seat so that he could stretch his legs. “I’m sure you’ll be amazed to hear that neither am I. Give me your phone, and I’ll figure out a route from here, okay? It’s probably not smart to stay on this road.”
    Harper turned on her phone, unlocked it, and handed it back to him. It buzzed with new message notifications just as Levi took it.
    “There’s a charger in here, so we should plug it in as soon as we get a chance,” she said.
    Levi glanced at her screen. Her messenger and her text apps had angry red dots with several dozen notifications between them, and her call history showed another nine.
    He cleared his throat. “You usually get a lot of texts?”
    Harper peered at him through the rearview mirror. “A few every day. Why?”
    “I think you may have made the news.” He tapped over to her texts and scrolled through them quickly, getting the gist of the messages. “Yeah. You’ve definitely made the news.”
    She reached back. “I’ve got to tell them I’m okay—”
    “No,” Levi said, tapping over quickly to the map app. “If you do that, they’ll tell the cops, and then Mortensen’s goons might know that you turned on the phone sooner than they would otherwise and they’ll