Luca shrugged. “I’ve seen a lot of movies.”
It could work. It had to work. It was as a better plan than anything Nox had come up with so far. His had been to run and keep running. But Luca was right: there were only so many places to go and the van was old. They couldn’t risk getting stranded somewhere leaving Luca out in the open, making him an easy target.
Nox put his empty bottle into one of the plastic bags with the trash. “The drive from here to there is what? Fourteen? Fifteen hours? That’s just road time.” And if they took the backroads like they had so far, it could be longer.
“Something like that, why?” Luca set aside the laptop.
“It’s at least a couple days drive.” Especially if they stayed the night at a motel so Luca could rest like he needed to. And he’d definitely need to rest after Nox got through with him.
Fuck.
Nox picked through the bag to give his hands something to do.
“Do you honestly have somewhere else to be?” Luca pushed his bangs out of his face. The gesture made him appear years younger. But then he met Nox’s gaze, and his eyes were those of a much older man. Older than Nox.
His stomach growled.
Luca laughed. “That sounds serious. You might want to feed it.” He took out the loaf of peach bread and held it out. “I swear it’s really good and filling.”
Nox was sure it was, but it wasn’t what he needed.
Who he needed.
Worse—wanted.
Nox popped the handle on the door. “I’m going to go take a walk.”
“In the dark?” Luca put down the peach bread.
“I can see in the dark, remember?”
“And you just want to take a walk. Right now?”
Nox rubbed his face, then rubbed his hands on his knees. “I need to eat.”
“Then eat the jerky. I’m full.”
“I wasn’t kidding back there at the restaurant about two forty-ounce steaks.”
Luca scrunched up his eyebrows.
“I need to eat. A lot. To do that I need to let the Anubis hunt. It’s difficult enough to control it when I’m not taxed for resources.” And if Nox couldn’t get control of it, he’d have Luca in the back screaming his name. Nox shoved open the door. A breath of cool air warred with the inferno under his skin.
“How long will you be gone?”
“A couple hours, maybe. I’m not sure. But don’t wait up. Sometimes it likes….” Did he tell him? “It likes to play with its prey.” He got out. “If you get too cold use the other sleeping bag.” Nox stripped off his shirt and pants. He piled them in the seat. “If it comes back here instead of me don’t get out of the van.”
“What do you mean instead of you?”
Nox scrubbed a hand over his head. “It’s restless, Luca. And sometimes after it kills it can be difficult to rein in. If I can’t overpower the Anubis, it will come back here without me because it wants you.”
Luca’s cheeks pinked up. “I’m not—”
Nox held up a hand. “I know you’re not afraid of it. But after it hunts, it can be… aggressive.” An understatement. “It might hurt you on accident.” Which was the truth. Because if the Anubis came back here to find Luca, it would fuck him, and it would fuck him with brutality.
And just because it had its wires crossed and saw Luca as their Alpha, it didn’t change the fact he wasn’t.
Luca shook his head. “You cut through a two-inch deadbolt and steel door at the rest stop. Do you really think this tin can will stop it?”