Read Online Alliance by Lacy Williams as Lacy Yager, Haley Yager - Free Book Online

now running back toward my room. I need the special backpack at the bottom of my closet, the one I keep for situations like this.
    “What’s your address? I’ll come right now.”

 
     
    10 - Shane
    “I’m in the back hallway. Pretty sure this door leads to a set of stairs,” Rachel whispers the words but I’ve got my cell on speakerphone so they’re loud enough to echo in the cab of my truck. It’s gotten muggy outside tonight, and the windows are rolled up. Don’t have to worry about any pedestrians hearing our conversation that way either.
    “How sure?” Chloe asks from where she’s got her chin propped on the back of the bench seat. She’s the “lookout”, watching behind us. I’ve got my eyes glued to Rachel’s new school, just up the block.
    It’s been hours since Rach walked into that school and I’m still buzzing with adrenaline, confusion… attraction. And still mad at myself. How could I let my sister walk right into a vampire’s territory on her own?
    I tap my thumbs against the steering wheel, trying to fidget away my impatience. I hate not being in control of this situation. Plus the sun’s setting, so the familiar anxiety-slash-adrenaline is spiking in my blood.
    “Where’d you get this phone, anyway?” I probably shouldn’t ask, but I’m curious. Did Rachel lift it off one of her classmates?
    “I—”
    A piercing alarm cuts off whatever Rachel started to say. She curses—barely audible over the noise—and then comes the sound of running footsteps.
    “Come on, Rach,” I chant under my breath. I’ve got my foot poised over the gas pedal so when she comes out of the side door we’re outta here.
    “Miss Campton!”
    Crud. The faint voice is unmistakably male and sounds authoritative.
    “Miss Campton!”
    Sounds like a scuffle now, and my hope deflates in my chest. Of course it couldn’t be that easy.
    “What do you think you’re doing, young lady? You don’t have permission to leave campus.”
    “Sorry, Shane,” she mutters, and then the line goes dead.
    I curse.
    Chloe slaps me on the shoulder.
    “Sorry.”
    Crud, crud, crud. I knew it couldn’t be this easy to get Rachel out of here. My frustration is at a boiling point. I haven’t been hunting in several days, because I can’t leave Chloe without protection. I can’t get anyone at social services to get off their butts and help me get Rachel back. And now she can’t escape the school building.
    “It’ll be okay,” Chloe says, shifting to sit back in her seat correctly. “We’ll have to just make another plan. Hey, look!”
    I follow her pointing finger to the door I was just watching and see a figure in a hooded sweatshirt duck outside and start jogging for the street corner.
    “Is that Rach? How’d she get away?” Chloe wonders.
    “Nope, she’s too short.” I can tell it’s a female by the shapely legs, though. Oh, crap. It’s Blondie. Is she out for a hunt?
    She hails a cab.
    I look over at Chloe. I don’t like to take her on the chase, but I don’t want to miss an opportunity to take out Blondie and possibly some other vamps she could lead us to.
    The cab pulls away, and I shove the truck in gear and follow. Or try to, anyway. There’s a lot of cabs in Boston, and traffic sucks. I miss the Midwest.
    I track her to a rundown neighborhood that looks to be a prime hunting ground. Streetlights burned out, homeless guy on the corner, yards filled with junk and more dirt than grass. Yep, this is the kind of neighborhood where you don’t call the cops if someone turns up missing.
    Blondie jumps out of the cab and dashes up to a front door of one of the houses in the middle of the street. Is she just going to bust in like that? It’s not a hunting style I’ve seen before, but she is pretty unusual.
    I throw the truck in park and toss Chloe a stake, just in case. “Stay here. Lock the doors.”
    “What’s going on? If she’s hunting, shouldn’t she be sneaking around?”
    I don’t tell her