"Okay," she said. Secretly, she wondered how she was going to see Jonny again and not want to wrap herself in his arms. The thought of him made her lower belly warm and her pulse race. "Okay."

"When do you want to start?"

"Today," she said instantly.

"You up for it?"

"Does it matter?"

"You're the boss."

Ashley almost smiled. They were giving her the means to pursue Brandon without strings attached for now. It was too easy which meant, something horrible was probably in store with her. She pushed aside the sense of doom, urgent to locate her brother. Whatever happened tomorrow, she'd deal with it when it came.

"I have to find Jonny first," she murmured. "He's going to know where to hunt the rogue vamps."

"I've got your team picked out."

Uneasiness went through her. There was nothing to fear from the Guardians in a physical sense, but she also wasn't quite willing to trust them fully. Their intentions were likely to be something other than they claimed them to be. Xander had warned her and Brandon many times against trusting anyone fully, especially when it came to something that affected their close knit family.

"Okay," she said once more. "I need some clothes and stuff."

"Taken care of. They're in your dresser."

She waited for him to notice how her hands trembled or the dark circles under her eyes and change his mind. Ashley finished eating quickly and retreated to the guestroom where she'd woken up. She looked around and imagined herself living there, on the compound.

For reasons she didn't yet want to face, the idea was depressing. A key component was missing, even if she knew a relationship with Jonny wasn't possible. He wanted nothing to do with her if he'd turned her over to the Guardians.

At the very least, he was going to help her find her brother. This much was non-negotiable.

Then why did she feel torn once again, more interested in seeing Jonny again than leading her own team of Guardians?

She picked up the cell phone waiting for her on a nightstand and typed in the coordinates to see where Valon had wanted her to go. The result was a patch of green in the middle of the pacific northwest, far from any neighboring town or city with no direct roads she could see. Had she not memorized them correctly? Or was this where he intended to trap her?

She sat down, more tired than she wanted to let on. She wasn't about to let Brandon suffer a second longer than necessary, no matter which devil she had to make a deal with. Ashley changed quickly before picking up the phone to send a text. Jonny had kept her and Brandon's phones. She suspected he'd get her message if she sent it to both phones.




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