She shook her head. “No, but you can trust him.”
“I like your father, Linda. I want him to have plausible deniability, which is also why you can’t come with me. I’ve got a plan. I’ll call your new phone in several days to check in.” I squeezed her hand. “When I’m safe, I’ll come for you. We can start a new life.”
I couldn’t tell her the truth. Not the whole truth, anyway. I didn’t fully trust her. I needed to know that I was safe first.
My bag was already packed. We shifted, a horribly difficult activity for me that took too many precious minutes, and slipped out of my father’s keep relatively unnoticed. After hearing the wolves howling in the west, we ran east.
The escape was easy because no one dared to think I could ever make it this far. We waded into the river and then split up wi
