Chosen Prey by Cheyenne McCray Page B

the car's license plate number.
    Not much later, the car turned at the exit that would take them to Sierra Vista. There was no way Dare was going to lose them now.
    It crossed his mind that Lyra could no doubt take care of herself and would make it cross-country without his help, while running from the cult.
    But that gut feeling he'd had since meeting her wouldn't let go. On so many levels he felt the need to help this woman and keep her safe. Hell, he barely knew her. But he wanted to protect her while finding some way to get the bastards off her back—for good.
    Lyra leaned her head back against the headrest of the passenger seat. "I can't thank you enough for giving me a ride."
    The brunette shrugged a shoulder. "No problem. You don't look like a killer, and I can always use the company." She had large brown eyes and enough freckles on her face and arms for six people.
    Lyra hoped she could trust this woman, too. She sighed at the word "trust" again and clenched the straps of her backpack. "It's just as hard to hitch a ride with a total stranger, too. In the past, I've caught rides with women. I especially don't trust men."
    "Don't you have that right." The brunette tossed her a smile. "What's your name?"
    "Janet," Lyra said without hesitation. She'd used that name when she'd hitchhiked fifteen hundred miles to Tucson from Sandy, Oregon. Once in Tucson she'd lived on the streets until she saved up enough money from selling her artwork to hitch rides to one of the smallest towns she could find to hide in, a place that was also an artists' community where she could sell her metalwork and live off the income.
    "I'm Doris." The forty-something woman kept glancing from the road back to Lyra.
    "Why are you hitchhiking?"
    It was Lyra's turn to shrug. "Time to move on."
    "Where are you headed?"
    Lyra paused. "San Francisco."
    Doris seemed fine with Lyra's brief responses. The woman turned out to be pretty chatty, which was a relief to Lyra. She wasn't in the mood to talk. While Doris rattled on about every man she'd dated in the past year, Lyra's thoughts kept returning to Dare. She couldn't get her mind off the man—and it wasn't just that he'd saved her from The People.
    No, if she was being honest with herself, she'd felt a deep, dangerous attraction to the man.
    His dark hair and brown eyes, the fluid way he moved, the finely muscled chest she'd seen last night. And his scent and the memory of how it had felt to be in his arms when he'd comforted her.
    Get with the program, Lyra! It was just one of those rescuee-falls-for-rescuer kinda things.
    Lyra sat up straighter in her seat. It was still early and she hadn't had a chance to contact her friends to help Mrs. Y or to make sure the elderly woman was okay.
    "Where do you want me to drop you off?" Doris said, breaking into Lyra's thoughts.
    To her surprise, they were already rolling through the eastern part of Sierra Vista. "Wal-Mart." Lyra gestured to the store on their left.
    "Wal-Mart it is." Doris drove to the large chain store and pulled up in front of the entrance.
    "Let me pay you for my share of the gas," Lyra said as she started to open the flap of her backpack. "It's so expensive now."
    " No ," Doris said with enough emphasis to startle Lyra into looking at the woman. "I was coming here anyway and you were great company."
    "Thank you." Lyra returned the woman's smile as she pulled on the door handle and pushed the car's door open. "You don't know how much I appreciate the ride."
    "Not a problem."
    Lyra climbed out and shut the car door before taking a few steps back. She slipped her arms through the handles of her backpack and hitched it up, waved goodbye, and headed straight into the store.
    It had been the kindness of strangers that had helped her get away from The People to begin with. Even then she'd been through some pretty rough times, but she'd had some help. Only this time, the cash she had in her pack was enough to help her start a new life somewhere else.