The salty breeze off the Pacific washed over us as we loped along a path between a stretch of trees. On the other side, a small plane waited on a grassy runway. We scrambled up the steps into the cabin.
The space was bigger than I’d have expected from the outside of the plane. The ceiling was high enough that even Nate didn’t need to hunch. Five pairs of leather-cushioned seats lined one wall. Marco dropped into one, running his hand through his jagged black hair. Aaron went to talk to the pilot who’d come running over.
It was a good thing the ceiling could accommodate Nate, because he was pacing back and forth in the aisle. His jaw worked and his hands were balled at his sides. “When I find them,” he said. “When I find the rogues who did this...”
“Hey.” I touched his arm, and he stopped, turning toward me. I looked up at him, raising my hand to cup his cheek. “We will find them, and we’ll make them regret any harm they’ve done. We’re getting there as fast as we can.”
“I know. I just—” He shook his head. Teasing his fingers into my hair, he bent to kiss me. The tender press of his lips gave me the same shiver of pleasure as always, but I could still feel the frustration coiled through his body. He wasn’t going to be able to relax until we got to his estate.
“This might help,” Aaron said, returning. He tossed a cell phone to Nate and passed two others to West and Marco. “One of my assistants grabbed them from your rooms. The pilot is just checking the systems. We should be ready to go in a minute.”
Nate grasped the phone with a relieved exhale and dialed a number. He went back to pacing as he brought the phone to his ear. I wavered on my feet, not sure what to do now. Was there anything I could do? I hated feeling this useless.
The jet’s engine thrummed on. A hand grasped my wrist. “I don’t think you want to try takeoff standing up, Sparks,” West said in his usual gruff tone. He tugged me toward the seat next to him. “That might be a little much even for you.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Thanks for your concern.” But I did sit down. West and I currently had a... very complicated relationship. He insisted he still wasn’t sure I was cut out for the dragon shifter’s role—or the role of his mate. On the other hand, he’d seemed very enthusiastic about me when we’d made out the other night. The earth and pine smell of him next to me was enough to get me a little warm between the legs as I remembered that moment.
At least the last time we’d talked he’d been able to admit that his issues were mostly his, not mine. And every now and then I saw a softer side to him. He’d stood up for me when I needed it. Thrown himself into battle more than once to protect me. The rest I guessed we’d just have to take it as it came.
Even Nate had finally sat down now, although he was talking urgently into the phone. The rumble of the engine rose as the jet started to move. It hurtled forward with increasing speed. There was a quick jolt, and we lifted off the ground.
My stomach lurched, but I knew it wasn’t just because of the acceleration. The rogues had already caused enough pain in my life. The last thing I was looking forward to was seeing the destruction they’d brought to Nate’s estate.
Chapter 2
Ren
The plane shuddered, and my eyes popped open. I hadn’t even realized I’d closed them, but they were so heavy I’d obviously been asleep for a while. There was a crick in my neck from having my head slumped over.
Slumped over against... someone’s leanly muscled shoulder. A shoulder that held the faint scent of earthy pine.
Oh crap. I jerked back in my seat, my heart skipping. I’d been so tired from our late and then interrupted night that I’d fallen asleep on my neighbor. Who happened to be West.
Who was watching me with an unreadable expression now.
“Um, sorry about that,” I said. “I promise I didn’t do it on purpose. I would never mistake you for a pillow.”
Maybe that wasn’t the most solid apology ever? I could definitely read the wolf shifter’s expression now: That, folks, was a glower.
“Somehow that didn’t stop you from using me as one,” he pointed out.
“Yeah, well, you know, unconscious and all, can’t be held responsible for my actions.” I gestured vaguely with my hands.
“I hope that’s not an excuse you’re planning on pulling out very often.”
I rolled my eyes. Would it kill him to cut me a break for a minute here and there? “If it bothered you so much, you could always have woken me up and made me move.”
Something shifted in West’s eyes. Something that made my mind trip back to that moment in the garden the other night when he’d laid me beneath him on that bench, his mouth all over me. I’d swear the temperature between us rose by ten degrees in that one instant as he held my gaze now, but maybe it was only me feeling it.
He reached out and grazed his fingers over my cheek. Brushing an errant strand of my hair away from my eyes. My pulse hiccupped at the gentle touch. He was so close it would have been simple to tangle my fingers in his silver-streaked auburn hair and—
West sat back in his seat, turning his gaze toward the front of the plane. Away from me. “We’re almost there. Better prepare yourself, Sparks. Your job is only going to get harder.”
I mentally smacked myself. Even if West had been remotely receptive to some kind of come on, now wasn’t the time to be thinking about getting it on with anyone. We had the rogue attack to deal with. I still didn’t know how serious the assault had been.
It was just hard to ignore the unceasing tug of the bond inside me. I was pretty sure the pull was getting even more insistent when it came to the two guys I hadn’t consummated our bond with yet. Apparently it didn’t care that I had perfectly good reasons for taking my time with Marco and West.
I leaned to the other side of my seat. It was easy to spot Nate a couple rows up. His dark brown hair, thick as his grizzly bear pelt, showed over the back of his seat. He had at least a few inches on all the other guys, all of whom were far from short.
My hand dropped to my seatbelt. But before I could go over and ask what the bear shifter had found out with his phone calls, the plane jerked again. A calm voice filtered from the speaker on the ceiling.
“You all should remain seated for the next ten minutes. We’re coming in for our landing now.”
Okay, I guessed I wasn’t going anywhere yet. I tried to relax in my seat, but my heart was thumping now, and that had nothing to do with West a few inches away beside me. A glance out the window showed a stretch of rocky, desert-like landscape bleeding into a dense forest in the thin light of the emerging dawn. Nate’s estate—the center of operations for the disparate kin who didn’t belong to the canine, feline, or avian groups—lay in one of the wilder parts of California.