“My mother,” Cole growled, and I ran a soothing hand over his neck.
“Okay, well that explains this tension between you two, and I doubt it's something we can work through in the time we have,” I said carefully, trying not to escalate the already thick danger in the air. “Vali, why don't you tell us why you're here? Do your people know you're here?”
He shook his head, his arms still folded across his chest as he leaned against the wall. “I am not willing to discuss my reasons with anyone but you.”
“Well then, you won't be discussing them at all,” Cole snapped, tugging me down off my perch and into his lap. He wrapped his arms around me, and I could sense him glaring at his brother over my head. “If you think for a second we will leave you alone with her, you're wrong.”
“I guess I will be hanging around until I can convince you otherwise then,” Vali replied with a stubborn set to his jaw. “Because I am not leaving until I can speak with Kit alone.”
Rubbing my eyes, I sighed. “Cole, I think it's best I just let Vali say what he came here for. Sooner or later his merry band of criminals will notice him missing and cause more drama for us, which is just so incredibly not what we need right now.”
As absurd as it sounded, I genuinely thought Cole would be reasonable and agree, so I was surprised when his grip on me tightened and a threatening, almost animalistic growl rumbled through his chest.
“No,” he snarled, leaving no room for argument. River caught my shocked gaze and gave me a tiny frown. Even he seemed concerned by Cole's reaction.
“I think it's time we headed off,” River said, frowning between Cole and Vali then holding out his hand to me. “Kit, come to the kitchen with me, and we can get you more coffee before we need to leave.” Leaning forward, I took his hand, but still Cole didn't release his hold on me.
“Cole, mate. Let the kitten go so she can re-caffeinate. You know how she gets if she doesn't have enough coffee.” River's voice was low and calm, like he was speaking to a wild animal, but the words seemed to sink in. Cole immediately relaxed his grip on me and pressed a quick kiss on my shoulder before allowing me to stand and follow River to the kitchen.
Before leaving the room, I looked back and found him frowning like he was confused.
Once inside the kitchen, River turned and cupped my face gently in his palm.
“Are you okay?” He asked in a soft voice, the one he only ever used when we were alone.
“I'm fine, but what the hell was that? The way Cole just reacted was…” I trailed off, at a loss for words. It was weird. Downright weird.
“I have no idea,” he muttered, “but I think until he and Dragomir sort their issues out, it would be best for you to give them both a bit of a wide berth. Or at least try not to be caught alone with either of them. The shit that they both went through as kids, it tends to leave some pretty heavy mental scars. But you know that better than me.” His golden eyes seemed to fill with sadness. I wanted to reassure him, but my words were cut short by the kitchen door opening behind me.
“Guys, we’d better head out if we want to be gone before the Director arrives,” Wesley advised as he approached us. “Will you tell us later why you don't want him to know where we are going?”
“Later,” I agreed, jerking a quick nod. “So what's the plan?”
30
As it turned out, the plan was to charter a private plane using River's personal accounts so that it wouldn't be flagged with Omega. My reasons for not wanting to tell Jonathan where we were going were simple. He was acting really strange, and my gut told me something was up. Thankfully, the guys took me at my word and didn't press any further on it.
Things between Vali and Cole had simmered to an uncomfortable stalemate, but at least they weren't trying to kill one another… yet. After Cole's odd reaction at the safe house, he had remained very quiet and had barely said five words the whole way to the air field.
As we boarded the luxurious Cessna, he snagged my hand, pulling me gently back from the other guys.
“Vixen, about earlier…” he said quietly, not meeting my eyes. “I don't know what happened. I didn't mean to act like such a caveman; Vali just seriously gets under my skin.”
“Hey.” I placed my hand on his cheek, bringing his deep gray eyes up to mine. “Don't worry about it. It was just a bit of an extreme reaction, and it had us worried. I can't help but wonder if it's got something to do with that healing…”
Cole shrugged. “Maybe? Or it could just be my fucking asshole brother getting to me. I'm not always… I mean, it took a really long time to work through everything. With my father, my mother's death… him. Sometimes it just sends me to a dark place.”
“Cole, you don't need to explain. To me of all people. Trust me when I say I understand.” My gaze held his for a moment longer, then I gave him a quick kiss on the lips and took his hand to continue the rest of the way inside the plane.
We settled in for the six hour flight to Anchorage, from where we would then need to take a sea plane to reach the little fishing village that our possible lead was located within. It was a small aircraft, set out with only eight wide recliner chairs and a bathroom, as well as all the normal facilities. Deciding to steer clear of any more conflicts, I sat towards the back of the plane in an armchair opposite Wesley, and he pulled out a deck of cards.
At my curious head tilt, he smiled. “You want to play Go Fish?”
I snorted a loud laugh at his game of choice but nodded and held out my hand for the cards he was counting.
“This is ridiculous,” I muttered as I browsed through the hand I had been dealt. Wesley pulled out a tray table to set the remaining deck on, then sat back, getting comfortable in his seat. “Do you have any twos?”
“Go fish!” He grinned, meeting my amused gaze as I took a card from the deck. “Why ridiculous? I always play cards on long flights. Any tens?”
I scowled, then handed over the ten I'd just picked up. “It's ridiculous because people keep kidnapping me, trying to kill all of us, magic is real, and we are on our way for burgers and beer with a supposed real life shapeshifter. And we are playing Go Fish.”
“Do you have any fives?” he asked, and I shook my head with a smile, pointing to the deck. “What makes you think it's a shapeshifter we are going to meet? Mr. Gregoric only said this guy was a Supe didn't he?”
“Supe?” I queried, and he shrugged one shoulder.
“Supernatural has too many syllables, and I feel like it’s probably a word we are going to be using a lot, so I shortened it.” He shuffled his cards around again.