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“It’s a little early,” she pointed out. She was right, but that wouldn’t stop me.
“Five o’clock somewhere?” I suggested.
“It’s five o’clock here. In the morning.” She frowned, then held up a hand. “Actually, no. If I drink, and if Denny’s guy is right…”
Her voice trailed off, but I understood what she was saying. Or, what she wouldn’t say, like she was trying not to jinx it.
No nursing mother was free to casually drink without considering how much of that alcohol might end up in her breast milk.
She was thinking, as always, of our sons.
“You’ll have time, Cheeks. Just a glass. For your nerves.” I sipped from my own flute, eager to put a liquid cushion of courage between my own nerves and the boarding gates.
Tentatively, she accepted my offering. “Oh, what the hell.”
The champagne was nice, if a little flat and warm. Unfortunately, it did very little to still my pre-flight jitters. As we boarded, I felt an old, familiar tightness in my chest, and a strong impulse to turn around and run.
I’d never liked flying, even if it was the quickest way between point A and point B. But today, the thought of being hundreds of miles above civilization in what essentially amounted to a tin can operating on dubious physics was nothing compared to the big what-if hanging over our heads.
Tonight, we’d either fall asleep with the comforting knowledge that our sons were safe and sound, resting in their crib next to us, or we’d be going home empty-handed, in which case, I doubted we’d sleep at all.
This was for the boys. As long as I reminded myself of that, it made things a little easier.
I’d spend a lifetime up in the air if it meant my sons would be home safe again.
The plane filled up fast. A stewardess came by to take our pre-flight drink orders and offer us hot towels. Another delivered a round of warm mixed nuts. All of it happened without any sign of our pet bounty hunter. I knew Felicity had sent him his ticket and boarding info, but his absence was palpable. I wasn’t sure Denny was going to show up.
He finally slouched in just before the stewardesses started closing the doors. He was the very last to board.
“Fucking airports,” he grumbled as he slumped into the aisle seat across from us. It was the most relatable thing he’d said since we met. He cast a quick glance over to us. Felicity, knees bouncing impatiently. Me, nursing a plastic cup of Coke spiked with a miniature bottle of Jack Daniels and doing my best not to remember plane crash statistics. “You two okay?”
“Suppose that depends on what we find once we hit Dallas,” I said through gritted teeth.
“S’pose it does,” he agreed.
I let out a short breath. “I owe you an apology, Denny. It seems like you were right after all. I’m—”
Sorry, I wanted to say, but Denny cut me off.
“We’ve got four hours between here and Texas,” he grunted. “My advice? Get some sleep if you can.”
I wanted to finish my apology, ask him for more info about what his guys had found at the ranch, but he pulled his sleeping mask down over his eyes and tilted his seat back before I could.
“You mind if I hold your hand?” I asked Felicity once the flight attendants collected our empty drinks and launched into their safety spiel.
“Of course not.”
She held her hand out, and I locked my fingers into the spaces between hers. Her palm was soft and fine-boned. As the engines revved up, and the plane moved forward, I squeezed it tightly enough that she winced.
“Shit. Sorry.” My heart was thrumming at a thousand beats a minute, but I forced myself to relax my grip.
“We haven’t even taken off yet,” she muttered. “You weren’t kidding about hating planes.”
“Yeah, well.” I scowled, keeping my gaze straight ahead. “You’d hate ’em too, if you had a wolf inside you clamoring to get out.”
“You feel like shifting? Here?” She glanced around warily, and with good reason. Even with the leg room first class offered, there definitely wasn’t enough space for my wolf to make an appearance. “Oh no.”
“Not planning on shifting, Cheeks,” I reassured her. “It’s more like hearing the panicked, primal howls of a wild animal that’s just realized it’s been caught in a trap. One that’s about to launch itself into the air at faster speeds than anyone was ever meant to go.”
