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I forgot about the cold when a faint but all-too-familiar scent slammed into me, and I blurted, “You didn’t tell me Elias was at the airport.”
“He’s not. If you just picked up his scent, it’s because this is his helicopter and he’s flown it in the past. Lately, it’s been used by an assistant to bring him supplies.”
I asked, “Can you suppress my side of the mate bond now? It’s already affecting me, and I need to be clear-headed when I see him.”
“No. I don’t want to attempt anything until you two are together and the bond is fully activated.”
This was going to suck.
I reluctantly boarded the helicopter, and Carter began his pre-flight check while I wrapped my arms around myself, pressed my eyes shut, and tried to ignore the scent that felt like it was seeping into my pores. After a few minutes, he handed me a pair of headphones and put on a matching pair, and then he started the overhead rotors.
Once we took off, he headed out over the ocean. “Um, land is in the other direction,” I said, through the headphones.
“I know. Elias lives on an island.”
I imagined someplace like Catalina, an island off the coast of California with a population of around four thousand people. We flew over an island kind of like that, but then we kept going. Every now and then, more islands would appear below us in the steel gray sea. When we passed another with a small town on it, I asked, “Out of curiosity, how many people live on Elias’s island?”
“That number fluctuates.”
“Give me a ballpark idea.”
“I don’t think I should.”
“Why not?”
“Because you won’t like the answer.”
“Just tell me,” I said. “It’s better than finding out when we get there.”
He hesitated before admitting, “There’s usually a population of one.”
“One? He’s the only person on the entire fucking island?”
“The population is about to double in size. Told you it fluctuated.”
“No, forget it. I’m not doing this.”
“Why not?”
“Because this isn’t what I signed up for,” I said. “Spending time with him was one thing. Doing it while trapped on an island in the middle of the ocean is another thing entirely.”
“It’s not in the middle of the ocean. In fact, we’ll be there in just a few minutes.”
“If I decide to leave, how do I do that? Because I don’t trust you to come running with the helicopter if I call you.”
“There’s a boat,” he told me. “You won’t be stuck there.”
“How big is this island?”
“It’s…small.”
My voice rose. “How small, Carter?”
“I don’t know, exactly. Maybe a quarter mile long and half as wide?”
“Nope. I can’t be stuck on a tiny island with him for a whole week, even without the bond. Turn the helicopter around.”
He sighed and told me, “I’m not turning around, Mateo. You can give Elias a week, after dodging him for the last century. And if you get really desperate to leave, like I said, there’s a boat.”
“I don’t like this. It feels like I’m walking into a trap.”
“You’re not. This is just where he’s been staying for the last three months. It wasn’t selected to keep you trapped or isolated.” He gestured ahead of us and said, “Look, there it is. I’ll circle around before we land, so you can see the whole thing.”
Directly ahead of us, a scattering of tiny islets rose from the choppy sea. Most held nothing but vegetation. The biggest of the lot was covered in pine trees and ringed by a rocky shore, with a pier and a weather-beaten boathouse at one end. The right half of the island rose in a gradual slope from the water’s edge, and in a clearing at its peak sat a dark, gothic Edwardian, which clashed with the modern helipad in the field behind it.
Carter did a lap around the entire island, which took a few seconds. As we approached the helipad, a tall figure dressed all in black appeared at the back of the house. My heart started racing as I asked, “Did Elias know we were coming?”
“Yes. I called him before we left L.A.”
“He actually has a phone that works out here?”
“It’s a satellite phone.”
I turned to Carter, as much as I could with the seatbelt pinning me down, and said, “Please don’t just abandon me here. Promise you’ll come back in a week, and promise me you really will suppress the bond.”
“I swear on my life I’ll do all of that, and I’ll make sure you’re alright.”
For some reason, I believed him. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll give him a week, because I figure I owe Elias one more chance, after avoiding him for a century. This is it, though. If we can’t make it work this time, there’s no hope for us.”
Once we touched down and Carter cut the engine, I took off my headphones and muttered, “Shit, he’s coming.” I fumbled with my seatbelt, got it unfastened, and tumbled out the door moments before Elias reached the helipad. As he strode toward me, I stumbled backwards.
