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I nestled into the seat, reveling in the plush leather against my skin and grateful that my fake fiancé was a billionaire with his own plane. Under normal circumstances, I would have thought a private jet for only a couple of people sounded like a ridiculous waste of fuel, but this transportation was a godsend. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with other passengers while feeling so keyed up and on edge. One thing was for certain: I was never going to stick my nose up at it ever again.
“We’re ready to take off. Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened during take-off and landing.” The pilot’s announcement over the intercom settled my stomach, and I let out a relieved breath. Finally, we were getting closer to Ridge.
Even though I was in a tremendous amount of pain—which I’d never admit to Clawson—my mind whirled with thoughts of Ridge and the others. I had a thousand worst-case scenarios in my head of how the hunters might be torturing them.
A twinge of fiery pain lit my wound like a live wire, and I bit back a hiss.My inner wolf was pacing, feeling claustrophobic and hating being caged in a moving metal tube. She thought we were trapped in the air with no way out.The intensity of her fear induced a massive headache, and my vision faded in and out, going dark, then light, then dark again.
Before I could get a handle on her and the feral side effects, my breathing quickened. I couldn’t rein myself in. I clawed at the seatbelt as my breathing sharpened to short, shallow puffs. My wolf was convinced the plane was spinning, and I had a fleeting moment of terror when I believed we were going down.
My wolf wouldn’t see reason, no matter how hard I tried to keep her under control and convince her not to shift. It was damn near impossible to control her fears. She’d gone mad, ready to take over and control everything. This was a dangerous place to shift, and if my stitches tore, there was no doctor on board to close them up again.
“Tori, take in a deep breath and let it out slowly,” Clawson said softly.
I nodded, trying to focus on the soothing tone of his voice.
“Just breathe in through your nose and out your mouth. Come on. You can do it.”
I wasn’t so sure.
“I’ll do it with you. Come on. Look at me.”
The snapping of a seatbelt coming undone distracted me for a second, and then Clawson was kneeling in front of me. True to his word, he was doing the breathing exercises with me.
“Tori, keep your eyes on me.” When I tried to turn away, he took my face in his hands and twisted me back. “You can control the shift. Just keep breathing.”
As I followed along with his breaths, I started to feel the vice-like grip of my wolf ease slowly.
“That’s it. You’ve got this.” He nodded, still holding my face between his palms. “Deep inhale through your nose, slow exhale out your mouth. In, two, three. Out, two, three. That’s right. Slow and easy.”
His calm, patient voice helped ratchet down the panic until my inner beast settled into a peaceful quiet.
He was treating me more like a friend than the no-nonsense sheriff I’d been dealing with. And I was grateful. Without his help, there was no telling what would have happened or if we’d even made it on that plane, much less made it to Colorado in one piece.
“You’ll be with Ridge soon, and then everything will be okay. You just need to hold on a little bit longer.” He smiled. “You can’t give up now. I need you to keep him in line for me.”
I could smile now, so we were making progress.
“Because once he finds out I let you come along, he’s going to have my head. I’m probably going to need you to step in and protect me.”
He cocked an eyebrow at me. The danger had passed, and we could laugh now. The thought of the big bad sheriff hiding behind me while Ridge tried to apprehend him was too amusing, and despite the gravity of the situation, I found myself grinning.
The headache began to fade, and my vision returned to normal as the blinking stars and tunnel vision dissipated.
“You should know that Ridge and I’ve been good friends since he returned to town.” He smiled as if his words inspired a memory, but he didn’t share it with me. “He might seem all nice and diplomatic, but that’s only one side of him. He’s one hell of a tough alpha and doesn’t take shit from anybody. If anyone can handle what’s happening, he can. Ridge will do whatever it takes to protect everybody with him and for damn sure get back to you. He just found you. He’s not going to let anything separate you guys now.” He shrugged. “That’s not how it works with mates.”
Hearing how strong Ridge was and that Clawson had such ultimate confidence in him—especially since it came from a man Ridge considered to be his best friend, a man who knew him so well—was something I desperately needed at the moment. So did my wolf, because she eased off and became more settled.
I also liked the idea that Clawson believed Ridge would fight to return to me, even though deep down, a part of me I really wanted to ignore knew it wasn’t the truth. We were only pretending to be engaged, but the certainty in Clawson’s tone helped me keep my shit together.
Closing my eyes, I let myself relax a little more, and when I opened my eyes, the sheriff was still crouched in front of me, looking at me with concern. I appreciated that he wasn’t cold, angry, or annoyed. He actually appeared to care. That meant a lot to me. I was using every weapon in my arsenal to keep my wolf in check and the feral at bay.
“Thank you,” I whispered. As hard as it had to have been for Clawson to admit he was wrong, it was doubly hard for me and my stupid pride. I swallowed, even though my throat was parched. “I really didn’t want to pop my stupid stitches all over again. Especially on a private plane. That could’ve been a disaster.”
Nodding, he said, “You’re welcome. I’m just glad I could help.” He stood and went back to his seat.
After the terror passed, and I knew he wasn’t looking at me anymore, I took a second to study him. His eyelids were heavy, and the bags under his eyes were deep and purple. He needed a few solid weeks of sleep. He’d been going full steam since Phil Hill had been murdered and Mrs. Marrow had stabbed me. And then his best friend had been abducted.
It was a safe bet that Clawson hadn’t gotten any rest since this all started. If he wasn’t careful, he’d crash and burn hard.
