I battled through her reluctance and climbed the stairs. The air smelled of leather and flowery air freshener, which did little to appease my pacing wolf. My nails began to lengthen. I stopped in the narrow hallway, focusing on pushing her back. I doubted the captain or the flight attendant smiling at me from the galley in the back of the plane knew what we were.
“It’s safe,” Liam whispered behind me, his words blowing through the hairs thickening on the nape of my neck.
He set his hand on the small of my back and guided me onto one of the buttery beige armchairs.
After taking the seat across from me, he said, “I’ve never much enjoyed flying either.”
We weren’t even airborne yet. How would I react then? The pilot pulled in the retractable staircase, and the door shut with a suction noise.
“Let me know if you feel like you’re losing control,” Liam said, studying my face.
I nodded and swallowed.
The air hostess strutted over toward us, her lips a shade of fuchsia so bright they were almost blinding. “I’ll set out breakfast after takeoff. Would you like coffee or tea?”
“Coffee,” I said.
She didn’t wait for Liam’s answer. She must’ve known his order already.
She flitted back to the galley, leaving behind a pungent cloud of rose-scented perfume that reminded me of my aunt and her prized rosebushes.
“Do you have any news about Lucy?”
“Lucy?” Liam frowned.
“You know, my two-timing aunt?”
Liam’s lips curved into a crooked smile. “Oh . . . that Lucy.”
I rolled my eyes.
The engine turned on, and the entire plane began to rattle. Or maybe I was the one rattling. I gripped the armrests.
Breathe. Liam’s command shocked the tremor right out of me. Then, out loud, he said, “Last I heard she’s still working at the inn.”
“Why would she work for Aidan? After what she said at Everest’s funeral-about hating what we were-why would she willingly work for the Creeks?”
“Grieving people say and do uncharacteristic things. It might be a way of getting back at us.”
“But we didn’t kill Everest.”
Liam was supposed to, but Alex beat him to it.
“She still believes it’s our fault. Like I said, grief screws with people’s minds.”
The plane started to roll past other shiny aircrafts varying in size. I wondered if one of them belonged to the Creeks. Maybe more than one. And then I wondered if the Watts owned a plane too.
“I heard August and his father did business with the Rivers two years ago,” I said, mostly to distract myself from the long dotted strip in front of us. The plane bumped to a stop, and then it made a U-turn and hurtled so fast it pinned my heart to my spine.
Shh.
When my claws dented the buttery leather, I ripped my hands off the armrests and cinched my thighs. I pulled in a long breath, then let it out. I did this over and over until the plane’s nose lifted and the wheels left the ground.
“You’re okay, Ness. Everything’s going to be okay.”
“Don’t say that,” I snapped, “because nothing ever goes right when people say that.”
His head jerked back a little. “Where did that come from?”
I shut my eyes, air pulsing through my nostrils. “Dad said that to me, and then he was shot. You said that to me, and then you turned on me. I hate that sentence.”
After a beat, he said, “I’m sorry.”
I laid my head back, eyes still clenched.
“I have something that’ll cheer you up.”
When paper rustled, I raised my lids. A large white envelope dropped into my lap. On the top left corner was an intertwined C and U.
“Your college packet,” Liam explained, mistaking my surprise for confusion. “Classes start in a week. Do you know what you’re going to study?”
“Business.”
“Practical.”
I stared at the envelope, feeling both fraudulent and lucky. The pack’s money and connections had gotten me in, not my exceptional transcript.
“There’s a course catalogue in there. I was a business major too, so I can help you figure out the best classes to take.”
The flight attendant came back then, a white tablecloth draped over her arm. She pulled out a hidden table from the wall between our seats, then smoothed the crisp cloth before returning to the galley. As she set up breakfast in real porcelain and silverware, I opened the envelope and read over my welcome letter, then flipped through the catalogue while Liam told me stories of his college days, about his initiation into the frat house run by generations of Boulder wolves. Even though it was open to all male students -human or supernatural-a shifter was always in charge, and that shifter made sure the hazing was “eventful.”
“What did they make you do?” I asked.
He got this far away smile. “Fight in a ring lined with dog excrement. Loser got tossed in the shit.”
“Bet you didn’t lose.”
He turned that smile on me. “I didn’t lose.”
Gratitude and excitement drifted up in me. As I ate flaky pastries and drank bitter coffee, I pored over every sheet of material on my lap. “Thank you so much for this.”
Liam raised a palm. “Please. It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. It’s my future.”
“No, your future is saving my ass, remember?”
A smile tugged at my lips, and I closed the catalogue. “So tell me about the Rivers.”