No,fuck no,it wasn’t, he wanted to yell, but the plane shuddered, he reached out, pressing his hand against the seat in front of him to steady himself.
Stormy turned back to the window, touching her palm to it. The power that churned outside, terrifying everyone else, was alive within her, and she looked at peace. For a heart-stopping moment, he felt it, felt her spirit alive in him, felt connected, felt her peace. He peered over her shoulder, and damned if he didn’t see what looked like wisps of vapor reaching toward her, winks of light flashing inside.
He blinked twice and faced forward.
Maybe he wasn’t getting enough oxygen to the brain…or maybe shewasa weather witch.
Either way, truth rolled through his awareness like thunder; the peace he’d sought for so many weeks, that sense of connection, it was there when Stormy was around, his soul felt it, felt settled. He liked the feeling, liked having her, didn’t want either taken away from him any time soon.
He tensed at his train of thought. That thinking was probably how every man in creation foolishly began relinquishing their control to something they would eventually get around to calling love. He wasn’t falling for it, refused to lose his God-given good sense to have her destroy his life in ways only a woman could.
The plane’s engine vibrated as if it was about to drop out.
“All right now,” he said commandingly. “You’ve had your fun time in the sky, now tell the storm goodbye so everyone can get to where they’re going in one piece.”
She rounded on him as if she was going to rip off his oxygen mask and punch him in the face. “I’m not doing anything, this doesn’t happen every time…it’s just been so long,” she said, as if all hell breaking loose had no effect on her. “Plus, the time for intervention would have been before the plane took off. All we can do now is ride it out.”
Soon after her words, the pilot came on the intercom and informed them that they were making an emergency landing in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The closer they got to the ground, the more the storm abated.
By the time they touched down and taxied into the terminal the sky was baby blue, the sunshine bright and optimistic.
Inside, the plane reeked of vomit and sweat and a fair number of other odors Big Country didn’t want to contemplate. Unbuckling his seatbelt, he leaped up despite a flight attendant directing him to stay seated.
“Darlin’, if that door ain’t open by the time I find my shit, I will rip a hole through that motherfucker and dare you sons of bitches to charge me for it.”
There was a smattering of applause. Others also prepared to depart, the flight staff too harried to do anything but work to get the cabin door open.
Stormy looked embarrassed as she reached for her purse beneath the seat and stood to exit. “Sorry about that, I didn’t know it was going to be so bad for everyone,” she said to the confused flight attendant. Lucas ushered her out of the plane ahead of him.
“I just wanted to feel what it was like to be in the heart of the storm again,” she said.
“And get your revenge on me.”
“No, I wanted to share it with you.”
He refused to be warmed by the notion. Instead, he pulled her into the circle of his arm as they navigated the crowded airport.
There was a spot of blood on the back of her hand. It was a perfect circle, the undried center still glistened with dying energy. Delilah released the steering wheel and brought her hand to her mouth, sucked until she removed the spot.
Wasn’t there scripture about feasting on the flesh of one’s enemies, she wondered opening the folder on Lucas. If so, she would gorge herself on Stormy Redmond’s flesh and dance on her dead remains once she’d won Lucas. It was infuriating that the whore had used the pretense of helping to undermine her relationship with Lucas. That level of subterfuge was masterful, and Delilah hadn’t seen it coming. She’d never been in love before, nor had she had enough dealings with other women to know that they were truly as deceitful as the Good Shepherd warned.
Men are simple servants of the Lord, daughter, but every woman in creation, including you, bears the taint of the unclean, and it is only through my guidance that you are saved—so hold close to me, do not stray and you will one day have a place at my side in the halls of heaven.
She no longer wanted nor needed a place in heaven with the Good Shepherd, not when she could have a place on earth with the man God intended her to have.
Reading through the information on Lucas, she saw that he had wealth on top of handsomeness and was trained to kill and protect…like her, he was trained to kill and protect.
She smiled. She’d had no reason to protect anything but the Shepherd’s interest before, but now she would protect Lucas, their love and their future, and that unequivocally meant severing the binds Stormy Redmond was attempting to use to tether Lucas’s soul.
Looking at her watch, she determined she had time to make one phone call before checking in at the airport. She believed Stormy was forcing Lucas to take her to his family’s home; the whore would know that a potential wife must be accepted and approved of by a man’s family.
If one wins over the family, one wins the man.
Delilah planned to win it all.
She would show Lucas’s only sister—she flipped through the pages—Merlee,what a silly name, she would show Merlee that the mud-colored whore was no more than a disciple of evil who would tear through Lucas’s life until he was a husk of a man with no chance at redemption.
Picking up the dead man’s phone and retrieving his severed thumb, Delilah placed the digit on the button and unlocked his phone. Dialing the number she’d memorized minutes after Lucas had given it to her, she waited for his voicemail. Lucas rarely answered his phone, perhaps the whore kept it from him.
