When Slade was close, he dropped the unconscious shifter from a decent height, before coming into land beside him. He shifted back fast as he said, “I had to stop a few times along the way and knock him out again. The last was a decent blow and should hold for an hour or so.”
Hunter’s low bark of laughter was filled with satisfaction as he hauled the huge male over his shoulders. “I’ll get him strapped into his seat. You do your check of the plane.”
Slade nodded as he ran a hand through his hair, and headed around to do his own safety check. He didn’t bother to get dressed first, as our pilots, Carl and Eugene, were shifters and knew our ways.
I stepped aside as Hunter dropped Talon into a chair, and then I helped him chain the fucker down as best we could. If he was anything like Slade, nothing we had here would truly keep him contained, but we could just keep knocking him out whenever he started to stir.
Sounded like a fun fucking game of whack-a-mole.
Once he was strapped down, Hunter stepped back. “He’s Slade’s fucking twin,” he said, staring. “How did Fletcher do this? How did he manage to keep him hidden from us for all these years? The fact that he has other children out there doesn’t surprise me, but a hidden dragon… that’s harder to believe.”
I grunted, wondering if there were other mythical creatures hidden in our world too. Just wandering around, in giant-ass bodies. “Ever since Emme came into our lives, all I’ve had are questions. Hopefully we can finally get some answers, and thatthey’ll help us deal with the threats always lingering in the background.”
Hunter nodded, his expression harder. More resolute. “Yeah, that’s the gameplan moving forward. We get our answers and take out our enemies.” He shot Talon one last, disgusted glare, and then headed farther into the plane. “I need to check on Emme. My wolf is raging, and we don’t like her out of sight.”
He strode off before I could assure him that I felt the exact same way. After days without Emme, I was filled with restless energy, and no matter what it took, we couldn’t let her ever be taken from us again.
While I kept an eye on the dragon, Finley wandered into the main cabin, dressed in just a pair of sports shorts. “We’re almost ready for takeoff,” he said when he reached my side. “Slade’s done with his final checks?—”
Slade stomped into the cabin cutting him off, and we watched as the now dressed shifter secured the main door behind him. He radiated annoyance and anger as he tapped on the cockpit door to let the pilots know we were good to go.
When he reached us, he eyed the chains and ropes strapping down Talon, and his expression didn’t shift. “Get ready for takeoff,” he said, his voice calm. Too calm.
Our brother wasn’t okay—he was very fucking far from okay.
As if he’d heard that comment, Hunter stepped out of the bedroom, his gaze meeting Slade’s down the aisle. It was a charged stare, a silent communication between the pair.
As the engines grew louder, and the pilots got the plane moving, I headed for the bedroom. Emme opened her eyes as I slid in beside her, wrapping her up in my arms. “Are we safe?” she whispered, and the break in her voice shredded my heart.
“We’re safe, baby,” I whispered, barely restraining myself from squeezing her until I could feel her bones imprinting on mine. I was so fucking gone over her. If I could have crawledunder her skin, I would have. “No matter what it takes, we’ll make sure you’re safe.”
Emme pressed her face into my chest, and I took a second to breathe her in, and I found my beast calming under her presence. “Whatever it takes,” I repeated, determined that this would be the last time she suffered at the hands of another. “We will destroy them all and live happily ever after.”
I felt her smiling against me. “I love you, Golden. Wake me when we get home.” She pressed her lips to my shirt in a brief kiss and then promptly fell asleep again, her exhaustion too great to fight.
“I love you too, Shortcake,” I whispered, my throat tight as darker emotions raged below my calm surface.
I managed to keep it together all the way back to Golden Claw, and when the familiar city came into view, Emme was awake to see it, snuggled in my arms.
For the first time, she released a true sigh of relief, and her old spark shone in her eyes. “Home,” she murmured.
“Yep, sweet mate. We’re finally home.”
And here we would stay, until we figured out a way to eliminate Fletcher and his evil from the world. Permanently.
CHAPTER 17
FINLEY
We’d been back in Golden Claw for a week.
A week of confusion, council meetings, and plans for what we needed to do next. A week of Slade losing his shit and crushing everyone under the might of his dominance. But it didn’t make a difference. The traitors were missing or dead, Fletcher and his band of fuckheads had gone to ground, and the only one he could take his fury out on now was Talon. Who was resolutely not giving up his cone of silence.
All of us were fraying at the edges, and unless something drastically changed soon, the Reeves pack were on a downward spiral to destruction.
Ironic, considering I was probably in the best mental space of the last few months.
I’d suffered a huge wakeup call out in that desert with Emme and had decided to stop denying my true feelings for her. I was just as fucking obsessed with that omega as the rest of my pack, and I was determined to finally deal with my trauma and past.
