Intercom crackled. “Storm’s caught us properly now,” Ames said. “It’s coming at us from above, so I’m heading low. The seatbelt light is on for a reason, people. Don’t make me turn this thing around.”
“Back to your seat, Zhang!” Lance called as the plane dipped. The door to the rear cabin opened, revealing his mate, Keeley, with a black pack slung over her shoulder. He raised his voice as the engines roared louder. “Keeley, you think we can strap Maggie down somehow?”
At the words “strap Maggie down,” the dragonling let out a shriek of pure defiance and leapt into the air again. Carol reached for her and stumbled as the cabin lurched.
Lightning forked outside.
“Did you see—” Mathis half stood, eyes glowing lion-gold.
“I said seatbeltson, assholes,” Ames called over the intercom. “You—”
He broke off, swearing. “What the hell?”
“You see that?”
*Something’s out there.*Lance’s telepathic voice was sharp with threat. The hairs on the back of Carol’s neck rose.
She reached for Maggie and missed. Maggie flew up to the ceiling and dug her claws in. Lightning flashed again, illuminating a face outside the nearest window.
Then it was gone.
“Please tell me someone else saw that,” Keeley said, her voice tight. “Carol? Is there—is there someone outside the plane?”
“We’re looking clearer down below.” Ames’s voice was raw with relief. “Wait—the fuck? This isn’t right. First the storm comes out of nowhere, now it’s like it’sfollowingus?”
Maggie clung to the ceiling, screeching. Carol’s shark pressed against her skin. It was so close there was no room for anything else in her brain.
This never happened. Not since the night she’d almost died.
She barely registered Keeley’s words until the other woman grabbed her shoulder and shook her.
“Carol, we need to know if someone’s outside!”
But we’re in the air,she wanted to say.How could anyone be outside?
“Carol,please.” Keeley’s eyes were pleading.
“Zhang—” MacInnis called out.
Carol shook herself. Her shark retreated, slipping silently into the dark recesses of her mind. “On it. Sir.”
She closed her eyes and called on her shark’s abilities.
All shifters had some remnant of their animal’s powers even in human form. Heightened senses. Enhanced speed and strength.
Carol could sense other living creatures.
Her shark used its electroreceptors to track prey, and she tried not to use that terminology when she told other shifters about this particular power. She used her shark’s senses to tell if there were other beating hearts around her. How many, and where they were.
Not to hunt anyone, not to eat them, just to know. She was always very clear about that. Not that it helped, given her looks.
She concentrated.
The hum of the airplane was almost too much. The roar it made in her ears was nothing compared to the confusing thrum of its electronics. But if she forced her focus further out, past the blanketing static, to…
Movement. Shapes. Life.
What?Carol staggered. Her shark loomed up, pressing close beneath her skin.
