“Kinda. His situation was messier and more complicated.”
“Well.” Jasper slowed with the group in front of them. “I hope he’s not a drinking man, or Niamh is going to sit next to him at the bar and start poking, you can guarantee it.”
“She wouldn’t want to poke very hard,” Aurora murmured as the crowd parted. “He might rip her face off.”
“Ulric.” Jessie lifted her hand as the crowd parted further.
“She wants you.” Aurora took her hand away from his arm.
“Yeah?” He hastened toward her. The stairs to the private jet waited just in front of her with a red carpet leading down. Attendants were stowing suitcases.
She met him halfway and lowered her voice. “Go back with John, would you? Be chipper and upbeat. Maybe take Nessa, too. He doesn’t seem very comfortable about all this. You guys are personable. Maybe grab Fred. She made him laugh.”
“I think he was laughing at her and not with her, though.” Jessie hesitated, and he shrugged. “We’ll figure it out.”
He made his way through the others before motioning for Nessa. “Come on, pretty girl. We’ve got work to do.”
She beamed and jogged his way. She could always be counted on to act at a moment’s notice with minimal questions.
John trailed behind the group now, the last of the line. He stared down at his feet, his hands still in his pockets. Every once in a while he would glance off toward the mountain he’d recently called home and the basajaunak that didn’t much want him there.
He glanced up at Ulric and Nessa when they neared.
“Hey.” Nessa fell in at his side. “We’ve been sent to corral you.”
Ulric laughed. “Or help you escape, if that’s the way the wind blows.”
John grunted and looked back down at his feet. “She doesn’t leave anyone behind, huh?”
“Who, Jessie?” Nessa stretched her arms wide. “Absolutely not. Edgar has asked to be retired, what? Dozens of times?”
“Has to be over a hundred by now,” Ulric said.
“Retired?” John studied Nessa’s face with a blank expression.
She smiled at him disarmingly. She was very good at handling surly alphas. “Edgar is a vampire and already dead. Retired meansdeader. Like, retired from existence.”
“He asks to be killed?”
“Whenever he does something wrong, yes.” Nessa laughed. “And that’s often. I’m glad she’s got such a soft heart and doesn’t listen. He’s my battle buddy. He always seems to know how to skirt the worst of the danger and show up at the crucial moment. He helps me be a hero.”
“He doesn’t do much for your image any other time, though,” Ulric said.
She laughed again. “What image? Death’s angel? Evil villain mastermind and morally defunct mage torturer? Adding a senile vampire bestie really isn’t taking me down a peg.”
Ulric grimaced at her. “Are you sure about that?”
“Okay, we’re here.” Nessa looped her arm into John’s. He stiffened, but if she noticed, she gave no sign. Or maybe she just didn’t care. “Now, John, this is the moment of truth.” She turned to face him in the line waiting to board the plane. The others were making their way up the stairs and finding seats. “Have you been on a plane before?”
A tiny line formed between his brows. Confusion? Bewilderment? Ulric couldn’t tell. Shifters really needed to start using their faces more.
“Yes,” he replied.
She ticked her head at him and Ulric wondered where she was going with this. “Have you been on a chartered plane with a prominent figure of authority where snacks were provided?”
His expression turned to stone. “Yes,” he growled.
She held up her finger. “No, you haven’t.” Her smile was infectious. “Trust me. Okay, here we go. Don’t worry about being trapped in a small space way up in the air with all these weirdoes. It doesn’t seem so bad after the panic takes root. Hope you’re hungry.”
