by Ava Mason
“Well, thanks for sharing your opinion on that. I’m just glad that the other guys don’t seem to share it.”
“Oh, I think they share it, alright. I’m just the only one with the balls enough to say it out loud.”
“James, just shut the fuck up. You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Easton called from across the plane.
“I don’t agree with him.” Christian pointed at James.
“Me, neither.” Avery folded his arms, giving James the evil eye.
James laughed. “Yeah, right.”
Hunter rubbed his forehead. “Just shut up, okay. Notice she didn’t really ask you in the first place.”
James leaned forward. “How do you even know you’ll have the option in the first place? Maybe he did get married. Maybe he’s moved on.”
“Maybe you’re exactly right.” I stood up, trying to breathe evenly and cover the way his words were making me feel. Maybe James was right. Maybe I’d look at Aaron and have all this love and memories rush over me and he would feel nothing. “I have to pee.”
“Lizzy.” Avery, Christian and Hunter, stood up.
“It’s fine. I’m fine.” I waved them away, motioning for them to sit down. “Seriously, I just need to pee.” I walked off, not meeting Easton’s eye.
“Good job, asshole.” Hunter growled.
James followed me as I stomped off, and then his fingers were sliding across my side. I brushed them away, rushing faster towards the bathroom. Away from him. Away from his words that cut so deep.
“Elizabeth.”
I ignored him, opening the door and rushing inside.
“Stop.”
I turned around to face him. “Why are you even here? Why don’t you go home to your mansion and your toys and leave us alone?”
Moving into my space, he pushed me gently backwards so that I took two steps all the way into the bathroom. Then he joined me, slamming the door behind him.
“Is that what you think I do all day? Play around with my toys?” He grabbed my wrist and jerked me towards him, digging his fingers into the insides of my wrist.
“I don’t know. Maybe. What do you do all day?”
“You would know if you actually spent the time to get to know me better.”
“Would I, though? The only thing I know about you is that you like to mess around with people. You never actually show any kind of emotion except for disdain and like you can’t bother to take anything seriously. The only time I feel like you’ve been honest with me is when you told me about your sister. Other than that, all I can imagine you doing all day is fucking with guys’ heads and flirting with their girls, just to piss them off.”
“Maybe it’s just you that I’m after.” His words made heat rush through my chest and down to my thighs. “Have you ever seen me flirt with anyone else?”
“Yes.” I thought about it. “No. But how the hell am I supposed to believe that? You won’t even talk to me after my fight with Sophia. You can barely even look at me.”
“Can you blame me?”
“I can’t help you, James. I can’t be the one to get your revenge on Sophia. She’s part of my pack now, and I will fight for her. But I… I am sorry. You trusted me and I let you down.”
“I don’t care about that anymore.”
“But I felt you, at the ceremony. You were pissed.”
“Of course I was, but I got over it.”
“Then why the hell are you so mad at me?”
He growled, a low rumble came out of his mouth. “Why the hell do you think, Elizabeth?”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. I want to know the answer to my question. Why are you here? The rest of the guys made it clear that you’ve been claimed before, but you’ve turned them down. Why me? Why now?”
“You’re the one who claimed me Lizzy. You tell me the answer.”
I threw up my hands. “The hell if I know. It most certainly wasn’t because I wanted an asshole on my team, someone to talk down to me, to piss everyone off.”
He was suddenly closer to me. “You claimed me, yet you wouldn’t even invite me over. You didn’t ask me to spend time with the team, or train, or be involved in the planning of the mission. I had to ask to be involved, to train your sorry asses. And even though I stuck around afterwards, you never asked me to stay, to be with you.” The darkness swirled in his eyes. “You claimed me and then you left me. Do you think I wouldn’t care? That I wouldn’t want you, Elizabeth? I think I’ve made my feelings very clear from the beginning.”
My breath caught in my throat. “I didn’t even know that I’d even done it. You gave me every indication that you were pissed off at me about Sophia and I just didn’t even know what to do. Besides, I have to be honest. I just… I don’t trust you. You like to stir the pot, just to see what floats up. You say things just to get a rise out of people. I can’t take anything you say seriously. I know your type, you don’t honestly care about me or my guys.”
His hand snapped to my neck, and he squeezed the sides of it lightly. “You don’t know my type. You’re not even close.”
I felt a rush from his hand on my neck, his other one entwined around my waist, clasping it tight. “Then what is your type? Tell me the truth, James. I can’t tell anymore.”
He leaned over and his teeth raked across my ear. “Oh, I think you know. And you also know that you want it.” His words sent my imagination spinning, and I imagined him fucking me against the wall, my hands tied behind my back, my eyes blindfolded, his hand clinging to my ass. Taking me from behind, his hand on my throat, Easton eating my cunt at the same time. Every thrust inside me a claim over my body, every kiss a claim over my heart.
I was wet just thinking about it. Then he bit my ear and I moaned, leaning into him as he raked his teeth down my neck to suckle at the space where my neck met my shoulder. His hand slid up under my shirt to flip at the wire of my bra and my nipple pebbled with the thought of his hands all over me. I leaned into him, silently urging him higher.
But he leaned back up to my ear, biting it softly. “Make your decision, Lizzy. Do you want to balance on the razor’s edge, just to see how good it hurts?”
A part of me wanted to give in, to fuck him right here in the bathroom. To see what it would be like to give into the darkness that James offered me. The other part wanted to push him away, to walk away and leave him alone in the bathroom. Because I still didn’t believe him, didn’t quite trust his words.
There was something about him that I couldn’t put my finger on, and that part of me was afraid to give in to my desire.
But he didn’t let me even make the choice. His hand slid up my back and he wrapped it in my hair, jerking my face to the side to bare my neck before him. He leaned in, rubbing his nose up my neck and taking in a long breath, smelling me. “If you want it, then I’ll be waiting. But you’ll have to let the team know first.”
Then he was gone, leaving me to be the one alone and wanting in the bathroom. I fell against the sink, planting my hands on each side to hold myself up. I looked into the mirror, noting that my face was flushed and my chest was moving in and out in raggedy breaths. I slammed the door shut and pulled down my pants to pee.
6
All eyes were on me when I returned but I put on a reassuring smile even though I was still worked up from my interaction with James. Hunter’s eyes were the only ones that stayed with me until I sat back down, along with James’, who was smirking at me like he’d actually made out with me in the bathroom. Ignoring him, I settled in next to Hunter.
Suddenly, Hunter leaned over and, gripping my chin, he pressed his lips over mine, claiming me with his mouth. His tongue pushed through my lips and I froze for a second, then groaned into his mouth as his hand pressed into the back of my neck, gripping it tight to pull me closer to him.
Heat ran through my chest and into my stomach and I swore he was going to take me right here in front of everyone. His hand lowered in between my inner thighs,
rubbing me softly. I couldn’t help the purr that sounded in my throat as I rubbed myself against his thumb. His lips twisted up in a grin and then he slowed down the kiss, dragging away his hand. I opened my eyes as he pulled away, his teeth catching on my bottom lip for a moment before leaning back into his seat. I sat back, my emotions frayed, noticing that he pointedly looked at James, still grinning.
I took in a calming breath, trying to calm my hormones that were officially all over the plane. I looked around to see that almost all the guys were staring at us. James was glaring at Hunter. Avery was scowling, while Christian’s eyes smoldered at me; he looked ready to jump in if this was going to turn into an orgasm-fest. Easton was the only one who ignored us, thumbing through his paperwork, pushing his glasses back up his nose. He was pointedly not looking my way.
I was upset that Hunter was treating me like a toy that he didn’t want to share with James. But James was also clearly antagonizing Hunter.
Not even gracing them with a comment, I stood up and collapsed into the seat next to Easton.
“What are you going over?”
His smile at me was exactly what I needed. He handed his papers over, and pulled out a tablet while I thumbed through the papers. The first one was a printout of the listing of the house that we were renting. It was a small brick home, about five miles from Garrett’s new house. It was higher up than Garrett’s, with an open field directly around it. Big enough to parachute into, clear enough to land the helicopter if necessary. The rest of the property was covered within a forest, which would give us cover. The house only had two bedrooms, so we’d definitely be sharing the space. It also wasn’t furnished, so we’d be sleeping on the carpet.
I flipped to the next sheet; it was a list of everything Easton had already shipped there. Some food, sleeping bags, etc. Enough for us to settle in for about a week. Enough not to weigh us down on the trip over. The next one was the signed paperwork for the military, providing us with a Jeep for the mission. It should’ve been delivered already; as soon as we had official permission to run the mission there, he’d had it brought in.
My pack lived outside a small town, about an hour drive from a bigger city. Wolves need to run, and cities didn’t provide enough space for that. But we weren’t entirely country folks, so we lived close enough to the city to not be entirely out of the loop. Our goal was to have enough supplies already there that we didn’t have to go into town until we knew the situation at Garrett’s. If we were seen going in to town for supplies right away, we’d probably be noticed.
“Looks like Spaghetti-O’s again.”
“I’ve sent us a variety, so we don’t get sick of it.”
I glanced at Hunter, who was staring out the window. He looked at me then stood up. He passed by me, bending over to whisper in my ear. “Sorry.”
I looked up, feeling better now that he’d apologized. “It’s okay.”
He touched my face. “I’ll get my shit together around James.”
I nodded, giving him a reassuring smile, and he went back to the bathroom. Then I leaned back into my chair, putting my hand on Easton’s thigh and pushed down the nervousness that was growing in my stomach; mentally preparing for the rest of our trip.
We landed in Florida, and the humidity blasted us as soon as the door to the airplane opened. I could already see my hair strands starting to curl and I was glad I’d put my hair up in a ponytail. We were greeted by a Sergeant, who quickly led us to the hangar where our helicopter would take off, then explained that we could wait for it in the loading dock and pointed to where that was. Not bothering to walk us there, he rushed away, clearly busy with other stuff.
Easton had already vetted the people enlisted here and he wasn’t worried about anyone seeing us. We lounged around the busy warehouse, eating snacks and messing around until James decided that we all needed to get some exercise in. So we ran some laps around the building; it felt good to stretch my legs after sitting on a plane for several hours.
No one really paid us any attention, except for a few casual, curious glances. The only thing that stood out about us was that our uniforms weren’t U.S. Military issued. I caught a few of the women looking me over, and I was pretty sure they were wishing that their uniform was as flexible and comfortable as mine. But their eyes didn’t linger long on me, the group of hot looking guys next to me was enough to keep them distracted.
We’d ordered the copter to come late in the evening, hoping that darkness would help cover our arrival. Since we were on an official mission, granted permission through the secret magical part of the Air Force, we were given a Marine Viper something or other. I couldn’t remember the exact letters after that, but it was supposed to be quieter than a lot of the other helicopters. Easton kept checking his phone; he was beginning to worry. A thunderstorm had cropped up at the last minute in Tennessee and it was expected to be pretty intense.
Finally, it was time to leave and I gripped Easton’s hand as we headed out towards the helicopter. We climbed inside, dragging our bags with us. The pilot barely glanced at us, only to verify the exact location with Hunter, then he took off. I could tell by the blue glow about the pilot that he was probably a wolf shifter.
Hunter, James and I, took the front row with Christian, Easton and Avery, in the back. The night air was cool and it whipped through the cabin as we traveled. We expected it would take a little more than three hours to get there. It would be well into the night by then: good for cover, bad for visibility.
As soon as we were high enough, the guys began to go through the U.S. Military-provided parachutes, making sure everything was prepared and safe. Once they were satisfied, we settled in to wait. As we got closer, Avery and Christian unpacked a rifle each. They were going to stand guard, just in case, though we weren’t expecting anything to happen.
It didn’t take long for the rain to hit us. It moved in slashing motions, drenching us and our bags within minutes. I glanced forward, grateful that at least the pilot was better protected than we were, although it looked like he could barely see through the front window. The rain didn’t let up and, as we grew close to our destination, it was hard to see the ground.
The pilot waved at us and Hunter unstrapped himself and moved forward to speak to him. The pilot gave him the headphones and they yelled back and forth for a minute, then Hunter nodded and sat back down. Everyone leaned towards him, straining to hear him over the sound of the engine.
“He said it’s not safe to parachute out. He’s going to get us low enough to jump out.”
It took a few times for him to yell the instructions enough for us to understand, but we finally got it. We’d gone over this during my training. Also, the pilot knew we were shifters and could jump long distances without getting hurt. We finally got to our destination and he began his descent.
I glanced at Easton, worried about him, but he seemed to have a handle on his fear. The ground came up and I put my hand to my strap to unbuckle myself.
Suddenly, there was a whipping sound and the helicopter began to wobble. It shook violently, slinging us from side to side. The tail broke off from the copter, swung down, and we tipped back and forth. The only thing keeping us from being thrown from the helicopter was our belts. My head whipped forward as we slammed, headfirst, against the ground. The blades were still moving as it dug into the ground and clogs of dirt and grass flew around us. Then the whole engine dropped out the top of the helicopter, flinging pieces of shrapnel across my face, burning it, and around the cabin.
The motor was still running, creating a loud whirring, clanging noise. Finally, it died and the area was silent.
James broke it instantly. “Shit!”
I looked around, trying to remember what they’d taught me if this ever happened. Check to make sure everyone was okay. Get out safely.
The rain pounded straight into the helicopter’s cab now, and it ran in small streams towards the front. Easton, Hunter and I, seemed to be okay, but Christian and Avery were half
way hanging out the doors, unconscious. I could see that they were still breathing and I blew a sigh of relief. Easton’s wide eyes were staring at me, shock clearly on his face. This was really going to make his fear of flying worse. I’d be surprised if he got on a plane ever again. James was just looking around, cussing.
I looked forward and there was no movement or sound from the pilot.
Hunter was clasping at his strap, but the pressure of his body against it was too much for it to give. “We’re going to have to cut ourselves out, Lizzy.”
I nodded, feeling a low burn in my neck from whiplash. I ruffled around, ignoring the aches in my body, until I found my knife, then I cut through my belt. I slammed into the pilot’s seat. Balancing carefully so that the helicopter didn’t swing in any direction, I checked on the pilot.
Both the front and the back of his head was bleeding and he was unconscious. I leaned over to put my fingers to his neck. His chest rose up and down, and I felt a weak pulse. Hunter finally cut through his belt, then gracefully swung forward, springing onto the seat next to me.
“Hunter.” I nodded towards the pilot. “I think he needs your help.”
He nodded and I turned my head towards my guys. I jumped forward to grasp at the seat I’d just vacated. I pulled myself up, grateful that James made me do all those pulls-ups, and climbed to the other side of my seat to look at Easton.
“Are you okay?”
Easton nodded.
“Okay, I’m going to check out Avery.” James was already slapping at Christian’s face.
“Here, let me help you.” Easton finally came out of his shock.
“Avery.” Easton shook him. “Wake up.”
Avery moaned, then blinked his eyes.
“Avery, look at me.” I reached out to touch his shoulder. He blinked again, then slowly turned his head towards me, his eyes foggy.
“Hey, we crashed. I wouldn’t be surprised if the blades hit a wire or something.” Stupid southern wires hanging out in the middle of the field.
