by R. J. Blain
“Lisa,” I whispered. While Fenerec-bred, she was Normal, and I didn’t even need to use my wolf to force her attention to me. My nose flared as I breathed in to catch her scent.
The airport reeked of fear and anxiety.
Her eyes locked with mine and I didn’t let her go. She approached me, her steps shaky. When she was close enough for me to touch if I wanted to, I released her.
“Lisa, my phone is in my pocket. Pull it out and go through my contacts,” I told her.
Her hands shook as she dug for my phone, so much so I was afraid she would drop the device before she could make a call for me.
I was aware of Desmond’s wolf struggling against me. I growled, which was echoed by my wolf. Lisa flinched at our noise.
“Who am I calling?” she asked, another shiver tearing through her. She stared out the window, her expression blank from shock.
“Lisa,” I said firmly, recapturing her attention. “Call Frank for me and tell him that I need the pack to back me. If I lose hold of your father here…”
Her eyes widened. Turning in a slow circle, she took in the crowds of people fighting to look out the window. “Oh my God.”
I didn’t have to tell her twice. I saw a bit of her sister in her as Lisa clenched her teeth together and determinedly scrolled through my contacts to find Frank’s number. She tapped to connect the call, holding it to her ear. “Hi. Uh, are you Frank?”
I heard my Second confirm his identity.
“I’m Lisa. Richard’s next to me, and he’s doing something weird to my parents, and he says he needs the pack to back him. We’re at the airport, and the plane crashed.”
I ducked my head to listen to the conversation.
“Which plane crashed?” Frank asked.
“Nicolina’s,” Lisa replied, her voice wavering.
“What’s Richard doing?”
“I am keeping Desmond from going psychotic in a crowded airport full of college students, worried parents, and people convinced screaming is somehow going to change reality,” I said, careful to keep my voice soft and soothing.
Desmond whined, and his mate echoed him.
“I’ll gather the pack,” Frank replied. “Lisa, you’re going to have to play Richard’s Second. Do you understand?”
I groaned at the thought of a Normal human girl backing me up against Desmond, though she was the closest thing I had to someone who might be able to contain her father if he went wild. My wolf didn’t like it either.
While we weren’t interested in Lisa as a potential mate, she was Nicolina’s sister. We were supposed to protect her, not put her directly in harm’s way.
Lisa either had no idea what she was getting into or had more spine than I had originally given her credit for. She lifted her chin and asked, “What do I have to do?”
“If your father fights him, help keep him calm. Talk to him. Support Richard. If Richard tells you to do a handstand, you do it. If Richard wants to shock your father by grabbing you and kissi—“
“Frank, I’m not going to assault Desmond’s daughter in an airport,” I informed him.
“You’d shock him,” my Second pointed out. “It’s a legitimate strategy.”
“Would it help?” Lisa asked.
“Maybe? What’s your mother doing?”
“Richard’s holding her.”
Frank whistled. “You’re dominating both of them at once?”
“I have two choices,” I snarled, and my surge of anger gave me all the strength I needed to contain Desmond when he growled at me. I bit his throat until he whined. Once he settled, I shifted my attention to his chin, giving him a reassuring nip to let him know I was in control. “I can either hold them both until they calm down or let them rampage through a crowded airport.”
I wanted to shift us away from the mass of people fighting to get a look out the window, but I didn’t dare move either Desmond or Wendy. Holding them while standing still was difficult enough. Through my wolf, I could feel their apprehension, their fear, their need to act, their need to find their daughter and protect her from harm.
It was up to me to buffer them from their instincts and keep them still and quiet.
I didn’t like flying commercial, I didn’t like airports, and I didn’t like the thick press of Normals going from one place to another, but I understood how they worked.
It could be hours before they released the passengers from the beleaguered flight, especially if there were injuries. Soon enough, they would start calling the families of those on board, seclude them in small waiting areas, and turn chaos into order.
If I allowed Desmond or Wendy to go with that flow, one of them would crack.
“Richard?” Frank asked.
“He’s asking for you,” Lisa said when I didn’t respond. “Frank, he looks really, really annoyed.”
At her worried tone, I sighed. “I’m fine.”
I had to be; Desmond and Wendy were projecting all of their fear and need at me, strong enough to make my chest tight with worry and anxiety of my own. Without my wolf’s cooperation, I wouldn’t have been able to withstand them both.
In a way, Desmond forcing us to return to human form had helped us win the domination battle. Unlike him, we were still mixed together, neither wolf or man, but a tangle of the two. Because we had been forced to assume a human’s skin rather than embrace it by choice, we remembered what it was to be just a wolf, above and outside of the human world.
In human form, Desmond couldn’t beat us, not when we were a wolf who merely looked human. I growled when Desmond shifted his weight and he froze in my grip. Easing my hold on him, I ran my fingers through his hair, pressing my forehead to his.
“What’s he doing now, Lisa?” Frank asked.
“He’s… he’s petting my dad,” Lisa blurted. “Oh my God, this is so embarrassing. There are people staring at us, Frank.”
Wendy sighed and pressed close to me, hiding her face against my chest, shifting until she bumped against her mate. At her touch, Desmond relaxed, slumping against me, forcing me to hold him or risk him falling to the floor.
“Lisa, I’m going to sit them down,” I said, shifting the pair of Fenerec towards the nearby chairs facing the window.
Later, the Normals would probably wonder why they cleared a path for me without my saying a word. It was the wolf in my eyes and the promise of bloodshed if they crossed my path that did it.
I doubted they would ever realize how close to death they came.
Taking over the last four chairs of the row, I settled Wendy down on the end with Desmond beside her. Once satisfied neither would break free of my wolf’s hold on them, I took the phone from Lisa and pointed at the seat beside her father.
She stared at me with wide eyes, shaking her head side to side so hard her hair whipped.
“Lisa, sit,” I ordered.
With a whimper, she obeyed.
Desmond responded as my wolf allowed him to, reaching for the comfort of his daughter. Once certain he intended only to hold her close to him, I leaned against the window, my gaze locked on the other two Fenerec the entire time. “Frank, are you at the lodge?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“The others?”
“A lot of us were at the lodge. About half the pack was in town, so it’ll be a couple of hours. Everyone’s on the phone calling the others in.”
“Good. Tell them I’m sorry for crashing their evening, and that I have a favor to ask.”
“Favors, Richard? Just give us the order. We’re yours.”
I smiled, and my wolf basked in Frank’s words. “Access the safe and pull out the emergency contact list. I need the code for Desmond’s phone.”
“Can’t ask him for it?”
“I know the passcode,” Lisa said, and without my asking for it, she started searching through her father’s pockets for his cell.
“Ah, scratch that. His daughter saves the day. She knows the code,” I said, chuckling as I watched Desmond bu
ry his nose against his daughter’s neck to breathe in her scent.
Lisa giggled. “That tickles.”
“Desmond,” I chided, drawing his attention. He whined, and after I brushed my fingers over his hair to soothe him, he rested his forehead against Lisa’s shoulder. “You okay with him like that, Lisa?”
“He’s a bit heavy,” the girl admitted.
“Let me know if it becomes a problem. Frank, you better warn Sanders and the other local packs. Tell them if they have pack in the area to get them out. If they come near Desmond right now, I’m not going to be able to hold him. If there’s anyone working at the airport, warn them off, and tell them we’re at the flight’s terminal. Have them call me with updates,” I ordered.
“You got it, Richard. Anything else you need?”
“Vodka, and lots of it,” I grumbled before hanging up.
I spent the next two hours standing behind Nicolina’s parents, my chin on Desmond’s shoulder while I stroked Wendy’s hair. While she was the easiest to subdue, she was delicate crystal compared to Desmond’s robust steel. My wolf could hold Desmond with brute force, but his mate required a gentler touch.
Neither spoke, which suited my needs. I couldn’t allow them to think, to feel, or to exist outside of the moment, the one I carefully crafted so they felt secure. When they faced the source of their fears and anxiety, it was entirely possible they would join forces to overthrow my hold on them.
It was easy to convince their wolves I would handle their every need. Wolves didn’t care about plane crashes or the meaning behind the steady stream of ambulances coming and going from the airport. That was my problem, a human matter for a human.
I was the Alpha, and because I told them I was handling the situation, they believed, and they submitted to me. On the fringe of my awareness, I felt my pack as a gentle warmth, ready and willing to lend me their strength if the Desmonds attempted to break my hold.
They didn’t. There was nothing human in their wolf-yellow eyes, and I needed to keep it that way, at least until the crowds settled and dispersed.
“What’s wrong with Mom and Dad?” Lisa whispered.
“Nothing’s wrong with them,” I reassured her. “I’m taking care of them.”
“But they’re not doing anything. It’s like they’re asleep.”
“Consider it a blessing, Miss Lisa. Try giving your sister a call.”
With a sigh, Lisa redialed the number, waited a moment, and shook her head.
Nicolina either had her cell on airplane mode or had turned it off. Either way, until she answered or made an appearance, there wasn’t much I could do. “Okay, go hunt down one of the airport employees. Find out how many people were injured on the flight. While you’re at it, go buy yourself a drink and something to eat. Take my wallet.”
“I’ve got cash,” Lisa replied, easing out from her father’s grip with a little help from me. “Want anything?”
I wanted Nicolina, but saying so wouldn’t do me any good. “Water’s fine.”
“What about for Mom and Dad?”
“If you happen to be as devious as your sister and happen to have wolfsbane on you, I wouldn’t say no to some,” I admitted, chuckling a little. “Whatever they like will be fine, and some jerky if you can find it.”
“Jerky?”
“Something to sink their teeth into if they need it,” I replied.
When Desmond finally wrested control back from me, I had a feeling he was going to take me out back, drown me in his koi pond, and feed me to his fish.
It took Lisa almost an hour to return, and she scowled as she thumped down onto the seat next to her father. “You’d think the world was ending,” she complained, holding out a bottle of water to me. “It’s all little injuries, some bumps to the head, one broken wrist, and shit like that.”
“Just enough to turn it into a circus?” I asked, twisting off the cap, keeping a close eye on Desmond while I had a drink.
“Right, and they aren’t releasing the passenger list yet. I asked, and I told them it was my sister’s flight, and they told me I could wait with the other family members or bugger off.”
Frustration made Lisa’s voice crack; I reached over and patted her back, once again calling on my wolf to soothe her agitated nerves. “Have they released any of the passengers yet?”
Lisa wrinkled her nose. “A few, but Nicolina wasn’t among them. I checked. I got in trouble with security. They said if I kept bothering them, they’d ask me to leave.”
“Good work,” I complimented, narrowing my eyes as I considered the pair of Fenerec. Starting with Wendy would be easiest, and once I had her coherent and under my control, I could use her to keep her mate contained. “Your mom’s going to be a bit groggy for a few minutes. She’ll probably snap out of it fast enough, but I don’t want her going into a panic.”
“She’ll set Dad off,” Lisa whispered.
“Exactly, and I want to avoid that. Once she’s functional and calm, it’ll be easier to keep him from flying off the handle at someone.”
“Okay. Is there anything I can do?”
“Sit there and look pretty. Pet your dad if he starts acting up.”
“Pet him?”
“Don’t let him trick you, Miss Lisa. He likes attention almost as much as I do.”
“No way. Impossible.”
Chuckling, I eased away from Desmond to circle the seats and bend over Wendy. I wrapped my arms around her, nipping at her neck until I hit a nerve. She gasped, arching against me. I slid my hand over her throat and rubbed the spot until I felt her breathing quicken.
“Wendy,” I murmured in her ear.
There was a fine line between soothing another’s wolf and taming my own at the same time; I couldn’t afford to let us calm down too much, or I’d lose my hold over Desmond. I gave her neck another nip, growling gently.
“Richard,” she protested, though she kept still.
“There’s only some minor injuries on the flight,” I told her, easing my hold on her wolf. I kept her close to me, ready to reassert my control over her if she started to panic.
“Nicolina? Where’s Nicolina?” she begged, her small hands grabbing hold of my shirt.
“They haven’t released many of the passengers yet, so we have to wait. She’s fine,” I assured her.
Wendy trembled, and for a moment, I thought I was going to have to start all over again and take control, but she sighed, leaned against me, and nodded. Then she turned to her mate, and I could smell her alarm.
“Charles.”
“Is fine,” I informed her, resting my fingers under her chin to force her gaze to mine. “I’m influencing him.”
I gave her a minute to think it through, her eyes widening as she took in the airport. Turning a sickly grayish green, she nodded. “Okay.”
“Lisa,” I called, waving my hand for Desmond’s younger daughter. Leaving her with her mother, I took over her seat, stretching out my legs as I settled in beside Desmond. Once I had his head resting on my shoulder, I began relaxing my hold on him.
Unlike with Wendy, who was submissive, Alphas didn’t need coaxed or soothed. No matter how deep I took him or how much control I exerted over him, his wolf was always trying to break free of me.
All I was doing was loosening my hold on his chain and giving him room to act on his own. Nipping Wendy had sped up the process, but I wasn’t willing to take any risks with Desmond. I waited for almost twenty minutes before some of the life returned to his eyes.
He growled at me.
I reached over and gave his neck a flick with my nail, the equivalent of a scolding nip. “No,” I told him in a firm voice. “It was a rough landing, but there’s only minor injuries. Nicolina will be fine.”
The battle for dominance didn’t last long. My wolf had been in control for three hours and his wolf knew it. My pack’s support strengthened, and I became a mountain he couldn’t climb. Resentment burned in his eyes.
I leaned over and pres
sed my forehead to his. “You can’t win,” I told him in a gentle voice. “If I let you run wild here, you will be dealt with, and I can’t let that happen to Wendy, Lisa, or Nicolina. You will submit.”
Desmond whined and obeyed.
Four hours after the plane crashed, I was confident enough in my control over Desmond I let him take his phone back and call his daughter.
Half an hour later, she finally answered. Desmond’s frustration and worry crested, and I lost my hold on him as he snarled at his daughter. When she started crying on the other end of the line, my wolf had enough. I grabbed hold of his neck and pinched until he calmed.
When Nicolina told us where she was, I turned to her mother. She already had her purse out and was writing something down. When she thrust it and a pen at me, I realized it was a handwritten temporary guardianship slip. I passed it to Desmond, pointed at it, and dug my car keys out of my pocket. When I jangled them and pointed at the paper again, he grabbed the pen and signed.
I left him talking to his puppy.
The Regional wasn’t far from the airport. I ran through the terminal, not caring who I plowed over in my haste to make it to my Porsche. Two minutes after leaving the Desmonds, I was weaving through traffic.
So early in the morning, the only cars in sight were the ones coming to and from the airport. I ignored the speed limit signs and made it to the hospital in less than six minutes. Parking ate up precious time, and I grumbled over the fees, but I headed for the Emergency signs, armed with the little slip of paper that would let me claim authority over Nicolina.
I scented her before I saw her. Her cinnamon and lilac was tainted with fear, anxiety, and frustration. I followed my nose, twitching at the sharpness of blood in the air, blood I recognized as hers. I found her in a waiting room, her phone pressed to her ear. I crept up behind her, wrapped my arm around her, and stole her cell so I could reassure her mother and once again exert my control over the Desmonds.
I managed to get her out of the hospital without killing any of the pushy doctors and nurses who invaded my territory by distressing the girl my wolf viewed as our mate.
