“Explain?” Gina was up on her feet, heading toward Joaquin. “You toad.”
“Toad?” Joaquin looked genuinely bemused. “Perhaps you can tell me what I’ve done to make you so angry.”
“Gina.” Craig’s mate reached out for her friend. “You should sit down.”
The plane was still climbing, below them the city disappeared and gave way to green fields before they were enveloped in white fluffy clouds.
“Not until I’ve clawed his eyes out.” Gina reached for Joaquin, but her friend pulled her back into her seat. “Linda, let me go!”
“Please, you asked me to come here and protect you. Let me do my job.” His mate was a protector, too. That confirmed his suspicions that she was a shifter.
“Protect you? From what?” Joaquin asked with concern.
“From you,” Gina spat.
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t you return my calls? I thought we had something special.” Joaquin sounded genuinely perplexed.
“So special you had to capture it on film?” Gina accused.
“Film?” Joaquin looked perplexed.
“Yes. Or whatever you call it when you record on your phone.” Gina’s eyes misted with tears. “How could you?”
“I… You think I filmed us...” Joaquin looked horrified, which was a good thing because if Craig found out he had filmed himself in bed with Gina without her knowledge, there was a good chance Joaquin would find himself on the wrong side of the thin walls of the small plane.
As if hearing his thoughts, the plane jolted suddenly. All four passengers grabbed hold of something. Only all those somethings were the wrong way around as the plane went into freefall.
“What the hell is happening?!” Linda yelled as she wrapped her arms around Gina and pulled her into the seat beside her.
The wind whistled through the plane and Craig had to cover his eyes with his hand to see clearly. “What the fuck?!”
The pilot was gone.
Craig took a moment to make sure his eyes weren’t fooling him. He knew they weren’t. But the situation was so bizarre, he had to be sure.
He began to formulate a plan as he unbuckled his seatbelt and made his way toward the front of the plane. As he moved, something outside caught his eye. A bird, a large bird, maybe an eagle, was flying alongside them.
A shifter. Their pilot was a shifter and he’d bailed on them. Why?
No time for that. He would exact his revenge later. If they got out of this alive.
Craig reached for the controls and pulled the wheel toward him, bringing the plane out of its nosedive. As he fought for control something brushed his arm. A jolt of recognition coursed through him. His mate.
Linda was by his side, fighting to shut the pilot’s door. Luckily, they hadn’t climbed high enough for the sudden drop in air pressure to suck everything out, but still the icy cold wind tugged at them.
“Let me fly the plane,” Joaquin called from behind Craig.
Craig looked over his shoulder at his employer. “Come on.”
Joaquin hauled himself to his feet and made his way to the front of the plane. As Craig slid out of the way, he reached for the door and helped Linda shut the elements out. Instantly the inside of the plane became calmer, but the danger of crashing was brutally obvious as mountain peaks surrounded them like the jaws of a shark.
“I can’t get her to climb,” Joaquin yelled above the sound of the engines.
“We’re going to crash!” Craig shouted at Linda. “You need to get back to your seat and brace for impact.”
“So do you.” The challenge in her eyes was plain. She needed him to stay alive, just as he needed her to stay alive. The mating bond worked both ways and she would do whatever it took to protect him.
His eyes flicked to her lips and for a second, he figured if they were going to die, he wanted one taste of her.
We’re not going to die, his bear told him firmly.
“Joaquin, is there anything I can do to help?” Craig yelled above the whine of the engines.
“No, Craig. Just make sure Gina is safe.” Joaquin’s eyes lingered on Gina’s white face for a second before he resumed his fight for control of the plane.
They all knew he could only buy them time.
As Craig buckled himself into his seat, he looked out of the window at the snow-covered peaks. He’d never seen them this close, even though he’d lived in their shadow for most of his life.
As the plane sank lower and skidded across the snow, all he could think of was how unfair it was for him to die now, when he’d only just met his mate.
We’re not going to die, his bear repeated firmly.
Then the world went black.
Chapter Five – Linda
Panic filled her. It came at her like a tsunami, a massive wave that slammed into her and robbed her of breath and conscious thought. Instinct took over.
As the plane plowed into the snow, the sounds of metal scraping against rock sickened her to the very pit of her stomach. But she forced herself to stay awake, to stay present even when they slammed into a rock face, which pivoted the plane ninety degrees and sent them rebounding off down the mountain slope.
The plane acted like a sled and they hurtled along, gaining speed. There was nothing she could do but hold on and stay awake.
This was beyond her control. Powerless, Linda glanced at her best friend who was out cold, and then, with some effort, she raised her head and searched for her mate.
He was slumped forward in his seat, blood oozing from a cut above his eye.
Then movement caught her eye. Joaquin was still battling to control the plane even though it was crippled, its left wing torn off. But still he fought. Maybe this man wasn’t the piece of crap they thought he was. But if Joaquin hadn’t taken those photographs, then who?
That was Linda’s last thought before the plane suddenly angled upward and cold, white snow filled the tin can that once was a plane.
She gasped, lifting her head high as the avalanche broke over her. It took a moment for Linda to realize she wasn’t drowning. Yet the suffocation was real.
Cold clawed at her hands as she searched for the buckle of her seatbelt and popped it open. She had to act fast or the others would all die and there was no way she was going to be left alone again. Not on this mountain, not in this life.
She punched the buckle once more, it opened, and she lurched forward, clawing at the snow as she searched for Gina. Her hands closed around the still-warm body of her best friend and she slipped her hands down to Gina’s lap and unbuckled her seatbelt. Wrapping her arms around Gina, she dragged her upward until their heads were nearly touching the roof of the plane.
She’s breathing, Linda’s bear announced with relief.
Linda trusted her other side and didn’t pause to clear Gina’s airways or any of the other things you were supposed to check when someone was unconscious. Time was too short. The cold would kill Gina if Linda didn’t get her out of the snow.
Dragging, sobbing, fighting the panic that gripped her, Linda pulled her friend out of the snow and toward the back of the plane. Scooping the snow away with her hands, she made a clear space and propped Gina up.
She was cold, so cold. But alive.
If Linda shifted, the heat from her bear’s body would warm Gina.
But the others. Linda swung her head around. She couldn’t just leave them to die.
“Sorry, Gina.” Linda kissed her friend on the cheek and waded back into the snow. Within four strides she was clawing her way toward her mate, scraping the snow away as she tried to reach him.
She knew where he was, she didn’t need to search. Something drew her to him as if they were tethered together by some invisible force. There was no way she could let him die. If she did, a part of her would die on the mountain, too.
“There you are.” Linda reached for him and she scraped the snow from his face. At the moment her fingertips brushed against his neck and as she searched for a puls
e, his eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright like something from an old horror film.
He gasped, drawing in a deep breath as the blood seeped from his head, making the snow red.
Linda slumped back in relief. “Can you move?”
His eyes focused on her face, and he stared at her as if staring deep into her soul. She was naked before him, stripped bare of everything she was.
“Yes.” He nodded and began to move his arms and legs. “The others?”
“I pulled Gina out.” Linda looked at the wall of snow that filled the front of the plane. She didn’t speak, words were meaningless here, only actions would save lives.
With a great effort she dragged herself away from her mate and renewed her efforts to save everyone on board. It mattered to her. She didn’t want anyone dying today, even if Joaquin was a stranger.
He’s not a stranger, he’s the father of Gina’s baby, her bear reminded her.
“He’d better be worth it,” Linda said out loud.
“Are you talking about me?” her mate asked as he freed himself from the snow and crawled forward to help her.
“Nope, I’m talking about the asshole who broke my best friend’s heart.” Linda scooped the snow toward her, developing a rhythm as she worked.
“You know he flew here just to meet her. He said he didn’t know why she wouldn’t answer his calls.” Craig’s head was still bleeding, but he ignored it as he cleared the snow.
“If I tell you something, and you promise me you won’t repeat it, you have to keep your word, right?” Linda cocked her head to one side and studied her mate. She knew how this stuff worked, or was supposed to work…
“I promise.” His shoulders sagged forward as if with relief. “You know we’re mates.”
“That’s the only reason I pulled your dumb ass from the snow.” Linda switched her attention back toward Joaquin. She didn’t need to see the look of raw emotion on her mate’s face.
“Thank you.” His deep voice rumbled in his chest.
“You’re welcome.” Her brain was filled with soft floaty clouds and her body ached for him.
“So what were you going to tell me?”
“What?” Her forehead creased and then cleared as she remembered. “Gina broke off contact with Joaquin because he took photographs of them together.”
“Which he denied.” Craig didn’t believe Joaquin was the kind of man who would do something like that.
“Do you believe him?” Linda stopped working for a moment and studied her mate.
“He is genuinely in love with her.” Craig paused, too. “I think he’s a good guy.”
“Then someone else took the photographs and is trying to blackmail Gina and put the blame on Joaquin.”
“So that’s what this whole mess is about. Someone set them up against each other.” Hot anger simmered in Craig’s eyes, hot enough to melt the snow.
“And then tried to kill them,” Linda started making a mental list of all suspects. It was a short list on Gina’s side but perhaps Joaquin had enemies who wanted him dead.
“But Joaquin was not supposed to be on the plane,” Craig explained. “He purchased the tickets at the last minute with cash. He didn’t want Gina to know he was getting on the plane in case she found out and didn’t show up. Unless he confided in someone else, then nobody knew.”
“So Gina might be the sole target.” Linda began scooping feverishly at the snow. She would get them all off the mountain and then find out who was responsible for trying to murder Gina.
Her bear growled in agreement. No one tried to hurt their family and got away with it.
At last, her hand scraped against the back of the pilot’s seat. “I’ve found him.” Relief flooded Linda. Joaquin had managed to drag himself into the pilot seat and buckled his harness, which had prevented him from being catapulted out of the plane when they crashed.
Craig scraped at the snow like a dog trying to find his favorite bone. “Can you reach around him and unbuckle his harness?”
With some effort Linda pushed herself forward and around the side of the seat. After raking the snow away from Joaquin, her fingers scraped against the cold hard metal of the buckle. Ignoring the stillness of the body held in place by the harness, she jabbed her fingers down, and released Joaquin from the harness that had likely saved his life.
If he was still alive.
Linda went to work, searching for a pulse while Craig kept digging away the snow. She wanted to return to Gina and check on her vital signs, but Linda forced herself to stay put and work on Joaquin instead.
“I have a pulse.” Linda’s eyes locked with Craig’s and they experienced a moment of mutual relief. Craig because Joaquin was his responsibility and Linda because the man who had tried to save them from being scattered across the mountain in a thousand pieces was the father of Gina’s child.
“Can you check for any further injuries?” Craig slowed down the rate at which he scooped the snow while Linda began systematically checking for injuries.
Joaquin’s head, neck and arms all seemed fine. With probing fingers and gentle movements she ruled out any obvious fractures and was relieved his spine hadn’t been damaged by the impact.
“He has a cut on his forehead and I suspect he has a couple of bruised, if not broken, ribs.” She pressed her lips together as she lifted Joaquin’s sweater. “I can’t tell if there are any internal injuries. And I can’t check his legs properly while he’s seated.”
“Let’s pull him free and then get him warmed up.” Craig placed his hands on the back of the pilot’s seat. “Hold him steady.”
Linda nodded and cradled Joaquin against her body. With tremendous strength, Craig ripped the back of the seat off. The sound of tearing fabric and twisted metal filled the plane, breaking the eerie silence.
The plane shuddered. “Perhaps we should have checked that we aren’t hanging onto the side of a cliff,” Linda told Craig.
He gave a wry smile. “Perhaps we should have.”
“Let’s drag Joaquin out carefully. Then you can check him over and start warming him up while I go and look outside,” Linda suggested.
After we’ve checked on Gina, her bear announced firmly.
After we’ve checked on Gina, Linda agreed.
“Okay, I’ll support his head and neck while you work to free his legs if they become snagged on anything.” Craig looked down at Joaquin’s face, his expression grim. “He’s pale, we need to get him out fast and warm him up slowly.”
Linda nodded and crawled forward into the space beside Joaquin. “Ready.”
They worked together to slowly unearth Joaquin from the blanket of snow covering him. Inch by inch they pulled him from the snow and dragged him to the back of the plane where the woman Joaquin loved lay unconscious.
“How is Gina?” Craig asked as Linda checked Gina’s pulse and breathing.
“Cold.” So very, very cold.
“Go check outside while I get Joaquin comfortable. Then we’ll work on getting some heat in here.” Craig’s strong hands worked to scrape away more snow from the ground around Joaquin and Gina.
“Okay.” Linda made for the only visible exit from the plane. It was nothing more than a gash along the side of the plane. The edges were jagged and sharp, enough to slice the flesh from her body if she made a wrong move.
“Be careful.” Craig’s hand on her arm flooded her body with warmth.
“I will be.” She nodded reassuringly and then scooted forward, dragging herself away from her mate.
Her mate. She took a deep breath and allowed herself a moment of euphoria before she refocused on her task. If they didn’t get out of here alive it wouldn’t matter that she’d found the love of her life. There would be no falling in love, no wedding and no children.
Until this moment, Linda hadn’t allowed herself to acknowledge how much those things really meant to her. As a bodyguard she wore a hard exterior that repelled anyone who might even think of hurting the person she wa
s charged with protecting.
But with Craig she wanted to let down her barriers and allow him to see her softer side.
She drew her hand back and punched a hole in the snow, extending her arm fully. When she pulled it back she was gratified to see daylight and relieved she hadn’t punched a solid wall of rock. If they were going to survive on the mountain she should try a little caution.
With daylight in her sights she cupped her hands and began excavating the snow. Linda worked with care, ensuring none of the snow slid down over Joaquin or Gina, both of whom were still unconscious.
“How are they doing?” Linda asked over her shoulder. She’d made a hole in the snow big enough to crawl through, but she didn’t want to leave if Gina needed her.
“Warming up.” Craig had pulled open the overhead luggage compartments and was covering his patients with a couple of emergency blankets. Linda watched Craig work, her eyes lingering on his large, capable hands. Even in the midst of this crisis Linda wanted to feel those hands on her naked skin. Even though the temperature outside was freezing he would keep her warm. Together they would create such heat that fire would flow through her veins.
Focus, her bear warned her.
“Keep her safe.” Linda lifted her right leg and set it down firmly in the snow on the other side of the jagged shell of the plane. Once her footing was secure, she angled her body forward and swapped her weight from her left leg to her right. She paused, her muscles taut as she lifted her left leg and pulled it through the hole. In one fluid movement she ducked down and swiveled her body sideways, narrowly missing the sharp metal of the fuselage.
Once out of the plane she took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the brightness. A clear sky above her head allowed the full glare of the afternoon sun to bounce off the pristine snow. Linda shaded her eyes and crawled forward until she was free of the plane. Then she stood up.
A gasp escaped her. Not of fear, they were safely perched on a wide ledge and out of imminent danger. Instead, it was the beauty of the mountain that took her by surprise and robbed her of breath. If not for the danger posed to Gina and Joaquin, she would take Craig and roam the wilderness with him. A bear and her mate.
Survivor Bear (Bear Creek Protectors Book 2) Page 4
