Fly Bear

by Scarlett Grove

Rider laughed and said, “Did you know that you are mine?”

  She smiled and blushed a pretty shade of pink. Being with her filled him with such a sense of contentment he almost wished he'd signed up for Mate.com sooner. But he knew that with fate, everything happened at just the right time.

  They sat together at the kitchen table and shared their coffee and pastries. He found out the Darcy did love blueberry muffins, and he congratulated himself on his hunch. When they were done, Darcy excused herself to continue getting ready, and Rider made a call to Sampson.

  “Have you found any information about the woman I told you about yesterday?”

  “I have as a matter of fact. I was just about to call you. Rebecca Gilman is a half-hyena shifter, originally from Phoenix, Arizona. Her mother was a well-known lioness dancer who disappeared soon after the shifter equality act. She emerged several years later having given birth to a child. She never disclosed who the father was, but it was speculated she had been kidnapped by hyena extremists and forced to bear a child for them.”

  “I just saw her on the street being harassed by several known hyena terrorists. I would suspect she's being forced to work with them.”

  “That would be in keeping with their MO,” Sampson said. “They will kidnap a woman and force her to bear a child for them, then the child becomes property of the group. Neither mother nor child is ever truly free again. They usually keep control through some form of blackmail or all out violence.”

  “These people are disgusting,” Rider growled.

  The news made him angrier than he had expected. They still didn’t have any hard evidence against the hyenas, but he was more determined than ever to succeed in his mission.

  “I'll keep digging,” Sampson said.

  “Thank you, Sampson.”

  “How are things on the mating front?”

  “That is a different story altogether,” Rider said whimsically. He’d had no idea he was capable of saying things whimsically, but Darcy brought that out in him.

  “Darcy and I have mated. I've made her mine. And I turned her.”

  “Well that's quite the development,” Sampson said.

  “It was a surprise for me too. But it's what she wanted, so that's what we did.”

  “Congratulations, Rider. I hope you two are very happy.”

  “We are. So happy. And once I bring down these hyenas, I can finally bring her home.”

  “I look forward to another one of your amazing barbecues.”

  “It will be even more amazing with Darcy. She’s a bona fide grill chef!” he said before hanging up.

  Darcy came out dressed in one of her new outfits. She'd done her hair more naturally than the first day he'd met her, but he knew that she'd put some thought and care into her look. She was wearing lipstick and a dusting of eye makeup that brought out the natural beauty in her face.

  “You look gorgeous,” he said, standing up to kiss her cheek.

  “Lilia taught me a lot, and I don't want it all to go to waste. I know I don't need it, but it does make me feel pretty, and I like it.”

  “I like it if you like it,” he said.

  She smiled and kissed him.

  “I'll drive you to work if you'd like,” he offered.

  “I don't work until later, but maybe you can come visit me on my break.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” he said. “Things are heating up for me so I may be distracted and unavailable for a while. I want you to be prepared for that if I don't answer my phone or respond to texts.”

  “You have important work to do, Rider. I would never want to get in the way of that.”

  He gave her one last kiss before turning to leave. As he gripped the door handle, he gazed back at her standing in the kitchen with the late morning sunlight glowing around her shoulders.

  He could sense the new grizzly taking root in her soul and it gave him the profound sensation that he was staring into the eyes of a goddess. His words were caught in his throat, and all he could say was, “I’ll see you soon.”

  Chapter 17

  Rider hurried to the airport for his flight, missing Darcy the minute he left her apartment. He felt like he was so close to taking down the hyenas, but he knew there was something he wasn't seeing.

  He made it to the airport and began to prepare for his flight. He told agents Black and Rowe what he’d learned about Rebecca, but there was nothing they could do with the information.

  “There has to be something,” he said to himself as he changed into his uniform.

  As he was making his way to the gate for his flight, his mind was awash with thoughts. He needed hard evidence that the hyenas were planning an attack before he could send law enforcement in to their compound. The information about Rebecca wasn't enough to go on. He needed something more. He could feel in his bones that something was about to go down — the same instinct that he had depended on to keep him safe through all his military missions was screaming for him to take notice.

  He boarded his flight feeling uncharacteristically nervous. He hated the idea of leaving Denver, and Darcy, without protection. As he sat in the cockpit doing his preflight checklist, he sent her a text message.

  “I got a bad feeling about today. Keep your eyes open and let me know if you see anything out of the ordinary.”

  “What should I be looking for?”

  “Anything that seems suspicious.”

  “That's specific,” she texted with a tongue out emoji.

  “I just want to keep you safe.”

  “I'll let you know if I see anything strange,” she replied more seriously this time.

  “I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you,” he typed.

  “Nothing's going to happen to me. I'm a big bad grizzly now.” She sent a smiley face emoji.

  He didn't want to hurt her confidence. But her inner grizzly was an infant, and the people he was dealing with were extremely dangerous. Darcy was a strong woman, but she was a cook. Grizzly shifter or not, she needed to be on alert.

  “Just be careful and report it immediately if you see anything suspicious.”

  “I will, Rider. I promise.”

  “Thank you. I've got to go. I'll be back tonight.”

  He continued with his preflight checks as the passengers boarded, and his copilot took his seat.

  “I haven't seen that sexy shifter flight attendant in days. Did you scare her off?” He laughed.

  “I think she was transferred to another route,” Rider said as he made the last adjustments before takeoff.

  “So you did notice her,” Rob teased.

  “I noticed she was a shifter, and I noticed she hasn't been on our flights since you were making passes at her,” Rider said pointedly.

  “Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you’re one of those.”

  “One of what?” Rider growled, annoyed by the man.

  “Never mind.”

  Rider didn’t care what the man thought of him. He really disliked the way human men treated their women. Shifter females were rare and finding a fated mate was hard. Shifters cherished and respected their women and saw them as equals. The copilot’s attitude was disgusting.

  Rob didn’t continue and Rider was glad to be done with the conversation. The plane took off and gained altitude. As the flight proceeded, they opened the cockpit door. Rob grunted and whistled in the back of his throat. Rider turned around and saw Rebecca Gilman. Her eyes darted away nervously. Something about her seemed off, even more so than usual, but Rider couldn't quite place it. She looked different. She caught him scrutinizing her, and he looked away.

  “For all that talk, you're just as bad as me,” Rob said. “You're checking out the hot shifter flight attendant too.”

  Rider growled, realizing that it must have looked that way. He didn't have time to defend his behavior; he had to figure out what was going on. Lives were at stake. And even though he didn't have evidence to bring them down, he knew this woman was involved with the hyenas.

/>   Then he realized what was off. She looked much heavier than she had the last time. She had a bulge around her stomach that had not been there before. She couldn't possibly have gained that much weight since he'd seen her that morning. Realization of what was going on hit him.

  Rebecca had a bomb.

  “I need you to take over the flight,” Rider said, reaching for his gun in the holster tucked under his shirt.

  When he pulled it out, Rob’s eyes went wide. “What are you doing?”

  “I'm a federal agent monitoring a terror threat. The shifter you've been lusting over is my primary target.”

  Rider slipped out of the cockpit and into the kitchen. The flight attendants were serving the in-flight meal. Rebecca’s eyes darted toward him, and her scent turned anxious.

  She started to back away from Rider, turning toward economy class. She slipped into one of the bathrooms. Rider started down the aisle, holding his gun under his shirt. He didn't want to frighten the passengers. Rider checked the bathroom door handle. It was locked. He growled to himself and knocked on the door.

  “Rebecca, this is Captain Hendrix. I’m a federal agent, monitoring the hyena terror threat. If you come out now and surrender yourself, I'm sure that we can strike a deal. I know that you are acting under duress. I can help you if you let me.”

  He pressed his ear to the door and heard a shuddering sob.

  “I need to use the bathroom.” A little kid tugged on his shirt from behind. Rider turned to see the kid wiggling around and squeezing his legs together. Rider gritted his teeth. This was a bad situation. He had to get her out of there.

  “Rebecca. Please come out. I can help you. Let's just talk this through.”

  His heart rate increased and a bead of sweat dripped down his brow. If he couldn't get her out, and she did what he thought she was going to do, he and everyone on this flight were going to die.

  “I don't want to do it,” came a frantic voice through the door. “I never wanted any part in this.”

  “Just come out, Rebecca, and we can work it out. I promise I can help you.”

  “They forced me to do it. They’ve got my little girl. They told me that if I sacrifice myself, they’ll let her go. And if I don't…” She began to cry, the sobs loud on the other side of the door.

  “Just come out now and I will help you. I promise no harm will come to you or your child. You just have to trust me.”

  Slowly, the door opened, and Rebecca appeared on the other side. Tears streaked her face and she was trembling with fear.

  “I can't take it off,” she whispered, lifting up the shirt of her uniform to reveal a bomb strapped to her waist. “It's going to go off if I like it or not.”

  “Rebecca, I need you to listen to exactly what I tell you. I need you to step back into the bathroom.”

  “I need to go potty,” the little boy said again.

  “Go use the bathroom in first class, son,” Rider said. “Tell the flight attendants I gave you permission. It's right up there. Move along now.”

  He walked Rebecca back into the bathroom, her eyes wide with fear and shock.

  “I never wanted to do this. All these people, children — I never wanted to do this. You have to believe me.”

  “I do believe you, Rebecca. We’re going to work together to get you out of this. Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Now I need you to do exactly what I say. Sit down on the toilet and remove your shirt. We’re going to defuse this bomb together. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. Whatever I need to do.”

  “I'm going to contact my team. And they're going to walk us through this.”

  Rider picked up his phone and called Agent Rowe. “Listen very carefully, Rowe,” he said. “There is an innocent woman on my flight who is strapped to a bomb.”

  “Reroute the plane to a rural area,” Agent Rowe said. “Send a photo of the bomb to me and we will get our explosive experts on it.”

  “It's coming now.”

  Rider snapped an image of the bomb. Rebecca shivered and whimpered.

  “Everything's going to be okay, Rebecca. We’re going to get you out of here.”

  He then called Rob and told him to reroute the flight to an unpopulated area. Next, he dialed Sampson, who picked up immediately.

  “Sampson, I'm sending you an image right now. It is of a live bomb that is strapped to the chest of the hyena woman I had you investigate. I need your help defusing it. We only have thirteen minutes.”

  “Okay. I have the image. And I'm searching my databases… Do you see the red and yellow wires?”

  “I'm looking,” Rider said.

  The front of the bomb was mostly occupied by the ticking clock that now showed ten minutes and 55 seconds.

  “The wires are on my back,” Rebecca said.

  “Send me a picture of the back of the bomb,” Sampson said.

  Rebecca turned around to show Rider the back side of the bomb. He snapped a picture and sent it to Sampson.

  “This is worse than I thought,” Sampson muttered.

  “What is it?” Rider asked.

  “This bomb can't be defused.”

  “What?” Rebecca asked in a trembling voice. “We’re all going to die!”

  “Rider, listen to me, the bomb can't be defused, but you may be able to remove it from her chest. If you're at a high enough altitude, you can drop the bomb from the plane, and no one will be injured. You have to work quickly. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” Rider said. “What do I need to do?”

  “I need to see a close-up of the straps. Yeah, there,” Sampson said. “If you cut the strap right under her arm, it won't activate the bomb. But you can only cut the one strap. All the other straps will activate the bomb. And as soon as you get it off her, you need to get your plane to at least fifty thousand feet. Any lower and it could impact people on the ground.”

  The clock was ticking down second by second. Rider pulled a knife out of his holster and began to carefully saw at the small strap under Rebecca's arm.

  “If anything happens to me, please save my daughter,” she whispered. “I don't want her to live a life like mine. I want her to be free.”

  “You're both going to be free, Rebecca. I’m getting you out of this,” Rider said.

  His anger at the hyenas surged. But he had to stay calm for everyone's sake. Finally, the strap snapped free and he carefully slipped the bomb off of Rebecca. He took the bomb and hurried toward the cockpit. There were only two minutes left now before the bomb would go off.

  The plane was almost at altitude and he waited outside the cockpit as the copilot pushed. They would need at least a minute to get clear of the explosion. They were running out of time.

  “Now,” Rob yelled as they reached fifty thousand feet.

  Rider pushed open the hatch of the plane and tossed the bomb into the air. It began to freefall from the sky. He gritted his teeth, knowing they only had seconds left. He jumped into the cockpit after closing the exit hatch and worked with the copilot to push the plane higher and higher, faster and faster. It reminded him of pushing his dirt bike down the dark trail, but this time, instead of risking his life, he was saving the lives of many others.

  As they reached top speed and the highest altitude that the plane could handle, a huge explosion rocked the sky. It showed up on their radar and caused turbulence in the air around them. He could hear the passengers gasping and screaming. It was frightening, but they had avoided something much worse.

  Rider dialed Agent Rowe and told her they'd successfully saved the flight.

  “Head back to Denver, Captain Hendrix,” she said. “We'll debrief you when you return.”

  Chapter 18

  Darcy drove to work with a song in her heart and a skip in her step. She could hear the small rumbling of her bear cub deep in the recesses of her mind. It was growing stronger all the time, and she nurtured the growing strength of the animal within her. Her excitement grew wi
th each tiny grumble and growl. She couldn't wait for the little beast to finally emerge. Rider had told her it could take time, and she was prepared to wait. But the excitement of evolving into something totally new, strong, and pure made her heart skip a beat.

  She made her way down the concourse feeling as if nothing could get her down ever again. She'd overcome so much and had finally met the love of her life. Even though she had not been honest, he'd forgiven her and shared his secret too. In the break room of the restaurant she donned her chef coat and hat, feeling as if she truly knew herself for the first time.

  Rider's warning played at the back of her mind. She was worried, but he’d told her it was just a precaution. She wanted to believe that nothing could go wrong on a day as beautiful as this one.

  Darcy took her place at the grilling station and started on her first order. She saw Shelley out in the dining room and gave her a quick wave. A moment later, the pretty waitress approached the order station.

  “Hey. You look super happy. What’s up?” Shelley asked.

  “You know how I signed up for Mate.com?”

  “How could I forget?”

  “Well, it turns out that I really am a shifter’s fated mate. He claimed me last night.”

  “You're kidding,” she said with shock in her voice.

  That wasn't the reaction Darcy had been expecting, but the jealousy in Shelley’s eyes didn't faze her. Stuff like that didn't seem to bother Darcy anymore.

  “Yes, and he turned me into a shifter.”

  “Seriously?” Shelley asked. “You really are starting to live on the wild side.” She snorted, taking her orders.

  Darcy smiled to herself, thinking about what Shelley had said about living on the wild side. She'd never been the kind of person to take chances, but since meeting Rider, she let herself take more chances than she ever had before. And they had all turned out to be some of the best choices of her life.

  She went back to her station and flipped a steak, feeling as light as a cloud. It was so wonderful to be Rider’s mate and to feel her inner bear cub growing, nothing else seemed to matter. She wished the best for Shelley, Lilia, and Anita. Her friends had all helped her in their own ways. She knew that now that she'd found Rider, her life had truly begun.