Barely Winging It (14 page)

Alphy
grabbed the phone and didn’t bother leaving the room to put the device to his
ear and address his friend and beta. “What is it, Enzo?”

Being a shifter, Nix had no troubles hearing the other
side of the conversations on phone calls, but the room had gone so silent that
he was sure the entire room could hear, too. “
Alphy
,
you need to get home now. Havana’s been abducted.”

With Gale, Della, and Zeke gasping, Nix’s concerns
were confirmed. He didn’t need to warn
Alphy
though
because the reactions of the others were notable.
Alphy
looked stressed as he reached over and grabbed his mate, placing her in his lap
and holding her close.

Richard quickly stood. “We’ll step out into the hall.
If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” He ushered Della and Zeke out
into the hall, closing the door behind him.

Nix didn’t blame the giant bear shifter for wanting
his mate to soothe himself. Havana was his sister, so it was deeply personal.
Havana was a fun spirited girl to be around. Even Nix was worried for her, too.
The scent of his own mate surrounded him as
Bronya
came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. Her presence helped to calm
him, allowing him to get his head geared into where it needed to be.

With Gale’s arms wrapped around her mate,
Alphy
ordered his beta over the phone. “Explain.”

“Reese called her in to help Connie for lunch. She
said she’d be right in, but an hour later she still hadn’t made it in. I smelt
her scent right outside the barn mixed with unfamiliar scents. Tracks indicate
she had come out of the barn and started for the tree line. My guess was she
saw something. Then she fell to the ground and was carried away. The tracks led
to the challenge arena and fresh tire marks. I called in
Kace
and his crew. Everyone has been searching.”

“
Fuck
!”
Alphy
roared. After taking a moment to calm himself, he
addressed his beta. “Have
Kace
organize a hunt and
search every log, rock, and pinecone on the entire grounds. I want Matteo to
lead the investigation. Have Slate check on every pack member and have him
increase the security at the alpha house. Have Ryker—fuck! I don’t know what he
can do, but give him whatever green-light he needs if he needs it. I want
everyone working on this. We’ll head out right away.”

Bronya
pulled away and stepped forward, getting
Alphy’s
attention. “I can fly us back and land on that little flower strip. We have a
plane large enough to carry all of us but small enough to land there. I just
need maybe thirty minutes to prep.”

Alphy
nodded “Enzo, we’ll be flying back.”

After
Alphy
hung up, Richard
made sure the runway and sky were clear for their takeoff. Parking the car in
the hangar the plane was in, they all situated themselves in the four passenger
aircraft.

Nix enjoyed flying, so he wasn’t nervous. In fact, he
enjoyed watching his mate do her checklist and lift them up into the clouds.
Her serious side was a turn-on for him, and he had to keep his mind on Havana,
and what could have happened to her, to keep his twitching appendage under
control.

Nix could see spots of green from trees and fields,
intermittently dotted by buildings, through occasional open patches through the
clouds as their plane droned above the thick fluffs of white and grey. Their
journey was made in silence.
Alphy
sat in the back
holding his mate as much for comfort as for comforting her. Gale was bonded
pretty closely with Havana. Nix sat in the co-pilot spot.

The sun started dipping lower as they made their way north.
Clouds started getting thinner and farther apart the farther they flew. Nearing
their destination, they dipped below the clouds and flew a little way above the
trees. Nix heard
Alphy’s
cell howl.

“Yeah, Enzo, what
d’ya
got?”
Nix kept his ears tuned to the conversation but kept his eyes scanning their
surroundings. He knew well that when you are in the air, you can never let your
guard down, and with his falcon sight, his eyes could be invaluable.
Alphy
had him on speaker so everyone could hear Enzo
through the line.

“Fuck, I hope you’re close. Long story short, we are
pretty certain she’s being smuggled on a craft scheduled for takeoff at the
local air strip. I have guys speeding over there, but I don’t think they’ll
make it in time. Ryker wants me to relay the strip’s position.”

Bronya
nodded to them, letting them know she was listening. She adjusted her flight
while Enzo continued.

“We believe she was snagged by the rogue beta, with
hired help. But when we converged on the location we believed they were holed
up, we found their bodies. Someone else took her from them. We got lucky when
Ryker found an emergency flight out of Bancroft registered just minutes after
that. The plane’s owner is a local but rented it out to a team with a
critically ill girl whose description matches Havana’s exactly. What sealed our
suspicions is we just found out that the pilot is
S.I.S
.”

“Shit!”
Alphy
cursed. Nix
had said the same thing, only he kept it in his head. They would need to be
sharp on this one.

“Oh no, it gets worse. The pride alpha, Tony Smith,
just booked a private flight out from the same port Havana’s plane is heading
to and is scheduled to depart just after the
S.I.S
plane lands.”

Nix and
Alphy
shared a look
of both alarm and understanding as
Alphy
spoke into
the phone. “Oh fuck! That’s
a whole
lotta
different kinds of bad if it’s true.”

“There it is.”
Bronya’s
raised voice got their attention. Looking in the direction she indicated, they
could see a long cleared spot of land with a runway down the center. At the far
end, a plane was just lifting off.

Alphy
barked out an order. “Force them down! They have Havana!”

Bronya
stayed calm as she aimed her plane toward the ascending craft. Maneuvering
above them, she began dipping, and tipping above them. Over the headset, Nix
could hear the other pilot swearing at them.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? You don’t
know who you’re dealing with!” the belligerent voice growled through the
headset.

“Maybe not.”
Bronya’s
voice remained
level. “
but
I’m pretty sure you know the same about me
… in case you’re slow, that means you know shit. Land the damn plane or I’ll
take you down.”

“You fucking bitch!”

“Huh, guess that makes me karma then,” she quipped
into her mike.
Bronya
flew
aggressively,
buffering the plane below before she banged the top of the plane. They were
getting closer to the tops of the trees, but there were several bodies of water
that littered the area. If she made any mistake, she could take them all
crashing into the water.

Nix could hear Gale whimpering when
Alphy
shouted to him. “Nix, shift!”

Nodding in
understanding,
Nix
quickly pulled his shirt over his head and initiated his shift. He was one of
the rare shifters who didn’t ruin their clothes when they shifted, but getting
your wings tangled in your shirt could make a near panic situation.

Alphy
unbuckled his seatbelt long enough to push the door open. As Gale took the
phone, he could clearly hear her fear as she relayed to Enzo what was going on.
With another maneuver by
Bronya
, angling so he
wouldn’t get hurt as he exited, Nix tucked his wings tight against his body and
dove out of the plane. Nix followed them and watched
Bronya
bounce her plane off the top of the lower plane. They were almost the same size,
but
Bronya
was in the dominant position and the lower
plane couldn’t seem to shake her. If he would have been in his human form, he
would have smiled with pride. His mate was an excellent pilot.

The tops of trees started slapping the bottom of the
lower plane. With one more bounce,
Bronya
had the
plane fly into a field that was littered with small, dead trees. Nix watched
the plane shatter through the trees and come to a quick stop in a thicket.
Before he could land, a buffet of wind blew up sideways. Having his attention
more on the planes than the environment, Nix was caught off guard and took a
few moments to right
himself
. He battled the heavy
gusts when he heard more trees snapping. Looking up through the final light of
the day that was quickly being consumed into a darkness that promised heavy
rains, he let out a screech as he witnessed
Bronya’s
plane go vertical, and in a mess of metal and wood, shattered wing first into
the trees.

****

Enzo sat on his bed staring at
the vase of yellow flowers that were now sitting on the top of his dresser. He
wasn’t quite sure what to make of them.
No
one has ever given me flowers before. Come to think of it, I’ve never given
flowers to anyone before.
He ran his fingers through his short black hair
and blew out a breath. Who could have sent them?

A light knock on the door
interrupted his thoughts.
“Enzo?”

He recognized Ryker’s muffled
voice. Could he be the one to have sent them?
“Yeah?”
Enzo
answered back.

“Just wanted to let you know Tom
and I are taking off.”

“All right, thank you.”

Ryker’s steps grew distant as he
walked away. Enzo picked up the note that came with the flowers and read it
again.

Hi,
Enzo.

I
hope you don’t mind the bright sunny-like flowers, but I wanted you to know how
much I admire you. Even from a distance, your bright blue eyes and shining
smile nearly took my breath away. I think your tattoos are spectacular,
especially the wolf. I love wolves, too. One day I may get up the nerve to say
hi in person, but I didn’t want the chance to tell you that I like you to pass
by. It’s better to try and fail, than fail without trying.

Enzo sat back on his bed as he
held the letter. “It doesn’t sound like Rye,” he whispered quietly. He let his
thoughts filter through everyone he had met since he moved here. “
Hmh
,
could be that cute queenie at the airport.”

Enzo shook himself. After
dropping the note on the dresser next to the flowers, he exited his room. As he
approached the stairs, he noticed Seamus leaving Slate and Katie’s room with
his medical bag. “Hey doc, how’s Katie?”

“She swears she has dislocated
ribs, but she’s doing all right. She’s keeping things down better now.”

“That’s good.”

“I’m glad I ran into you. I
wanted to talk to you about last night,” said Seamus.

The men descended the stairs
together, so Enzo led Seamus to the office. He closed the door behind the
doctor, and they both sat down.

Enzo sat back in his chair and
made
himself
more comfortable. “What did you want to
ask?”

“I wanted to know what you can
tell me about last night.”

“
You looking
for anything specific?”

Seamus shook his head. “No, but
I’m concerned for
Bronya
. What can you tell me?”

“Well, uh, let’s see. After we
got the call that that rogue beta, Damon, was nearby, we instructed
Bronya
what to do in case of any emergency. We believe they
were more than likely watching our property and followed me back to the hotel.
When we were attacked, Nix and I tried to draw their attention to us so
Bronya
could escape. I can’t tell you what happened to her
any time after up until Nix and I caught up with her, and by that time,
Dultyn
had already taken down the rogue that followed her.”

Seamus shuddered. “I can only
imagine what they would have done to her if they caught her. They may not have
known she was Nix’s mate, but she was in our custody, so that meant she was
important enough to us to ransom her, or send a message.”

“
That,
and they probably thought she could have brought reinforcements, or identified
them to us. They may be rogue to the council, but to be positively identified
in that attack would have put them on the council’s priority hunting list. From
what I saw though, she wasn’t really harmed. More in shock than anything, I’d
say.”

“Can’t blame
her there.
She’s handling all of this far better than I would have expected of anyone.
Thanks for telling me. I need to head back to the infirmary. Reese is supposed
to be helping me since Katie is sick.”

“No prob. Hey, how’s the cub
doing? Isn’t he awfully young for all that medical stuff?”