“If that’s all you need for Galyna, I need to go see if I can find a tracker under any of Lucien’s wounds. He thinks that might be how they found us so quickly.”
Brielle nodded, expression grim as she took the balm. “If you need any help with extraction, let me know.”
“Thanks.”
I only hesitated for a moment before grabbing the surgical kit and the herbalist kit and heading for the front of the jet.
The men had quieted down, whatever Kane wanted to say to Lucien apparently over and done with while we worked on Galyna.
All eyes turned to me as I shut the bedroom door, and suddenly, I wished I’d sent Brielle out here. Her magic was a more obvious choice for the task at hand, plus she was a trained doctor. I hesitated, until Reed smiled and waved me forward. At least they’d all put on pants.
“Lucien and Samuel filled us in on their theory. Do you need a hand looking for the tracker?”
You could always count on Reed to smooth over an uncomfortable situation, and I was so relieved he was calm in that moment.
Not that I wasn’t calm; I was a professional. But all the rapid changes in the past few days were taking an emotional toll at this point.
That, or was it just that I’d met my fated mate, and he was giving me whiplash between shoving me away, acting like a caveman, and then kissing me completely out of the blue?
And damn, that kiss. It was the best I’d ever had, my cheeks heating at just the memory. Not that it took much to make me blush as a redhead, but still.
Was that how it would be now? He was constantly looking at me like… like I was his prey? No, that wasn’t it. He looked at me as if I were a delicious treat he wanted to wolf down in one bite.
I had to work twice as hard to keep my professional fa?ade in place as I considered the best way to go about finding the tracker. Without a handheld scanner, I’d have to hope the tracking tech they used was large enough that I could feel it with my fingertips.
Everyone was still staring at me, and I realized they were all waiting for me to answer Reed while I’d been having a tiny conversation in my own head. Awkward.
“No, I don’t think so. But I’ll let you know if I find one and that changes.”
“Sure thing.” He smiled kindly, and I got my butt into gear, walking the length of the plane to where Lucien stood, arms crossed over his muscular chest, eyes burning into me with every step I took.Lucien
Olivia cleared her throat, staring at my bare chest and carefully avoiding eye contact as I waited for her to tell me what to do. That’s when her scent hit me, the normally sweet peaches and fresh cotton tinged sour with anxiety.
I was making her nervous, which was understandable, given I’d just lost my shit and thrown her over my shoulder.
And spanked her.
Fuck.
Then kissed her.
Double fuck. I was not doing so well at keeping my distance, but damn if seeing her with that blade against her throat hadn’t flipped a switch inside me. It was pure instinct.
“Can you four give us a few minutes?” I asked the other men.
“Are you going to keep your head?” Kane’s question was sharp, scolding.
It rankled, but frankly? I couldn’t blame him. He took his protection over the pack females seriously, as he should. I was all up in my head after the torture and the memories it had dragged to the surface of my father.
Olivia and I… We were off to a rocky start. She’d been perfectly kind, and it was entirely my fault.
“I’m calm,” I promised, though I couldn’t completely hide my resentment of the question. I was older than Kane by more than three hundred and fifty years, and my wolf knew it. But dominance was a different beast, and there was no denying his overwhelming power.
Kane turned to Olivia, setting his hands on her shoulders and making eye contact. I could see her trembling under the weight of his gaze and instantly bristled. I had to resist the urge to insert myself between them so he couldn’t make her shake like that. “If you have any trouble with him, we are within earshot at all times.”
“Y-yes, Alpha.”
Kane nodded, and the other four men walked to the back of the plane, where they could still see us, but we had a tiny bit more privacy. My wolf immediately calmed, preferring not to have other males around our unbonded mate.
Samuel was unbonded as well, and my wolf saw him as a threat, even if I knew logically he would never try to steal Olivia from me. Assuming I didn’t literally run her off and cause her to reject our bond, at least.
My wolf snarled at the thought.
Olivia cleared her throat a second time, that nervous tinge to her scent making me question what the best next step was. She rolled back her shoulders as if gathering her courage, and I decided to wait her out, let her control the situation.
Another heartbeat, and her healer training seemed to take over, replacing the anxious she-wolf with a no-nonsense professional.
“Okay, there isn’t a handheld scanner on the plane, so I’m going to have to examine you by hand, to see if we can feel any foreign objects under the skin.” She gestured to the nearest seat. “You should probably sit.”
I obeyed without ever breaking her gaze. I even resisted the urge to say something sarcastic or suggestive, which might make her uncomfortable. But I couldn’t just let this go on between us. I’d been the one to push her away, and then I’d pulled her back in. It was all mixed signals.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have done a lot of things, but I definitely didn’t deserve to kiss you after I acted like such an ass. And I’m sorry for speaking to you that way back in the SUV. I default to asshole, and that’s not fair to you. Or your fault.”
She blinked twice, slowly, as if she didn’t quite know what to do with the unexpected words. When she spoke, the words were hesitant. “Thank you.”
“It’s the least you deserve. I’m just all messed up, after, well, you know what.” I shook my head, not wanting to get into the gory details. She’d seen me when I first arrived at the enclave; she knew what had happened.
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