Biker Outlaw's Princess: An MC Romance

by Bella Rose

  “Excuse me?” Mikhail had been a lot of things within the Bratva organization to earn his way up the ranks. He did not consider terrorist to be one of them. “You want me to hijack my own chartered flight?”

  “If that’s how you want to look at it. Yes.” Ivan was still pounding away. “You need to go to Vegas. They’re waiting for you in Chicago with a warrant. If you stay there in New York, they’ll just serve the warrant there.”

  “Vegas,” Mikhail said with a groan.

  He could almost see Ivan nodding. “We own Vegas.”

  “I’m aware,” Mikhail grumbled. “And then where will I go? Or shall I just gamble until they pick me up there?”

  “Aleksei and I are meeting in Russia within the week,” Ivan said quickly. “It’s the only place we can be sure of safety.”

  “Moscow,” Mikhail agreed. “So why not just go there now?”

  “We’re trying to find the mole.” Ivan spoke to someone behind him. “Aleksei is on it now.”

  Mikhail knew his middle brother enjoyed the chase, especially when it meant he might be able to get his hands dirty. “I hope our brother is not intending to leave a trail of blood over three continents.”

  “Only if it is necessary to get the information we want,” Ivan said flippantly. “In any case. Go to Vegas. From there you need to stay moving. Aleksei will send someone to help with travelling papers.”

  “Tell Aleksei that weird little shit he uses for IDs had better not make trouble,” Mikhail said irritably. “I’ll wring his scrawny neck this time.”

  “Duly noted,” Ivan said with a laugh. “Once you get control of the plane, text me. I’ll give the pilot new coordinates in order to fly.”

  “Fine.” Mikhail hung up the phone and stared around him with renewed interest.

  The pilot hadn’t looked like an Amazon, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t put up a fight if it came down to it. She was an uncommonly attractive woman, even in her shapeless company flight uniform. He couldn’t help but wonder what her curves would look like without the drab fabric hiding them. Her eyes were very expressive. Their pale blue color went well with her reddish blond hair. Usually he liked his women with long hair, but her thick shoulder-length locks were enticing all the same.

  Mikhail reminded himself that he was intending to take this woman hostage, a situation in which it did not matter if she was attractive or not.

  The other crewmember stowed Mikhail’s luggage with minimal fuss and then approached Mikhail with a warm smile. Mikhail’s internal radar registered the fact that this man was most certainly gay. He walked with a certain swing to his step and the way his gaze raked appreciatively over Mikhail’s body was something of a dead giveaway.

  “My name is Ethan. I’ll be serving you on behalf of Skye Aviation during your flight. Can I get you anything before we take off, Mr. Romanov?” Ethan’s tone would have been better suited to the bedroom.

  Mikhail sighed. “Just a bottle of water, please?”

  “As you wish.”

  Ethan disappeared and returned a few moments later with the water. He set it in the holder near Mikhail’s elbow. “Your pilot today is Blair Edwards. Again, my name is Ethan. If you need anything at all, you just let us know.”

  Mikhail had the odd thought that poor Ethan had no idea what he was offering. Or perhaps Ethan thought Mikhail might be interested in joining the mile high club. Although Mikhail had little interest in other men, the idea of bending the pilot over a seat and enjoying her delectable little body at thirty thousand feet above ground sounded interesting enough. Unfortunately, Mikhail had other plans.

  He began to formulate a plan in his head that would leave him in control of the plane with minimal fuss and no bloodshed. When he finally made his request to change the flight plan, he might very well have to do something that would turn the crew’s lives upside down. Because informing them that they were going to aid him in hijacking a Skye Aviation plane in order to go globetrotting wasn’t insane enough.

  ***

  Blair glanced up as Ethan returned to the front of the plane. “We’re clear for takeoff. Everything good?”

  “Other than that Romanov guy’s complete lack of a sense of humor or any other basic human qualities? Sure. We’re good.” Ethan sounded disappointed.

  “Were you trying to hit on him?” Blair actually turned around, eyebrows lifted in surprise. “I’m pretty sure he’s straight. Aren’t you?”

  Ethan’s forlorn sigh made her laugh. “I’m sure you’re right, but he’s just so hot! I thought if I could get a little piece of that it would make the whole trip worthwhile.”

  Blair communicated with the tower and got her clearance. Ethan closed the door between the cockpit and the cabin. Blair locked it and felt the familiarity of her surroundings soothe any remaining agitation away. And why did she care if Ethan hit on their passenger? Just because her brain kept having fantasies about him didn’t mean he belonged to her. Her wild imagination was going to wind up getting her into trouble.

  Chapter Two

  Blair settled herself in her seat. She felt the hum of the jet as she fired up the engines and prepared to pull out into traffic on the tarmac. There was a slight delay on the runway as they waited for traffic to clear. She half expected to hear a complaint from Romanov, but he didn’t make a sound. Soon they would be in the air on a short trip to Chicago and she would see nothing but blue sky all around her.

  Takeoff went exactly as planned. The powerful jet lifted off the ground and they rocketed into the air. It took only ten minutes or so to reach ten thousand feet, and maybe another twenty before they were at a comfortable cruising altitude.

  Blair soaked up the solace of her favorite part of the flight. Her plans were filed and approved by the towers in New York and Chicago. She had checked in with Skye Aviation to give them an accurate ETA, and now she had nothing to do but keep an eye on the controls until they got close enough to Chicago to disengage the autopilot feature.

  She was entertaining herself with the mental image of putting her feet up and having a beer while she let the plane fly itself when there was a hard rapping at the cockpit door. Turning around, she stared suspiciously at the door. It was against FAA regulations for Ethan to come inside. He knew that. If he needed to hail her, he would just use the intercom the way he always did.

  More rapping, this time dissolving into a pounding noise that made Blair’s stomach cramp with fear. She got up and made her way slowly to the door. There was a round window a little above eye level that gave her a view of the main cabin. She stood on tiptoe to see what was going on.

  With a little squeak of distress, she dropped into a crouch and put her hands on either side of her head. Squeezing her eyes shut, she willed the sight to go away.

  The intercom crackled. “Blair, open the door. Please? He’s going to shoot me.”

  Blair called upon every ounce of her training and racked her brain trying to remember what company policy called for in this situation. Hell. That was bullshit. She knew exactly what company policy called for. She was supposed to leave the door closed, call in the incident, notify authorities, and land the plane wherever she was told to, which would likely be back in New York. If Ethan died in the process, that was considered collateral damage. The company would to anything to avoid the loss of the aircraft to a terrorist.

  The intercom crackled again. “Please, Blair?”

  She could see Ethan’s wide eyes and knew he was scared shitless. It’s not like he wasn’t well aware of company policy. He absolutely knew she was supposed to turn her back on him and leave him to his fate.

  Blair groaned. He was her best friend. She couldn’t just leave him like this. With a heavy sigh, she unlocked the door between the cockpit and the cabin.

  Romanov immediately let go of Ethan. Her friend stumbled forward, going down on one knee and gasping for air. Blair inched her way toward him. She touched Ethan’s shoulder, trying to let him know it was going to be okay.


  “Now, Ms. Edwards is it?” Romanov’s tone was bizarrely conversational. “I need to make a few changes to our flight plan.”

  Blair didn’t know what to say. Finally her brain kicked back into gear and she found her words. “Sir, this is a chartered flight. If you wanted to make changes to the flight plan you could have done so on the ground with nothing more than a phone call. There is no need for all of the violence and threats. Ethan and I have no interest in your business dealings or anything else. Skye Aviation doesn’t care either. You may do as you wish, but any changes in the flight plan have to be approved by the FAA.”

  The corner of his mouth twisted into the parody of a grin. He waved his weapon in the air. “Hence the gun, hmm?” He was staring at his phone like he was waiting for something.

  “Oh.” Blair realized then that they were apparently on the run from some government agency. Beside her, Ethan was still clueless.

  Mikhail’s mouth stretched into a smile that never reached his eyes. “You’re going to take me to Las Vegas.”

  “Pardon?” The word popped out reflexively before Blair could bite it back.

  “Scrap the course for Chicago and chart a new one for Las Vegas.”

  The condescension in his voice managed to piss her off in spite of the circumstances. “I get that you want to go to Vegas instead of Chicago,” Blair began, not even attempting to keep the sarcasm from her voice. “I even get the part where you want to do this without filing a flight plan with the FAA because you’re obviously on the run from something. But what you fail to realize is that Las Vegas is a whole hell of a lot farther from New York than Chicago is.”

  He looked at her like he thought she was an idiot. “Obviously.”

  “We don’t have enough fuel to get there,” Blair said without blinking. This wasn’t strictly true, but it would be close if she tried to make it to Vegas on what she had.

  He looked momentarily taken aback. “Why not?”

  “Because planes are a little like cars in that some have greater fuel capacity than others. This is a small plane. It can’t even hold that much fuel.” She smiled sweetly. “I would be happy to drop you in Chicago and you can charter another flight to Las Vegas.”

  “I bet.” If she hadn’t known better, she might have thought he was actually fighting back a smile. He grunted instead. “So we stop someplace for fuel.”

  “It’s not that simple.” She struggled with her patience. “As soon as we go off course here, we’re going to get hailed by the nearest tower. When we don’t answer and give them a genuine reason for not sticking to our flight plan, they’re going to consider us rogue. As soon as we hit the ground somewhere, the authorities will be on us. We would hardly have enough time to get out of the plane, much less refuel.”

  “So we needed a bigger plane.” He seemed irritated. “Perfect.”

  “Yeah. So can I just go to Chicago and we’ll forget this all happened?” Blair was practically desperate.

  “You know, this attitude you have going on is not in your best interest when dealing with me.” He pegged her with a glare that could have peeled paint.

  Blair was unruffled. “What are you going to do? Kill me? Who would fly the plane?”

  “Maybe I’ll just shoot your friend there.” He gestured to Ethan. “We don’t need him, right?”

  Ethan’s eyes were now huge. Blair tried to stay calm. “Okay and once you kill him we’re back to the same stalemate.”

  “Except he’ll be in pain.” Romanov shrugged. “It is your choice, but he seems like a nice young man. I would hate to just start putting holes in him until you got tired of the screaming and decided to be cooperative.”

  Blair couldn’t help it. Her mouth popped open in shock. Ethan was whimpering. There was no way she could overpower this man and try to take his gun. And she certainly couldn’t allow him to just start shooting her friend.

  Closing her eyes briefly, she wondered how much she was going to regret this decision. “Fine. I’ll cooperate.”

  “Good.” His phone trilled. He checked the display and then looked back up at her. “Fly us to Omaha.”

  “Where?” She frowned.

  “Nebraska.” He seemed irritated. “There’s a tiny airport outside of Omaha, not the major airport, but a smaller airfield where there will be a fuel truck waiting.”

  “I’m not sure I want to know how you know that.” Blair felt sick to her stomach.

  He snorted. “Then don’t ask. I will have coordinates for you in just a few moments that will tell you exactly where the airfield is.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said stiffly.

  Blair turned to go back to the cockpit. Romanov called after her. “Don’t even think about closing that door. If you do, your friend here will pay the price.”

  ***

  It should not have bothered Mikhail in the least to threaten the pilot’s friend and coworker just to get her cooperation. For some reason, he actually felt bad about it. Mikhail reminded himself that Blair Edwards was a fascinating puzzle. Certainly he could cut himself some slack when he came across an individual who was impressive in her own right. In his line of work he had seen grown mafia enforcers crumble beneath half the stress Mikhail had just placed on Blair. She was incredibly cool under pressure, yet loyal to her friend. Those were admirable traits.

  She wasn’t like the usual variety of women he went for. Mikhail gravitated toward the buxom blondes with hair down to their waist and legs good for wrapping around his waist during sex. Blair was short, perhaps five-foot-four or -five inches tall. She was curvy enough, although he still wondered what she looked like beneath that shapeless company uniform. But the shoulder-length, reddish blond hair and the blue eyes were secondary at the moment. It was her mind that fascinated him.

  “I have to give her the coordinates for our landing strip,” Mikhail muttered to Ethan. “Stay in that seat right there and don’t move unless I tell you to.”

  Ethan plunked his backside down in the indicated seat and didn’t move. He didn’t appear to be the heroic type, which was good. Mikhail left him behind and made his way into the cockpit. It was foreign to him with all of the flashing lights, levers, and gauges.

  “You shouldn’t be in here,” Blair told him quietly.

  “I do a lot of things I should not.”

  “Obviously.”

  Her response was fascinating. “Your friend’s life hangs in the balance and this is your reaction?”

  “I’m sorry,” she said through gritted teeth. “I mean no disrespect.”

  Something inside the cockpit started squawking. It sounded like an alarm gone crazy. Blair said a few choice curses before hitting a series of buttons that seemed to mute the noise.

  A voice came over the radio. “Delta, niner, niner, you’re off course. Reset heading 0-1-1-0.”

  Blair cast him a sideways glance. “If I don’t answer, we’re officially in violation of about a dozen or more laws.”

  “Don’t answer.” He wondered what she saw on his face in that moment. He could feel the determination, yet he wasn’t necessarily committed to this course of action. That wasn’t good for a man in his position.

  “Are you sure?”

  Oh yes, she saw his indecision. Mikhail forced himself to be sure. “Yes. I’m certain.”

  She pushed a button and the radio chatter stopped. “Where is it we’re going?”

  Mikhail pulled out his phone. Ivan had texted him a series of coordinates. He turned the phone so that Blair could see the numbers.

  “Who is Ivan?”

  He suspected from her look of chagrin that the question had popped out from an inherent tendency toward inquisitiveness. For some reason it bothered him that she should think he would somehow hurt her for being curious. That softness had no place in this situation.

  Mikhail forced himself to be curt. “Ivan is my younger brother.” He offered the words over his shoulder as he returned to the cabin and his other hostage. At least that hostage didn’t fas
cinate him in a way that put dangerous thoughts in his head.

  Chapter Three

  Blair double-checked her coordinates and felt her heart leap into her throat. They were all going to die and it would be her fault. Or really it would be Mikhail Romanov’s fault.

  The man appeared in the cockpit doorway. She tried not to notice the leonine way he moved, each sinuous movement a tantalizing glimpse at an innate sexuality that fascinated her.

  “I felt the plane start its descent,” he said tersely. “Have we arrived?”

  His cool attitude helped push her mind away from the disturbing line of thought it had been pursuing. She cleared her throat and tried not to panic. “There are no lights, no tower, and nothing other than my eyes to tell me where I am.”

  “So?”

  She tossed a look of disbelief over her shoulder. “I’m sorry, but you’re putting an awful lot of faith in a woman you don’t even know, and who has a plethora of reasons to want you dead.”

  “But you don’t want your friend to die,” he reminded her. “That makes me as safe as I can be, given the circumstances.”

  “Which would be that I’m not entirely certain I can put this plane on the ground.” Blair peered at the strip as she lined up her approach. “Oh my God, it’s dirt! You’re making me land on a dirt patch in the middle of Nebraska?”

  “You’ll be fine.”

  Somehow the certainty in his voice affected her. He truly had faith in her. “How do you know that?”

  “Because everything about you screams competence.” He said it with a shrug. “Simply land the plane and this portion of your ordeal will be over.”

  “You make it sound so fucking easy,” she muttered.

  Trusting her instincts and the instrument panel in front of her, Blair chose a point on the horizon and began to land the plane. The sun was setting, but the glare was behind her. If anything, the blaze of light helped to spotlight the features of the runway. She put the landing gear down and hoped for the best.