“Impressive,” I told him.
The gorgeous man’s lips quirked. “It’s a gift, Dr. Serena Rizzo.”
He knew my name? Of course he knew my name, the way Dawn threw it around loudly as though she swallowed a damned bullhorn.
“So, what do I owe you?”
He passed the snoozing darlings back to the father one by one, and straightened up in the aisle. “Just two things.”
“What exactly?”
One hand went into his pocket, and he produced his phone. Swiping it on, he navigated from his home screen and offered it to me with a wide grin on his face. “Put your number right in here, Doc.”
I rolled my eyes. “I think I liked it better when you were calling me miss.” Taking the phone from him, I put in my cell phone number. It was actually my work phone, which I left in whatever vehicle I was driving so it wouldn’t interfere with the tests I ran in the field. He’d have a hard time getting hold of me, though at the moment, I couldn’t deny there was a part of me that didn’t mind the idea of hearing from him after this flight. “There. You’re all set. What else?”
His eyes got dark and playful.
“What?” I asked again.
He pointed a finger at his cheek and bent forward a bit to get close to my ear. “Put your lips right on here, Doc.”
I gulped down some much-needed air. “Christ. She really did that? I’m supposed to kiss you now? Uh, not gonna happen. Pick another prize.”
“So you don’t want to kiss me? Come on, take a chance.”
“I just saw what you did with those babies. I’m not sure I want to know what’ll happen to me.” I pushed past him, heading up the aisle to my seat so I could give Dawn a stern talking to for trying to hook me up.
I had almost made it back to my row when I felt the handsome stranger’s hands around my waist. Seconds later, my feet left the ground, and I was certain that I was flying.
Not the plane. Just me.
That was when the unthinkable happened.
2
Gunner
Twelve-thirty p.m., December 21, Somewhere over Arizona
We had places to be and a security gig to manage. Neither of those things looked like they would happen as planned. Deep inside my chest, my wolf wasn’t just stirring. It had bared its teeth, started growling inside me and crouched to get in position, as if it were ready to pounce and force me to shift right here on this flight, in front of humans. The cute little doctor was a few steps ahead of me. She had no idea what was coming. Neither did I, but hell, my wolf braced for impact and warned me that something big was about to happen.
I wished right then that I’d listened to my twin brother, Gage. He hated flying. He wanted to drive the seventeen hundred miles from Reno to Houston. The problem with that option was we didn’t have two or three days to spare. We were on a mission, and had limited time to complete it. Our parents would fret if missed coming home for Christmas, and our boss would go batshit crazy if we didn’t complete our assignment. I glanced past Dr. Rizzo. Gage had turned in his seat. I knew he was feeling the same primal impulse when we made eye contact. Before I tried to make sense of it, I took a big step forward, grabbing the doctor by the waist and dumping her into my seat.
“Buckle her up. Now.” I didn’t have to tell Gage anything. He already had his hand on the fabric of the seatbelt strap closest to him. As identical twins and turned wolf shifters, we shared a strong bond. We weren’t psychic, and we weren’t empaths, but we could look at each other and instantly know what to do.
The other passengers were in their seats, so I spun around on my heel to head back to the flight attendants in the galley. “You need to have everyone get their seatbelts fastened,” I ordered them. “Right now.” There was no time for an explanation.
The older, middle-aged woman turned to me. “Sir, please get back to your seat.”
“Please, ma’am. There’s no time.”
She gave her younger coworker a bemused look. Turning to me, she narrowed her eyes. “Sir, forgive me, but the captain has not announced any—”
The flight worker should have just listened to me. Those few seconds could have probably saved a few people from injury, but it was too late. I turned and gunned it toward the front, hoping there was a free aisle seat available so I could strap myself in. I didn’t quite make it. The plane began to tremble, slowly at first, but soon, it was buffeted by what I assumed was severe turbulence. Passengers straightened up in their seats as the first rough shake hit us, concerned by the alarming sound of the plane being rattled around. I looked back at the couple with their twins, relieved that they were already putting the custom baby restraints on the kids. A second later, the seatbelt light came on, and one of the pilots came on the mic to address the passengers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking. I’ve just turned on the seatbelt sign. We’ve hit some unexpected air currents. Please ensure your seatbelts are securely fastened, and safely store all carry-on items under your seat or in the overhead bins. Please also turn off all electronic devices at this time. Flight attendants, take your seats.”
Gage and I were probably the only two people on the flight who could pick up the subtle inflections in the captain’s voice. The man was nervous as hell. I hung on to one chair back after another, advancing forward while the plane bobbed and bounced as a force much stronger than regular turbulence whipped it around. Finally back to my row, I undid the blonde woman’s belt and lifted her into the spot where the doctor had been sitting. I took her aisle seat, snapping on both our belts so we wouldn’t be tossed around the way the aircraft was now rocking from side to side.
“Sorry about that,” I told her. “It’s safer if you’re in there.”
She didn’t seem to mind, “It’s okay.”
I leaned forward. “Doing all right there?” I asked the visibly frightened teenaged boy to her right.
His eyes bulged right out of his head, and he gripped onto the armrests for dear life. “I think so,” he stuttered.
I briefly turned my attention to the blonde. “How about you?”
“Good thanks.” She was shaking like a leaf. I couldn’t blame her. “What do you think that is?”
Glancing out the window again, I shrugged. “No idea.”
The plane then hit a severe bump. A few overhead storage compartments flew open just ahead of our row, spilling luggage down into the aisle and on two unlucky passengers’ heads. The younger flight attendant who had taken the front bulkhead seat, unclasped her belt to pick up the luggage. That was a bad idea. The next instant, everything changed. One moment, the dark skies were speckled with stars, and the next, a blast of light exploded around us, flooding into the plane from every direction as though a star had just gone supernova nearby.
At first, it was a glaring bright white. With my superior shifter vision, I was seeing shadows for a few seconds, blinded until I noticed the color had changed to neon green, then to cyan blue, and then amethyst, then green again. The light pulsed with such potency I was sure it radiated right through every molecule of our bodies. In fact I knew it. Looking around, there were no shadows from the light. It came in from everywhere and drowned out the darkness.
“It’s aliens, isn’t it?” The kid beside the blonde shouted the question. “Or a Russian attack…or a powerful immortal witch.”
I had no idea what to tell him. I didn’t believe aliens existed, but then again, five years ago before Gage and I were turned to wolf shifters, I didn’t think shifters existed either. The Russian attack and witch suggestions were possible too, but what the hell did I know? “Try to stay calm.”
As we all marveled at the light show outside, Gage shouted over at me. “We’re fucking free-falling, dude!” Panic was in his eyes.
The few passengers around us who heard him noticed it then too, and audibly howled at the sensation. I felt it as well. My stomach was up in my throat. When the plane appeared to regain some control, it was back down in my feet. A
few seconds into it, we were dropping again. My head snapped up to the flight attendant who had gotten out of her seatbelt. During that short time, she was stuck to the ceiling of the plane, and then she crashed down into the aisle beside me when the pilots regained a few moments of control. I grabbed the back of her jacket at the seam, and pulled her up into my lap, hanging on to her around the waist so she wouldn’t end up being flopped around like a ragdoll. She had the wind knocked right out of her, barely able to take a full breath as she thanked me.
“Not a problem,” I said.
Her intentions were good. In hindsight, it would have been smarter if I’d helped to get those pieces of luggage stowed again. They were projectiles now. First, they violently crashed against the ceiling. A few moments later, they smashed down to the aisle or on unsuspecting passengers when we bounced on wicked air currents caused by God knows what.
“Gunner!” Gage called to me again in his beyond-panicked state. “Listen!” He lifted his chin forward, motioning to the front of the plane.
With everything rattling and crashing around us, anyone else would have probably thought that Gage had lost his shit. He hadn’t. Our wolf hearing was much sharper than any human. I stopped to focus, allowing my animal an inch of leeway to listen. Beyond the terrified screams and blaring uproar, I was able to pick up the pilot and copilot’s communications with air traffic control.
“Center. This is DesertJet 1289. I repeat, this is DesertJet 1289. We are descending from twenty-two thousand feet in an uncontrolled dive. Unable to regain vertical control. Over.”
“DesertJet 1289, do you wish to declare an emergency? Over.”
“Roger, center. We are declaring an emergency!”
“DesertJet 1289. Albuquerque International is at nine o’clock and one hundred miles from your present position. Maintain block altitude if possible, flight level eight thousand through flight level sixteen thousand. Turn left heading eighty. Over.”
“Roger. Center, we are dumping fuel. Heading to the nearest airport, over.”
“DesertJet 1289, please be advised of the system-wide magnetic, infrared and ultraviolet anomalies in your air space. Proceed with caution. Over.”
Shit.
I wish Gage didn’t have to hear that. He was terrified enough.
“It’ll be fine!” I shouted to him. “They have it under control.”
Suddenly, the plane listed to the left, falling what felt like a thousand feet in mere seconds. Passengers were bawling and clutching on to one another’s arms now, and some were perfectly quiet, only shielding their eyes from the glaringly colorful lights as though making amends before meeting their untimely demise. We rode what felt like a thunderstorm of invisible rough air, bouncing and shaking some more until the powerful beams of light receded. The sky returned to a dark calm. Almost instantly, the plane stabilized. It leveled off to a smooth ride, gliding over the fluffy luminescent clouds and through the shimmering rays of moonlight that had not been there before, probably because the plane was on a new course.
The cabin erupted in applause and cheers until the captain came back on the horn.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking. I apologize for the severe rough patch we’ve just had. It looks like we have cleared the unexpected air currents. I can’t promise you it will stay calm, so we are diverting to Albuquerque International Sunport until we can be cleared to get back on route to Houston International. Please remain in your seats and keep your seatbelts fastened. Thank you. Flight attendants, prepare for landing.”
The cheerful but nervous flight attendant pried herself out of my lap, thanking me again before heading down the aisle to track down the runaway pieces of luggage. The noise in the cabin diminished to soft whispers, then silence. No one was interested in talking after what we’d been through, not even the chatty blonde beside me.
3
Serena
Three a.m., December 21, Albuquerque, New Mexico
The plane landed without further incident, to everyone’s relief. I had never seen passengers disembark a plane in such an orderly manner. Everyone was just happy to be alive. We spilled out of the plane, dazed and grateful, and walked into the terminal.
That was the end of the calm.
The airport terminal was chaos.
All midair commercial planes in the region seemed to have converged at this particular airport. Like us, their passengers were headed somewhere else for the Christmas break. We simultaneously learned something on arrival in Albuquerque. Thirty minutes ago, every American flight and potentially all air traffic around the world had been grounded. So far, there was no indication of what happened, or more importantly, when current flight restrictions would be lifted. Departing passengers were no less boisterous or impatient, but many of them had luckily gotten the benefit of the last half hour to get a head start on securing car rentals, canceling plans altogether, or making other arrangements.
The other unusual thing was that phones had all temporarily stopped working. Land lines, cell phones, and even pay phones weren’t functioning. That put people on edge and created its own set of problems. Not even the airlines could communicate, which in hindsight, wasn’t the worst thing, given that all flights were grounded. Dawn and I quickly came to that conclusion, parting ways with the twins. Although I did wish I had taken the chance to thank him for saving me and so many others from injury on the flight, the time for gratitude had long passed.
My assistant and I split up. Dawn went to grab our luggage while I rushed off to find us a rental car. By the time I made it there, everything was gone. Because phones were on the fritz, I couldn’t call her to let her know, but thankfully we agreed to meet at the taxi line outside as a worst-case scenario.
As expected, she was out there waiting for me with our luggage.
“How did it go?” she asked.
“Everything is gone. I couldn’t even rent a scooter back there. How do our chances look for getting a taxi?”
She pointed at the one-lane road beside the sidewalk where taxis should have been. There wasn’t a single one. “Feast your eyes on not a damn thing. They probably all took fares in the last half hour.”
“Shit.” It was time for some creative thinking. I looked down at my luggage. I only had my equipment bag, my carry-on purse and one suitcase. It made sense to buy a backpack inside and stuff everything from my suitcase in it, walk to wherever the downtown area was.
“We’re going into the city,” I told her. “To find a rental car, or anything on wheels. Heck, I’ll settle for bicycles.”
“What? Why?”
“Because they don’t rent stationary bikes here at the airport, but they do in city centers in urban areas.”
“True, but maybe we can just hitch a ride into town and grab a taxi there. I’ve got two suitcases. I don’t know how I’m going to wheel them all the way out of the airport,” she admitted staring down at them lovingly. “Plus they’re Louis Vuitton. I’d hate to lose these. And Dr. Rizzo, just in case you forgot, we are in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Think about it. We’re headed to Houston, Texas. Do you even know the distance would have to cover every day to get there in four days? And how will we even get there without a map?”
That triggered an idea. “Hang on to my luggage for one second. I’ll buy some maps inside, just in case.”
I ran back into the airport terminal, and was able to snag the last physical map from the rack in the airport convenience store. While I was at it, I bought all the snacks, water, and food that I could purchase with the cash in my wallet. Credit card services weren’t likely to work while phones were down. Who knew how long the shutdown would last? Even if we ended up spending Christmas in New Mexico, at least we’d have something to eat. It didn’t appear as though people were thinking that far ahead just yet, which worked to my advantage.
I smiled.
That was one benefit to being a worried, hyper-obsessed, uptight control freak.
I returned outside to the sam
e spot where I left Dawn. Where the hell did she go?
“Dr. Rizzo!” I heard my name from the roadside and turned toward the sound. What in the hell was Dawn doing with half of her torso bent into the passenger’s side window of a Lincoln Navigator?
Like I needed to ask.
She’d probably winked at the right guy somewhere along the way between grabbing the luggage and meeting me. Flirty girl came in handy too, I figured, unless she was about to be picked up by some gun-toting psychopath with a taste for blondes and flashy luxury SUVs. Christ. She had already let them take our luggage pieces, which were already stored in the trunk. I looked more closely in the front seats. Why was I not surprised?
The twins.
How in the hell did these plaid-clad cowboys get such a nice ride so fast?
Dawn stepped aside, and one of them hopped out of the front passenger seat.
“Hey, Doc. You can ride shotgun. I’ll keep Dawn company in the next row,” he crooned, opening the passenger rear door.
That was when I saw the couple with the twin baby girls, all the way back in the third row of this massive SUV.
“Oh. Hello. These guys are helping you too?” I asked.
The babies’ mother was closer to my side. She nodded. “These gentlemen offered us a ride when they realized what we’d be up against. We’re only going as far as Dallas,” she said with a smile, rubbing the back of the baby in her arms. “I don’t think you have another option, honey.”
“If you feel safe enough to ride with them, then sure, we’ll take a ride too.”
“Welcome aboard,” said the driver.
“Let me guess. You’re not the one who tried to kiss me on the plane, are you?” I asked the one getting onto the second row.
“That’d be me, sugar,” said the one in the driver seat. “I hate to rush a lady, but we need to get out of here fast. It’s mostly calm now, but things can deteriorate faster than we plan.”
Doomed Mate (Under a Fated Moon Series Book 1) Page 2