Chapter Nine

Phoenix

“Thank you, Madden. I know this is last minute. We appreciate your willingness to fly us last minute.”

We had risen at the crack of dawn to get to the airport. The truth was, I hadn’t gotten much sleep at all. Despite our plans to get Iris the next day, they weren’t good enough for our dragons.

According to the beast inside me, I should’ve allowed him to spread his wings and fly directly to Iris and bring her back to our lair. The impatient animal.

He wanted his mate.

Those were the words he spoke to me.

“You’re welcome as always. We’ll be right on time. Everything is in order.”

Keir would tip Madden extra once we got Iris home, and he’d called the driver we hired twice already to make sure he would be on time. We told Iris the driver would be outside her apartment at seven sharp. He had instructions not to let her carry anything except her purse. We didn’t want her tugging on anything heavy. We were gentlemen, after all.

While she was brave and strong for surviving, she didn’t have to do that anymore. Everyone had to survive things in this life but it wasn’t a way to live.

“Let’s go over the plan,” Keir said. He had become his stoic, business self after seeing Iris the night before. Something in him had changed last night and I knew it was for the best. She needed his business side.

He was still the same Keir, but he was treating this like it was his most important job to date.

We were clearly on the same page.

“Go on,” I said, sitting across from him in the black leather seat. We’d bought this plane after we had some stable jobs and saw it as an investment since we traveled so much.

If Iris was who my dragon thought she was, that part of our life would have to slow down. I wanted to spend the maximum amount of time possible with our mate.

Keir had typed up the plan and printed it out. He was old school that way.

“Once she arrives at the airport, we will, with her approval of course, swap out her phone for the one we brought. One that is probably more secure than the one she has. The driver will return to her apartment and transport her vehicle to another city. I’ve already paid for storage for a year.”

“What else?” I asked. “Sounds like you’ve got it covered.”

My friend sat back. “Nothing. That’s it. It’s simple, but it feels like the most important itinerary I’ve ever created.” He ran his hands through his hair and read over it once again as though the details had evolved when he wasn’t looking.

“Even if she isn’t ours,” I said. “We have to help protect her.”

Keir put away his document as Madden said we were about to take off. We had no flight attendants on the plane, and Keir didn’t like us drinking or eating on it. Having it cleaned cost a fortune was his claim against it.

If given my way, I’d have a full stack of waffles in front of me.

I wondered if Iris had eaten that morning. If she was nervous or scared that she had made the wrong decision.

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Keir said with a smile.

I closed my eyes and pictured her. Long blonde hair. Deep-brown eyes. A smile that made my insides feel like mush but at the same time caused my dragon to puff out his chest. She called out for him without words. He wanted to be strong for her. Protect her. Guard her with his life and keep her in his lair.

My dragon’s decision had already been made.

She belonged to us.

“She’s stunning,” I admitted for the first time out loud.

We didn’t speak for a while until we were securely in the air. It would only take two hours to get to the airport near her and, while that wasn’t much in terms of a flight time, it seemed like an eternity.

“What kind of asshole—” Keir threw up his hands. “She’s scared. Did you see the way she jumped when someone knocked on the door?”

“I did.”

This was Keir venting. He did that from time to time. He regurgitated details and events to get a better hold on them. To somehow understand what was happening in a different light. Sometimes I offered advice or my input, but mostly I listened.

Once he was done, his head would be clear.

We needed a clear head to make sure Iris got the protection and care she needed.

“She had bear spray in her purse. It was open right next to her on the table. Like she could never let her guard down. What kind of life is that? Always living on the edge? Having no one to turn to. What if something happened to her in the night, Nix? Have you talked to her?”

I turned my phone around to show him I’d already sent Iris a good morning message and she had replied. She was packed and ready.

“Oh. Good. I’ve been watching the GPS on the driver. He just left her apartment.”

I checked my phone for the time. “Right on time. Everything is going to be fine, Keir.”

He growled a bit. “It’s only going to be fine once she’s on this plane with us. Until then, she’s still a target, and we don’t even know who is chasing her. I mean, we know it’s her ex, but no names or even what kind of shifter he is. He didn’t marry her legally, so there’s no one tied to her on her background check.”

Yeah, we’d done a background check on Iris. Not because we didn’t trust the things she said to us but more to find out who the jerk was who did this to her.

It came up empty.

She didn’t even have much of a credit history.

“She must’ve been terrified, leaving him and knowing she would have to be a single parent and probably always be chased by him? What if he found out about the baby? What would she have done if he took her to court or even took them?”

I let him go on and on, getting it out of his system.

“We’re landing,” I said, my dragon feeling the loss of altitude. Terrible thing, flying on a plane when there were perfectly good wings hiding inside me.

“She’s already there.” He sat up straighter. “I texted her.”

“Good. A few more minutes, and she’s safe.”