Chapter 9

They arrived at the airport.

Zenya waited until the SUV came to a halt, exited and got Lucky and his crate and headed for the plane's extended staircase. She would have liked to have shifted and run, but she couldn't do that with Lucky in his crate, and he wasn't ready yet to be released to fend for himself. She would have to wait for the right opportunity.

How had Lucian found her? How had he gotten the number to that phone? It shouldn't surprise her. She had forgotten he was as smart as he was gorgeous.

"Zenya, I wish you would let me carry that for you," said Lucian.

She walked toward the plane and without looking at him she said, "I would prefer you never touch me or anything that is mine ever again, but as we both know you aren't willing to do that, I will bow to your wishes about everything except those in my care. I don't think Lucky would do well on his own, so for now he remains in my care."

Zenya waited for an argument. When she got none, she looked to see if he was close enough to hear her. He was. She regarded him with a disdainful expression, and when he said nothing, she continued on to the plane. His behavior, while still commanding, was definitely more respectful and thoughtful than she had anticipated. It was throwing her off. He was supposed to be a certain way and if he wasn't going to behave in the way he always had, how was she supposed to know how to act?

"I think we can secure his crate next to the seat in the back. That way he'll be right next to you. My guess is this will be his first plane ride."

Arching her eyebrow, she asked, "Are you trying to be funny?"

"No. I was trying to be amusing, hoping I could put you at ease. Obviously, I have failed miserably. Can I ask you a stupid question?" She nodded. "Are you sure he isn't a shifter?"

She stopped midway down the aisle when he stopped. "I could tell if he was a shifter." She tried to keep the smile from forming and failed. "To be completely honest, I did ask."

Lucian chuckled. If the last eight years had matured her, they had mellowed him. She shook her head.

"What just went through that beautiful head of yours?"

"I was thinking that you seemed different…"

"Better?"

"Yes, but then I reminded myself, you are kidnapping me and dragging me back to a place I don't want to be."

She could see the place Lucky's crate would fit. When Zenya set it down, she struggled to get it situated correctly. Lucian was able to get the crate positioned next to a single seat and secured. The seat across from hers was opposite Lucky's crate and the space across from her seat was a table.

The plane started to taxi down the runway, gaining speed and momentum as it lifted off into the night sky.

"Did there used to be a side table where Lucky's crate is?"

"Yes. We had an altercation in the plane, and it was broken. It's being repaired, but I thought his crate might go there."

"Altercation? You mean you got pissed and broke it?"

There was that chuckle again. She didn't remember ever hearing him laugh, much less chuckle.

"It was your brother when he was flying back from California. He likes to say he was angry and frustrated. I think he was more afraid than anything."

"Afraid of what you might do to him?" she accused.

This time it was a full-throated laugh. "I think you've forgotten who your brother is. Was he pissed that you'd outfoxed him? Definitely, but there was also a grudging respect. He was worried about you being out on your own with no one to protect you."

"I can protect myself. Present circumstances notwithstanding."

"You had us all fooled. We all thought you were the same young girl who defiantly went off to vet school to get away from Alaska. We didn't realize how much you'd changed."

"Then maybe you'll agree I am not your fated mate."

Lucian shook his head. "You are, but I can see where it is nothing you ever wanted and a role you can't see for yourself. But I've changed, too. While I cannot see myself with anyone else, I have watched you grow. I thought your commencement speech was inspired and probably pointed more at me and your brother than your fellow graduates, but poetic and meaningful all the same."

"Thanks. I worked hard on it."

"It didn't seem that way." He held up his hand. "That didn't come out the way I meant it. It sounded natural and caring, as if you wanted to give the rest of those students a way to find their own path, even though you felt yours might be denied to you."

"And I was right—or at least, if you have your way, it will be."

"It doesn't have to be…"

"Fine. Just tell your pilot to set this plane down. Lucky and I will be happy to part ways with you and never trouble you again."

"That I will not do. But you can choose to be happy. I've watched you working at your clinic. You are incredibly talented at what you do. You've also made friends easily and made your cottage a lovely, comfortable place to be. You could do the same at Ice Storm. I've always made it a strong fortress, but you could make it a home for our people—something more along the lines of Windsong."

"How do you know about my life away from you?" she asked suspiciously.

"In the spirit of the honesty I believe we have always shared, I've been watching you. Being close to you—even when you wouldn't see me—was soothing and pleasurable for me."

"You've been spying on me? You bastard," she snarled, causing Lucky to do the same.

"You have a staunch defender in your pet."

"He's not a pet. I plan to release him when he's fully recovered."

"If he's anything like Colby Reynolds, he'll much prefer the role of pampered pet. For the record, as long as you can assure me he won't hurt anyone, I would have no objection to you keeping him."

"Lucky is not domesticated…"

"Then maybe he can have a kind of hybrid life. You can turn him loose, and he could come and go as he pleases. If you're worried about him, maybe you can put some kind of tracker on him."

She sat back and regarded him. "Maybe, but you think he'd prefer to have his creature comforts as well as his freedom."

"I don't think he's the only one who would prefer that."

"What you're offering me isn't any kind of freedom. You may be offering me a gilded cage, but it is a cage nonetheless."

"This is the wrong time for any shifter, much less a female one, to be out on her own. There are forces at work—some connected to the Shadow League and some not…"

"So, you're joining the Resistance?"

"I have yet to make that determination."

She snorted derisively. "So, you're hedging your bets as usual." Zenya shook her head. "You call yourself alpha, as does the rest of our clan. I have to wonder what that says not only about you, but them."

Lucian growled deep in his throat, leaning forward aggressively and provoking the same noise from Lucky. "Silence your pet."

"He's not any more impressed with you than I am."

"What the hell did anyone in the clan ever do to you that was so wrong?"

"My sire…"

"Yes, I know about Zion. And when Zaiden finally shared with me all that was going on, I left the Navy and came home. I challenged and killed him. Is that what you hold against your brother and I?"

"No. If any man ever deserved to die, it was the bastard that sired me. But what have you done differently? Oh, you may not beat anyone or get your jollies from belittling those around you, but you still refuse to let people, especially women, chart their own course. We are, at best, second-class citizens."

"Where are you getting this information?"

"I know what I know," she said defensively. "For god's sake Lucian, you've had people watching me since I left Alaska."

"Of course I did. You are my fated mate, the beloved little sister of my beta and best friend, and a member of my clan. Ensuring your safety is part of the job description for an alpha."

"And they ran off any man who looked at me twice."

"Did they?" he asked, sitting back.

"You sound surprised."

Lucian nodded. "I am… somewhat. I never told them to do it, but I can also see why they would think that was something I would want. I can't say that I'm disappointed that they did so."

"Then what did you tell them to do?"

"I told them to keep you safe. That was all I said. I guess it didn't occur to me that they would interpret that to mean keeping any men away from you."

"Didn't you trust I could take care of myself?"

"It was never about trusting you, Zenya. It was about knowing what you meant to me and to your brother and knowing what the world is like—how harsh it can be to women in general. I always thought I was being fairly benign. After all, you were more than five hours away from where I could personally protect you. Don't think your brother and I didn't discuss buying an estate in the area, forcing you to live there with one of us conducting clan business from there."

"You're serious," she said. "God, you're insufferable. Do you honestly think you could have forced me to live there?"

"Do you honestly think you could have stopped me? I must say, you did surprise your brother and I when you bolted from the restaurant."

"You mean my escape?"

"You had nothing to escape from."

"That's a matter of opinion."

"If you persist in not seeing what is clearly in front of you, I'm not sure how I can make you understand."

"What's to understand? You want me; you take me. Pretty damn clear."

"If I just took you when I wanted you, you'd have been in my bed and at my side a long time ago. Damn it, Zenya, I am your fated mate. Does that mean nothing to you?"

"That is nothing more than pheromones and fairytales. It doesn't exist—not in any meaningful way."

"Can you not feel the bond that already exists between us? Do you not think you feel everything more intensely where I'm concerned?"

"You mean the headaches, dizziness, and feelings of nausea? Not exactly selling points."

"You will find once we are together, those will dissipate and go away. There is nothing I can say that will convince you that we are destined for each other and will have a glorious future together."

"Whether I like it or not."

It was Lucian's turn to snort. "Exactly. Like it or not, we will be happy." He stood. "I will leave you and your pet to your determined misery. Can I get you something to eat or drink?"

"No. I prefer not to take anything from you."

Shaking his head, Lucian started to speak, seemed to think better of it, and walked away, leaving her alone with her misery.

Misery was putting it mildly. She was more than upset. All she could do was see her entire future slipping away. She felt as though she'd worked so hard, and now the future she had envisioned for herself was being snatched away, and there was nothing she could do about it.

He wins only if you let him, whispered the little voice inside her head. As usual, the little voice was right. She might have lost her home in North Carolina; she might never be able to work as a veterinarian; she might even have to submit to him physically and let herself be claimed. But that didn't mean it was forever. There was always the possibility promised by tomorrow.

She would wait. She would bide her time. She would plan. And then she would go. She would be free of Lucian, her brother, the clan, all of them. She would find some place they would never be able to track her. She would chart her own course, her own future, her own destiny.