chapter EIGHT
“Where?” KayNan asked it after a quick scan revealed nothing amiss in the night sky.
“Left wing. Ten o’clock. Forty-Five degrees. Up.”
“Got them. Hunters?”
“Most likely.”
“They’re not running lights?”
“Nope. Neither are we.”
“How’d you spot them?”
“I work for V.A.L., Bud. I’m no spring chicken. And I got skills.”
“And that means?”
KayNan wasn’t amused. He didn’t keep the rumble from his voice, but managed to stop the tightening of his entire frame. Vaughn glanced over his shoulder and grinned again before looking back out at darkness.
“Listen, Bud. I got the pink slip from Sasha last year. Seems her mate likes to learn. And he likes to fidget. And he likes to fly his own jets now. Laid off. Me. Hell. Getting fired by you would be a cakewalk.”
“Vaughn—”
He bit the name off, tamping the threat. He didn’t need his mate more worried. Especially after the fright he’d just given her. He didn’t need to ask. It was obvious. The woman perched atop his thigh kept trembling for some reason.
That’s right, KayNan. She’s atop. His left thigh. That close!
He gulped.
The moment Vaughn interrupted them KayNan had reacted, moving in a blink of time. One moment he’d been standing, going through all sorts of long dead and forgotten emotions, and the next he was squatting in the cockpit doorway with her. His mate. Cocooned in his arms. Atop a bent thigh. It was bothersome, in a peripheral way. And it was wholly wondrous. Especially so. KayNan tilted his head to fill his nostrils with her unique smell, wondering at that, as well. It was almost like he breathed!
He was in luck that the cockpit wasn’t designed for standing, allowing this sort of position. She hadn’t demurred, but he hadn’t made it optional, either. So he held her, and tried keeping his mind on what Vaughn was showing and saying, and not on the buttocks perched atop his bent thigh. Or the breasts pressing against his forearms. Or the slightest thump of an elevated pulse along her throat, drawing his glance more than once. Everything about her radiated some sort of magnetic field toward him, one that contained a warm, sensual, personal-type pulsation. And it grew in depth and volume the longer they stayed connected.
He was right. It was total wonder.
“All right. I’ll amend that. Not an exact cake-walk, but she likes to rip hearts out, whereas you? You’re a barbarian who uses chains. And look there. I forgot to bring any. How are you with straps?”
KayNan growled warningly. He growled. His mate jumped slightly, and every bit of KayNan got jolted with reaction. That brought dormant wants and needs awake. Aware. Enervated. Heightened. His trousers were restrictive. Erotic-feeling against him. Hell. Even the dress shirt fabric felt erotic against his nipples.
“All right. I’ll explain. Geez. Vampires. You want to stay covert, you get skills. And you practice them. This one isn’t hard. I slow down every time we reach a cloudbank. Always have. Barely maintain flight mph. Makes it so if I am being tailed, they’re going to shoot right past me. So…when we emerge, I am now the one with the upper hand. And there you have it. I am now following him. It’s hide-and-seek. Aviation style. And I am now it.”
“How long have they been there?”
“Just.”
“I don’t see anything,” Jeannette said.
“Here.”
The pilot dangled a set of night-vision goggles over his shoulder. Jeannette reached for them, brushing her arm along KayNan’s chest as she went. The contact sparked. Tingled. And then heated. Rapidly. It also carried over to every bit of where they connected. He tried ignoring her movements to don the goggles, and then look out at what was black sky. Then she craned her neck and cocked her head to the left, barely missing his shoulder. KayNan groaned softly.
“So…what’s the plan?” Vaughn asked.
“What’s our listed destination?”
“Calgary. As usual.”
“We close?”
“No…but I’ve been following the border for the last half hour. Easier to hide and disappear that way. In the event the good ole U.S. of A. has the imaging systems I think they do.”
“Good. You continue on, then. We’re leaving.”
“Right. How, please?”
“Jumping.”
His mate stiffened. He tightened an arm reflexively, bringing her head to the space right beneath his chin. Without thought.
“You can’t jump from a jet, KayNan. That’s why we don’t stock parachutes. Waste of time…although they make full plane chutes now. We could’ve had them installed. But it’s a bit late now.”
“What?”
“Jets this size don’t have evac slides. They don’t have access points. The doors are sealed due to the slipstream. We do have eject seats in the cockpit, though. And that’s about it.”
“Slipstream?”
“Air. Against the door. Seals it shut. Never mind. Probably not an issue for one of you guys. Besides, most incidents happen on takeoff or landing. No use jumping from there. And any mid-air issue is handled by gliding down and landing. Unless you slam into a mountain or something, of course. And then it’s kind-a moot.”
“You have an eject seat, then?”
“Yep. Just said so.”
“Then we’re jumping.”
“Okay. I’ll amend that, too. You can jump from anything. D. B. Cooper proved you can even jump from a jumbo jet. But it’s risky. Hell. It’s damn near suicidal.”
“I’m already dead.”
“True. But you are not alone.”
“I’m taking her.”
“Vampires. Got to love them. Listen, KayNan. Taking a door out depressurizes the cabin, gives me all kinds of hell to deal with. You know…things like altitude and wind shear, and loss of cabin pressure. It’ll be a bit wild. And don’t forget – our friends next door will most likely notice.”
“Can we play this hide and seek again with them?”
“Unlikely. They’re onto me now. They’re probably debating whether to blow us up or not since I spotted them.”
Jeannette sucked in air. He felt it.
“Why would they do that?” KayNan asked.
“It’d take hours to get a search party up to this bit of wilderness. They’d have lots of time. Let’s see. They’d have one missing plane with a dead, half-turned pilot. They’d have a verified kill on a senior V.A.L. associate. Hell. They probably have an award patch ready with your name on it. There are only a couple of things stopping them.”
“What?”
“One, they can’t get a clear shot. I’m keeping the angle difficult. And I’m constantly moving. That’s a big rule of staying alive, you know. Keep moving. That’s how I knew they were serious. I make a move, they copy it.”
“How much time do we have?”
“What?”
“Once I jump. How much time will I have before they notice?”
“You’re determined to leave me hanging, aren’t you?”
“What?”
“The moment you slam your way through the fuselage, I’ll be hitting the eject switch. Your beautiful multi-million dollar jet will be history. Not that you vampires seem to care about greenbacks, but there you go. Jet down. Presumed missing. We disable the black boxes, too. Just so you know. And since the accident happened somewhere on the Canadian-US border, it should create some sort of international consternation before anyone even starts a search. And by then, I’ll be long gone. No sense hanging around for the fat lady to sing.”
“What fat lady?” KayNan really needed a course on modern vernacular.
“It’s a euphemism for finale. End of story. Finis.”
“Why don’t you just say that, then?”
“Not near as fun. Look. KayNan. We’ll have a little time. Those Hunters will have to figure out where to land. They’ll probably be on full alert, ignoring the second reason we have not already been blasted out of the sky. All that said…you got maybe half-an-hour head start.”
“What about you?”
“Me? I’ll be yesterday’s lunch. Adios Amigo. Good riddance. Dead meat. I’ll be on survival tactics. A shadow. You got stores hidden, right?”
“Every fifty kilometers.”
“Good. Expect me to show up at your place…oh, by tomorrow afternoon.”
“What’s the second thing?” Jeannette asked it, the slightest whiff of breath cursing him to another round of reaction.
“What second thing, Sweetheart?” Vaughn asked.
“The second reason they aren’t blowing us up?”
“Oh. You. They know I’ve got you. His mate. And you might not be turned yet. And that makes it murder of a real human, not just elimination of the undead and partially undead.”
“His…mate? Turned? Oh, no. No.”
Her voice warbled slightly. KayNan swiveled and stood, eyeing the door he was about to obliterate.
“Oh shit. You didn’t tell her yet? Damn it. I’m going to get fired yet.”
“KayNan. No. We have to talk. I mean no.”
“Later.”
“No. Please, no. No.”
She was still denying and he was ignoring. Or doing his best at it. She put a hand to his cheek, much like before, and used the hold to drag his eyes to hers.
“Hey, Buddy! You may want to grab a space blanket!”
Vaughn yelled it. KayNan yanked his gaze from hers and sneered back at the man.
“Why?”
“It’s going to be cold.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m dead.”
“Vampires. Geez. What about your mate?”
The man tossed a hard package at him. A smack gave the contents air, and a moment later it was a blanket-thing, with quilted material on one side, and metallic silver fabric on the other.
“KayNan no. Please? No. This is too fast. We have to talk. We have to discuss this rationally. Without emotion. Are you listening to me?”
No. He wasn’t. He was folding her in the space blanket thing, grabbing her up, and then he launched right through the side of his jet.