Sandy
Looking at my reflection in the tiny mirror I couldn’t help but curse. “Whit the hell is he playing at? Sending me halfway around the globe on a fecking ‘good-will’ visit. Whit does that even mean?”
I shook my head, running a hand through my too long hair, which I hadn’t had time to have trimmed and resembled a wild caveman’s look. Why? Because the almighty Grant, my so called best friend who just happened to be my Alpha, had sent me on this wild-goose chase. All the way from my Highland home, which, by the way, I loved, to somewhere called Darrington.
Not Vegas, not LA, but a place that nobody I’d asked had ever heard of.
When he’d slapped me on the back and said, “Sandy, you’re going on a trip.” I should’ve said, “No, no, and hell no.” Aye, that’s what I should have said.
Instead all Shelly, Grant’s mate, had to do was smile and gush, and got me agreeing before I knew what was what. That woman had a tongue on her that could charm the birds out of the trees and I knew that but I still fell foul to her trickery. She’d mentioned something about a friend from somewhere called Blue Creek, but that wasn’t even where I was going, so I had no idea what she had been blathering about. “Grant, I’m gonna . . .”
Banging on the thin door of the plane toilet stall stopped me ranting to myself and thinking of ways I’d pay Grant back. Shit, at this rate I was going to end up in a looney bin. “I’ll just be a minute,” I replied to the knocking, mumbling about people’s rudeness.
“Excuse me, Sir, but we’re coming in for landing and you need to return to your seat.”
I knew that voice. It was the air hostess who’d been attending me for most of the flight. She was nice, blonde, blue eyed, and friendly, but she was not a woman I would ever be interested in. First off, she was human and both my Wolf and I were in agreement, we needed a strong She-Wolf at our side. Second, she was overly friendly, touching me whenever she’d had the chance. Again neither my beast nor I appreciated that. Not that I didn’t enjoy women, I did, but I wasn’t attracted to pushy females who pawed at me. Call me old fashioned, but I preferred to do the chasing, or as my beast kept insisting: hunting.
Opening the door to a smile a mile wide, I barely made eye contact, sliding past her, which is kinda hard as I’m not exactly a small guy and she didn’t move, not an inch, to help. I quickly found my seat, groaning as I sat back down and buckled up.
“Finally,” I sighed, glad that the interminably long flight was soon to be over.
“I guess these seats aren’t made for men like you.” The old lady sitting next to me smiled, raising a cheeky eyebrow.
“I guess not.” I grimaced as pain shot through my back, shoulders, thighs. Damn, everywhere hurt.
“That accent is adorable.” She patted my arm, still smiling. “Scottish or Irish? I sometimes find it hard to tell.”
“Scottish,” I grunted, wondering how on earth anyone could mistake me for an Irishman.
“I should’ve known.” She winked up at me, aye, actually winked. “With that beautiful red hair you’re definitely a Scot.”
I barely nodded, tired and grumpy, I didn’t want to offend her with a gruff reply, but I couldn’t help but run a hand through my unruly locks to try and tame it somewhat and calm my frayed nerves. I’d probably have to find something to tie it back out of the way in a day or so, or I’d look like a wild man.
The tiny woman prodded me to get my attention, then beckoning with a finger to make me lean down before whispering. “Are you . . . one of those? You can’t possibly just be a man, not with that body and those eyes, dear oh dear, your eyes are astonishing.”
I hated travelling. This was one of the reasons. Just one mind you, there were others, a ton of them, but mainly this: was I one of those?
“I’m a Wolf,” I whispered, giving her a tight smile. After all, she was a little old lady, I couldn’t very well terrify the life out of her and have her collapsing, could I?
“Aye,” my beast disagreed with me.
I hid my smirk as her eyes widened then she nodded with a smug look covering her face. “I knew it. No human man could possibly be like you, you’re just so much . . . more. You know what?”
She paused, her old eyes twinkling as she stared into mine. “I wish I’d met one of you lot when I was young.”
My eyes widened with shock at her words as she turned to look at her sleeping husband, as old as she, frail and for most of the flight he’d been one crabby sod but he’d finally drifted off a couple of hours ago. She gave him a sharp elbow to the ribs then lifted the book she’d been reading earlier, all innocence as he woke up grumbling, again.
She snuck a glance at me and winked again before going back to something she did rather expertly: ignoring her husband as he grumbled.
My head fell back to the seat, throbbing with a shocking headache. The flight had taken its toll on my enhanced senses, overloading it with scents and sounds. The bratty wean at the back of the plane needed his arse skelpt for all his carrying on throughout the long hours I’d been stuck in this tin can. One look from an older Wolf soon had our young falling in line and I wasn’t used to the nonsense of some of these human kids. That boy’s whine literally sent my spine shivering as I fought myself from going back there and growling to get him to shut up.
I bet the people surrounding the little twat would be grateful and then, of course, Grant’s words rang in my head.
“Remember, Sandy, I doubt there’ll be anything other than humans on the flight so try and not cause an inter-species incident at thirty thousand feet. I don’t want to have to bail you out of jail somewhere.”
Aye right, ya wee toad, just wait ‘til I get home. I’ll have my revenge. No idea what it’ll be but I’ll have it and I’ll laugh so much my sides will hurt and tears will run down my face. Aye, that’s what will happen when I get home.
I winced as the announcement telling us we were landing soon burst from the sound system. My hands flying to my ears to cover them from the undertone of static that hurt like blazes. I hated travelling. I’d said that already, didn’t I?
Yes. And I’d keep saying it because it was the truth and if I didn’t see the inside of one of these abominable machines ever again, it would still be too damn soon.
I exhaled, a huge puff of air leaving my lungs as misery shuddered through me with the realization I’d be back on one of these soon. I had to if I wanted to go home and I wanted nothing more than to be back in the Highlands, where I belonged.
Darrington. My destination. Which I’d had trouble even finding on a map, but from what I could find it looked to be near a huge national park of some sort. I just prayed that I could run free there, because after this journey I needed nothing more than to transform and take to the forest.
Shit a brick! I’d probably have to do all the “welcome” crap first and I was most definitely not in the mood. I still had no clue why Grant had sent me. There were others far better suited to this stuff than me. Wolves that wouldn’t be so uptight after a trans-Atlantic flight and who probably wouldn’t snap at the first person who tried to engage them in conversation.
My beast huffed in my head. “Aye, but try and not get into a fight in the first five minutes. I’m tired too.”
“Haud yer wheesht,” I reprimanded my ever rebellious Wolf. “My head is splitting as it is, I don’t need you being a wee scunner too.”
Silence was his reply and I knew I’d offended him but I was too tired to care. He’d come around, maybe later than sooner, but by then I hoped I was lying snug as a bug in a bed somewhere, sound asleep.
A bump then a roar of the engines told me we were finally back on solid ground. “Thank the goddess,” I whispered, desperation running through me to escape the confinement of the airplane.
Unbuckling my belt, the little old lady reached over, tapping my arm. “Better not get up just yet, they don’t like anyone moving until the little seatbelt sign goes off.”
She nodded above us but I barely noticed the symbols, the urge to bolt growing by the minute. “Thanks for the warning, but I need to get off.”
“Aaah, that’s why you’ve been so fidgety?” she said smiling. “A little touch of claustrophobia?”
“Call it what you want,” I replied, shrugging. “I just can’t take all this any longer.”
I waved my hand around at the people chatting, laughing, kids crying, shouting and I felt my skin heat up. “Don’t you dare!” I closed my eyes roaring inside my head, knowing the early signs of my shifts.
“I know it’s been rough but we’re nearly off this damn thing and soon we’ll be outside. We cannot shift inside a fecking airplane!”
I fought for control, barely winning and it must have taken me longer than I’d thought because when I opened my eyes, the door was open and people were getting off. I lurched up, grabbed my large backpack from the overhead locker and stumbled toward the opening.
When I stood at the doorway I was relieved to see the sky, a set of stairs leading down instead of one of those walkways that attached to the body of the plane. I gulped in air, not exactly fresh as it was filled with fuel fumes and a dozen other scents, but it wasn’t half as bad as what I’d been breathing for hours. Tugging my pack over one shoulder, I slowly made my way down the stairs, slow only due to people being in front of me. I’d much preferred to jump down as quickly as I could to get my feet back on solid ground.
My teeth ground hard as I tried to contain my deep need for some space and at the same time wondered if I could talk Cam, Grant’s brother, into going for a trip back home to Scotland. If I managed that I could cadge a lift on his private jet. I blinking hoped I could because the thought of another flight like the one I’d just endured had me almost throwing my head back and roaring as loud as I could.
“No inter-species incidents.” My Alpha’s words rattled around in my head so I guessed I better not.
What I did have to do was pull myself together and not make a complete numpty of myself when I met whoever it was that was coming to meet me.
Great, chit chat and being mannerly. Just what I didn’t want to do right now.
I had a wee while before I had to put my “game face” on, I still had passport control and security to get through. Fun. Not.