Page 55 of Of Flame and Fate

Tye lost it, yanking her into his arms the moment she opened her eyes and carrying her into the helicopter. “You’re either in or out,” he growled at us. “But I won’t take the Fate.” His stare darkened. “And if he comes anywhere near her, I’ll feed him his fucking heart.”

He didn’t give us time to decide. The rotor blades started immediately after he settled Destiny in the rear, leaving Gemini and Koda to figure out a way home.

My fingers dig into the seat as we bounce yet again. This was the best they could do, an old army helicopter belonging to a friend of Aric. And because our luck wasn’t bad enough, that old friend was away on business and his wife didn’t fly.

The helicopter dips again. My knuckles blanch. I startle when trickles of blue and white smoke drift into the air and the smell of melting plastic wafts into my nose.

“Taran, donotset us on fire,” Bren tells me.

“I’m not doing this on purpose,” I say, groaning when I see my fingerprints singed into the seat.

I rub my hands together, not sure we’ll make it back to Squaw Valley before Sparky blows us out of the sky.

The helicopter jerks again, left, then right, and somehow up.

My stomach twists into knots, I swear to God creating a bow. “How long has Koda had his license?” I ask. It doesn’t seem like he took lessons very long.

“Not long enough,” Bren mutters.

His intense gaze skips to where Emme is sitting quietly beside me, the severity behind it softening as he takes her in.

The army helicopter isn’t one equipped to carry a large squadron into combat. If anything, it was probably used to transport supplies or possibly for surveillance. Each side is fixed with a row of five seats. The center is open and unobscured, and where the wolves placed Johnny. There’s plenty of room given our small numbers. But when we boarded, Emme chose to sit with me and Gemini.

At first, I thought she was rattled. Emme’s kind and gentle nature makes it hard for her to watch others suffer and I believed she was perhaps remembering those she wasn’t able to save. Until I saw her curl inward and realized how much it seemed to hurt her not to be with Bren.

I glance up, noting Gemini scrutinize the way Bren regards her. Like me, he knows something is up. The strain between them is worse each time they’re together, thickening the air like tar.

We collectively groan when the helicopter does another odd maneuver that’s more like a spiral than anything a helicopter should be able to do.

“Christ,” Bren mutters, scratching his beard irritably. “Did Koda actually get his license?”

I expect several loud growls from Koda telling Bren to screw off. Aside from the sound of the blaring engine and whipping blades, there’s nothing.

Bren straightens. “He doesn’t have a license?”

Gemini clears his throat . . . and that’s about it.

“No,” I say. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Tell me you didn’t shove us onto a plane with a wolf who doesn’t know how to fly.” I glance around, half-expecting us to burst into flames and fall from the sky. “I’m serious, tell me he has a license, a permit, something!”

Gemini works his jaw. “Koda took flying lessons at a young age and accrued several hours toward his license. He was considered a natural and a gifted student by his instructor.”

“I don’t care if he graduated at the top of his class in airplane school or whatever the fuck. Does he have a license or not?” Bren snaps.

“No,” Gemini grinds out. “His instructor was beheaded during a mission to Indonesia before Koda could take the final exam.”

“Of course he was,” I say, pulling at the straps of my seatbelt and making it that much tighter. “Of course.” My hands slap against my lap. “So then what were all those fly dates he had just recently?”

“Lessons,” Gemini grumbles.

“Lessons?” I ask. “He was still taking lessons?”

“It was more like a refresher course,” Gemini adds when swears shoot from Bren’s mouth like fodder. “As I said, he was considered gifted.”

“By the guy who lost his head in Indonesia,” I remind him, clutching my right arm when she starts to tremble.

Bren’s attention bounces from the cockpit back to us when the helicopter dips yet again. “You stuck us ten-thousand feet in the air with some asshole—”

This time Koda does growl: loud, deep, and challenging.

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