Page 61 of Gravel and Grit

Finally he nodded, but added, “Itappearswe are safe, but be cautious and do not linger, my heart. I will be nearby to watch over you.”

Mira could see he wasn’t completely comfortable with it, but she needed this.

“Thank you,” she whispered around the tightness in her throat.

His fiery eyes went soft, and he held his arms open for her. Setting her coffee down, she took the invitation happily, climbing into his lap and curling into him. He wrapped his arms and wings around her, enclosing her in a cocoon of safety and love.

The thought of leaving Earth behind was hard, so damn hard, but he would be with her, and that made it a little easier to let go of everything she knew.

Mira smiled stiffly at the store clerk as he rung up her purchases.

He was acting strangely, eyeing her like she was a threat even though he had a hundred pounds on her, easily. She’d noticed him on the phone shortly after she entered, speaking low but fast to the person on the other end. She hadn't thought much of it then, just assumed he was arguing with his boss, or a co-worker, or maybe even his significant other.

That was beginning to seem less likely as she watched sweat bead on his brow.

He was bagging her snacks with unnecessary slowness and his gaze kept darting to the little television set up behind the counter. She couldn’t see the screen and the volume was muted, so she didn’t know what was playing, but there was an itchy feeling between her shoulder blades.

Zaek had reinforced her own inclination to listen to her feelings during their training, telling her over and over that if something felt wrong, it probably was. Those feelings were telling her to leave. Now.

“You know, I just realized I left my wallet in the car,” she lied, giving him a fake, apologetic smile. “Could you hold this stuff? I’ll go grab it.”

Without giving him a chance to answer, she spun on her heel and strode quickly to the door, wanting out of there. Zaek was hiding next to a building across the street. She wanted to get to him and leave town.

Something was off. They shouldn’t have come.

Mira didn’t make it more than four steps outside the door before a helicopter appeared above her, the near-silent gusts of wind from the blades whipping her hair around her, blinding her.

She heard what sounded like a zipper, then a thud, and suddenly arms were around her. They weren’t Zaek’s arms. These were hard, bruising.

Zaek’s roar reached her ears just before she was yanked upward so hard her head snapped down, her chin hitting her chest with such force she bit her tongue and tasted blood.

She didn’t even have time to scream before she was thrown inside the helicopter. She hit the unforgiving metal of the floor hard enough to knock the breath from her. Scrambling, she tried to get up, to get out, but a boot came out of nowhere and kicked her in the face.

Her nose shattered and her lips split, blood spraying in an arc to paint the

window. Agony overpowered everything.

They didn’t say anything as they beat her, their blows methodical and devastating, carried out with silent detachment. She wasn’t important to them, not really. She was bait, a means to get to Zaek.

Mira couldn’t let that happen.

4 0

ZAEK

He hadn’t seen them coming, hadn’t heard them until they were on top of her. He didn’t know what kind of helicopter this was, but it wasn’t the same one that chased him in the town near his cabin.

This one was almost silent. The only sound coming from it was the faint whine of rotors and the gust of wind.

Mira was gone, snatched up and hauled inside it before he could do more than roar a denial.

Fear, the likes of which he’d never felt, erupted inside him. The Prime Directive was forgotten in an instant. Ripping off his human jacket, he unfurled his wings and took to the air, uncaring who saw, his only concern getting his mate back.

He flew fast, chasing after the helicopter as it ascended high above the little town. It turned just before he reached it, spinning so he had a perfect view of the man, the one who had no idea he was about to die, haul Mira up by her hair and press her battered face to the window.

Zaek saw her eyes flutter open and lock on him, the bright blue he loved now glazed with pain as tears spilled down her cheeks, but the look in them one of love. He saw her mouth move, a silent plea shaped by blood-soaked lips.

I love you. Go. Please.

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