Page 4 of Flight Risk

When I finally made it to the airport, everyone had already arrived—thank the Dragon gods—and they all seemed to be checked into their flights.

Except me.

Which was how I ended up with the short end of the stick.

“I’m sorry, sir, but the flight is overbooked, and there’s no way we can put you on.”

“Overbooked?” I fought the urge to scream. How an airline could overbook a flight was beyond me. They knew how many seats they had. All they had to do was not sell any more than that, yet they did. Frequently. “But I need to go home. When’s the next flight?”

“Two days.” The woman across from me inspected her nails as if she was bored with this conversation and I was the one inconveniencing her.

“Two days! There’s not another flight to the U.S. for two days?”

“There is, but there is only first class available, and I just assumed...”

My eye twitched. I resisted the urge to glare at her. She assumed correctly: I could not afford a first-class ticket. I had bought an economy-class ticket. I held it in my hand. It was fully paid for, yet somehow the airline sold an identical one to someone else!

I sighed. I would need to talk to my boss about taking the next two days off. I suppose I could sightsee. And of course, this extra expense would go on my tab. I couldn’t expect the clan to pay for this mistake.

“Is everything alright?” Tavian was at my side, his hand on my shoulder. My wolf wanted to let out a whine and roll over, exposing his belly to the alpha. I’d love to just dump this entire problem on his lap and let Tavian handle it for me. As an omega, I’d love to just lean on the alpha to help me out. Only I could not. That would be incredibly inappropriate.

I would not exploit Tavian’s kindness in such a way.

“It’s fine,” I said. “I’ll need to talk to your father. Do you know where he is?”

“In the first-class lounge, resting his eyes. I’m pretty sure he’s hungover.”

Any other time, I would find that amusing. The clan leader didn’t let loose that often. It was good to see him let loose with his clan members. I was happy he’d enjoyed himself on the last night of the trip, even if it meant he’d have a miserable flight home. I made a mental note to arrange for his favorite meal to be delivered once we arrived home.

As the technical second-in-command, I could speak with Tavian about my predicament. We stepped off to the side so the human receptionist wouldn’t overhear.

“The flight’s overbooked, and I don’t have a ticket,” I explained. “Luckily, everyone in our group will make it home on time, but I’ll need to spend the next two days here. I’ll cover the cost of this mistake, of course.”

His eyes narrowed. “Why would you cover the cost? This is the airline’s mistake. You booked a flight for yourself, right?”

“Of course. It’s just that I was late this morning. I didn’t realize they had resold my ticket until I arrived at the gate. Everything was fine going through security.”

Tav shook his head. “You did not arrive late enough for them to give your seat away. This is ridiculous. I’m sure there’s something we can do to get you on that flight. Preferably in first class.”

“No, that’s not—”

Tavian’s piercing gaze met mine, silencing me. My breath caught in my throat. The man was absolutely delicious to look at. And when he was hellbent on defending me? Oh, fuck. I was lost.

“I’ll take care of this here. I’ll take care of you.”

“Okay,” I squeaked. Fuck if those words didn’t soothe the ache in my soul.

I should have demanded that he let me handle this myself. It was my job. Instead, I sat down in the chair.

I’ll take care of you.

Those words echoed down to my core and acted like a balm that settled the unease inside of me. Handling crises was my job, and I was good at it, but after a full week and half of smooth sailing,today’s issue took me by surprise. I was having trouble finding my footing.

A moment later, Tavian came over with a ticket in his hand and a broad smile on his face. He looked too chipper for a man about to endure a ten-hour flight.

“First class, right next to me.”

“What? I can be on another flight, Tav. I don’t want to—”

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