Chapter 88


    Chapter Eighty-Eight


    It’s going to take three hours.


    The battle or whatever assault Cam has staged…it’ll likely be over in three minutes.


    As the ne lifts off, I try to hold myself together.


    Cam and I had stolen moments in thesest…days? Weeks?


    It seems like hardly any time has passed since I came back from California for the first time. Our lives


    have been consumed with fighting and treacheries and trying to mend the mistakes of our past.


    And in that time, I was also mated to another.


    I can’t even say that I was wholly with Cam.


    Up until two days ago, when Eric and Ashley were married, I would have said that my heart was tied to


    Eric’s too.


    Part of it always will be.


    But Cameron is my life.


    I hold my stomach.


    He’s the father of my unborn child.


    We’ve not had a real chance to even be a family.


    I can’t lose him yet. I can’t.


    I close my eyes and try not to sob.


    Tears leak free. They’re warm on my face.


    Goddess, please, I pray.


    I don’t think she listens to prayers.


    I think she hears. But I don’t think that ‘answering’ a wish is how life works.


    Whatever messes we make are ours alone to unravel.


    Cameron, I reach out to him. Beware of the Master Vampire.


    But he doesn’t reply.


    My stomach churns.


    Every minute feels like an eternity. The small clock mocks me amid the many instruments in the


    cockpit. I watch each minute tick, tick, tick away, wondering if with those passing seconds, my mate


    has left this world.


    I still feel joined to him.


    The connection is there. Muted now, but still strong.


    It gives me hope.


    My body is so amped with adrenaline that by the first hour, endorphins are firing off that have me in a


    near sedated state. Maybe it’s a form of shock. Between my near-death encounter and being so far


    away and unable to reach Cameron…


    “Do you have a phone?” I ask the pilot.


    He looks at me oddly. But leans forward to pull a cell phone from his back pocket. As wend to refuel,


    I dial the main packhouse.


    The pilot disembarks to check the ne and handle the fueling.


    My father answers. “Mia! Are you okay? Where are you?”


    “Dad!” I cut him off. “You need to get word to Cameron. It’s a trap. Cassian…he’s lethal.”


    “Cass who?”


    “Dad, there’s no time!”


    There’s a startled gasp on the line then silence as my father attempts to join with Cam. I failed, so I’m


    doubtful he’ll have much luck. But maybe as Beta and since my father would be guarding our


    children…


    “Can you hear him?” I ask.


    In the heat of a battle, links are shut off, so packmates can concentrate on the fight. Distractions of any


    kind can be fatal.


    “I can’t reach him, Mia.”


    “Find me theirst known coordinates.”


    There’s a long pause.


    “We’re lifting off again. Text them to this number.”


    “What can I do?” my dad asks. And I hear it, in his voice, the absolute helplessness which I feel too.


    “Nothing…”


    I close my eyes. Is this how my mother felt? Possessing the knowledge of things that wille to pass


    but being helpless to change the course?


    If so…


    This is no gift.


    It is a curse.


    I breathe and try to stay calm.


    I’m early in the first trimester and huge stresses can cause miscarriage.


    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.


    I’ve had so many violent encounters and shocks to my mind and body, it will be a miracle if my child


    makes it into the world.


    “Fight, little one,” I whisper.


    I take another breath and try to keep the panic at bay.


    Cameron will survive.


    He has to.


    The pilot nces over his shoulder at me. “I’m flying as fast as I can.”


    The ne is shaking and it’s true, I don’t think he can push it much more without some structural


    damage happening or him losing control of the ne. As it is, there are hard gusts of wind that have us


    pitching from side to side.


    The pilot’s calm. Very capable.


    He’s an elderly man, somewhere in his sixties. He’s sweating and he’s not happy to have to make this


    flight, but whatever Vria told him or is paying him, has him focused on getting me where I want to go.


    When he finally begins his descent and lines up for a waternding, I thank him. “Don’t wait for me, I


    say.”


    “I need to bring us to shore. This water is cold.” His face reddens. “You’re not dressed.”


    “I’ll be fine,” I tell him, and the minute the ne makes contact with the water, I have the hatch open


    and I’m diving into the open water.


    He’s screaming and cursing, but he doesn’t stick around long.


    The moment he is back in the air, I kick out of my dress and shift. It’s night but I know that stupid gown


    will look like a beacon from above.


    N eats up the distance and shakes off on the shoreline before darting into the trees. She tastes the


    air and listens intently.


    All is quiet.


    There is nothing to indicate vampires or wraiths or a pack of wolves intent on war.


    Then I hear a howl. Followed by another.


    And an inhuman roar.


    I start running.


    The only problem is… the sounds…they’reing from the opposite shore.