3. Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Kier
Ten days of travel for fifteen people—fourteen dragon shifters and one wolf shifter—and not a glitch. Not a double booking, not a missed block of rooms, not a single reservation out of place. It was all perfect.
Too perfect.
Of course, it was the last day of the trip when things went south. I knew better than to think there wouldn’t be some crisis, yet I’d let myself relax.
First, my alarm didn’t go off, which was absolute insanity. I had never missed an alarm in my life. I blamed the jet lag, which I was still experiencing since I was several hours and several time zones away from my regular schedule. Plus, I had gone out to dinner with the entire group the night before. Late nights were not my specialty. I would much rather be in bed by nine. Call me lame, but that was the way I’d always been.
I had sat at the end of the table, as usual. I wasn’t part of the clan—not really—even if, in my heart, I felt like I was. Tavian had been at the far end of the table, sitting near his father, looking annoyed all night. I thought maybe something had gone wrong with his room or the schedule or something. Hoping there was something I could help with, I’d asked him about it, but he just gave me a tight smile and said everything was fine.
Everyone else, including the Lord himself, seemed to enjoy the evening. Perhaps there was a different reason, one out of my control, that Tavian was unhappy. I didn’t like it. Tav was an easygoing guy, and I hated when he wasn’t in a good mood.
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—”
He grabbed my hand, his grip firm but gentle. His smile widened and radiated like the early-morning sun. “I like when you call me Tav.”
I blushed deeply. The nickname had slipped out. I blamed the early hour and my lack of coffee.
“Tavian,” I murmured.
“No. Tav. From now on, you call me Tav.”
I licked my lips. “Okay,” I said. “But really, how is it that you got me a ticket? They were sold out.”
He turned to glare at the desk where the bored airline worker sat. “They oversold, you mean. I explained to them it was in their best interest to make room.”
I raised a brow. “And somehow that room ended up being right next to you?” I shouldn’t question it. I should just be thankful.
“It was.” Tav smiled again, and I lost my train of thought.
When his eyes sparkled, I could almost see the color of his scales reflected in his irises. I’d only seen Tav in dragon form one time. It had been totally accidental, but I’d never forgotten it. He was beautiful, like all the dragons. His dragon stood out the most to me, though. His beautiful deep cyan scales that reflected the sun in the most beautiful way were breathtaking.
“Let’s get some coffee, shall we?” Tav’s voice brought me out of my daydream, and I shook away the thoughts of him in his dragon form.
“Of course,” I said.