Chapter Three
Reid
The private airfield was barely more than a landing strip and a hangar, which was exactly why Reid had chosen it.
No commercial traffic, no security cameras beyond the owner's personal system, and the owner, a retired Air Force pilot, owed Reid a few favors so he was good about Reid and his brother, Garrett, using it whenever they needed it, for a small fee, of course, which would be passed on to the client.
Reid parked near the hangar and watched a sleek jet touch down at exactly twelve fifteen. The jet taxied to a stop, and moments later, the door opened. Cody Brennan stepped out into the Montana sunlight.
Reid was standing beside his truck, thirty yards away.
He'd prepared for this. High-profile client, potential ego management, the usual complications. He was ready. What he hadn’t prepared for was the way that seeing the handsome Cody Brennan in person made him feel—like he needed to take a cold shower.
Or three. He opened the top button of his shirt and frowned, willing his dick to behave.
What the hell was wrong with him? Reid was always in control of his emotions.
This was his job and he had to be strictly professional.
It didn’t matter if Cody had the bone structure and physique of a Greek sculpture. Reid shouldn’t even have noticed.
Cody was wearing dark sunglasses and a baseball cap pulled low, but Reid's eyesight was better than a human’s.
He caught the exhaustion in the set of those shoulders, the tension in the way Cody’s hand gripped the railing as he descended the stairs.
And yet he was still the most handsome man that Reid had ever seen in person.
Even his bear seemed to take more interest than usual.
Reid balled his hands into fists and locked his emotions down tight.
Cody reached the tarmac then started walking towards Reid’s truck.
Then the wind shifted, and Reid caught a small whiff of Cody's scent, and his world shifted on its axis.
In that moment, it was as if his past life ended and his new life began.
His whole world collapsed to a single, devastating point of recognition—mate.
MINE.
Reid’s bear, usually disciplined, controlled, and calm, roared to life with a force that nearly drove Reid to his knees. Not aggression, or lust. Just pure, fundamental ownership. His bear knew with the utmost certainty that Cody was his.
Mate.
The word echoed through every cell of Reid’s body, firm and absolute.
Reid's entire body locked up. His vision sharpened, zeroing in on Cody with a predatory focus.
Even his hearing amplified—he could pick out Cody's heartbeat from where he stood.
It was slightly elevated, probably from the stress of the situation.
Reid squeezed his clenched fists tighter as every instinct he possessed screamed at him to move, to close the distance, to get between his mate and the rest of the world.
To protect him. To claim him. Hell, just to be near him.
No.
No, this wasn't happening.
This couldn't be happening.
Reid forced himself to breathe, but that was a mistake because every breath he drew in brought more of Cody's scent.
More of that combination of honey and cut grass combined with fresh clean cotton.
His bear was clawing at his control, demanding he shift, claim, and protect.
Reid had never had to fight so hard to keep control of his inner animal.
He shoved it down with every ounce of discipline he'd learned from his time in the military and his private security work. His jaw ached from how hard he was clenching it.
As Cody neared, Reid still wasn’t able to move.
If he did, he wasn't sure he could stop himself from doing something catastrophically stupid.
Like dropping to his knees and swearing eternal devotion to a man he'd just met.
Like shifting into his bear form and putting himself bodily between Cody and anything or anyone who might threaten him.
Like closing the distance and marking Cody as the most primal way possible. Heaven help him.
"Mr. Colter?" Cody’s voice cut through the roaring in Reid’s head.
He managed a nod. Managed to unstick his throat enough to produce words that didn’t embarrass him.
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Brennan." Reid’s voice came out rougher than intended, scraped raw.
Then Cody stepped forward, pulling off his sunglasses, and Reid made the mistake of meeting his gaze.
His eyes were the blue-green of a tropical ocean in sunlight. Intelligent yet wary and exhausted. The shadows under those eyes were deep enough to hide in. His expression carried the stress of someone who hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in weeks.
Cody reached out his hand and Reid eyed it the way one would eye a rattlesnake.
A full three seconds had passed before Reid realized he was staring without moving.
Or speaking. He reached out and they shook.
The handshake was brief, but Cody’s hand fit perfectly inside Reid’s and he was loathe to let go.
Reid’s composure cracked wide open. An instinct, primal and overwhelming, surged inside him urging him to put himself between Cody and anything that could hurt him.
"Mr. Brennan," Reid forced out. Every word a battle in restraint. "Let's get you inside."
A frown creased Cody’s brow as if he hadn’t completely understood Reid’s directive.
He’d meant inside the truck, of course. Away from the open exposure of the airfield, but he’d been too afraid to force that many words out of his mouth in case more came with them, words that gave away too much about the shit storm that was going on inside him right now.
Cody was watching him with an odd expression—confusion mixed with something Reid couldn't quite identify. Awareness, maybe, or attraction. The latter certainly made Reid’s bear sit up and take notice.
Cody's eyes tracked over Reid's face, his shoulders, lingered on Reid's hands, which were still clenched into fists. Reid forced himself to unclench them.
Act normal, asshole, Reid chastised internally.
"Thank you for coming," Cody said. His voice was different from his stage voice, less performative, and more genuine. Softer, somehow. "I know this is… I mean, I'm sure you have better things to do than babysit a stupid, paranoid singer."
"You're not stupid," Reid said immediately, with more force than he'd intended. "And this is exactly what I do. You'll be safe with me."
The last five words came out like a vow.
Cody blinked, and for a second, something flickered in his expression. Recognition, almost. Not of the mate bond because humans couldn't sense that, but of the certainty in Reid's voice.
"Okay," Cody said, and some of the tension eased from his posture. "Thank you."
Reid wanted to touch the man. Needed to. Just a hand on his shoulder, confirmation that Cody was real and here and safe. Reid could feel his control fraying at the edges and his fingers twitched. He locked the instinct down tight.
Instead, he turned sharply toward the truck. "Let's move. We need to get on the road ASAP.”
“Okay.”
The next five minutes were a special kind of torture.
Reid loaded Cody’s luggage into his truck before he opened the truck’s rear door for Cody—and when he climbed in and his scent flooded the enclosed space, Reid had to grip the door frame hard enough to dent the metal.
He was losing his mind.
This was a client.
This was the worst possible scenario.
How in the hell was he supposed to act professional with his fated mate when all he could think about doing was getting Cody on the nearest flat surface so he could do unspeakable things to him.
Reid rounded the truck, slid into the driver's seat, and started the engine. In the rearview mirror, he could see Cody settling into the back seat, looking around at the modified interior.
"This is… tactical," Cody said, taking in the reinforced panels, and the communication equipment.
"It's safe," Reid corrected. "Nothing is getting through those panels."
Their eyes met in the rearview mirror.
The impact of that gaze—exhausted, grateful, and trusting—hit Reid like a physical blow. His chest tightened, and his bear settled just a fraction.
Reid tore his eyes away and focused on driving.
The ranch was a few hours away from the airstrip. Reid had to last hours in an enclosed space with his mate, fighting every instinct that screamed at him to pull over and—
No.
Reid had survived war zones, assassination attempts, and a bar fight with six drunk werewolves. He could survive ninety minutes inside a car with his handsome and incredibly sexy mate.
Probably.
Behind him, Cody's heartbeat was a steady rhythm that Reid's bear matched automatically, seeking synchronization.
Reid white-knuckled the steering wheel and drove.