Stray (Silver Bullet Security)

Chapter 1

Angie

“Whose bag is this?”

A short, angry-looking woman in a TSA uniform shouted over the noise. Moisture pooled at the back of my neck as my eyes caught the bubblegum-pink duffel bag she was waving around.

On a scale of one to federal jail time, how screwed would I be if I left security without my bag and ran to my terminal?

I tapped the screen on my phone, watching as a notification lit up.

Final boarding call for flight 1796 to Fairbanks, AK.

This month—this shitty month—was already circling the toilet. And now, my final twelve hundred dollars was circling with it.

It was thirty-six degrees outside. Freezing rain was pelting the windows beyond the ticketing booth at the front of the airport. And I was sweating.

“That’s mine!” I said as cheerfully as I could with my heart beating in my throat.

The TSA agent looked me over with one unimpressed eyebrow lifted. My smile faltered. She snapped on a pair of blue gloves like they personally offended her.

Then she took her sweet time, sliding the zipper on my bag open and lifting each item out of my duffel with precise movements. There were a lot of items inside.

My breathing ceased completely when she pulled out a small plastic container and pointed it accusingly at me. “What’s this?”

“Electrolytes.”

She raised both eyebrows this time.

“It’s a powder. To keep you hydrated.” My lips were now fighting between a grin and a grimace as I slapped on the word, “Ma’am.”

As if politeness was going to do anything for her attitude.

“I have to check it for explosives.”

Cool. I was going to miss my flight because of a berry burst sports drink.

Two minutes later she shoved a tray with my duffel and clothes into my hands, saying, “Have a nice day,” in the same tone that someone else might say, “Screw you.”

I was only seventy percent certain I got everything back in the bag before I ran full speed ahead. My gate was a good quarter mile away, and I had less than one minute to board the plane.

My heart sank from my throat to the bottom of my stomach when I screeched to a stop in front of the gate just in time to see one of the gate agents closing the door.

“Wait!” I huffed, yanking a wrinkled boarding pass from my back pocket and waving it at her. “I’m here!”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. You missed final boarding.”

“But I’m only one minute late. Look, the plane is still there.”

This woman was clearly related to the TSA agent. “There’s a reason we suggest you arrive two hours early, ma’am. You can talk to them about rebooking.” She gestured to a pair of women behind the counter.

One was all business. The other looked ready to pee her pants. I followed the second woman’s gaze to the man on the other side of the counter from them. He was mega tall with a lean and muscular build, but the expression on his face was far from threatening.

Why did that woman look like she was face to face with an infamous serial killer?

My eyes traveled back to the man, following the lines of his creased brow to the thin layer of dark whiskers covering his cheeks. The cadence of his voice felt familiar, and I could tell he was putting enormous effort into sounding calm and polite, even as a muscle tightened in his jaw.

“I’m sorry, sir. Shifter compliance regulations don’t allow me to override unless you meet specific criteria.”

“I’m very familiar with shifter compliance regulations,” he said, the tapping of his pointer finger on the desk the only indication of his impatience. “But I haven’t violated any regulations. I was clear about my identity to the airline when I booked this ticket.”

Shifter compliance regulations—holy shit! He was a real-life shifter. I’d never met one before, only seen bits and pieces of them on the news.

The air around him felt pressurized, like a storm was coming on, and I understood why the other gate agent was cowering. Whatever animal he could shift into, it was strong.

“Sir, you’re holding up an entire plane full of people. I’m afraid you’ll have to rebook. There’s a shifter-friendly flight leaving tomorrow at one in the afternoon—”

“I can’t leave tomorrow!” There was a subtle shift in his voice, a ruggedness that sounded suspiciously like a growl. He cleared his throat, pointer finger rapping faster. “I can’t miss this flight. It’s my mother’s birthday this week.”

“Without a human mate, I can’t let you on this plane.”

Something in my chest hardened. What kind of sweet, innocent soul was this man that he was flying hours out of Seattle for his mother’s birthday?

Thrill zipped up my spine, settling on my chest in a fluttery breath. Suddenly I had a solution for both of us.

“Babe? Oh my gosh, I thought they let you on the plane without me.” I stumbled over to him, duffel bag making me sway. The muscles in his arm visibly tensed when my hand landed on them.

It was a brazen move. Shifters were a mystery to me, and I had no idea if the rumors about them being aggressive assholes was true.

“Babe?” He inclined his chin toward me, his brown eyes lighting up when they met mine. Dang, it was like a scene straight out of Teen Wolf with those glowing eyes. I could almost hear the creature inside him and I was devilishly curious about it.

“Yes, I’m here. Just in time, too.” I turned my brightest smile on the confused gate agents, gesturing to myself and explaining, “I’m his mate, and I’m very much human.” I held my boarding pass and ID up to prove my point. “Now, if you don’t mind, we have a birthday party to get to.”

Teen Wolf looked like he was caught between annoyance and surprised relief.

The gate agent looked like she was about to call bullshit.

“Do you have the proper paperwork?” she asked me impatiently. Her gaze found my neck and she frowned. “We need to see proper paperwork and evidence of a mate mark.”

A mate mark? Shit, I didn’t even know what that was.

“We don’t have them—yet!” I curled my hand around Teen Wolf’s bicep a little tighter.

He wasn’t exactly selling us as mates right now.

“You see, his mom is old-fashioned. We can’t just—um—mate without telling anyone.

There has to be a ceremony, and all of his family is in Alaska waiting for us to make it official.

” I adjusted my duffel bag so I could pet my new mate’s arm with my free hand.

The muscles in his arms finally relaxed, and he stunned me by wrapping one around my waist. The pounding of my heart increased tenfold.

He was hot—not just visually. Heat waves may as well have been rising from his skin, and when he returned my touch, it was as if sparks leaped from him onto me, lighting me up inside.

“It’s true. My mother would be horrified if I marked my mate without a ceremony.

” He leaned over me, pressing his nose to my scalp and inhaling a little too long before letting out a disappointed sigh.

“It looks like we won’t make it in time for the party, babe.

I just hope Mom’s health holds up long enough for us to reschedule our flight and share the good news. ”

The gate agent sucked air between her teeth, gaze flicking between us and the plane. Finally, she sighed and said, “You two better be for real. I can get into so much trouble for this.”

A flight attendant was glaring at us from the front of the plane as we rushed through the door. Her gray hair was tightly wrapped in a neat updo. The lines around her mouth deepened as Teen Wolf stepped up behind me.

She took his ticket from his hand without asking, shocking me with her blatant rudeness. “You’ll have to change seats. 14A and B are open.”

Teen Wolf thanked her politely. Without a word, he lifted the heavy duffle from my shoulder, urging me down the aisle. Just about every passenger we passed was giving us the stink eye.

I didn’t see what the big deal was. The plane was still leaving on time.

Teen Wolf stifled a grumbling noise behind me. Maybe the looks had nothing to do with me.

Our row of seats was empty. I watched Teen Wolf let out an inaudible sigh as he hefted our bags into the overhead compartment.

I fiddled with the seatbelt in the window seat, surprised when he abandoned the empty aisle seat and settled next to me. He smelled manly and clean, his arm radiating heat as he rested it on the armrest between us. My throat worked.

I’d been so consumed with anxiety about missing my flight that I hadn’t taken a proper look at him. I’d heard shifters were bigger than humans. The rumors appeared to be true.

The headrest on the seat was a solid two inches too short for him. His knees were pressed into the back of the seat, and his legs widened in an attempt to gain more space. I couldn’t really blame him for manspreading.

He twisted in an awkward maneuver, slipping off his black leather jacket to reveal a tight white T-shirt. Every defined muscle strained against that shirt. I had the wildest urge to demand he put his jacket back on. This was indecent.

Anyway, it was less than forty degrees outside. What business did he have wearing a T-shirt?

When he finished adjusting himself in his seat, he leaned across the armrest, tucking hair behind my ear and pressing his face to mine. I pretended to exhale through my lips, breathing out so the scent of him wouldn't overpower me.

He wasn’t even wearing cologne. This was ridiculous.

“Should I be worried about how easily you lie, babe?”

“That depends,” I whispered back. “Should I be worried about you turning into a werewolf and ripping the plane apart?”

His eyes lit up again, that golden color so bright it was almost hard to look at. The air pressure dropped around him, and the plane hadn’t even taken off. I sucked in a spontaneous breath, my nerves going haywire.

“It’s your job to keep that from happening.”

“My job?”

“There are two types of flights for shifters. One has a designated officer on board with supernatural deterrent training. The other is human mates only, because no shifter would put his mate at risk by shifting and damaging the plane.”