Page 18

I wasn’t sure what I’d conjured up in my head when Kroven had first mentioned going to the airport. Part of me sort of knew that we wouldn’t just be flying amongst the masses, but what I definitely hadn’t anticipated was the fact that Kroven had his own private jet.

When the rideshare had dropped us off, by Kroven’s explicit directions, around the side of the airport so we were as close to the tarmac as possible, I started having my suspicions that yeah, we weren’t taking a coach flight to D.C. These qualms were confirmed when Kroven led me to an all black private plane that looked like a horde of spies were about to come barreling out of it. I gripped the overnight duffle I’d brought with me in surprise. He turned back to me and caught my plummeted mouth expression.

“What?”

“We’re traveling to D.C. in this ?”

Kroven grunted playfully, closing the space between us and kissing my cheek. “Only the best for you.”

“Come on.” I shoved him away, but the smile in my voice was easy to locate. “Is this yours or like the sangamar sanctioned communal plane?”

That earned me a guffaw from the man I was utterly obsessed with. “It’s mine. Too many uncomfortable encounters have happened for me to travel with humans. Too many painful encounters.” He thought better of his comment and made a twisted face. “You, of course, are the exception.”

Inwardly, I was a teenager laying on my bed with my feet kicking in the air at his words. But outwardly, I wore an exhausted caricature of my usual features. “How did you never mention you have your own private plane?”

Kroven shrugged. “Didn’t really come up.” He grabbed my hand, sliding his cold palm against my heated one. “Let’s get going. I have some blood stashed inside the mini fridge and I really have missed seeing your cute face.”

I’m sure I was blushing, judging from the flare of heat emanating from my cheeks, but I ignored it and held on to Kroven’s hand as he led me to the plane despite not being able to see. Yet another thing I made a mental note to ask him how he saw so well when he was between consumption.

There was a black car parked within view, but far enough from the plane that it wouldn’t be an issue during take off. I was about to ask Kroven about it when the door that succeeded the plane’s steps opened, revealing a creature I’d never seen before.

Their smile was warm and welcoming, recognizing Kroven in an instant. When their slitted (!) brown eyes swept over me, the creature suddenly looked very stoic. Their skin was a beautiful brown that matched the eyes almost perfectly, a few shades darker than the muddled honey their irises had to offer. I would have assumed they were human if not for the sideways pupils they had. Oh, and the fact that their ears ended in points, just like Kroven’s.

“I was excited to get your call!” A masculine voice proceeded the creature, and their beautiful eyes swept over me, dripping with intrigue. They met us down at the bottom of the steps. “I wasn’t expecting the company though.”

“Xoah, this is Bas.” Kroven nodded. “My boyfriend.”

My neck snapped over to Kroven. While we’d discussed being together, I hadn’t expected the plunge of hearing him call me his boyfriend. The casual way that he uttered the words caused my heart to both soar against my ribs and drop to the pit of my stomach. I smiled at Kroven, knowing he couldn’t see it but hoping he could feel it. He must have, because he squeezed my hand once before gesturing to the creature. “Bas, this is Xoah. He’s a dear friend of mine who also happens to be a pilot.”

“Nice to meet you, Xoah.” I nodded, putting out my hand for him to shake. He did, and I winced as his grip was forceful and strong. When I wrangled my hand back, I instinctively flexed my fingers.

Xoah chuckled. “Sorry about that. I forget humans aren’t used to real strength.” The word real hung in the air as his eyebrows flexed.

Shaking his head, Kroven tilted his head in my direction. “Xoah’s a lykanthe.” Lie-can-thee . It sounded otherworldly in my head. “They’re similar to sangamar in appearance, but aren’t dependent on blood consumption to live.”

“Among other things,” Xoah affirmed, leaning forward to jab an elbow at Kroven’s stomach. “And far messier than sangamar once every twenty-eight days, right Kroven?”

As if that explanation said it all, Xoah receded back inside the plane as he trotted up the stairs. Kroven nodded, indicating me to go first and following after his pilot friend. Already I was bursting with questions about Xoah’s species and wanting to learn all I could. Hell, I still needed to grill him about Qwill too. I hadn’t been with Kroven very long and I’d already met multiple different creatures. I wondered how many different ones existed in the world .

Thoughts of Orbs and their branching differences vanished once I stepped inside the plane. This wasn’t just a private plane, this was the private plane you thought of when the words private plane hit your head. Lush seats, complete with plush armrests and screens to watch TV or anything else dedicated for every seat one decided upon. There was a little kitchen area before the seating one, complete with the aforementioned mini fridge and several bins full of human snacks.

Xoah had already disappeared toward the front of the plane and I was gawking at everything as Kroven bent down to open the mini fridge. My eyes caught his ass as he did so, my dick jumping to life at the need to be close to him again. Willing it to behave, Kroven had produced what looked like a plastic water bottle that he’d replaced with chilled blood.

“This is incredible, Kroven.” I muttered shakily as he took a modest gulp of the blood. “I’ve never seen anything like this!”

His hands found the side of my stomach, and he used the other one to turn me toward him. Kroven’s eyes swirled to life, the deep and rich red color filling his irises and ridding themselves of the fog that had migrated there earlier. When they stopped swirling and he blinked them solid a few times, a smile crept against his lips.

“There’s my man.” He purred, leaning forward to capture my lips with his.

I melted into the kiss, a moan leaping out of me because 1. He’d just called me his man and that was hot as fuck and 2. I was desperately wanting him to pound me into one of these exquisite seats.

“As much as I want to add plane sex to our growing repertoire of intimacy, we really should take our seats.” Kroven sighed with a smirk. “Xoah’s a good pilot, but he’s always over zealous to prove so on takeoff.”

I feigned annoyance. “Fine. But you owe me hotel sex then.”

“Deal.” He laughed, leading me to two seats next to each other on the right side of the plane. Kroven offered me the window seat and I took it with delight, wanting to see everything I could. I’d never been on a regular plane and this would potentially spoil me for commercial flights in the future. “It’s only about a thirty minute ride to D.C. from here, and we’ll be staying overnight for fueling purposes. That’s not going to interfere with your work, is it?”

“No, that sounds great.” I patted one of the hands he had on his armrest. “We’re all good.”

“Wonderful.”

We buckled up as Xoah came over the intercom and said that we were about to take off. All too quickly, I understood what Kroven had meant earlier about Xoah’s excitement to prove his piloting skills. We lurched into the air at way too awkward an angle, though not dangerous enough to cause us or the plane any harm. Just enough to scare the shit out of me. Luckily, Kroven put a comforting hand on my thigh to steady me. Which was a dual edged sword because while it was keeping me calm, it was also giving me a raging boner that I wanted to take care of. But the fear overtook me and I closed my eyes until we were safely in the air.

“That was rougher than usual,” Kroven grunted in annoyance, quickly replacing it with a scoff. “I believe he’s trying to impress you.”

“I’d be much more impressed if I wasn’t scared shitless.”

Kroven nodded, his hand swirling over my thigh. “I’ll talk to him.”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t wanna cause problems between you and your friend.”

“You won’t be.” He assured me, lifting his hand to connect with my chin, swiveling it toward his handsome face. “We’ll be safely tucked away in our hotel before you know it.”

“Before you distract me with your sexual advances,” Kroven shook his head, but laughed anyway. “What is it you do for work? There’s gotta be some sort of solution for how you have this plane at the ready.”

Kroven looked uncomfortable all of the sudden, shuddering his limbs away from connecting with me in any way. I hated feeling like I had overstepped somehow, so I shook my head.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“It’s not that, Bas. I just feel…guilty.” Guilty? That was a curveball I hadn’t braced for. “I don’t…do anything for work. I have a decent amount of wealth…from the past, but the plane actually belonged to Grey. The human who left me the house.” When I nodded, he went on. “Grey became quite the writer, and he garnered enough attention and money to need his own plane to fly out for events and things of that nature. He left it to me in addition to the house. Admittedly, I did upgrade to our current plane a few years ago, just like I made the additions to the house.”

“You shouldn’t feel guilty. You used some of that money to honor Grey, I think that’s awesome.”

“Trust me,” Kroven said, turning away from me and looking across the aisle at the empty seats. “That’s not why I feel guilty.”

A cloud of sorrow formed between us then, and I could feel the terror sliding along Kroven’s brows as much as I could see the contorting his body was doing to seem comfortable. Patting his hand, I amused myself with the touchscreen on the back of the leather barrier before me, since we were sitting in the first seats the plane offered, and I browsed the library of things to watch. Turning on an episode of Sailor Moon, I distracted myself with the opening credits as I felt Kroven’s head leaning against my shoulder. With our height difference, it must have been terribly uncomfortable but I could sense that he just wanted to be close to me after his thoughts had soured. I wasn’t going to pry, knowing that he’d tell me whatever it was when he was ready. So I folded my hand over his on the armrest, and we watched the opening scene of the anime as Piper faded from view below us.