Or were her instincts becoming so honed she’d known what was coming?
“Take your hand off me.” Her blue eyes were locked on mine, hard as ice.
“Tell me the truth.” I leaned into the stake, the silver burning my bare skin, the pain keeping me focused.
Ivan cleared his throat. “Ladies, perhaps we should save this discussion for when we’re back in the air?”
From behind us, I caught a shimmer of movement as Antonio stood. “Tony. Stay the fuck in your seat. This has nothing to do with you.”
“You’re in an altercation with my lady friend. I believe this is my business,” he said, sidling up the aisle.
I lifted an eyebrow at Rachel. “Lady friend?”
I let her go, knowing what would happen. She spun away from me, unbuckled from her seat, and stood in a single fluid movement. I grinned across the aisle at Ivan. He shook his head. “You two always fight like this?’
I shrugged. “Two strong personalities, both of us driven to do the right thing in her own way, haunted by our respective pasts. What do you think?”
Maybe that had been too much, because Ivan’s eyes softened and filled with pity.
“Don’t fucking pity us, dog,” Rachel snapped. “Lea’s right. What makes us a good team is that neither of us will back down. No matter what happens.” She let out a slow breath. “Antonio worked for Victor, same as you.”
Antonio let out a soft groan. “Do not trust her, mi amour.”
I stood, unbending myself slowly, knowing we walked a fine line. I was sure Antonio was a trained Cazador. Which meant that he was as fanatical about taking out vampires as I was. Yours truly included. But I knew when to compromise.
“Rachel, this is your call. You want him off the plane? If he can keep his weapons away from me, I think he could be useful.”
She went still, and the engines started up again, the captain’s voice coming over the speaker. “Please take your seats, we’ll be taking off momentarily.”
The four of us stood in a perfect standoff as the jet began to taxi. Rachel swayed and grabbed the edge of one seat. “Too late to kick him off.”
“Actually,” Ivan said, “it’s the perfect time. Open the door, push him out, leave him behind before he can call the authorities.”
Antonio glared at him. “Bad doggy.”
The jet picked up speed, racing across the tarmac. Rachel was thrown to her knees by the explosion of speed. Antonio reached for her, and she jerked away. I grabbed her arm as it flicked back and yanked her onto the seat.
Her eyes popped wide as she landed. “Hey!”
“Better in the seat than in his lap,” I pointed out.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” She paused. “I can’t totally trust you. You understand?”
I shrugged, trying not to feel the sting. “I’ve saved your life more than once. And you’ve saved mine. I’d hoped we’d moved beyond the trust issue. If I wanted to kill you, Rachel, I could have done so many times over.”
“Bragging?”
“Pointing out that you are safe with me.” The distrust in her eyes told me it was time to do what I’d been avoiding. She needed to know about the bond. Fuck, this was not going to go down easy.
“What? You’ve got a look on your face like you’ve been sucking on rotten eggs.”
I cleared my throat. “When you made the oath to hunt vampires with me. We clasped hands.”
“Yeah...” Her eyes narrowed.
“The oath was more than hunting vampires.”
Those blue eyes narrowed to mere slits. “What are you saying?”
I licked my lips.
“Spit it the fuck out, Lea.”
“You replaced Calvin.”
She frowned. “That’s it? I know I replaced him, that’s why he got his panties in a fucking twist.”
“So you’re okay with that?” I couldn’t believe she was taking this so well. To be bonded to a vampire was no small thing. Her whole life would be tied to mine until the day she died.
She shrugged. “You obviously need the help, my friend.”
Friend. Relief flowed through me. I realized how badly I had wanted to believe she was indeed my friend. That she wouldn’t hate me for binding her to me. I really was going soft.
She reached below her feet and pulled out her laptop. Or, should I say, Derrick’s laptop. “I’m going to see what else I can find. See if there are pieces that fit together now that we know more.”
Just like that, the conversation was done. Ivan tipped his head at me, gesturing for me to come to him. I slipped past Rachel, who was already buried in the computer. Ivan scooted over to the window seat.