The strained atmosphere between them had faded somewhat in light of their trip. Ava had been peppering him with questions about the conference for the last few days, and it had alleviated the lingering tension between them.
“Have you been to Ireland before?” he asked her as the plane started to roll forward on the runway.
“Yes,” she said. “I’ve been to Cork and Dublin, and when I was—”
He always loved listening to her talk, but her voice faded into the background as he became aware that there was a dragon shifter nearby—one he’d never met before. A male.
His dragon growled. He wasn’t particularly territorial, not compared to other males in his clan, and the plane was hardly his territory. But he couldn’t help but feel alert with another shifter so close to him, both of them trapped in a small metal tube together.
As far as he knew, there were no other dragon shifters in the area. One of the female dragon shifters that lived in Texas had been searching for other clans for years. According to Eli’s friend Jackson, there weren’t many clans in the United States at all.
He closed his eyes. Of course, the shifter could be from anywhere. Not all of them had their own private jets like Jackson’s cousin Garrett, who was a famous singer in Las Vegas. Plenty of shifters flew on commercial jets, but this was the first time he’d encountered one while doing so.
He focused, zeroing in on the location of the shifter. He wasn’t in first-class. He wasn’t in the coach area either. Eli turned his focus forward, pushing it toward the front of the plane.
The pilot.
The dragon shifter was the pilot.
That made sense. Eli had thought he felt a twinge of awareness in the airport, but he’d ignored it. He’d been so relieved that Ava had agreed to accompany him that he’d brushed his instincts aside.
Underneath them, the plane rumbled, lifting off the ground. Eli exhaled. He wanted to go talk to him and find out where he was from originally. But he couldn’t do that. No one was allowed in the cockpit, and even if he could get in, he wouldn’t be able to explain it to Ava.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Eli opened his eyes to see her small hand on his arm.
He looked down, realizing that he was gripping the armrests to the point of nearly ripping them off. Way to go not making Ava think something odd was going on.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you worried about flying?”
He kept himself from scoffing. He was neutral on flying in a plane. It wasn’t dangerous to him. If the plane crashed, he’d survive, no matter the cause or the altitude. An explosion wouldn’t even affect him. Nor was flying interesting to him. He’d been able to shift and fly over the ocean from a young age with a view unobstructed by dingy plane windows.
“Um.” He had to make something up.
Before he could answer, a sympathetic look clouded her eyes. “It’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it.”
Great. Now she thought he was afraid to fly and that he was too much of a wimp to admit it.
He let go of the armrests and put his hands in his lap. His dragon was pushing, wanting him to get up and pound on the cockpit door. He wanted to demand the pilot open it so he could lay eyes on this dragon he’d never met before.
But his dragon didn’t understand federal aviation laws, and there was no reasoning with him. He wrestled him back into submission and looked over at Ava. She looked beautiful, as usual. She was dressed in jeans and a flowy blouse. It was a more feminine outfit than she usually wore to work.
If he kept staring at her, he’d get hard. The last thing he needed was to get turned on right before beginning a four-hour plane ride to New York City, where they’d catch their connecting flight.
She wrapped her hand around his. She leaned in and whispered right into his ear, “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone you’re a nervous flyer.”
He chuckled. Despite the insult to his manhood, he wasn’t going to protest. He could hardly tell her why he was restless, and he didn’t want to discourage the feel of her warm hand in his.
He put his other hand over hers. “So, tell me again about your trip to Dublin.”
Seventeen hours later, they were finally settled in their hotel rooms, and Ava was fast asleep from the jet lag. Luckily, the conference didn’t officially start until the following day. They had adjoining rooms, and Ava had opened her door as soon as they’d arrived and told him to do the same.
He always enjoyed Ireland. It was much like his home on the Oregon coast, and today was no exception. There was a chill in the air and a light mist was falling from the sky.
He’d never been to West Ireland before. He’d only been to the areas surrounding Dublin, but from the view of the rocky coast as they’d flown into the Shannon Airport, he could see why a shifter clan had chosen the Cliffs of Moher as their home.
He’d only seen photos of the cliffs, but even from the air, the coast near Galway was stunning. According to Jackson, a thriving clan had once lived on the Cliffs of Moher for centuries, but twenty years ago, it had been destroyed by witches. Most of the surviving shifters had fled to Texas.
But Niall remained, and another shifter couple from Portugal had joined him to help remake their clan.
Eli was restless. He wanted to go out and visit the coast, but that would have to wait. He couldn’t sit still or do any sightseeing, not until he’d found the dragon shifter pilot. He left Ava a note telling her he went for a walk and made sure he had his cellphone.
He grabbed his coat. He didn’t need it, but he needed
