He sighed softly, hiding a smile. “They need to bring the stairs over to the door unless you plan on dropping fifty feet to the ground.”
Oh.
Well, shit.
That made sense.
But still, I wanted to scream.
It took an eternity for the stairs to be wheeled over to the side of the plane, and longer still for the door to open.
As soon as it did, Nikolai stepped out of my way. I made it to the door when Alexei stopped me.
“I need to make sure it is safe, printsessa.”
“I promise you the bigger threat will be me if you don’t get out of my way,” I replied evenly.
“Let her go,” Nikolai called.
Alexei sighed and moved back. “Go on then.”
The stairs could have been a slide for as fast as I ran down them. As soon as my feet hit the tarmac, my eyes scanned the crowd of people until they landed on the only person I needed.
I broke into a run that would have made an Olympic athlete proud. Everything blurred by as I pushed myself to run faster, closing the distance between us. I could hear Tate behind me, running just a few steps back.
Remy was still a few feet away when I launched myself at him. He caught me easily, barely rocking backward at the force of my impact.
His strong arms banded around me while I wrapped my arms and legs around his torso, my face buried against his neck where I had claimed him only a few days earlier.
Home.
I was home.
34
Remy
The second I saw her face, my heart started beating again.
The moment she wrapped her body around mine, I could finally breathe again.
I wasn’t sure if Skye was shaking, or I was, but everything in me felt raw and cracked open. It was one of the few times in my life I could remember wanting to actually cry.
My hands hooked under her thighs, sliding to cup her ass, while I pressed a kiss to her throat atop of the scar from where I claimed her as the sun started to dip behind the trees.
I found my voice first, but it sounded like I dragged it over gravel and broken glass. “Hey, baby.”
She lifted her head and I got a small glimpse of her emerald eyes before she kissed me eagerly, desperately.
I gave myself a second to get lost in the feel of her lips on mine, the way her body pressed against me, before I slowly set her down. My eyes moved past her to where a group of people were getting off the airplane.
Her hand cupped the side of my face, drawing my attention back to her. Always to her.
“Are you okay?” I asked softly. I had watched her break into a run, carefully scrutinizing every step to check for injuries as she got closer. Now that she was in my arms, it was all I could do not to strip her down and inspect every inch of her skin, and not just for injuries.
“I’m perfect now,” she replied, rolling to her toes and kissing me again.
I laughed, kissing her back for a second. “Are we good?” I questioned when she dropped back down. The group was almost all off the plane now and heading straight for us.
She looked over her shoulder. “Yeah. We’re good. They’re here to help us.”
Us.
The word cracked open something in my heart that had my arms tightening around her once more.
I forced myself to let her go. As soon as I did, Addie stepped in, grabbing Skye and hugging her.
Addie started crying, and I stepped around them both, blocking them from view. Rhodes and Michael stepped up beside me as Katy and Larkin stole Skye from her mother.
I looked around at the people standing with me. My council and my father’s had both come, along with a few extra guards. Some were with us and others were in the woods in case we needed them.
I wasn’t taking any chances.
I wanted to believe Skye’s dad was a good guy and her trust wasn’t misplaced, but I also wasn’t taking a fraction of a chance now that she was back with me.
Dante and Ryder had Tate crushed between them, a tangle of hands and arms as they kept her firmly between them. I met Dante’s eyes over Tate’s head, one of his arms wrapped around Tate, the other hand clasping Ryder’s neck. I hated to interrupt their reunion almost as much as I hated to stop mine, but the group was rapidly closing the distance. Dante nodded and started to extricate himself from Ryder’s and Tate’s arms.
It wasn't hard to guess who Skye’s father was as the group approached. Everything about the man in the center of the group screamed Alpha. I watched him, from his dark hair that was the same shade as Skye’s to the cold gray glint in his eyes. Those eyes met mine and held, not challenging, but calculating. He was trying to get a read on us, on me, the same way I was eyeing him.
Skye pushed her way between Rhodes and me, slipping under Rhodes’s arm and hugging his waist.
He hugged her back for a second, relief stark in his eyes as he looked down at her for a beat.
“Hey, Skyewalker,” he greeted warmly, but there was no missing the slight crack in his voice. “We missed you.”
“I missed you, too, Rhodey,” she whispered, giving him one more squeeze before sliding her hand into mine where it belonged.
“That’s him, huh?” I murmured, watching Nikolai Dashkov walking towards us.
“That’s him,” she confirmed, leaning against my arm, her head resting on my shoulder.
When he was only a few yards away, I took a deep breath and started forward, Skye at my side. We all stopped with a few feet separating us. Nikolai’s eyes kept drifting past me to where I was sure Addie was standing.
Skye had given her the heads up that Nikolai would be here, but I still felt the need to protect her after what she had shared with me. On the drive here, she had been a nervous wreck. I felt compelled to protect her if I could.
When Nikolai’s eyes narrowed, I knew Ryder was doing his job as we had discussed, using his large body to shield Addie from view.
“Nikolai, this is Remy,” Skye said, grabbing both of our attention. “Rem, this is … my dad.”
Nikolai’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he wiped the expression away and focused on me.
“Thank you,” I started, glancing down at my mate, “for taking care of Skye and Tate.”
A small, unreadable smile toyed on his lips. “Of course. And thank you for hosting us. My children think highly of you.”
Daniel—
No, Dimitri, stood to his right. He nodded at me.
“We’re a little tight on room right now,” I admitted, ignoring the burn in my gut at seeing the guy who lied to me and took Skye, “but we have two houses for you all to use for the time being.”
“We don’t need formal housing,” Nikolai replied. “We can make do on the ground just as easily.” The blonde woman to his left gave him an incredulous look for a second.
“Skye said you have more people coming?” I asked, quickly doing a headcount of the people in front of me.
“We do, provided you’re all right with that. We have another two hundred men that can be en route as soon as I call and check in with my beta.” He inclined his head towards me. “Again, only if you agree.”
I glanced down at Skye and she looked back, nothing but trust and surety in her gaze.
I looked back at Nikolai with a nod. “Good. If you can arrange to get them here, we’ll work out where they can sleep.”