Weaving on her feet, Marge took the bottle from him, tilted her head back, and gulped down several swallows.
“Show me,” Sean said when she returned the bottle.
She opened her mouth.
Nicole couldn’t see inside it from her position. “Did she swallow it?”
“Yeah.”
Marge’s eyes rolled back in her head as her knees buckled.
Sean caught her and turned to settle her in one of the cushy seats.
Nicole cast the cockpit door a nervous glance while he buckled the woman in. “Did biting Marge make her compliant like that?” The vampire victims Nicole had seen firsthand had all been unconscious or dead. She hadn’t realized they could become that malleable when under the influence.
“Yes. It will also ensure she won’t remember what happened. If we’re lucky, the last thing she’ll be able to recall is heading into the bedroom.” He picked up Marge’s phone. “Good. The screen hasn’t locked yet.”
“What are you doing?”
“Disabling the lock screen and turning the cell service off.” Once done, he pocketed the phone. Squatting beside Rylan, he grabbed the unconscious man’s arm, drew his wrist to his mouth, and sank his fangs in.
Nicole cast the cockpit another look. “Do you think they heard anything?” Sean’s brief battle with the men hadn’t been a silent one. Marge had blamed the noise on the television. Had the pilots done the same?
Sean dropped Rylan’s arm. “I don’t think those pilots are new to trips like this. Neither of them protested when Kent bashed me in the back of the head. I assume it was Kent?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sure they’re paid well enough to keep their attention and thoughts on flying the plane and let whatever happens in back happen.”
“What total A-holes.”
“Yeah.” He drew the other blazer guy’s wrist to his lips.
Nicole took a step toward him. “Sean? Are you okay? Did they hurt you? You’re taking a lot of blood.” She hadn’t thought he’d sustained any injuries during the fight. But if he needed this large an infusion…
He didn’t respond until he dropped the man’s arm. “I’m not injured. The virus used all the blood I infused myself with earlier to keep the sun from roasting me. So I’m tanking up.”
“Tanking up for what? What exactly is the plan, Sean?” Fight their way free from whoever would be waiting for them when they landed?
He rose and strode toward her. “I think we can salvage this.” Taking her hand, he drew her into his arms, lowered his head, and took her lips in a deep, devouring kiss that instantly kicked her heartbeat into overdrive.
Wrapping her arms around him, Nicole kissed him back for all she was worth, happy he was okay and so grateful that he was there with her, even if it meant Reordon might go ballistic.
“You scared the hell out of me,” he whispered. “When the special ops team told me you’d been taken…” His brown eyes brightened again with amber light.
Her heart melted. “I know. I’m sorry.”
He kissed her again, softer this time. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
“I’ll try not to.”
Smiling, he released her. “Okay. Here’s the plan.” Sean took out his cell phone and held a button down to get it to boot up. “Once the cellular is back on, I’ll call Seth. He’ll pick up Aidan and teleport him here to the plane. Aidan will take your place as Becca. I’ll resume my role as the dashing love interest, George Davies.”
“Very dashing.”
He motioned to the unconscious men. “Seth can heal these assholes and alter their memories. Then he can teleport you to safety while Aidan and I continue to our destination.”
She stared at him. “That’s actually not bad.”
He grinned. “I know. I’m brilliant, aren’t I?”
Her lips twitched. “And so modest. There’s only one problem, hotshot.”
Glancing down at his phone, he unlocked the screen. “What’s that?”
“When they torture Aidan-slash-Becca to get you to talk, won’t they notice that his wounds heal almost as quickly as they inflict them?”
He waved away her concern. “I’ll fold long before they do anything that would leave a mark.” A second later, his face twisted into an anguished mask as he linked his fingers in a prayer position around his phone. “Please,” he begged, folding forward. “Don’t hurt her.” His breath hitched in a sob. “I’ll tell you anything,” he cried in a spectacular demonstration of overacting. “Anything.” More sobs. “Just please don’t hurt her.” Straightening, he smiled.
Nicole grinned. “Okay. But you’re going to have to dial that back a bit.”
Laughing, he unlocked his phone.
A gunshot rang out.
Nicole jumped as blood spurted from Sean’s chest.
Warm liquid splattered her face.
What the hell?
Chapter Thirteen
Pain erupting in his chest, Sean pushed Nicole down behind the dubious shelter of the seats and swung to face the threat.
A second gunshot rang out.
The bullet pierced his arm before Sean could dodge it and passed right through. Eyes widening, he glanced over his shoulder.
The bullet plowed into the door to the cockpit a few inches from the first… and stopped without penetrating it.
Oh. Right. Terrorism. The door must be reinforced with steel.
Only partly relieved, Sean faced forward.
The bastard he’d left unconscious on the sofa squinted up at him through two swelling eyes. One arm clung to the sofa’s seatbelt while he aimed a 357 SIG with the other.
“Are you crazy?” Sean blurted as he raised his hands in surrender, his phone still gripped in one. “We’re on a plane!” If he took a single step toward the man, he knew the idiot would shoot again.
Sean thought furiously.
“I saw what you did,” the man said through puffy lips. “You’re not gonna get me, vampire.”
His finger tightened on the trigger.
Oh shit!
The gun fired. Sean dove toward Nicole as glass broke behind them.
A thunderous BOOM filled the plane a split second before hurricane-force winds tugged at him.
Two steps away, Nicole screamed as she rose off the floor and flew toward the broken window.
Sean locked an arm around her waist and grabbed a seat to halt their flight, thankful for his enhanced strength.
Laptops, water bottles, and everything else that wasn’t fastened down flew past them. Kent, Rylan, and the other guard did, too, partially plugging the hole in the window.
Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling.
The shooter clung madly to the sofa’s seatbelt and fired his gun again.
Sean looked around frantically and spotted the emergency exit a couple of yards away. “Wrap your legs around me!” he shouted over the howl of the wind, and lunged toward it.
Nicole turned in his hold and locked her arms and legs around him as he grabbed the handle with his free hand. Muscles straining, Sean operated the lever and forced the door open.
Wind reached in and yanked them out of the plane.