Page 186 of Kingdoms of Night

Very, very bad.

Why didn’t we check the pilot?

How was he bitten?

Fuck!

I jerked in the chair as the wings shifted and the wheels squealed beneath the plane.

My eyes flew open, but vertigo still painted my vision in dark spots. However, I could sense enough to know that he’d just engaged the landing gear.

We’re going too fast.

Too fast.

We’re going to crash!

Another growl sounded, followed by a sharp rumble that stole the air from my lungs.A purr.

No. No, that couldn’t be right.

Why would Jonas purr?

Except that was exactly what I heard. A soft, soothingpurr.

I released my abdomen to grab the arms of the chair again. His purr continued to rumble through the jet, the speakers seeming to amplify it.

Why is he doing that?

Is he… is he trying to soothe me?

Am I losing my mind?

I brought my hand up to my head, but a jerking movement had me gripping the chair once more. “Jonas…”

“Just breathe, Riley,” he replied, the loudness of his voice confirming he’d turned on the speaker somehow.

His purr continued, the sound wrapping around me in a warm blanket of familiarity. I hadn’t heard an Alpha purr in years. Maybe a decade or more. And that purr hadn’t been meant for me, but for another shifter.

Yet this one…

This Alpha is purring forme.

My inner wolf instantly calmed, my world feeling unmistakably right.

Only, a harsh jolt of the plane jerked me out of my peaceful state, making my teeth chatter as the screeching sound of brakes filled the air.

We’re on the ground, I realized.He… he landed the plane. He actually landed the plane!

His purr morphed into another growl as he fought with the controls to come to a stop, the severe grating sound unlike anything I’d ever heard.

And then we paused, everything falling still.

An exhale whooshed from my lungs, my mind fighting to catch up to everything that had just happened.

Jonas was still strapped into the pilot’s chair—I had no idea when he’d buckled himself in, but he was secure and facing forward.

The pilot was dead.

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