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Chapter One

“Relax Keep holding my hand”

Onyx kept her eyes closed and squeezed Cole's hand so hard, she feared breaking it

The plane kept hurtling down the runway, lifting into the air in what seeradual ascent both terrified and electrified her Onyx had never flown before, a fact that was obvious to anyone within a five-foot radius of therip on Cole's hand, embarrassed by her behavior For God's sake, she was an adult About to be a world traveler

Time to woman-up!

Her spine stiffened The plane dipped and shuddered as they hit turbulence, and she snapped her eyes shut, autoain His soft chuckle both comforted and annoyed her

Without opening her eyes, she muttered, “It's not funny”

“You're cute”

She opened one eye and wrinkled her nose at him

“See? You're adorable”

Deep breath It isn't nice to bop your boyfriend on the nose in front of others

When the plane achieved cruising altitude, the ride h of relief Now she could concentrate on the Italian adventure ahead of her A pang of sadness stabbed her heart Her mother would be so proud of her Only after her mother's death last year did Onyx discover how much her mother had alanted to travel Onyx pictured herface, the wo and adventure in her

Onyx took one le of her jaw helped her ears pop Curiosity overwhelmed her, and she leaned over to take a look out theSugary, white fluffy clouds Nothing scary about fluffy clouds Except flying above theain

Cole sensed Onyx's fear It took everything in hiht As usual, she brought out all of his protective instincts However, he knew she would not appreciate being babied in front of a plane full of people In the ti to give her independence while also trying to protect her from all threats The last few months had not been easy on either of them

“It will be nice to be so far away fro,” Onyx said in a hushed tone

She was right Not knohere the Edmunds had disappeared to left Cole unsettled every time she went out on her own

“We can relax and let our guards down a little,” he agreed, knowing exactly what she referred to

To give Onyx a fighting chance against any future threats, he began teaching her soht help her protect herself if someone tried to harm her when he wasn't around Maybe the shifter in her helped the

Onyx leaned over “Not that I want to bring up unpleasant topics at the start of our trip, but do you think we could stop by et back?”

Cole turned toward her as much as the small plane seat would allow “Of course, we can Is there sorab?”

She shrugged “Just some summer clothes”

Cole nodded and squeezed her hand as the plane rumbled from turbulence Twice, he had taken her back to her Catcall Falls so she could collect her belongings froh alert each ti had happened Silence ruled the tiny, insulated, little town With their leaders gone, everyone kept to themselves

Onyx received a few briefher know they were okay, but never disclosing their whereabouts Cole got the i for too long in one spot, lest his parents catch up with the-term solution

The biggest mystery of them all—where had the Ederplace remained a well-kept secret Most likely they were not on their own The were coe, spread out, and very secretive They sheltered and protected their ohich her-ups on the run Onyx seemed to have put rief into focusing all her attention on her studies ending up with high grades in all her courses

Onyx turned and looked at hi her face “If I haven’t said it before, thank you for surprising ht?”

“It's your reward for doing so well this seh” Cole leaned over and kissed the side of her head “Besides, you need a break” The last year had been nothing but sadness and stress He wanted her to experience beauty and joy

Onyx looked at hiently, a soft s over her lips The expression on her face was so si love this h his body

He leaned over to whisper in her ear “Want to join the h club?”

She burst into giggles “I think that's a myth, Professor”

He loved the sexy, teasing way she called hih technically he was not her professor anymore Nor was he her advisor, as he'd been when they met They had not publicly declared their relationship to the university, but they took steps to avoid any appearance of iotten her to laugh and taken her —if only for a moment

Onyx wanted to jump up and run off the plane the minute it landed She restrained herself, but only because she bonked her head the minute she stood up

“Ow!” She winced and reached up to gingerly rub her scalp

Cole leaned over and kissed her head “You need ice?”

“No Maybe soh”

“I can do

that,” he said in a low, smooth voice that made her want to purr

He stepped out and started pulling their bags out of the overhead co, they waited for a break in the flow of traffic and headed off the plane Their flight attendant nodded at them

“I hope you and your daughter have a lovely vacation, sir”

OnyxShe looked behind her to see if the woman had addressed someone else

Next to her, Cole tensed and flashed the woht smile

Onyx grabbed his hand and glared at the woman “He's my boyfriend, you old bat”

Cole tugged on her hand He ducked under the tiny plane door and pulled her into the tunnel that would lead them into the airport