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Anna waited for hi all the way upside down and continued sain

Over her laughter, he said, "This plane isn’t rated for aerobatics, but a roll is only a one-gee maneuver" He tilted the plane over the other way, and said, "Properly done" And then he danced the plane through the sky

She was breathless, and her diaphrag by the tilanced at Charles, asn’t even s patterns over a grain field

He hated planes just as he hated y He’d told her so But he owned one-and by golly he kne to fly it When he drove his truck, he was cautious and controlled So why had he decided to play barnstor her, or was he enjoying himself?

A woman should know more about her mate When the mate bond had first settled in, she’d believed she would But her initial ability to feel him had faded, buried under his self-control and her defenses She could feel the bond between the and impenetrable She wondered if it felt the sah it whenever he chose

"This is Station Air Nove permission to land," he said, and it took her ato soht three Victor," said a stranger’s voice "Welcome to Emerald City Pack territory, sir"

Charles dropped theh the scattered clouds, past white-coated reen valley below Before she realized there was a landing strip, the wheels touched doith a gentle bump

The place where they landed looked nearly as reh there was snow a hundred feet or so up the foothills, dohere they had landed it was as green as if it were suar, the land ash in trees and bushes

People jogged up to the plane froar as Charles pulled his headset off and unbuckled

He withdrew fro the bond between them painfully If he’d warned her beforehand, she would have kept quiet: three years in her first pack had given her power over her pain It was surprise that forced the whine out of her throat

Charles pulled his sunglasses off his face and looked at her with a frown Sudden coht" He turned his head and said, not to her, "All right All right" And the painful collapse of their bond ceased

Wolf-eyed, he leaned toward her and touched her face

"I’m sorry," he told her "I didn’t mean to shut you out I just"

He stopped, apparently at a loss for words