1. Stranger at the Bar

BELLE

I couldn't keep my eyes off the man across the bar from me.

At that moment, I wished that I had dressed up for my flight to Paris.

When our eyes met for a moment, a wave rushed through my body, an unfamiliar feeling I had never experienced. It was like I had found all the answers I was looking for.

I dropped my gaze, turning to the drink in front of me. I needed to calm my nerves.

Flying made me nervous.

Slowly, my eyes drifted back to the man, who was now looking down at his phone.

He was breathtaking... Large to the point that he almost looked comical in his bar stool. His muscles strained against his black shirt and blue jeans, telling me he must've spent quite a lot of time in the gym. He had chocolate-brown hair, mesmerizing dark-green eyes, and a jaw that could've cut through diamond.

His lips were luscious and full, and I unconsciously leaned in, imagining how it would feel to press my lips against them. I imagined what I might do if I were the sort of person that was confident enough to approach him.

I found myself daydreaming about the possibilities...

"What's your name?" I would ask from across the bar.

He would smile and bring his drink along to sit right next to me.

Then he would lean in and whisper his name into my ear, his lips grazing my earlobe.

"Meet me in the bathroom," I would wink before walking away.

I would feel his eyes burning the back of my neck.

A few moments later he would burst through the door, his eyes dripping with desire.

His hard body would press against mine, nearly knocking the air out of me.

He would push me up against the sink, kissing my neck, my legs straddled around him.

"Alpha," a man approached him. "It's time to board the plane."

What a strange way to speak to someone, I thought to myself, downing the last few sips of my drink.

Before he got up, the gorgeous stranger looked at me one last time, a mischievous smile on his face, like he could read my every thought.

"Final boarding call for Flight 2497 to Paris," the announcement boomed overhead.

"Shit," I looked at the time. I was late.

I ushered the bartender over. "May I have the check please?"

"Don't worry about it darling," she said. "That gentleman over there already paid for it." How strange... He paid for my drink and yet did not say a word to me.

I tried to push away my thoughts about the stranger as I walked across the airport toward the gate, luggage in tow. I couldn't seem to calm myself down, even though I tried.

I absolutely hated flying.

And an eleven-hour flight to Paris was the last thing I wanted to be doing the day before Christmas Eve. But my mother had begged me to come spend the holidays with her and her husband.

I knew that she'd only invited me out of guilt.

I hadn't seen my mother in over five years, and she'd seemed to have no problem leaving me behind after my dad had gotten sick. It had only taken her one year to get remarried and one more to have a kid.

Once on the airplane, I couldn't keep my hands from shaking.

When I finally made it to my seat, far in the back of the plane, I looked at the man who I would sit beside for the next eleven hours. His gaze moved up and down my body, stopping at my chest for a while before meeting my eyes.

He smirked. "Well, hello there."

Great. Just perfect. I get to spend the next eleven hours being ogled by a creep.

"Hi," I muttered.

Ignoring Mr. Creeper, I picked up my carry-on and lifted it above me to put it in the overhead compartment.

I had almost managed to fit my luggage in when I felt hands wrap around my waist, touching the bare skin of my stomach where my shirt had ridden up.

The hands tightened around me and sparks ran down my frame. I jerked my head around to see who was attached to the hands, and felt my eyes widen as I took him in.

It was the man from the bar.

A sudden deep growl snapped me back into an upright position, and my eyes met his to find that he was watching me check him out.

I probably should have slapped him, but instead I let my eyes close and basked in the feeling of his arms around me as delicious sparks coursed through my body. I didn't even know that it was possible to feel this good.

I felt his head move from mine as he bent to nuzzle my neck. I tilted my head to give him better access, and he let out an approving grunt.

And then I felt him place a gentle kiss right where my neck and shoulder met. First my knees went weak, then my entire body went numb as a breathy sigh exited my mouth. He smiled against my neck, chuckling and taking all of my weight into his arms as I leaned completely into him to stop myself from falling.

I was in absolute heaven.

The clearing of a throat snapped me out of my trance, and I squeaked and tried to pull away, remembering where I was.

I heard my suitcase sliding toward me and quickly ducked, waiting for its hard corner to smash into my head.

But nothing happened, and instead I heard, "Careful, beautiful."

He smiled at me and winked before shoving my bag into the compartment and snapping it closed. Still keeping his hand on my back, he turned to look at the woman behind him who had been trying to get our attention during our intense moment. The woman looked shocked, and hesitantly cleared her throat once more.

"Sorry, I just need to get to my seat, and you guys are blocking the aisle. I didn't mean to interrupt your reunion. You two clearly haven't seen each other in a while," she smiled sweetly.

Wanting to correct her, I opened my mouth to say that we had never technically met before, but the man holding me beat me to it.

"We were just finding our seats. We'll be out of your way in a second." His voice was smooth and reassuring.

I went to move away, looking forward to escaping the awkward situation, but the man just tightened his hold on me.

He leaned down and whispered in my ear: "Not so fast... You're not getting away that easily."

Then he looked at the creeper who would be sitting next to me during the flight.

"Move," he said to him.

Mr. Creeper just sat there and gawked at us for a second. It made me very uncomfortable to think he'd been watching us.

"What?" he asked.

"Move," the good-looking man repeated. "I'm sitting there."

"I'm sorry? I'm not moving. This is my seat."

The man holding me growled low. "Here, take mine." He handed Mr. Creeper his ticket. "It's first class," he said, watching the man look over the ticket with a raised eyebrow. "Now, move," he said slowly-almost threateningly-as if he was daring the man to question his orders again.

The creep looked at us one more time before he got up and quickly grabbed his bag. "Go on, gorgeous," my new, mysterious neighbor said, gently pushing me to the window seat while following closely behind.

"Um, sorry about earlier," I muttered, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear and dropping my gaze. I wanted this guy to like me. "I rarely go around touching strangers like that, I promise."

I laughed nervously. When he didn't respond, I cleared my throat.

"Okay... So why did you give up your first-class ticket to sit all the way back here?" My eyes met his, and his hand moved to cup my cheek.

"Because I wanted to be near you," he said huskily. He ran his thumb over my cheekbone as he examined every inch of my face. "Wow, how did I get so lucky?"

I leaned away from him, not sure of how to respond. I must've heard him wrong.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

He just smiled and shook his head. "Nothing. Don't worry about it, beautiful." He leaned toward me across the armrest. We were close for two strangers.

"I'm Grayson. What's your name?"

Almost as if I were in a daze, I heard myself say, "Belle."

His smile widened. "Belle," he said to himself. "My Belle."

His eyes were so pretty. I couldn't help but stare into them. "Uh-huh...," I said absently.

He let out a wholehearted laugh.

Did I say something funny?

"Our bond is strong; I can tell," he said.

Is it just me, or does nothing he says make any sense?

"What? Our bond?" I asked.

He brushed a loose strand of hair from my face. "Don't you worry your little head about it." I was once again snapped out of the daze he seemed to keep putting me in when a baby behind us let out a loud scream. Realizing just how close I was to the man Grayson I jumped back.

I'd been able to feel his breath on my face.

My cheeks immediately turned red, but before I could feel too embarrassed, he spoke.

"Mine. Mate," he said, his deep, husky voice ringing in my ears.

2. Turbulence

BELLE "What did you just say?" I asked.

"So, business or pleasure?" Grayson asked.

Oh, right. I had almost completely forgotten where I was. I was hearing things. It must have been the stress. My nerves picked up again as I remembered that the plane would likely take off any minute.

"Oh, um, neither, I guess. I will visit my mother and her husband."

I must've been making a face because Grayson asked, "And you're not happy to see your mother and her husband?" I shook my head.

"No, not since she left my sick father and me to run off to Paris and marry her rich lover," I heard myself saying.

I paused. I can't believe I just said that.

I had told no one about my mother, and now I'd just blabbed it to a complete stranger.

I looked at him. His expression was pensive.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that. I promise I'm not that crazy person on the plane who shares her entire life story with the stranger sitting next to her."

Grayson looked deeply into my eyes-almost as if he were searching for something -and then he grabbed the armrest between us and lifted it so it was no longer a barrier. I watched his movements closely.

"Um... What are you doing?"

"Shh...," Grayson said. He grabbed my hips, which were already angled toward him, and tugged me so that my knees were touching his.

The delicious sparks trailed up and down my body again as his hand found its way under my shirt and onto the small of my back, where his thumb began making soothing circles. I let out a breathy sound from the back of my throat. His other hand went up to cup my face.

"You don't have to worry about a thing now," Grayson whispered. "I'm going to take care of you." He leaned down so that his lips were touching my ear. "You're mine." I tilted back so I could see his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

He smirked. "I mean..." His thumb touched my lower lip, and I gasped.

"Everything"-he kissed my eyelid-"about"-he kissed my other eyelid-"you"-

the top of my nose-"is mine." Finally, his lips met mine.

My eyes fluttered shut at his kiss. The feeling was euphoric, like fireworks and explosions.

My hands moved up to his huge, muscular shoulders and squeezed.

I let out a soft moan.

I felt him smirk against my lips, and I paused for a second. No, no smirking.

Smirking meant that he might stop kissing me, and I really didn't want that to happen. Never taking my lips from his, I got up on my knees and pushed my chest into his, basking in the sparks that came wherever our bodies met.

My hands went up into his hair and tugged his face closer to mine.

He groaned approvingly.

Suddenly he squeezed my hips tightly, then lifted me onto his lap so that my knees went on either side of him. I pushed my chest against his, and he deepened our kiss, plunging his tongue into my mouth.

His hands kneaded my hips and then slid up under my shirt to grip my waist, his thumbs touching the underwire of my bra.

Oh my God, is it getting hot in here?

Someone cleared their throat next to us, and it was like they'd flipped a switch in my brain:

I suddenly realized what we were doing.

I jerked backward, but Grayson tightened his grip, keeping me firmly on his lap.

I looked at the flight attendant who was standing next to us.

"Sorry, miss, but I'm going to have to ask you to return to your seat and put on your seat belt. The plane is about to take off."

I nodded my head quickly, feeling my face turn bright red. I scrambled to get off Grayson's lap, and, thankfully, he let me go this time. I sat down in my seat and quickly buckled my seat belt.

The flight attendant watched as Grayson put his on too, then she nodded and walked away.

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.

I placed my hands on my face to cool my burning cheeks.

I can't believe I just did that. What is wrong with me?

I was so embarrassed, I couldn't even bring myself to look at Grayson. I had crawled into his lap and pressed against him like some hooker begging for him to get into my panties.

"Hey, hey, hey," I heard Grayson say. "What's wrong?" He touched my arm.

I jerked my arm away, ignoring how much I wanted him to keep his hands on me.

"Don't touch me," I snapped.

Grayson made a startling growling noise in the back of his throat. I looked at him and saw an intense expression on his face. His jaw was clenched and his breathing was deep, his chest rising and falling quickly. And, oh yeah, his eyes were pitch black. The pupils, irises, and the whites of his eyes were all black.

I gasped and scrambled backward until my back hit the wall behind me.

"Oh my God. Your eyes."

His eyes widened and then snapped shut. He took a deep breath, and when his eyes opened again they were back to normal.

I was going insane. That was the only logical explanation. The death of my father and the fear of seeing my mother again were finally getting to me. "I'm sorry," he said. "It's just... You can't tell me not to touch you."

My heart started beating faster. Maybe he was the insane one. "What do you mean?" He leaned forward, an intense look in his eyes.

"Oh, baby girl, have you forgotten already?" His hand clasped my knee and rubbed up and down my leg. "You're mine, remember?"

My blood boiled. That was the third time he had called me his property. Who did this guy think he was? Sure, he was good-looking. I had thrown myself at him and was extremely attracted to him, but that didn't mean I belonged to him. I was my own person. I belonged to no one.

I especially didn't belong to some man who I'd just met and who knew no personal boundaries. I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but stopped when I felt the plane suddenly move.

I must've completely missed the part where they explained where all the exits were and how to buckle your seat belt. It was probably for the best though: that just would've only made me more nervous.

As the plane picked up speed, my heart beat hard against my ribs and my hands began shaking. I grabbed hold of Grayson's hand that was still clamped onto my leg and squeezed my eyes shut.

I tried taking deep breaths to calm myself down, but they came out more like quick, gasping pants.

Oh my God... Am I hyperventilating?

"Belle," I heard Grayson say. "Belle, baby, what's wrong?" I felt his hand come up to grip my shoulder.

I shook my head frantically, unable to find my voice. I was afraid that if I spoke, I would cry.

"Belle," Grayson's voice said to me. It came out calmer this time.

"Look at me, Belle. I need you to look at me, gorgeous. Let me see those beautiful blue eyes." I just shook my head again. The plane jumped as it lifted off the ground. I let out a whimper and pushed myself further against the wall.

"Belle, I swear to God, if you don't look at me, I will kiss you again, and who knows where that will lead..."

Did he actually just say that? I was basically about to have a heart attack, and he was threatening to kiss me?

I opened my eyes. Grayson's face was about a foot away from mine. He smiled.

"There are those beautiful eyes."

My breathing slowed a bit. He was so unbelievably beautiful. How could someone possibly be so good-looking?

And charming, and sweet, and comforting, and such an amazing kisser...

The plane suddenly shook again-harder this time-and most of the passengers gasped. The pilot's voice came over the cabin speakers to apologize for the turbulence, saying that the weather seemed more serious than was originally expected.

I glanced out my window and saw that it was pouring rain, and the sky was filled with lightning.