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same gold as the lions?” KC asked with a smirk.
    Dennis nodded. “They do like gold.”
    After the plane was level in the air, Dennis decided it was time to learn more about his mate. “So tell me, love… You know I have one sister. Are you an only child?”
    KC’s lips tightened. “No. I have three siblings.”
    Dennis waited a moment but nothing else was forthcoming. He decided to try James’
    approach and waited his mate out.
    “Fine. None of them have talked to me since my father kicked me out. Happy now? Not my two brothers, nor my sister. I essentially have no family.”
    Dennis entwined his fingers through KC’s before kissing the back of his hand. “I’m sorry, love.”
    “Yeah, me too.”
    The intercom crackled. “This is the captain. We’re coming into some unexpected turbulence. We are currently flying over Texas and should land in about twenty minutes, but please stay seated.”
    A flash of light lit the cabin.
    “Shit, lightning.” Fear chilled Dennis’ spine. He wasn’t a confident traveller on a good day. He’d hoped discussing KC’s family would distract him from the fact he was floating miles above the earth in a fibreglass pretend bird.
    “It’ll be all right,” KC’s touch calmed some of the panic until he saw another flash and this time, as it touched the tip of the wing, a small fire broke out.

3
“Do you think the pilot knows about that?” Dennis asked KC.
    KC looked at him with round eyes. “I’m sure…I mean, he must…right?”
    As if on cue, the pilot came back over the intercom. “Assume the crash position. We are going in for an emergency landing. I repeat, assume crash position.”
    After sharing another look, the men immediately crouched over into the correct position. KC let out a sigh as Dennis clasped his hand.
    “We’ll be all right,” Dennis said, but he wasn’t entirely sure whether he said it for KC’s benefit or his own.
    “Sure…sure we will. He’s a good pilot or Kevin wouldn’t have hired him.”
    Dennis could hear the panic in KC’s voice. He didn’t get a chance to comment, though, because the plane plunged down and both men gasped from the sudden change in altitude.
    Bouncing in his seat from the jarring motion of the plane, Dennis tried to stay calm for his mate…while inside he was screaming like a little girl in a horror movie.
    I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die, he silently chanted. He didn’t want to say the words out loud and freak out KC. Surely fate wouldn’t be so cruel to have him meet his mate only to take his beautiful fox away from him before they even had a chance for a life together.
    Another bone-rattling shake and suddenly the plane plunged into freefall. Dennis’
    stomach fell with it. The plane levelled out for a moment only to plunge again. Dennis was glad that they hadn’t had a chance to eat because any food in his stomach would’ve been decorating the cabin at that point. Even KC’s normally pale skin looked a little greenish.
    Even though he’d been told to take the crash position, Dennis had naively thought they wouldn’t actually crash. That only happened in bad disaster movies, not during routine flights. He knew the pilot would try to come down in a sparsely populated area, but he equally hoped that wouldn’t strand them in some godforsaken corner of the state.
    At a frightening speed, they slammed into the ground. Dennis let out a shout as the plane hit then flipped over tail over tip enough times that Dennis lost both count and consciousness.
    * * * *
    3
KC opened his eyes. Everything hurt. It was as if a giant had put him in a drink shaker and rattled him about before pouring him out on the ground.
    “Ouch.”
    Everything he had—and a few things he wished he didn’t—ached. Rotating his head slowly, he realised he was dangling by the seatbelt and the ceiling lay below him.
    Dennis.
    Turning he found his mate hanging beside him. A red gash covered Dennis’ forehead and he was bleeding