Havenfall Harbor Book Two: Paranormal Ménage Romance MFM

by Albany Walker

  “Speed it up until they come out.” I watch the screen intently, waiting for anything, but it’s a fucking waste. It’s several hours before anyone emerges, and when they do, it’s only to try the doors to get back into the building.

  After numerous failed attempts and what looks like a few unanswered texts, the kids head back under the stairs. None of them look particularly happy this time though. Evan speeds up the recording again, and a few minutes pass with nothing happening. “Wait!” Evan hits stop and looks over at me. “Roll it back slowly.”

  “There.” I point to the screen when a face peers out into the darkness from a window. There’s not enough to make out who it is, but someone knew right where to look for the kids. There’s no other reason anyone would be looking out that particular window. I check the time stamp and note it’s before anyone realized the kids were missing. “Who the fuck is that?”

  “No idea.” Evan blows up the image, but the face just turns paler and pixelated, making it even hard to guess. “I don’t even know how you saw it.”

  “I was looking away to check on her.” I don’t bother saying her name. We both know who I’m talking about. Evan grunts out an unintelligible reply. “Let it roll again. I’ll keep my eyes on the windows.”

  The video resumes, but we don’t see anything else until much later in the morning when the kids try to sneak back into the dorms. “Look at that,” Evan murmurs and points. The recording is playing in real time, so it’s easy to see Letty standing near the back entrance, almost as if she’s waiting for something to happen.

  Before the kids even touch the door, she pushes it open and ushers them all back the way they came instead of admitting them to the building, which is what Caleb said happened. There’s no sound, but I can see her brisk movements as she points toward the back half of the property.

  “Why would she direct them back out? Why not just let them in and tell everyone she found them?” It’s not like I expect an answer, I’m just talking out loud, but Evan gives me one.

  “The only thing I could think of would be if she wanted to know what they were going to say and was worried about what they might know.” Our eyes meet, and seconds later, Evan is playing the rest of the short recording. We lose sight of them as Letty follows them across the property. Evan adjusts the cameras, and we see them walking up to the hangar. All the kids look dejected and tired.

  “This doesn’t make sense.” I wave at the monitors. “She had to know someone would see this. Why not allow the kids back into the school? There has to be a reason she took them to the hangar.”

  “I have no fucking clue what she was thinking.” Evan folds his arms over his chest, and we watch the video until our arrival. Viewing Quinn moving around on the screen is just as enchanting as watching her move in real life. I notice the way she stays close to Evan and me, and the way her hand lifts so I can capture it in my own as if she knows before I reach for her that I will.

  “She must have taken their phones sometime before this,” Evan observes as he bends over the desk. He hits a few more keys on the keyboard and pulls open a drawer with unopened boxes of thumb drives. “This all gets backed up into the cloud, but I just want to be safe.”

  It only takes a few more minutes, and then he’s pulling out the little device from the side of the computer monitor and sliding it into his pocket.

  “We need to talk to her,” Evan states.

  “How mad do you think she will be?”

  “I’m talking about Letty,” he snaps like I’m a dumbass. I ignore it.

  “Should we go get Quinn first?” I’m watching her on the camera. She’s still in the dining hall, and she has a mug in front of her that I’m assuming is tea.

  “No, let her be. She needs to be around other people besides just us.”

  “She’s just sitting there alone,” I counter. Now I know why he was so reluctant to leave her this morning. I don’t like thinking of her being mad at me.

  “She asked for a little time alone, Griff. Give it to her, okay?” Evan reasons, sounding less dickish.

  “Fine,” I grumble unhappily.

  Evan

  Reaching for my phone, I pull up my contacts. I have everyone on the security team in my cell, and one massive group chat for notifications. It only takes me a minute to locate Letty’s number and hit the phone icon. It rings twice before she picks up.

  “Hello?”

  “I need to see you in the surveillance room.” I don’t bother announcing who I am, I’m sure she knew it was me before she picked up the phone.

  “Now?”

  “Yeah, now.” I work to make sure my tone isn’t too harsh. I don’t want her to know how pissed I am.

  “Okay, it’ll be a few minutes. I’m on outer patrols.” I can hear the low rumble of the side-by-side in the background.

  “Just head straight in, don’t worry about waiting for a replacement.”

  “Okay…” Letty drags out the word as if she’s confused why I want to see her.

  I hit the end button and flip the monitors to live feed. I scan the outdoor perimeter cameras, but I don’t see Letty—or anyone else for that matter. I don’t rehash the short conversation with Griff, he would have heard what he cared to, but I do say, “Let’s watch to see where she comes from. It shouldn’t take her very long from anywhere on the property.”

  I take a quick glance at the corner and spy Quinn, who’s still sipping her tea in the cafeteria. I can tell by the way her knee is bouncing that she’s growing restless. I just told Griff a few minutes ago to leave her alone, but I want to go to her too. I hate the fact that she can’t roam around the school on her own. This place should be safe for everyone, especially my mate, but there’s too much shit happening, and I can’t fucking trust anyone.

  “She’s not going to stay put for long,” I warn, needlessly pointing to the screens displaying Quinn.

  “Maybe she’s ready to go back to the room. Should I go check?” Griff sounds hopeful.

  I snort. “You think she’s ready to see you yet?”

  He mulls over my words for a moment. “You could go.”

  “I’ll get more out of Letty than you will, you barely know her. Speaking of…” She comes into view on the southwest camera. She’s indeed in a side-by-side and cruising along at a good clip, leaving the camera’s view quickly.

  I half expected her to be coming from the hangar, but it doesn’t mean she wasn’t in that area. I’m sure Letty is familiar with all the cameras in the woods, since she works the surveillance room at least once a week, pretty much everyone does. She could have very easily stuck to the blind spots and chosen where to be seen.

  “I can just wait for her here. She’s expecting you, and it might shake her up a bit if I was waiting for her instead.”

  It probably would. Griff has a way of getting under people’s skin. “I’ll handle it,” I tell him and pull my phone out again. When I scroll through my contacts, I realize I don’t have the number I’m looking for. “Who’s here?” I holler into the hall.

  “I am.” Nina steps from a room, then makes her way toward me without my prompting.

  “Get me Alice’s number.”

  “Alice who?” Nina’s brows dip.

  “Brunette shifter, teaches primary.”

  She’s nodding before I even finish. “I’m on it.”

  Griff is looking at me with a raised brow. “What?” I grumble in response to his expression. “Wes is working, and it’s Saturday afternoon. I’m sure Quinn would enjoy her company.”

  “The one we met at dinner last night?”

  “The one you met at dinner. I already knew her.” I don’t say you’re an antisocial motherfucker, but we both know it’s the truth.

  “She’s the one with the newly blooded vamp.” It’s more of a statement than a question.

  “Wes, yes.”

  Griff nods, his gaze already back on the monitors. “Quinn calls her Ally. She likes her. That’s good.” He sounds a little lost
. I get it, I’ve been there too.

  “I got it.” Nina holds up a scrap of paper then steps into the room just long enough to hand it over.

  “Letty should be here any minute. Send her right back to me.” I’m already dialing the number. Nina dismisses herself after my instructions.

  “Hello?” Alice answers lightly.

  “Hey, it’s Evan.”

  “Oh, hey. What’s up?”

  “I have a favor to ask.”

  Alice chuckles throatily. “What can I do for you, Mr. Winters?” I know she’s getting a kick out of me calling her for help. Alice is good people, that’s why I had Wes call her to show Quinn around the first day she arrived. “If this is about Quinny’s lingerie size, sadly, I can’t help you. The best I can do would be a guess.”

  I can’t help but laugh along with her. “No, nothing like that, I have that covered.” Her comment makes me wonder if Quinn told her about my tearing her pants off, but I don’t think there’s been time for her to share that story. “It is about Quinn though. I have a few things left to do after the shitstorm this morning, and Quinn’s all alone—”

  “Say no more,” she cuts me off.

  “I don’t like the idea of her being by herself, not after what happened,” I tell her anyway.

  “I got her, Evan, no worries.” Her voice is sincere. “She up at Stone’s place?”

  “Nah, she’s currently in the lunchroom. Can you give her a call?”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  “Alice, please don’t mention that I asked you to call. I don’t want her to feel like we’re smothering her.”

  “I won’t bring it up, but I’m not going to lie to her either,” she states without remorse. I like her even more now. She’s loyal to Quinn.

  “That’s all I’m asking, and maybe a heads-up if she does find out,” I negotiate.

  She chuckles again. “Bye, Evan.” The line goes dead without a definitive answer.

  “The wolf is coming.” Griff tilts his head toward the door as soon as I hang up the phone and slinks into the corner of the room.

  Letty knocks on the ajar door and pushes it open so she can enter. Her eyes dart around the room and settle on me. I’m not sure if she even noticed Griff. While his presence is usually overwhelming to most, he has the ability to mask it well when he chooses. I watch her nostrils flare as she scents the room. Even with the door open, Quinn’s scent and the smell of sex lingers in the room. “Hey,” she greets, lifting her lips in a fake smile.

  I use my foot to kick out the last chair near the wall for her to sit, and then I take a seat myself, leaving one open chair between us. “Hey, Letty.” She lowers herself into the chair slowly, as if she’s expecting me to pounce on her at any second. “I wanted to clear a few things up about this morning.”

  She folds her hands in her lap and looks me in the eye. “What would you like to know?”

  “Just run through everything for me from the beginning,” I instruct her easily.

  “All right, let me see.” She looks up at the ceiling briefly. “After the meeting, I went to the dorms like you told me to,” she reminds me needlessly. “I’d already checked the rooms, so I was inspecting the doors to see if there was an issue there, and I saw the kids walking up.”

  I don’t react in any way. I want to see where she takes this. Letty’s lips flatten into a thin line, and she shakes her head. “When I met them outside, they all looked freaked out. A few started trying to make excuses, but I cut through the bullshit pretty quickly. It was obvious they got locked out.”

  She lets out a heavy scoff. “I thought if I took them out to the hangar and questioned them, I could get them to tell me what they had been up to, scare them a little.” I let her keep talking. “When I realized they weren’t going to tell me anything, I called it in. You showed up within about five minutes, and you know the rest.”

  I nod and look her over, remaining silent. After a few long seconds, she fidgets in her seat. When I know I have her on edge, I inquire, “What about their phones?”

  Letty’s face pinches. “Crap, I forgot to mention I took those from them so they couldn’t try to come up with a story.”

  “Where are they? I asked, so I know you didn’t hand them in.”

  “I stowed them in the hangar. I’d forgotten all about them until I was on patrol.”

  “And now?” I prompt.

  “I grabbed them from the hangar, but in my rush to get here I left them in the side-by-side.” Letty’s face actually flushes bright red. The entire story seems way too convenient.

  I look down and shake my head, showing my disappointment. “I just don’t see how you left out so many details about so much, Letty.” I lean back in my chair and cross my arms over my chest. “At any time, you could have told me you were the one who took the kids to the hangar and that you confiscated their phones. It’s sloppy, and you know I wouldn’t have made a sloppy person a unit leader.”

  She nods and pushes back her short hair. “You’re right. I haven’t been as on top of things as I usually am,” she agrees, not meeting my gaze.

  I’m not done with her yet. I know she’s not giving me everything, but I stand up and move over to the door. “Sit tight while I retrieve the phones. We’re not done here.”

  “I could grab them,” Letty offers, but I don’t dignify her offer with a response.

  Griffin

  The wolf has no idea I’m in the room. Evan knows she has no clue I’m here, and I think that’s why he left her with me instead of sending someone else to retrieve the phones. The room is kept rather dark, enabling all the computer monitors to be easily seen. It works to my advantage now. I watch her for a few moments to see if there is anything I can learn from her, but she just leans her head back and lets out a long sigh.

  Finally, I step forward, allowing my shoe to scrape along the short nap carpet so she can’t help but notice me.

  “Shit!” she curses and sits upright in her chair. Her heart is thundering in her chest, and her eyes are wide. I’ve startled her just as I intended. I don’t bother speaking, I don’t have anything to say to her yet. I’m hoping to rattle her with just my presence alone. “I didn’t see you there,” the wolf remarks with a frown.

  I take a few slow, measured steps. She tracks my movements while I mostly ignore her, showing her how little of a threat she poses to me. It’s arrogant and I don’t often bother with this kind of posturing on purpose, but intimidation tactics aren’t without merit.

  “Evan went to get…” She shakes her head, deciding not to finish her sentence, realizing it would be useless to give me the information. I already know where Evan is. After a few more moments of uncomfortable silence, she clears her throat as if she’s preparing to speak or trying to dilute the quiet that’s fallen over the room.

  I watch her eyes dart to the barely open door, and adrenaline spikes in her veins. She’s probably contemplating running for the exit. She would never make it, but I would let her think she could, if only for a moment.

  There’s a part of me that wants to punish the wolf for a great many things, and all of them have to do with Quinn. However, if I went around killing everyone who pissed me off, there wouldn’t be many people left, and that also feels like a lot of work. Work I find I no longer want to make the time for, not when my time could be used in much more creative ways, such as learning every inch of my singer’s body.

  Changing my direction, I head toward the screens displaying Quinn and now Alice. They’re having an animated discussion, but judging by the way Quinn is smiling ruefully and shaking her head, I have a sinking suspicion it may have something to do with me and my big mouth.

  I run my fingertip over her figure on the screen. “Tell me, wolf, is it her humanity that sets you off, or something else?” I finally turn my head and acknowledge Letty.

  “W-What do you mean?” she stutters.

  I lean my hip against the desk and cross my arms over my chest while staring down at her
. Letty isn’t unattractive. Her light blonde hair is shorn short, but she wouldn’t be mistaken for a male. Most supernaturals are blessed with unblemished skin, so her face is clear of makeup. It doesn’t mean what’s on the inside isn’t ugly though. Some of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen have been nothing but a rotten, dreadful mess on the inside, and that goes for males too. Us beasts are made to lure in our prey by whatever means necessary.

  “I have no tolerance for bullshit,” I warn. “You wanted to put Ms. Shaw in her place before ever having met her.” I raise my brow in a challenge, daring her to argue.

  The wolf’s lips thin. “I just didn’t want her getting the wrong idea about us being at her beck and call. This isn’t her world, it’s ours.” Letty is showing the first signs that she isn’t just a yes-man, allowing a bitter note to fill her voice.

  “You thought leaving her at the gate and having her walk was going to teach her that lesson?” My tone is incredulous.

  Her face flushes as she stares down at the desk, refusing to provide an answer. Not that there’s much she could say to defend her decision or her behavior anyway, it was petty.

  I hear Evan’s heavy gait long before he makes it to the room. Letty doesn’t look up at his arrival.

  He has several phones clutched in one hand, and when he steps into the room, I don’t retreat to give the wolf any space. I like making her uncomfortable. Evan spills the phones onto the desk and some blink to life, all asking for some form of password or only showing the date and time.

  “Did you get anything off these?” Evan inquires.

  Letty shakes her head in denial. “I didn’t even try.”

  Evan lets out a heavy huff that could be construed as a sigh. “I’m gonna be straight with you, Letty. I’m not okay with the way shit went down this morning. It stinks, and I have a pretty keen nose for bullshit.”

  “I don’t understand.” She looks up at him, her gaze darting all over his face. I’m fairly sure I see a whole lot more than admiration in her gaze.

  “I can’t figure out why you took the kids out to the hangar and waited to notify us. The entire school was out looking for them! Then you conveniently forgot to hand in these phones that might have some critical information on them. You know better than that. I trained you better than that.” He makes sure she can hear his disappointment, though he doesn’t divulge any of the information he got from the kids, like the drugs or how she actively encouraged them to lie.