Havenfall Harbor: Book One

by Albany Walker

  “Are you sure?” Griffin bends down, bringing his eyes close to mine, and examines me.

  I swallow and nod. If I wasn’t so worried, I’d probably thank him for his concern, but I’m too wrapped up in my own fears. “It’s just a few hours. I’m sure the kid we’re going after has had much worse to endure. I can do this.”

  Griffin

  Shit, she’s really scared. Her heart is pumping so fast it’s making my head feel tight. I can’t imagine how she must feel.

  Quinn’s knuckles go white as she grips the handrail of the stairs, and her palm actually makes a squeaking sound when she slides it up as she takes the next step. As she crests the entrance, her steps falter enough that I reach out and grab her elbow, steadying her. Quinn turns her head, wearing a faint smile on her lips almost as if by habit, and breathes out, “Thank you.”

  Reluctantly, I release her. I know it would take only one little nip, and I could make her forget about being on this plane. The fear she’s experiencing would sour her blood, but only for a second. My mouth waters, even though thinking about taking that from her, especially when she’s frightened, makes me hate myself a little more than I already do.

  Evan stayed behind to talk to Max. I can hear his lowered voice as he explains who Quinn is, and to make the flight as easy on her as possible. The slight threat is unmistakable in his tone. How the hell this one woman has captured both of our attention is a fucking mystery.

  “This isn’t what I was expecting.” Quinn draws my focus back to her as she stands at the front of the jet, looking over the leather seats and little dinette set.

  I crowd close to her, unable to stop myself. A small amount of appreciation seeps into her tone, masking the cold fear. “Havenfall doesn’t seem to do anything by halves.”

  I dip my chin and Quinn’s hair stirs as I exhale. “Where would you like to sit?” I lick my lips, thinking she would fit just perfectly on my lap—or face. Christ, I need to get a handle on myself, but the image of her over me while I’m flat on my back, her creamy thighs pink with the stubble from my jaw, has me about to lose my shit.

  “Here, if that’s okay?” Quinn turns her head, not realizing I’m so close. Her eyes dart down to my mouth.

  “Anywhere you’d like.” My voice comes out thick and rough.

  Quinn doesn’t run, but she darts forward quickly, taking the first aisle seat. Her heartbeat rises a few more beats, but fear isn’t pushing it so hard now. I take a step, ready to move past her and take the available seat beside her, but I’m not sure I could fight the temptation not to touch her in some way.

  I hear Evan coming before I feel his heavy gait landing on the stairs. Seconds later, he’s ducking into the entrance. “Max is doing a final check, should be ready to go in a few minutes.” Evan’s eyes go right to Quinn. My attention doesn’t stray from her long either.

  Her head is tilted down as she draws the lap belt over her waist tight enough to restrict her breathing. The plane shifts as Evan makes his way over to us.

  Max boards a few moments after him, placing his hand on the button to retract the stairs. “You sure you don’t want me to grab Penny? She’s already in the hangar.”

  “No.” My reply is gruffer than I intended, but Max is used to me. There’s no point trying to pretend I’m not an asshole.

  “All right, sir. Won’t be long before takeoff.”

  Quinn

  Evan and Griffin are both standing in the aisle. Neither of them are small men, so they end up doing this sort of dance around each other until they both stop and look at each other. “Where are you sitting?” Griffin questions with a huff.

  “Where are you sitting?” Evan counters. Both of their heads turn to the one empty seat next to me. I drop my gaze and fiddle with my seatbelt, having already placed my bag on the floor under my seat. A little heat invades my cheeks. Do they think I’m going to freak out or something? It’s not like I need them to hold my hand.

  I instinctively tuck my knees in as Griffin moves in front of me to take the seat on my right. “Here,” he states, as he lowers himself into the wide seat.

  Evan takes the seat across the aisle and the engine of the plane whirs to life. I blow out a deep breath and look around. It doesn’t look anything like the little puddle jumper plane I flew in before. It’s more like something you’d see a celebrity using as they drink a glass of champagne while giving an interview discussing poverty levels in the inner city. The seats are a supple cream leather with embroidered headrests and wood veneer accents.

  The pilot’s voice fills the cabin. “We’re cleared for takeoff and should land at Willow Run Airport in just under two hours.” I feel the wheels begin rolling forward the moment the pilot’s voice floats away.

  “You should put on your seatbelt,” I tell Griffin, who hasn’t bothered to buckle up yet.

  His brows pinch, but he reaches back for the straps. “I’m a vampire, you know,” he mumbles under his breath.

  “Oh, yes, I must have forgotten you’re a big baddy with how sweet and cuddly you’ve suddenly become,” I snark back, and immediately regret it. “I’m sorry, I’m nervous, you have been quite considerate.”

  The weight on my chest increases as the jet’s speed surges. The wheels lift off the ground, and the rough bumpiness of the runway disappears from beneath us. The rise is pretty smooth, my tummy tumbling a few times when we dip until the pilot levels us out.

  I slowly start to relax when it doesn’t feel like the small aircraft is going to rattle apart. “Not so bad, eh?” Evan offers after a few minutes.

  I blow out a raspberry. “So much better than I was expecting, but then again, I’ve never flown on a private jet before. I might be able to get used to this.” The words no sooner come out of my mouth and we experience a bout of turbulence. I wrap my hands around the armrests like claws, digging in.

  I feel Griffin’s cool fingers land on mine. “It’s okay, Max knows what he’s doing.”

  “It doesn’t feel like he does.” In my mind, I know turbulence doesn’t down a plane, but it sure feels like you’re going to fall out of the sky when you’re experiencing it. I drop my chin to my chest, my breaths coming out short and choppy.

  “Hey, Quinn, look up,” Evan coaxes. “Griff, loosen her belt a little.”

  I grab for the latch. “Don’t you dare,” I growl.

  “Just so you can take a deep breath, you’re going to hyperventilate if you keep this up.” Griffin runs his fingertip over my index finger a few times and my hands relax.

  “You know a lot about breathing, do you?” My sassy comment to Griffin earns me a snort from Evan.

  “In fact, I do. I know that right now you’re taking deeper breaths, pulling in more air, pumping more oxygen into your blood.” Griffin keeps stroking the tip of his finger over mine after releasing a few inches of the belt, and I find myself taking deeper and deeper breaths. He’s right.

  “Good job, Quinn, and see, we’re fine,” Evan promises.

  I assess what’s happening and we do seem to be out of the rougher patch of air. “Ugh, I’m not usually such a chicken, sorry.” I tilt my head back and close my eyes.

  “A chicken wouldn’t have gotten on the flight, Quinn. You’re brave, even it if doesn’t feel like it right now. You’re doing something that frightens you to help a young boy, a low pack shifter that can’t offer you anything in return. Don’t be sorry.” His words are spoken with sincerity. I turn my head a look at Griffin.

  Our eyes meet and there’s something more there than just the lust I’ve been feeling. I’m sure everyone who sees him feels that. It’s like he’s seeing me, and not just for the face my mother blessed me with. “Thanks,” I whisper, not sure what else to say in response.

  When I face forward again, I notice Evan observing us from the corner of my eye. He slowly turns until he’s no longer watching us, and all I can see is the side of his face.

  A few seconds of awkward silence hang over our small group. I move my foot and
end up kicking my things on the floor, which gives me an idea.

  After retrieving my bag, I plop it on my lap. It only takes me a few moments to find the book I jotted the notes down in. “So, I talked with Riley and she told me about a few places they used to crash, and where the pack land is located.”

  Evan leans over to peer at my little notebook. “Why don’t we sit back there?” He hooks his thumb over his shoulder. I look back and see a four-seater dinette table with plush recliner-like chairs. I glance around, expecting someone to tell me not to move about the cabin, but it’s just us.

  “Okay, I guess, that would probably be easier.” I unbuckle my belt after Evan rises. He motions for me to stand and go ahead of him. I don’t like sitting by the window, so I take the outside seat again. This time Evan is the one to sit next to me while Griffin sits across the polished table.

  After tucking my hair behind my ears, I flip open the book and read aloud a few of the things that Riley told me about Jacob. “So, she said they stayed with an uncle a lot.”

  “Probably not a real uncle,” Evan muses. When I look over at him, he explains, “Uncle, aunt, and even cousin is just how packs address each other, so an uncle could mean any male in the pack who is older than Riley.”

  “Why automatically assume it’s not a blood uncle though?” Evan tips up one shoulder at my question.

  “A lot of the packs out that way are basically loners that banded together for protection or out of necessity. Laws vary with every pack. Some still use old regulations for arranged matings, among other outdated customs. It’s likely she wasn’t born to that pack.”

  “Arranged matings, like arranged marriages?” I can’t keep the horror out of my tone.

  “It’s still pretty common.” Evan uses the tip of his finger to pull the notebook closer to him. I can’t tell if the conversation is making him uncomfortable or if he just wants to move on. Honestly, though, I’m fascinated.

  “So you don’t have like fated mates?” I’ve read a few textbooks that alluded to a connection among shifters that’s almost uncontrollable, but there’s not much information beyond that.

  Evan looks up and makes eye contact with Griffin, who raises a brow in response. “Sorry, sorry. Not the time for me to grill you. Anyway, she gave me the address of the place they would sometimes stay and told me about an old barn they would go to when their uncle got sick of them hanging around. Her words, not mine.” I point at the address I hastily scrawled on the paper. “There are a few other places, but she said these were the best bets for finding him.”

  “What’s this here?” Griffin points to the name Thomas. I even underlined it a few times.

  “Riley told me to stay away from this guy, she almost seemed a little afraid of him.”

  “Could be the alpha,” Evan surmises.

  “Then he’s probably exactly who we need to see,” Griffin concludes, while staring across the table at Evan.

  Evan’s lips pull back from his teeth, but I wouldn’t dare call it a smile, it’s far too sinister for that. It reminds me how intimidated I was by him the first time I saw him before he drove me up to the school.

  He’s not armed with the gun on his hip the way he was that day, but I really can’t think of him as unarmed either. I’m reasonably sure he’s a shifter of some sort. Even more so now, considering he was the one talking about the aspects of pack life.

  I bounce in my seat as we hit another pocket of turbulence. I go to flatten my palms on the table to feel more grounded, but I end up slapping my hand down on Evan’s forearm instead. My fingers curl over his arm as my other hand finds the edge of the table to hold onto.

  I’d almost forgotten we were even on this little jet. “I’m usually not this bad.” I don’t mention to them I also usually pop a Xanax before flying, but I used my last two on the flight out here. I didn’t expect to need more so soon, or I would have already called my doctor. “We need seatbelts.”

  “I got it.” Evan uses his fingers to gently pry my clawed grip from his arm. His big palm covers mine for a second before he reaches over and drags Griffin’s hand over, placing it on top of mine instead. Evan then spins my chair a half turn and crouches in front of me, reaching for both sides of my hips. “I know this thing has belts,” he mutters, as his eyes narrow while he searches.

  “I can go back to my seat.” My words are rushed. My head is telling me I’m fine, that I just need to be rational, planes are actually the safest way to travel. But there’s no reasoning with the panic welling up inside me. Yet, I still have the presence of mind to feel embarrassed about how freaked out I am.

  I feel the belt tighten around my waist and hear when the latch catches. “Maybe we’ll need to rethink you coming on pickups in the future.” Griffin is tracing the tips of his fingers over the back of my hand.

  “No, I’ll just make sure to call in a prescription so I have it on hand for next time.” I let my head rest against the seat and close my eyes, but jerk them back open quickly. I don’t want to get motion sickness. That’s all I need to make this even more humiliating.

  “Can we talk about something else?” I blurt. “What will we do first when we land?”

  “Maybe you should call your doctor and see if she will call something in for you for the flight back?” Evan suggests while he retakes the seat next to me.

  I look down at my watch. “It will probably be too late. I can try to leave a message with the answering service.” I mull it over, there’s no harm in trying. “Can I have the password to the Wi-Fi?” I know my cellular data won’t work up here.

  “I don’t know it, just use mine.” Griffin uses the hand not covering mine to reach into his pocket and retrieve his cell phone. The screen is already unlocked when he hands it to me. I pull my hand out from under his and reach into my back pocket for my phone to get the number.

  It takes a few seconds to listen to all the prompts before I’m directed to leave a message for the on-call doctor. I give a brief rundown of the issue and leave my phone number for a call back.

  “Wait,” Griffin orders, as I’m just about to hang up. “Leave them my number too, in case we’re still in the air.” He recites the numbers slowly and I repeat it into the phone.

  After hanging up and extending the phone back to Griffin, I tell him, “They probably won’t call back tonight, it’s not a real emergency.” I don’t want to get my hopes up in case they don’t. “But thanks.”

  “I’m sure we could figure something else out if they don’t. There’s urgent care and emergency rooms.” Evan’s voice is soft, consoling.

  “I don’t think they would consider me needing to get on a private jet to fly back to work an emergency.” I give a soft chuckle. “I really don’t want to talk about it anymore though,” I add, trying not to sound like I’m being a jerk.

  “Shifters are drawn to certain people. I don’t know it’s the fabled fated mates, but the attraction is usually really strong.” Evan leans his elbows on the table and turns his head to face me. I appreciate what he’s doing, trying to distract me.

  “How is it different than just being attracted to someone?” I feel myself rocking a bit in the chair, but ignore the nervous energy.

  Evan blows out a breath and looks up. “Imagine walking through a crowd and being drawn to one person you’ve never met, never talked to, but everything inside you is telling you that you need to be near that person.”

  “Sounds intense. You’ve experienced it?” The way he described it makes me feel like he has.

  Evan shifts his eyes away from me. “Vampires have something similar,” he tells me, avoiding the question. I wince internally. I need to tamp down the inquisition.

  “It’s a bit different.” Griffin has his knuckle up near his mouth, pushing slightly against his lip.

  I release my death grip on the arms of the chair and lean forward. “Really? I’ve never heard that.” But then there are many misconceptions about vampires. The biggest being they burn up in the sun. V
ampires are born from other vampires, just as humans are born from humans. A different species just like a gorilla and a chimpanzee, both primates, yet so different.

  Vampires go through a metamorphosis when they become blooded. They don’t die, in fact my species teacher made it seem like the opposite. They do stop aging at that point though. Their cells are constantly working to repair themselves, which is why they need to consume blood to survive. The myth that they couldn’t be in the sun started around the middle ages. Vampires did little to dissuade the legend. It was the perfect ruse, after all, since a person out during the day couldn’t be a vampire.

  “We call it blood sung.” Griffin adjusts his hand, so his mouth is fully covered. I’ve noticed him doing this every so often. “Every species has a way to ensure its survival. Blood sung is just that. A biological response to another person that ensures the continuation of the species.”

  He sounds so clinical, and a tad cynical, which is a strange combination. It could just be that he doesn’t really want to talk about this with me. I feel a pang of guilt about prying into their worlds.

  “Do you think Jacob will resist coming to Havenfall? I can’t imagine he thinks much of it, since that’s where they sent his sister after she committed a crime. A stupid crime to be prosecuted for, but a crime nonetheless,” I remark, changing the topic back to why we’re here in the first place.

  “He’ll probably just be happy to be back with his sister,” Evan answers.

  Chapter 11

  Quinn

  “We’re starting our descent. Willow Run has cleared us for a landing,” the pilot announces. I instinctively tighten my lap belt as a wave of relief falls over me. That’s the best news I’ve heard.

  I still haven’t gotten a call from the doctor, so I’m just pretending I won’t have to get right back on this thing after we find Jacob.

  I spend the last ten minutes of the flight repeating a prayer over and over in my head. The words almost lose meaning as I use the repetition to calm my nerves. The hum of the landing gear fills the cabin, and I know I’m that much closer to getting off this thing. Damn, I didn’t realize how reliant I’d become on pills to fly.