House of Royale (Secret Keepers #4)(57)

Major Kenneth Cole was certainly confident. I wondered if he knew that almost all of his passengers tonight were aliens … of some description.

Laous tilted his head to the side. “How long will our journey be?”

The human met his eyes dead on. No fear at all. “No way for me to estimate that until we’re in the air. It will be at least three hours.”

Laous just nodded, pushing his way on board, his people right behind him. I almost chuckled out loud. It was like being forced to go on vacation with your most hated family members, knowing you were going to be stuck doing activities with them for days on end.

Chase was the first of our group to step onto the silver stairs, Maya right behind him, followed by Daniel and Callie, then Lexen and Emma. Xander ushered me in front of him, and then he brought up the back of our group. We stayed close together, and I hated it when Chase entered the black beast, disappearing from sight.

Thankfully we weren’t far behind. When I stepped in through the front section, it was to find a huge round open area, seats backed onto either wall. Nothing fancy like Xander’s private plane; this was bare basics. I quickly crossed to the seat beside Emma and dropped into it. The straps were harness style, but easy enough to buckle up, with a single clip over my chest. I tightened each side of the shoulder straps, pressing myself back into the chair.

It wasn’t the most comfortable way to travel, but it was probably safest. Xander took the seat directly across from me, which was good and bad. I couldn’t accidentally touch him, but I got to stare at his too-perfect face for three hours.

I noted that Laous already had his head back, eyes closed. He was so damn relaxed. The Daelighter didn’t strike me as the stupid kind—he’d already stated that this was probably a trap for him—so he knew we had no plans to just hand the stone over to him without a fight. So why all the confidence?

It made me uneasy.

My worries were cut off when the engines roared loudly around us and the wall behind my chair started to vibrate. Unlike a normal airplane, there was no long takeoff. We pretty much started to roll, and then boom, we were in the air. There were no windows for us to see the progress, but judging on how quickly my ears blocked up, we were rising quickly. Opening my mouth a few times, I shook my head to clear it.

“Are you doing okay?” Emma asked, shooting me a worried look.

I blinked at her for a moment, wondering what the hell she was talking about. Then I remembered. The last flying incident, which hadn’t gone over so well.

“Uh, actually, I’m fine.” I really was. I’d barely even thought about the fear that had rocked me on our flight from Hawaii. “Maybe … my body is not as shocked because we flew just recently.”

Emma nodded. “Yeah, I would guess that it would be a daunting experience the first time you fly … when you’re more used to swimming.”

Yeah, I mean … it had to be that. Right? What else had changed in the last few days? My eyes locked on Xander and I felt that pull inside of me, urging me forward. There was a bond between us. It had been there from the start, only cementing when we had sex. I wondered if that was helping me stay grounded, the same way his scent did because it was like my ocean.

If that was the case, what would happen to me when we had to part ways? I couldn’t live without the water. I knew that without a doubt. But I was starting to fear I might not be able to live without Xander either.





19





The flight was fast. Still, by the time the captain announced that we were starting to descend and that they would be searching for a secure location to hide the aircraft, my butt was numb.

Jiggling on the spot, I bit my lip. Xander chuckled and my head shot up. “We’ll be on the ground in about two minutes,” he told me, his smile tearing at my insides. I managed to smile back, even though I was about as far from happy as it was possible to be.

Xander had barely taken his eyes off me the entire flight and I’d sucked up every moment of his attention, craving it, because he filled an empty part inside of me. I’d always thought it was because of my colder nature, being more fish-like. But I could see now it was a space in my soul for Xander.

A space he’d never get a chance to truly fill.

Before I could grow even more pathetic, we hit some turbulence and the entire plane shook and rattled. My insides squeezed together, like my stomach was going to burst out of my body, and I gripped my armrests tightly. I had to close my eyes. I felt the panic rising; this was no time to freak out. Why the hell did people fly when it was so damn dangerous? We were hurtling toward the ground at like forty billion miles an hour, and if for some reason the pilot didn’t land it properly, we were all going to die.

It was a huge risk, seriously!

Warm hands gripped my face, and my eyes flew open instantly. “Xander!” I gasped, instinctively reaching for his forearms so I could hold on to him. “Get back to your seat, this is way too dangerous.”

Xander looked relaxed, even though his eyes were blazing at me. “You underestimate me, Avalon. Nothing can take me down.”

I had to snort out some laughter, even though I was still terrified he was about to be torn in half by the force of us landing. “Your arrogance knows no bounds. How did you even fit your head inside the door to this plane?”

He winked at me. “Arrogance is a human trait. I’m confident.”