“I was just thinking about him and when he would come back. That’s all.” She sounds slightly defensive.
“What are we doing about the phones?” I change the subject. I want to pat myself on the back for taking a hint without Evan having to intervene. It’s clear she isn’t ready to accept all the new aspects of her life. Plus, it’s probably been at least a few days since I’ve been an asshole without reason—not that Quinn ever gave me a reason—so there’s no need to be one now.
“I want to see if she turned the phones into security. Funny she never mentioned having them.” Evan meets my eyes over Quinn’s head. Most people wouldn’t know it because he’s so versed in masking, but I’ve been his friend for longer than I care to remember, so I know Evan is pissed.
“I was thinking the same thing.” We lead Quinn back to the main hall where the security office is. Evan unlocks the door, and we enter a small exterior room. Behind another door is a long hallway that branches off into offices, some hold the surveillance cameras while some of the others are just regular offices and equipment rooms.
A shifter pokes his head out of a room, leaning back on a chair. “Shit!” he curses and rushes to his feet.
“Jon.” Evan stares the man down once he’s standing.
“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you.” Jon lets his eyes skip over me quickly and avoids Quinn altogether. Not dumb then. In this small of a space, Quinn’s and Evan’s scents are so deeply mingled, there’s no mistaking she’s his mate. Newly mated shifters can be almost as dangerous as freshly blooded vamps without enough blood to get them through the transition.
“Can I do something for you?” the shifter offers.
“I need the surveillance room,” Evan tells the man.
“Sure, anything I can help with?” Jon sticks his arm into the room he came from and shoves the chair he was sitting in back into the space.
“I need to see the schedules for the last several weeks, and did Letty make it here to drop anything off this afternoon?” Evan questions casually.
“I haven’t seen her,” Jon replies. Another door down the hall opens, and a woman walks out. She does a double take when she sees our group. “Have you seen Letty in here today?” Jon asks the woman.
“No, not since this morning at the briefing,” she answers with a small frown.
“All right, if she comes in, grab me.” Evan places his hand on Quinn’s lower back and ushers her forward toward the shifter. He backs up, giving us lots of room to enter the doorway he exited.
“I’ll print out the schedule too, should just take a minute,” Jon declares as he continues to back up. The woman down the hall waits for us to enter the room. I can tell by her fading heartbeat that she followed the male.
I close the door after we enter the office, taking a cursory look around. I don’t think I’ve ever been here for longer than a minute or two while tagging along with Evan. I let him handle all this security shit, so there’s really no need.
There are several monitors along one wall with a long desk beneath them. Four chairs are spaced out along it, and there’s shit littered all over the desk like keyboards, pens, and all the other usual office stuff you’d expect.
“This room’s soundproof,” Evan informs us, then spins a chair around, motioning for Quinn to take a seat.
“This is pretty high-tech,” she murmurs, adjusting her seat.
The corner of Evan’s mouth lifts, but he doesn’t allow a full smile to form. I appreciate the fact that he placed her in the middle, so I take the seat to her left and he takes the other side.
I look at the screens and keyboard and have to admit I have no idea what I’m doing. Most of the screens shift through different areas and angles about every ten seconds, while a few of the others are trained in one specific spot.
Quinn makes a clicking sound with her tongue and narrows her eyes on the lower left screen, the one that shows the front gate. “What is it?” I ask.
“Nothing.” She rolls her eyes, but she’s not fooling me, her face is so expressive. She’s so much more open and responsive than supernaturals, especially those of us who have managed to live long lives. We harden over time, not our skin or muscles, but our hearts and minds, leaving us jaded and wary of almost everything.
I place my finger under her chin, and she turns her head to look directly at me without my prompting. Her pupils expand as she searches my face. “What is it?” I ask her again. My voice is much softer this time, but it’s not intentional. Quinn Shaw affects me just as much as I seem to affect her, probably more.
She blinks slowly and wets her lips, but she doesn’t pull away from me. “I was just thinking about the day I arrived.” She glances down quickly, then meets my eyes again, her lips twisting as she purses them.
“What about it?” My eyes are drawn to her mouth. As much as what she’s saying interests me, the uptake in her heart rate is even more compelling.
Not looking away from me, she lifts her right hand and motions to the bank of monitors. “They watched me sit out there for half an hour. I mean, I already knew that, butknowingit is different. You know what I mean?”
“I do. Evan told me they left you to walk.”
Quinn blows a raspberry and finally pulls away from me. “After she left me sitting at the gate for a good while first.”
Evan’s brows are drawn together over his eyes. “You didn’t mention that.”
