It shouldn’t surprise me when Quinn does the opposite of everyone else and moves closer to me. I didn’t even realize she would be able to sense my emotions, let alone that it would urge her to reach out to me in a comforting manner. There’s concern in her eyes when she looks up at me, but not for everyone else. It’s solely focused on me. She palms my cheek, turning my face away from the crowd. “It’s not their fault.” She is too perceptive for a human. She knew exactly what most of them were thinking about her and chose to ignore it.
The threat I planned to deliver dies on my lips. I was going to make it clear that if anyone endangered Quinn again, they wouldn’t live long enough to regret it. I also want to ensure everyone knows I will not tolerate them making Quinn feel as if she is somehow at fault or responsible.
That’s why I was worried she would be mad at me, not only because I singled her out and made her more important than the school, which she is to me, whether she wants to accept it or not, but also because I’m more than willing to kill to make sure my point is driven home.
I realize while staring down at her that I don’t even need to say anything. Quinn has made the point of just how much she means to me perfectly clear with her actions. No one else would dare touch me or even look at me the way she does. I don’t need to rein in my anger because it slowly fades as my understanding grows.
Her hand on my face shifts as my cheek lifts with a smile, which she returns. “Always trying to be scary.” She shakes her head slowly, teasing me.
Evan
Griff is smiling down at Quinn. I know that in and of itself will terrify many of the staff members. A lot of them have been around for years, and they’ve never seen the vampire do anything but scowl.
I think his message was heard loud and clear though—mess with Quinn, and you mess with all of us. There’s no mistaking the bond between the three of us. It’s not the first time I’ve wondered if Griff and I remained friends for so long because of Quinn. Even before she came into our lives, she was affecting us.
Quinn silently proves my point when she reaches out and grabs my hand while holding onto Griff’s, creating a visual that says it all. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that just because she isn’t as physically strong as us, it doesn’t mean she isn’t tougher in a lot of ways.
“Michelle and Rand will be handed over to the council to determine which consequences they will face. This matter goes far beyond Havenfall Harbor and may only be the tip of the iceberg. I’m confident they will extract any information we didn’t already learn from the pair and sort out anyone else who may be involved.” I don’t intend my words to come out as a threat, but it’s unavoidable.
Our society is governed by laws, just like humans. Our laws are different, and many are working to change some of the older laws packs and clans use to control their people, but in this case, the rules are designed to protect supernaturals and humans.
“The danger to unblooded vampires is real. We need to educate the kids and make sure they know using the drug isn’t harmless and may have consequences we’ve yet to discover. We also shouldn’t assume the threat is only to vampires. Shifters are not without their weaknesses. Lastly, I would also strongly suggest to any of you that made the assumption Quinn was involved just because she’s a human, you evaluate why you were so quick to judge.”
I look around again,fairly confident that by getting rid of Michelle and Rand, we’ve eliminated the physical threat to Quinn at Havenfall. A few people were quick to jump to the wrong conclusion about Quinn’s involvement just because she’s a human, but that’s part of why having her here is so very important. She can show everyone that not all humans are like HERO, and we can prove to her that not all supernaturals are like Michelle and Rand.
“Classes won’t be resuming today. Teachers, take some time to think about how to talk to the kids about this. That’s all we have today. This was meant to inform you so we could move forward, not frighten you.” I glance over at Griff, knowing he would have a different opinion, but he doesn’t voice it. In fact, he’s much more relaxed than he’s been in a while.
Quinn
As the ballroom empties, I turn to face Evan and Griffin and fold my arms over my chest. “I can’t believe you guys went after Michelle and didn’t even tell me, not even when you got back.”
Evan winces a little. “The boy from the park called last night. It wasn’t planned.” I look at Griffin for his response, but he appears completely unrepentant, as if he doesn’t see the issue.
“And you couldn’t have warned me about what was happening today this morning?” I argue.
“You expect me to think about a meeting when you’re crawling on the floor next to me, ass up? I’m lucky to know my own name,” Griffin remarks, slathering on the flattery.
“You expect me to let you off the hook with a little smooth talk?” I counter.
“It’s worth a shot, not to mention it’s the truth.” I roll my eyes, knowing this conversation isn’t going to go anywhere. He won’t see what he did was wrong.
“Tell me what happened,” I insist.
“He told you.” Griffin motions to Evan. “The kid called and told us where to find Michelle, and we went to get her. She didn’t put up a fight. She didn’t even know how to take care of herself,” he sneers. I don’t think he means she didn’t know how to fight, I think he means in the most basic sense.
“She might have tried to run if she knew we planned on handing her over to the council. She thought the worst she had coming was being sent home,” Evan adds.
“What do they have planned for her?”
“They’ll use her in any way they can. Information first, then they might try to send her back to HERO to infiltrate the organization.” Griffin shrugs. “That’s what I would do, but it depends on who she’s more afraid of.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to have her loyalty?” I look between them.
“Loyalty means nothing to someone like Michelle. She’s governed by her greed for power. She probably isn’t worth the time and effort it would take to make sure she wouldn’t flip on them the moment she was back with HERO. I hate calling them that.” Griffin actually rolls his eyes.
I let his words sink in. I don’t like thinking about someone so young making such bad choices that it’s going to affect the rest of her life, or maybe even the length of it, but it happens every day in both of our worlds.
Seeming to sense I’ve heard enough, Evan walks over and wraps his arm around my shoulders. “What would you say to lunch, since our boss gave us the afternoon off?”
