She bats his arm away, indignant and annoyed. “You motherfucker!”
He grins, clicking furiously and sliding his laptop out of her reach. “All’s fair in love and war, babe. I’ll just hold on to all of this bounty from the loot drop until you respawn. You really should be more careful around cliffs.”
He’s trying to make her seem more human to them.
Rebecca strums her nails on the table as she says, “I can’t imagine people will be lining up to volunteer to feed them. Without willing donors, won’t they be driven to attack people the hungrier they get regardless of an original’s influence?”
I swallow, but don’t lie. “Possibly. But to be fair, anyone is dangerous when they become desperate or are starving. For now, we’ve been utilizing the blood banks already supplying hospitals to keep the safe houses stocked so it doesn’t come to that, but you’re forgetting a key piece of information.”
Jerry nods to himself. “Ultimately, we’re a result of the prey population being left unchecked. If they’re a corrupted form of shifters, without being forced to attack and turn humans, their instincts will drive them to hunt prey animals over other predators.”
“This is insane!” Sebastian spits. “How the hell are you guys even considering this? They can’t be trusted. We’ve all seen how they go mad at the scent of blood. That’s not mind control, it’s a knee jerk reaction.” To emphasize his point, he rakes his still-lengthened claws across his arm in a violent slash, sending droplets of blood spraying onto the table as he waits for her reaction.
The room collectively holds its breath, but Scarlett merely scrunches up her nose in distaste, closing her laptop. “Let me guess, you’re the kind of guy that sends unsolicited dick pics?” Rebecca’s lip twitches, which only encourages her to gesture at the three of us. “If I want to suck anyone off, I’ve got far better options.” She runs her gaze over him dismissively before scowling. “And better taste, clearly. Thanks, but no thanks.”
A few chuckles sway the mood, and Ben throws himself into the change with a broad grin. “Damn, Bash, even turned down by a vamp. Never going to let you live that one down.”
It’s the final thing we didn’t even know we were waiting for. The next hour is spent answering a slew of questions, exchanging theories, and brainstorming ideas for where to go from here. While the majority of their interest in Scarlett is purely scientific/ curious, I make note of the exceptions.
Sebastian is going to be a problem. Not only for the hatred, but the blow to his ego. While he’s been quiet ever since he made an ass of himself, it certainly isn’t because it knocked him down a peg or made him reconsider.
Frank’s staring at her with what can only be construed as hope, and one of the main people I was hoping to win over today, so I’m thrilled. While it’s important to get humans on our side to advocate for change, he’s also personally close to the topic, so it could have very easily backfired. Now, the idea that his younger sister Joselyn might still be out there somewhere, that there’s a chance no matter how small to get her back, will consume his thoughts. It would take a miracle; first finding her, if she hasn’t already been put down, then killing the original without being killed first by either it or the others in the nest. But still.
Hope is a powerful thing.
“So, do you remember all of the people you killed?” Caleb asks, and I’m not sure if he’s just being an asshole, or curious and socially inept.
Scarlett pauses, shrinking in on herself slightly and her voice dropping to a whisper. “Some of them, yeah.”
“It’s not your fault,” Beck retorts instantly, more hostile than I’m used to hearing from the easygoing man. “And fuck this guy for asking such a rude-ass question.” He glares at Caleb. “I get that you guys have questions and it’s all overwhelming, but Scarlett’s not some science experiment. She’s a damn person, and a far better one than me, so a little tact goes a long way. While she might not tear your throat out for being a jerk, I can’t swear that I won’t.”
“It’s fine,” she says, trying to keep things from blowing up again.
“No, he’s right.” Lacing my fingers together, I rest my chin on them, scanning the table. “I think we’ve covered everything, so now we need to decide where to go from here. But no matter which direction that takes, Scarlett will be a part of it, and my statement from earlier holds. Youwillbe seeing her around the building more, and I expect her to be treated with respect even when the three of us aren’t around to ensure it.”
There it is. A sliver of excitement at the prospect of catching her alone in Sebastian’s eyes.
Turning, I lock eyes with Kasen who caught it too. With a dip of my head in permission, he rounds the table and heads for the door as if about to leave. He must send Beck a mental warning, because the moment he’s behind Sebastian, Scarlett’s face is pulled into the wolf’s chest. Before he can turn, Kasen grabs both sides of his head. Quickly, I throw a shield over Scarlett and Beck to block out the sound as Kasen twists, breaking Sebastian’s neck.
While she’s shielded from the sound, no one else in the room is. It echoes around the room like the crack of a whip, each reverberation a warning that settles into the fifteen remaining souls. No one so much as moves as reality settles that we weren’t bluffing, that there’s no turning back from this point.
Kasen grabs Sebastian’s lifeless body and throws it over his shoulder before thumping twice on the door. Bishop answers, face grim. “I’ll handle it.” Taking the corpse, he retreats, leaving Garett to guard the door.
I drop the shield, but Beck doesn’t release his hold, keeping her face pinned against him. Addressing the remaining group, I face Rebecca. “A new department head will need to be appointed. Will you bring me your recommendations by the end of tomorrow?”
“Of course,” she replies quickly, looking pale, and I hate that everyone else does too, looking at me like a monster.
“Thank you. Now, for the confusing part.” I pinch the bridge of my nose, taking a slow breath before looking around. “I need you not to keep this a secret.” Fifteen faces scrunch up before looking between each other, searching for the trap. “What happened with Sebastian... I never want that to happen again. But you all saw as well as I did that he would have not only actively worked against what we’re attempting here, but absolutely would have hurt Scarlett if he got an opening. My responsibility will always first and foremost be to my mate.”
Sighing, I search for the right words. “Nothing will ever change if we keep this a secret, but it will blow up in our faces if we aren’t careful with how we release the information. People aren’t going to come around overnight, and as Sebastian proved, many won’t even when confronted with irrefutable proof. Some hatred simply runs too deeply for reason to cleanse.”
Glancing at my mate, completely rigid against Beckett, it’s like a punch to the gut. Determined, I rush out, “You all have firsthand accounts that I’m not lying, that we can save thousands of people from being killedwithouteradicating nests, and reunite the innocent people that were ripped away from their families. We can make things better,bebetter, by leading by example. Talk about what you witnessed and learned today at the dinner table tonight when you’re home with your families. They’ll likely laugh it off as a fairytale, but you can plant the seeds to get people thinking. Let the rumors start, but when you come across any that have twisted, reiterate the truth. Let news spread organically with as much of a positive spin as we can manage rather than let the government or news stations control the release of the information. You know as well as I do that people want a common enemy to rally around with as much strain as there is between the species and will use fear tactics to keep things the way they are.”
Staring straight at Frank, I finish, “We can save people. Not only from the pain of watching their families ripped apart, but the victims that are being held against their will, forced to do unthinkable things, only to be slaughtered like rabid animals instead of helping them. We can get them back and bring them home where they belong. Their lives were stolen from them, but we can give themback.”
My heart thunders in my chest, everything riding on these fifteen people agreeing to fight for hopes and dreams that we might never even live long enough to see.
Eyes watery, Frank clears his throat. “You get Archer Donovan to put some of his men on finding my little sister, and I’ll do more than spread some rumors; I’ll make this mission my entire fucking personality from here on out.”
