Evan drops his heavy hand on my shoulder and digs his fingers in. “We need to handle this.”
Evan
I grip Griff’s shoulder even tighter. If he were anyone else, they would probably be falling to their knees and submitting at this point, but he’s completely unfazed. He’s more dangerous now that we have Quinn than I think he’s ever been in his long life, and that’s including when his father and Eva tried to control him.
I understand his motivations, but he’s not helping himself if he can’t rein in his emotions and temper. “Do you mind if I take you over to security until we’re done? I don’t want to keep everyone waiting.” I know my words will spur Quinn into action. She’s compassionate at her core and wants to do what’s best for everyone, and keeping them waiting will be an inconvenience for them.
“I can just go.” She hooks her thumb over her shoulder, looking between Griff and me.
I give her an easy smile and Griff one last hard squeeze before releasing my grip on his shoulder. “I would be happy to have a few extra moments with you.” Quinn blushes sweetly when I extend my elbow to her. I know holding my hand isn’t very comfortable, my fingers are too big for her, so this works better and she’s touching me. A win-win.
“I’ll be right back,” I announce to Griff and hope he stays put so no one will leave the ballroom, but I know right now isn’t the time to issue my best friend an order.
Chapter 19
Evan
“Sorry I can’t take you back to the room right now. I’ll try to make it quick.” I press a kiss to the side of Quinn’s head when we reach my office in security.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry.” Her eyes close and she leans into me a bit, accepting the affection.
“Make yourself comfortable. No one will bother you here.” My office isn’t as nice as Griff’s. I don’t spend nearly as much time in it as he does his, but there are a couple of chairs so she can at least relax.
I watch Quinn’s chest expand as she takes a look around. “This is your office?” She runs her fingers over my desk. I bet she didn’t even realize she used her senses to scent the room. Bonding to me didn’t make her a shifter, but it does make her more than human. Over time, she’ll be able to develop those senses even more if she chooses. Once she starts accepting blood from Griff, her ability to heal and stop aging will make her even less human.
“It is,” I acknowledge, gazing around for what she might see.
Quinn walks around my desk and lowers herself slowly into my chair. Her fingertips curl over the arms as she settles in. She looks tiny, dwarfed by the size of the chair, but she has a grin on her lips. “Who do I talk to about getting my own throne?”
“You want it, it’s yours,” I offer. My chair is larger than hers but by no means a throne.
“I’m just teasing. I didn’t even know they made chairs this big. Go on. I’ll be fine,” she urges.
I let out a heavy breath but know she’s right—I need to get back before Griff kills everybody for keeping them from his singer. “Lock the door, and please don’t leave without us.”
“I won’t.” She drags out the word reluctantly.
“Be back as soon as we can.” I close the door before she can object to being locked in. I know it’s only her polite nature that’s letting me get away with it. She’s bristled every time we bring up her need for protection, but what she doesn’t understand, even after she was attacked, is that the threat to her is very real, especially now. And if something does happen to her, I wouldn’t hold Griffin back from showing everyone just what he’s capable of, I would be by his side.
When I return to the ballroom after giving Clyde—the only person left to maintain the security office—instructions not to let anyone near my office and to notify me immediately if Quinn tries to leave, Griff is holding court at the front of the room. He’s not speaking, but he has everyone’s attention. There’s a threat of violence in the air, and it all stems from him. Well, it did until I stepped into the room.
I shut the door with a definitive snap after locating Rand. “I’m sure everyone is wondering why we brought you all here.” I make my way up the center as a natural aisle forms. People look around, but no one murmurs a response. I pause when I’m parallel to him. He seems to be looking anywhere but in my direction.
“Rand.” I can’t stop the anger from seeping into my tone when I call his name.
He jolts as if me addressing him is a complete shock. I watch as his throat works on a swallow. “Yeah?” he responds, but makes no move to come any closer to me.
“It seems like we have some matters to discuss,” Griffin remarks, surprising me and possibly the rest of the room. “Come forth,” he orders.
Rand looks around, contemplating an escape or searching for allies, but it’s useless. It would take at least half those gathered to help him evade what’s coming, and I know he doesn’t have that kind of backing, no matter where the money is coming from. Even then, it would only delay the inevitable.
“Don’t make me ask again.” Griff lowers his chin and looks all the more menacing for it.
Rand takes an unwilling step forward when the people around him physically distance themselves from him. “What’s going on?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out,” I tell him, following him while he makes his way closer to Griff. My focus is divided between him and all the others in the room. I need to take in everyone’s reactions and make sure I don’t miss any clues as to who else might be involved.
“Why don’t you have a seat?” Griff motions to a single chair on his left. Once Rand is seated, Griff looks over the crowd but stays silent. I swear he spends a second touching every face with his eyes, memorizing them. It’s eerie, even to me.
When he’s done, he gives me an imperceivable nod—my cue to continue. “Are you comfortable?” I ask, giving Rand my entire attention. I know Griff will watch the rest of the room.
“I’m…I’m fine,” Rand stutters.
I pace behind him, and I know he’s extremely uncomfortable, especially because he can’t take his eyes off me. “Can you guess why we would have singled you out…first?” I look around to make sure everyone knows there will be others who will be questioned if I deem it necessary. “Why we brought you in front of all these people?”
The vampire in question does a fairly good job of holding his fear in check so it’s not permeating the room, but it’s clear when he drops his gaze to the ground that he understands he’s been caught. “I took a risk that didn’t payoff.” He tries to sound unaffected, but he fails.
“A risk? Is that what you call supplying drugs laced with blood to unblooded vampires?” I press. A collective gasp comes from the people in the crowd. I have everyone’s attention, not that I didn’t before, but they all understand the implications.
“The real reason we brought him here was so we could give everyone else who’s involved a chance to come forward of their own free will before he gives them up. And rest assured, he will give them up. By the time we’re done with him, he’ll have confessed his every sin.”
I look into the crowd, all people I’ve considered friends and colleagues for many years, and wonder if I’ve misplaced my trust in them the way I did with Rand. A woman in the back starts looking around fervently. I’m not surprised to find it’s the woman from the clinic. Her bottom lip quivers as she reaches out to a man near her side. There must be something in her expression that gives her away, because he pushes her hand away and steps back.
Her eyes close softly and she steps forward. “I…I sold him extra blood, but I had no idea it was for this.” She’s shaking her head vehemently. I grit my teeth and motion for her to step forward. People around her clear a path as if she’s infected and they don’t want to risk catching her affliction.
“Anyone else?” I ask when she reaches the front, her head hanging in shame. The room is so quiet, you could hear a pin drop, but no one else volunteers anything.
Griff
prowls over to Rand, his movements slow and silent, yet somehow more deadly for it. “Was it you who Michelle called when she attacked my singer?” His eyes are almost black as he poses the question. I take a step closer, hoping I won’t need to stop him from killing Rand. We need answers first.
“I had no idea who she was,” Rand defends. For the first time, he actually looks frightened.
“I find that does not ease my desire to spill your blood.” Griff sounds cold, detached, but I know he’s anything but.
The anticipation in the air is high. I can feel it like a current against my skin. We are, after all, beasts beneath the civility that cloaks us. The fact that these people are as horrified as they are delighted by the threat of bloodshed is a potent reminder of that.
No one would begrudge us for exacting our due. Not for Rand’s slight of providing the young ones blood, and even less for the danger he put our mate in.
“I’ll tell you everything,” Rand blurts, bargaining for his life.
“What could you possibly know that would be worth me letting you live for a second longer than necessary?” Griffin inquires conversationally.
“I can give you HERO,” Rand offers, dropping the bomb without hesitation. “Human Eternal Rights—”
“We know who they are,” I interrupt before he can finish. So that’s where the money is coming from. The idea takes root in my mind, and answers start filling themselves in.
HERO, the misguided factions of separationists, are behind Rand giving the vamps blood too soon. It makes sense. If they created a bunch of vampires that fell into bloodlust, they could generate even more reasons for humans to hate supernaturals and further the divide we’re trying to knit together.
Not to mention it could lead to Havenfall and places like it being shut down. Well, at least in the eyes of the humans. But without places like this, what would they do with all the supernatural children we take in? Put them in jail, or something worse?
“The humans are behind this?” someone snarls. It’s no secret there are people from both sides who do not want our species mixing. I just never realized it was a problem here until Quinn came along and I watched how some people reacted to her.
“Not all humans, just like not all shifters and vampires believe in separation,” I snap, feeling like I’m defending Quinn, even though she’s not here.
“School grounds will be locked down until I learn every single detail of this betrayal,” Griff announces, glaring out at the crowd. “If you try to leave, I will assume you are forfeiting my protection, which means you will be my enemy.” In other words, he will kill anyone who tries to leave before he says it’s okay. Looking at him, I don’t think it’s an idol threat.
Griffin
Evan dismisses the room after asking if anyone has anything they would like to get off their chest before we question Rand.
The vampire’s admittance that HERO is involved in supplying Wet to the unblooded vampires took me by surprise, but it makes sense. Plus, I don’t think he’s duplicitous enough to come up with the lie to blame them on his own.
“Randell is your given name, correct?” I inquire once everyone else has filed out of the room. The vampire nods. “Tell me, Randell, how did you come to work with such an organization?”
“They didn’t give me much of a choice at first,” he answers. I pull up another chair and take a seat right in front of him, so close, our knees are almost touching.
“Explain.”
“I went to Vegas on vacation several months ago.” Rand looks over his shoulder at Evan, who is directing the woman from the blood bank to a chair across the room. “I got cornered in an alley not far from the strip. There were too many of them for me to fight, and they didn’t want a fight anyway. They wanted my cooperation.”
“You expect us to believe they singled you out, knew you worked here, and forced you to give kids laced drugs?” Evan stares at Rand as if he’s not worth the air he’s breathing.
“At first, they just wanted me to listen.” Rand shrugs. “I thought they were there to kill me, and they just wanted to talk. I was a little shocked. I didn’t even believe them at first, but then I started to really listen to them and the shit they were saying made sense.” The vampire’s brows are pulled down, making him look serious, not to mention, it almost sounds like he’s going to try to sell us the same bullshit.
“Let me guess, they don’t hate supernaturals. They just think we would both be better if we didn’t intermingle our lives,” Evan mocks.
“There are reasons why it makes sense,” Rand defends.
Evan shuts down his bullshit right away, thank fuck. “None that I’m willing to hear. Did they feed you the idea about the drugs?”
“Yeah. They give me the idea and the dope, and I supply the blood.”
“Why were you using my blood?”
“I wasn’t until recently. I actually got the idea from her.” Rand tilts his head toward the woman. “She was my connection at the blood bank. I got to our scheduled meeting a little earlier than expected. She was just finishing up her deal with the crazy woman. I overheard enough to know she was buying your blood. I told her I wanted it too.”
Evan turns to look at the woman, who’s full-on sobbing. The guilt wafting off her tells us everything we need to know. “And the money we found, that came from this organization?”
“Yeah, they gave me cash so I would be set once the school was shut down.” Rand isn’t even trying to cover his ass. He knows it’s a lost cause at this point.
“We know you were using Michelle as a go-between with the kids. Were you working with anyone else?”
“No, but I’m not the only one who thinks training supernaturals to live in the human world is fucked up.”
“We aren’t training them to live in the human world, you fucking idiot, we’re offering them something more, a chance to make their own decisions. It isn’t them or us,” Evan snarls.
“Who else?” I urge, ignoring Rand’s tirade. It’s not the first time I’ve heard something similar. I’ve been around a long time.
“Work out everyone who didn’t want the human coming here, and then you might have an idea.”
Evan grabs the vampire by his shirt and hauls him right out of his chair and into the air. “You don’t even get to think about her.”
“It was never about her, not for me. I was pissed at Michelle when I found out what she did. I’m just saying we all don’t feel the same.” Rand barely even fights Evan’s hold.
It’s truly surprising he’s the one who is about to rip the vampire’s head off and not me. The violence sends the woman into another fit of cries.
“Silence,” I bark.
She pulls in her bottom lip and stifles her tears.
“Who is the crazy woman?” I have my suspicions, but I’d rather hear it from her.
The woman points to her chest, asking for permission to speak, even though I’m looking right at her. I narrow my eyes, and she whimpers out, “Millie.”
I don’t reveal how angry I am, but I’m pissed. Pissed at myself for knowing something was wrong and ignoring it, and pissed that I’m dealing with this shit when all I want to do is go find Quinn.
“What else aren’t you telling us?” Evan shakes the vampire as I get to my feet.
Rand licks his lips. “Will you let me live if I tell you?”
“I don’t know, but I can promise your death will be a whole lot less painful if you do.” Evan drops Rand back onto the chair, and he struggles to right himself.
“It’s not just me. They have other people in other schools, maybe even here,” he finally divulges after a long pause.
I shake my head, disgusted with this entire debacle. “I’m going to give you one chance to tell me the truth. Did anyone besides Michelle know what you were doing here?”
“Not my part, no,” he answers immediately and with conviction. I’m inclined to believe him, but I’m not going to let him know that.
“I can�
�t look at you for another minute, or I’m going to snap your puny neck.” I stand up and straighten my suit coat.
“Let’s lock them up, this time we’ll use the dungeon,” I sneer at Rand. I’m not going to place him in the containment rooms near the kids, those are way too comfortable. “He can live for now. I still have more questions.” I look at Evan to see if he agrees.
“Fine by me. Get up.” He kicks Rand’s chair, and it squeals as it scoots on the wooden floor. The woman is already standing in anticipation of what’s to come, wringing her hands helplessly.
Chapter 20
Quinn
I’ve looked at my phone a hundred times, checking the time. I wish I would have skipped the bath and went straight to bed, then maybe I would have slept through the message instead of being stuck in Evan’s office.
I get a flutter of anticipation in my stomach. Evan is my first thought. With my eyes locked on the door, I get to my feet. Within a minute, there’s a soft knock. “Quinn, it’s us.” I’m already rounding the desk to unlock the door. The flutter of awareness is gone, but I’m left with another feeling. This one is a little harder to describe. It’s more like relief, but not in a physical sense.
As I unlock the door, the knob is already turning, so I step back and Evan comes into view. His face is drawn, and there’s a noticeable slump to his shoulders. “Everything okay?” I step closer, compelled to comfort him.
He tries for a smile, but it never reaches his eyes. “Better now.” He nods encouragingly. “Are you ready?”
I look behind me, realizing my phone is still on his desk. “Just one second.” I half jog over and grab it, then rush back to his side. “Ready.”
Once we exit, I see Griffin leaning against the wall. His eyes roam over me quickly, but not in the heated manner I’m used to. There’s definitely been a change in their dispositions since I left them. What the heck happened at the meeting?
Havenfall Harbor Book Two: Paranormal Ménage Romance MFM Page 21
