He trails his nose along the side of my neck, and I turn to give him better access. “If you think I’m letting you out of this room without you giving it to me, you’re wrong.” His tongue leaves a wet trail on my skin as he licks a line up my throat, and I shiver in response.
“It?” I’m proud I can even think, let alone speak.
“Yes, it.” He nips me with his teeth behind his lips, so it’s just a light pinch. It might have been in punishment, but I’m not complaining. I realize then that Griffin would have seen Evan’s ring and figured out where I was yesterday, and even suspected I got one for him too.
“You’re so confident you know what it is?”
“Don’t make me cut my best friend’s finger off, Quinn.” He says it so plainly, so simply, that I believe he may just do it. “I might actually feel bad about that if I have to follow through.”
“I’d love to see you try,” Evan growls, then he rolls over and starts snoring seconds later. I stifle a giggle.
“Let me up and I’ll get it,” I concede.
“I don’t know, I quite like our position.” Griffin rocks his hips and proves his point.
I glance over at the clock. “We only have time for one thing—this or finding the ring.”
Griffin jerks his head back so he can look down at me. “Find it?”
“Yeah, when you tossed me onto the bed, I dropped it.” I make a face that says see what happens when you mess around?
“I thought the ring that hit the wall was the one you took off,” Griffin mumbles, disgruntled.
“You were awake?” I accuse. “Besides, that thing weighs a ton, it would have dented the wall, not just made a little ting.”
“What if I find it fast?” he offers, ignoring my comment about how heavy the ring is. I don’t respond because I don’t really know how to. “Challenge accepted.” Griffin moves with vampiric speed and hops off the bed. I lean up on my elbows in time to see him searching the floor near the bathroom wall. His shorts don’t do much to hide his erection, so I end up distracted, ogling that while he prowls along the wall.
Eventually I get up and start searching with him. I end up spotting it fairly quickly. I think the fact that it’s black made it harder for him to locate. I don’t think he was expecting that. I pick it up and fold my fingers over it before giving him a similar speech to the one I gave Evan.
“I didn’t know your size, and you don’t have to wear it…” The but I want you to is implied.
“Did you have it the whole time?” Griffin asks, not understanding how I could have found it before him.
“No, now close your eyes,” I demand.
I step closer to him, and he shuts his eyes, then peeks out. I glare in warning. “Fine.” He pouts.
“Give me your hand,” I say softly.
Griffin lifts his hand palm down and extends it to me as if he’s expecting me to slide the ring on his finger. I glance up at his face to make sure his eyes are still closed and push the ring over his finger. It glides on smoothly, so smoothly, I’m worried it might be too big, but before I can test it to see if it’s going to slip off, Griffin snatches his fingers closed and makes a fist.
“Okay,” I breathe when he doesn’t open his eyes.
I’m unreasonably nervous. I don’t think I was as worried about what Evan thought because he doesn’t wear jewelry. If he didn’t like it, I could tell myself he doesn’t like any, but Griffin wears a ring on almost every finger, and they’re made out of much more valuable metal, if my suspicion about the ring I took off being made of platinum is right. White or yellow gold isn’t that heavy.
Griffin’s shuttered gaze is angled toward his hand, and he opens his eyes and fist at the same time. His long fingers uncurl slowly, and the ring sits perfectly in place. I bite my lip, waiting for him to show any kind of reaction.
Without lifting his head, he meets my gaze. “Thank you,” he says somberly. I wait a breath longer, thinking there might be more of a physical response, but he just continues to watch me.
“You’re welcome,” I reply quietly, not quite sure what I should do now. The poignant moment is shattered when Griffin balls his hand into a fist, then looks away. I glance at the clock, feeling sad but not knowing why.
“I’m going to grab something to eat, then I need to head to my office,” I inform him.
He nods distractedly. “We’ll take you when you’re ready.”
“Okay,” I mumble, then leave the room.
Griffin
My throat feels tight. I raise my hand to my neck, intending to loosen my collar, but I’m not wearing a shirt.
I make a fist for the hundredth time in the past few minutes. My hands feel strange. I’ve removed all the other rings besides the one Quinn slipped on my finger, yet its weight feels heavier.
I’ve worn the others for ages. At first, it was to cover some of the scars that formed when I killed my father. I wasn’t drinking blood regularly then—a few sips from the vein, and they would have disappeared that night.
Eventually, the scars did heal, along with the others on my body. All except one. I touch the mark on my neck, hating the fact that I couldn’t hide that one so easily. Eva made sure this one would remain, even after my transition.
I shouldn’t have pushed her for the ring, but I’m a selfish asshole and I wanted it. My head was so fucked up after seeing it, I didn’t even thank her properly.
“Evan,” I snap. I have no right to be mad at him, but I am. I’m furious at every-fucking-body. “Wake the fuck up. Quinn needs to get to her office.”
Evan slits open one eye and gives me a murderous glare. He’s not happy with me either. Well, join the fucking club. I know it’s not my order that gets him out of bed, but Quinn and her needs, which is fine by me, as long as it gets his big ass moving.
Evan lumbers into the bathroom and slams the door shut behind him. I look out of the bedroom door, expecting Quinn to come in to see what’s wrong, but she doesn’t. Which means she’s probably avoiding me.
I dress quickly, pulling shit off hangers and using muscle memory to get it on right. When Evan steps out of the bathroom, he doesn’t even look in my direction. He chooses to pull on his jeans from yesterday instead of sticking around to sort out new ones and grabs a clean shirt. He’s out of the bedroom in a blink, leaving me with nothing but my thoughts and regrets.
I hear some mumbling, then the front door shuts. They left without me. It shouldn’t bother me so much, but it does.
Quinn
I jump when an alarm blares through the school. I use my hands to cover my ears while making my way to my office door. Griffin’s assistant is locking up his office door and hustling down the hall. She pauses when she sees me.
“What’s happening?” I shout over the noise.
Just then, the blaring stops, and a voice comes from the speakers instead. “All children must return to your rooms. All staff are to proceed directly to the main ballroom unless you’ve been instructed otherwise.”
The message repeats two more times, and the alarm sounds again for a brief moment before eventually cutting off. Tasha didn’t stick around to answer my question. If I had to guess, I’d say she had been warned this was going to happen.
I head downstairs amid whispers and murmurs of speculation. It seems like I’m not the only one who’s surprised by another impromptu meeting so quickly. The others have an advantage though, they’re privy to what happened at the last one.
All the chatter slows as we draw closer to the ballroom. I look over my shoulder and notice a security officer standing at the door to the school wing, making sure no one heads back in that direction.
I search for Evan in the crowd once I make it into the ballroom. He’s so tall, he usually sticks out, but there are so many people, I’m having a hard time spotting him. I’m jostled to the back of the room and decide it’s better to just stay put than to try and fight the wave of people.
With my back to the wall, I continue to search
the crowd for Evan and Griffin or for a clue as to what the heck is going on. I’m sure this is something they would have mentioned to me if they knew it was happening, so it mustn’t have been planned for very long.
I think back to the voice saying to ‘proceed to the main ballroom unless you’ve been instructed otherwise,’ so some people must know what’s going on.
For all the people milling about, the room is fairly quiet, but the noise drops further when Griffin and Evan emerge from a curtained panel. No wonder I couldn’t spot them. Evan’s eyes search the back of the room, like he knows right where to find me. I tilt my head to the side, mouthing, “What’s going on?” but he doesn’t give me any indication that he understood.
Griffin moves forward, his eyes scanning the room, never landing on me. I notice his coat is unbuttoned, which is unusual, and even the top two buttons of his shirt are undone. He looks disheveled. What the heck has happened in the last few hours? I lean to the left when someone blocks my view, and that’s when I notice Griffin’s hands. The rings he always wears are missing, except for the black carbon ring I put on his finger this morning.
The doors to my left snap closed with a thud that vibrates through the large space. Everyone’s heads swivel as they look around, including me.
“There have been some recent developments.” Evan doesn’t need to raise his voice to be heard. The room is eerily silent. “You are all aware that the drug the kids are calling Wet has been circulating at the school, it’s also in Bakersville, and more than likely in the other schools as well. This drug is being soaked in blood and given to unblooded vampires with the hope it will elicit bloodlust when they transition.” Evan pauses. “It’s true the organization HERO is behind this in an attempt to increase the divide between humans and supernaturals, and to prove that supernaturals are too dangerous to be mixing with humans.”
I take in everything he’s saying, but I already knew this, so I start to relax. They’re just letting everyone know what’s going on, like Evan mentioned yesterday when we got back to the school.
What I didn’t expect was for the people around me to start looking at me as if I had something to do with this. A few people shuffle away from me, while others cast suspicious glares in my direction. I pretend not to be affected and keep my eyes trained on the front.
Griffin steps up to Evan’s side, and his eyes are now on me as if he knew where I was the entire time. He probably did.
Griffin
Quinn is standing among the staff, her posture stiff after some of the people near her distanced themselves. I knew this would happen, knew that the timing of her arrival at the school and revealing that HERO is behind this wouldn’t go unnoticed. One whisper leads to another until murmurs of doubt and distrust are circling the room.
“What we find most unnerving, however, is the fact that at least two of our own were willing to work with the humans to accomplish this,” Evan continues. More of the staff sneak looks at Quinn. She fidgets but keeps her chin up. If the room was full of humans, her façade would be well constructed, but her peers at Havenfall are predators. The uptake in her pulse and the anxious energy she’s exuding can easily be misread as signs of guilt and responsibility.
An eager voice chimes in from the middle of the room. “Who is the second?” The shifter who spoke up looks directly at Quinn as if he thinks he already knows the answer and he’s waiting for her to be called out.
This is one time I would have been more than happy to be proven wrong. She’s probably not going to be very happy with me in a few moments, but it’s unavoidable. I’ve already made it clear her safety is my number one priority.
“Ms. Shaw,” I call, working hard to keep my voice even. Instinct tells me to rush over to her side and snarl at anyone who casts her a wary glance. Quinn’s eyes widen as if me addressing her was the last thing she expected. My timing could have been better. It almost seems like I’m calling her out as one of the perpetrators, but the truth is, I just can’t have her among the group anymore. It’s a hazard to everyone’s health around her. “Would you join us please?” I add, but it doesn’t curb the whispers in the room. Damnit, I should have let Evan answer the shifter’s question first. Now everyone really thinks she’s involved.
“I didn’t have anything to do with this,” Quinn snarls, showing me part of the reason I can’t help but love this woman.
“I know, sweets, bad timing on my part, but I promise it was necessary to save lives.” I don’t mention who was in danger. She gives me a glare, then stomps past everyone as if she doesn’t give a shit that half of them were just looking at her as if she’s a traitor. I reach out and pull her to my side.
Evan gives me a side-eyed look over her head. He had more confidence in the people he considers friends and colleagues. He didn’t think Quinn would be an immediate suspect. Too bad I was right.
“Quinn isn’t and never was involved beyond what was done to her to make it seem like she was,” Evan tells the group.
After finding Quinn’s blood on the drugs, it was clear we needed to address how that could have happened, or people might begin to suspect she was involved. I don’t give a shit what they think, but keeping it a secret could risk her safety, and if anyone found out, they might conclude she was working with HERO. The fact that she’s human makes several of our kind already mistrustful.
“Most of you know Quinn was attacked by a student several weeks ago. That student was involved in distributing the drugs to the kids here at Havenfall and working directly with HERO. At the time, we weren’t aware of that. We believed it to be random and opportunistic. Since then, we’ve learned about the drugs and her involvement. Rand helped Michelle escape, hoping to avoid her implicating him and leaking information about the drugs.”
Evan doesn’t tell everyone we suspect Quinn was targeted for her blood specifically, even though there are a few reasons why I believe that to be true.
The first and most likely one would be to give enough of her human blood to the kids so they would come to recognize it, crave it. Being a human would make her easy prey, and having a human attacked by a bloodlusting vampire at a supernatural school would definitely raise some alarm about the safety of humans among us, and that’s exactly what HERO wants.
The second is more far-fetched and stems simply from her being mine. I’m trying to convince myself it’s unlikely, but I’m still having a hard time not assuming everything around me ends in ruin when that’s how I’ve felt for more years than I care to remember.
I’m coming to terms with Iris’ death not being my fault, but I’ve blamed myself forever, so it’s easy to think anything bad that happens to Quinn would be my fault too.
“Last night, we located Michelle in Bakersville. She had possession of drugs and Quinn’s blood,” Evan intones. Quinn turns her head abruptly to look at him. We didn’t tell her why we were so late in coming back last night. I don’t think she would be keen knowing I wanted to kill a seventeen-year-old girl. The only thing that stopped me was knowing Quinn wouldn’t approve, even after learning how deeply involved in everything the girl was. Michelle wanted power and was willing to do anything to get it.
More suspicious glances are shared among the staff before they turn their questioning eyes back toward Quinn. I want to tell them turning their gazes inward would be more useful than the hateful glares thrown at Quinn. If anything, she is the innocent in this. She came into our world with the intention of making things better for everyone, and she’s already proven her motive was true.
I’m very good at masking my emotions, it’s become second nature to me, and I’m almost reluctant to let everyone feel the full scope of my anger, but I let my shields drop.
The wave of rage that emanates from me can be felt like a physical force. I let everyone get a look at the creature they’ve long suspected me of being, at the potent fury that simmers just beneath the surface of my civility. “Do not forget you are all here because I allow it.”
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.
Havenfall Harbor Book Two: Paranormal Ménage Romance MFM Page 27
