I follow Evan out, but just watch from the alcove of my door. Evan examines the knob as if he didn’t already know it was broken. “Wonder how that happened. You hear anything else?” He rises to his full height and peers down at Letty.
“Nah, thought it might have just been someone talking shit, or something that got blown out of proportion until I noticed the door,” Letty answers smoothly.
“Well, good catch, Letty.” She preens under Evan’s praise. “Come to me if you hear anything else.” He leans in a little closer. “We think it’s just kids trying to freak her out. Get her to leave.” He twists his lips in a wry grin. “Humans.” The way he says it makes it sound like Quinn is the problem. That even if the crap she’s dealing with did scare her, it would be because she’s human and can’t handle supernaturals. Letty runs the tips of her fingers over the side of her pants, fidgeting.
Evan’s eyes don’t miss the movement either. “That’s is probably why she asked to meet with Stone and me just now.” Evan dips his chin in the direction of my room. Letty’s eyes are drawn back to where I’m still standing. “Shaw knocked on the door a few minutes before you,” Evan adds, using Quinn’s last name to keep the appearance of unfamiliarity.
“Let me know if you need anything. I’m still pretty friendly with some of the older students. They might talk to me,” Letty offers.
Evan shrugs and lets out a sigh. “Kids have been trying to sneak over here long before Shaw showed up. I better go talk to her.” Evan manages to make it sound like he cares on a professional level, but not too much. “I almost forgot, can you get someone on shift to change the knob. I have a feeling my night will go much smoother if that’s already managed while we handle this.”
“Sure, I’ll take care of it myself.” Letty hooks her thumbs in her front pockets. “You don’t think she did this herself though, right?”
“It’s a doorknob, most of us don’t even bother with locking our doors.” Evan plays it up like he can’t image why anyone would bother Quinn, or her door.
“Maybe she’s looking for an excuse to quit,” Letty suggests, and her heart gives a heavy pound with the proclamation. It’s fairly clear Letty doesn’t want Quinn here, now we just have to see if she has anything to do with trying to get her to leave.
“No one is forcing her to stay.” Evan shakes his head and lumbers back to my door. “Thanks for taking care of the door, Letty. I’ll see you at the morning meeting.”
I keep my eyes on the young shifter examining Quinn’s door for a moment longer as Evan enters my room, then follow my friend inside.
Quinn
I want to linger near the door, but that would be a clear invasion of privacy. I head back to the kitchen after grabbing the bowl for the popcorn from Evan. I can’t see Letty, but I do hear her ask Griffin if he’s busy. He doesn’t even respond to her as I make my way back to the get the popcorn.
I make sure to take my time in the kitchen, but run out of reasons to stall pretty quickly. When I pass the door, it’s mostly closed, and I don’t see Griffin. I turn my attention back to the now empty living room. Evan must be out there too. I wonder if there’s something going on.
Unsure where to sit, or what to do, I perch on the edge of the middle cushion on the couch. I try to get reinterested in the movie, but my gaze keeps being drawn to the door. What are they doing out there?
I sit up straight when Evan stalks into the living room with a scowl on his face. “Did you talk to anyone about what happened last night? Alice? Anyone else?”
“No, I didn’t even see her today.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Evan tells me, and then faces Griffin. “I know your monosyllabic ass didn’t say anything either.” Griffin shrugs as if to confirm Evan’s words.
“Wasn’t that Letty? Why are you asking about Alice?”
Evan drops back into his seat next to me. “Yeah, that was her. I think you need to tell me a little more about why you think Letty doesn’t like you.”
Griffin
It seems my old friend has been holding out on me. He knows something about Letty and Quinn that I don’t. I’m tempted to demand someone tell me, but instead I take a deep breath and return to my seat, figuring I can glean the information from them as they speak. First step in trying not to be an asshole.
“I already told you, I can tell by the way she looks at me.”
“How does she look at you?” I settle back, even though I’m already impatient for answers.
“Like my existence irks her, like I shouldn’t be breathing her air. Why are we talking about this?” Quinn looks between Evan and me. I raise my brows at Evan, waiting for him to reply.
“Letty mentioned you were having issues with your room, so if you didn’t tell anyone, and we didn’t, how would she know?”
Quinn bites her plump bottom lip. Her eyes are lowered, darting along the floor. “I don’t think I said anything.” Her back goes ramrod straight. “Wait, I called your office.” She points at me. “I mentioned I wanted to speak with you about switching rooms.” Her head tilts to the side. “That was before I knew you were the director.” She almost growls the last word. I can see a change of topic is in order.
“Who was it?” Evan questions.
“I don’t know, but it wasn’t Millie.” Quinn tosses her hands in the air.
“If it wasn’t Millie, then it would have to be Trisha, right?” Evan looks at me over Quinn’s head.
“Yeah, I got an email about it this afternoon,” I admit, not looking at Quinn. “I doubt she would have said anything to anyone else.” I pull my phone out of my pocket and send her a quick text.
Me: Have you talked to anyone about Ms. Shaw’s request?
“What are you doing?” Quinn leans a little closer, then thinks better of it and adjusts herself.
“I’m asking her.” I keep my eyes on the phone, waiting for the three little dots to appear.
Trisha: No, sir. Is there someone I should speak to about it?
Me: No.
“She hasn’t told anyone you requested a room switch, and she doesn’t know about anything else.”
“So how does Letty know?” Evan narrows his eyes.
“Good question,” I concur.
“I’m not gonna lie, Letty was the first person I thought of after the blood, but it just doesn’t feel threatening enough to be her,” Quinn reasons.
“If it’s not her, she knows something about it. There’s no other explanation.” Evan tips his head back and glares up at the ceiling.
“Unless she really did hear someone talking about it, the person who actually did it,” I muse, offering up another possibility.
Evan slowly lowers his head and gives a slight nod. “You’re right. She seemed kind of dodgy about where she heard it. I was thinking it was because she was lying. Maybe she’s protecting someone.”
Quinn
The fresh bowl of popcorn I made lies on the table, abandoned after Letty’s interruption. I’m still not convinced she has anything to do with the stuff going on, but Griffin and Evan both think she knows something. I can’t say I’m all that surprised.
The movie is still playing, but it has to be near the end. I’ve watched Denzel kill about fifteen people. My favorite was when he crushed a guy’s throat with a book. I haven’t really followed along with much of the plot though, considering sitting between Griffin and Evan would be distracting on the best of days. It’s getting to that awkward stage, however, where I don’t know if I should excuse myself to head into the bedroom or just stay here with them.
Deciding I’m staying, I turn a little to the side and curl my knees closer to Griffin, making sure my feet still hang off the cushion. Might as well get comfortable. The slight shift brings my back closer to Evan’s side, and it’s like having my own personal furnace with the amount of heat he’s kicking out.
I let out a heavy breath, I’ve missed having people around. After I left the apartment I had through my last few years of college an
d moved back home, I didn’t really see any of my friends. It was one of the few downfalls of moving so far away from home for school. But being far enough away that my parents couldn’t just pop in anytime they wanted to was well worth it.
“I just realized tomorrow is Saturday. You have a meeting scheduled for Saturday morning?” The thought pops out of my mouth as I begin to wonder when they will leave for the night.
“Yeah, we usually do it Fridays, an end of the week recap, but I rescheduled when I wasn’t sure we would be back this morning.” Evan gives a light scratch to the scruff on his jawline.
“You guys sure take security pretty seriously.” I think back to when I saw the gun mounted in his UTV.
“Not seriously enough apparently,” Evan mutters, and gives me a pointed look.
“Looked pretty serious to me the first day. You had a gun on your hip and one mounted in the UTV.” I haven’t noticed him with a gun since.
“I was on patrol that day,” Evan responds, as if it explains everything.
“To keep people out?” I’ve been wondering this since I got here. The kids all seem pretty content, at least the ones I’ve dealt with.
“Well, yeah, we monitor that too, but the stun gun and tranq are for the kids’ safety. Not all of them are happy to be here, especially at first. It’s easier to subdue them without risking them getting hurt.”
It seems extreme to me. If that kind of thing happened at a human school, you’d have a lawsuit on your hands. But we’re talking about supernaturals here, and I can’t even pretend to understand their strength. I blink a few times. “I hope that doesn’t happen often.”
“It doesn’t,” Griffin chimes in.
“Most of the time the kid is just scared, confused. That’s why using the stun gun is better, it’s not a show of dominance then or a challenge,” Evan reasons.
I mull over his words and see the logic. “What about outsiders trying to get in? Any issue there?”
“Once, but I think it was more out of curiosity than malice, a couple of kids looking for a thrill.” Evan shrugs one heavy shoulder.
“That’s good, I guess. I’ve seen some of those Human Eternal Rights Org videos.” I shudder, disgusted with the entire organization that says they only want rights for humans and performs nonviolent protests and informative meetings, but the evidence speaks for itself. They’re completely inciting in their methods.
“HERO my ass.” Evan rolls his eyes. “Bunch of scared assholes that have too much money and time on their hands.”
“There is, and always will be, a faction that fears what they don’t understand and can’t control,” Griffin states pragmatically.
Evan lays his warm hand on my shoulder and gives me a light squeeze. “We’re not trying to rip on humans,” he assures me, his eyes serious.
“I’m the one who asked. And I get it, believe me, I get it. Let’s just say my parents don’t share the same open-mindedness I do. That’s why this job is so important to me. I want to educate them, show them that we can all live together. I mean, we’ve been doing it forever, right? You guys just had to hide before, but you shouldn’t have to, not anymore.”
Griffin peers over at me, and his eyes are lowered, making him look slightly suspicious. I wonder if it was a mistake mentioning my parents and their beliefs. “It’s not just the humans that need enlightening. Our own traditions are stifling us.”
Intrigued by Griffin’s response, I ask one of the questions I couldn’t find any information about in my textbooks. “Have supernaturals always got along, been a united front?”
Evan lets out a chuff of laughter. “No, not if you believe the old tales.”
I put my feet back on the ground so I don’t need to twist to see Evan. “There aren’t any actual accounts of supernatural history available to us. Just a bunch of speculation and old, exaggerated stories that people have chosen to assume are facts.”
The science of supernaturals is as heavily debated as the origins of humans. If God is your higher power, it would reasonably seem that he created vampires and shifters alike. Others think they’re just an evolutionary offshoot of humans. Either way, they are here, and so are we.
I doubt supernaturals would have ever let themselves be known to humans. But the advancements in DNA and the medical field made that near impossible.
Michael Bishop’s murder was the catalyst. He was found dead in a cabin, and his injuries were presumed to be from an animal, a bear, but the DNA found on the scene wasn’t like anything that had been tested before.
Fast forward a few years and DNA sequencing had come even further. Add in one pathologist who was a little more curious than the others, and you have the first ever shifter discovery.
“Yeah, that probably won’t change for a while. We hand down our stories, there’s some information.” Evan waves his hands behind us, indicating the books. I want to know about them even more now. “But each pack, each clan, all has their own histories.”
“So, what brought two groups together?” I would love to know everything, but I’m dying to know how they learned to get along, to see if it will somehow help forge a future where we all flourish.
“A mutual adversary,” Griffin says plainly. I half wince, already assuming I know who that adversary is—humans.
“Well, unless we’re about to have an alien invasion, I don’t think that will work for humans and supernaturals.” I lean back against the sofa and fold my hands together, popping my knuckles. I stop myself after the first pop, it used to drive my mother crazy, so I would do it just to piss her off and it became a habit.
Griffin reaches over and pulls my top hand off the other. “But that’s why we have you,” he murmurs, pretending all the hope he’s putting into me creating a better bond between the species isn’t a big deal, and silently telling me to stop cracking my knuckles. It makes me want to do it again, maybe to bother him, or maybe so he’ll touch me again.
Chapter 19
Evan
Quinn’s eyes keep darting to the books on Griffin’s shelf. I bet I just did the bastard a huge favor. She’ll probably never want to leave now. That’s fine with me, I prefer his room to mine anyway, not to mention the solace that comes from being with others. Even if it isn’t a true pack, the companionship is appreciated.
Many of the adult shifters, teachers and staff alike, have migrated to rooming together as friends, family, or lovers. It’s one of the few things I miss about my pack.
When I told Quinn we didn’t have any other rooms, I wasn’t being exactly truthful. There are empty rooms, but those aren’t next to Griffin’s, and I don’t think he would be happy if she moved. Hell, I’m pretty sure he’d be happy if she just moved right in here. Again, not that I blame him, but he better be making room for me too.
My thoughts of what our days could look like, what our nights would be like if exactly that happened, flit through my mind. I steal a glance at Quinn to see if she can sense the pheromones that just burst from me.
Her nose twitches and she wiggles her lips. I bite the inside of my cheek, a grin tugging at my mouth. Humans ignore so much. Griff turns his head slowly and gives me a droll look. We’ve been watching TV for the last several hours. Probably a record for the both of us, but neither of us want to leave, so here we sit.
I tilt my head toward Quinn as an explanation. What can I say? She’s sitting next to me and I like it. Griff’s head bobs once. An acknowledgement, he gets it. Quinn turns and looks up at me briefly. Her eyelids are heavy, but she hasn’t left to go to bed. I think she likes it right where she is too. A few times tonight, I’ve scented the barest hint of arousal, but it’s usually covered quickly with the washed-out smell of her embarrassment. Which is an indicator in itself of what she’s feeling.
If she was a supernatural, she might act on the attraction, or at least give us the cues that we should, depending on her dominance level, but she’s too human for that. I quite like this little dance, the chase speaks to my inner animal.
I scrub my palms over my thighs, trying to get my muscles to relax. I feel like I’m one movement away from jumping out of my skin. Quinn lets her head fall back against the couch, then it’s a fight to keep her eyes open. The seconds between her blinks extend until her eyes fall shut and don’t open again, then her shoulders relax. Her breathing deepens almost immediately as well, and when I look over, Griff’s eyes are already on her too.
Neither of us do anything but observe her. If either of us tried to move her, she would wake right up, then we wouldn’t get to watch her chest rise and fall, wouldn’t be able to study the little freckles across her cheeks.
“I accept your proposition,” Griff declares, keeping his voice low so as not to disturb Quinn.
I meet his eyes. “Was there ever a question you might not?”
“Not truthfully. I’ve wanted her since the moment I heard her heartbeat. But I wish there was.” Griffin’s eyes grow darker as he gazes down at her. The guilt that eats away at his insides is as clear as the longing in his tone. It’s obvious that if he could walk away from her, he would.
“Griff, we make a good team, always have,” I tell him, only because I know he’s worried that he’s going to hurt her or be the cause of her being hurt, which I know isn’t true. Not really anyway. He may have to learn when to keep his mouth shut, but he would never do anything that would actually jeopardize her.
Now we just have to convince her to be with us. I don’t want to change anything about Quinn, but it would be a lot easier if she weren’t human.
“She has no idea what she’s in for.” I run the tip of my finger gently down her nose and cupid’s bow, just barely stopping myself before I touch her lips.
“How should we handle it?” When I look over, Griffin’s hand is balled into a fist. For a moment, I think he’s upset that I touched Quinn, then I realize he’s just trying to keep himself from doing the same.
Havenfall Harbor: Book One Page 20
