Scorched Ice (Fire and Ice #3)(24)
Julian dropped his feet onto the floor and turned in the lounge chair. “Humans are all batshit crazy to begin with. They’ll probably think it’s some kind of a weird club or dating site.”
“They’d think it was a dating site,” Devon said.
Rising to his feet, Julian stretched his back. The aching muscles there eased somewhat as Dani squealed. A rush of water came over the side of the pool when she plummeted beneath the surface. On the other side of the net, Cassie, Melissa, and Chris slapped hands. Dani came up sputtering water and wiping it away from her eyes.
“Maybe you could electrify the water,” Quinn suggested to her. “And knock them on their asses.”
“Tempting,” Dani muttered as she waded through the water to retrieve the ball.
“That would be cheating!” Chris declared from the other side of the net.
“Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure Cassie used some telekinesis or something on that last ball,” Dani retorted.
Cassie smiled sweetly. “Who, me?”
“Yes, you!” Lou accused as he took the ball from Dani and tossed it over the net to Melissa.
The door on the other side of the room opened, and a man entered the pool area. Julian watched him as he strolled toward one of the lounge chairs across the way. The man draped his towel over the back of the chair before kicking off his sandals. His eyes skimmed over the pool; they landed on Lou who stood motionless in the pool, his gaze locked on the man. The color drained from Lou’s face so fast Julian thought he might pass out.
Julian frowned at Lou, but he didn’t have time to try to puzzle it out before the ball smacked Lou in the face and blood exploded from his nose.
CHAPTER 10
“Lou!” Quinn cried and dove toward him. “Are you okay?”
She struggled to ignore the tantalizing scent of his blood as Lou clasped his nose and looked at her from watery eyes. Quinn’s fangs pricked as hunger blazed through her body, searing her veins. With everything that had happened, it had been a few days since she’d fed and her body reminded her of that now. She took a step away from Lou.
She never saw Julian wade into the pool, jeans and all, until his hands slid under Lou’s armpits and Julian plucked him from the water. Turning, he handed him off to Devon who knelt outside of the pool. Devon helped him over to a chair while Luther shoved a towel at Lou. Taking the towel, Lou pressed it against his nose to try to halt the flow of blood.
Quinn hurried to get away from the blood spreading through the water and rushed up the steps after Dani. Once out of the pool, Quinn hung back from the scent of Lou’s blood, unwilling to get any closer.
“I’m sorry!” Melissa said as she waded through the water and climbed out of the pool behind Quinn. “I didn’t realize you weren’t looking.”
Lou grasped Devon’s wrist when he knelt to examine him. “That man,” he said in a stuffy voice, “Commission. He was Commission.”
Beside Devon, Julian went completely still. Ice crept down Quinn’s spine when the full implication of Lou’s words sank in. A member of The Commission was here.
Julian snarled and spun away from Lou. He was halfway across the poolroom and the door the man had entered through before she blinked. The man must have fled already as he was no longer in the room with them.
“No!” Quinn gasped, knowing he would have no care for himself, not if he could destroy more of those who had imprisoned him.
Quinn didn’t look back at the others as she raced across the cool, gritty floor after him. She was halfway to the door, still swinging shut from Julian passing through it, when Devon overtook her and flew out the door after Julian.
Endless seconds crept by before Quinn crashed into the door. She shoved it away from her when she plunged into the hallway beyond. Her eyes flew over the hallways as she searched for any hint of Julian or Devon within the hall, but they were nowhere to be seen. The eerie silence that greeted her made her want to scream just so she could hear something amid the walls stretching out to her right and left.
“Where are they?” Cassie asked from behind her.
She glanced at Cassie over her shoulder. “I don’t know.”
Quinn scented the air, but the stringent chlorine odor of the pool clinging to her blocked out any hint of Julian. Following her instincts, she turned and raced down the hall on her left. Cassie’s feet didn’t make a sound on the carpet, but Quinn sensed her behind her as they ran down the hall.
“Please don’t let him do anything stupid,” Quinn pleaded to no one in particular when she turned a corner. She had a feeling that might be like asking the world to stop spinning.
She came to a halt when she realized the hall split off into four different directions. One hall led to the main entranceway, the others toward more rooms. “That man was fleeing Devon and Julian. He’ll most likely try to get out of this hotel or toward people,” Cassie said.
Quinn nodded her agreement before turning and running toward the main entranceway of the hotel. Before she could step onto the white tile floor marking the entrance, she stopped abruptly. She stepped back from the sun spilling through the glass doors to her right. The people in the lobby turned to look at her, but she ignored the disapproving and lecherous stares from some of them as they inspected her and Cassie in their bathing suits.
“They didn’t go outside,” Quinn said. “Julian would have followed him into the sun if he had. Our bathing suits are getting enough attention; imagine what the smoking man running across the parking lot would get.”