Scorched Ice (Fire and Ice #3)(30)

“There is no saving them if they’re with The Commission. They don’t know any better, and they’re not willing to learn differently. They’ll kill you before you could begin to convince them they’re wrong. Most of them have probably been raised by The Commission. All they know and believe is what has been drilled into their heads over the years. Your heart is one of the things I love most about you, but this belief that you may be able to save one of them is wrong and could get you killed. I can’t live without you.”

The rest of her anger faded away at those last five words. “You’re too charming for your own good, or mine.”

He replaced his finger on her mouth with his lips. Unable to resist the heat of his tongue sliding over her lips, she opened her mouth to his demanding invasion before he reluctantly pulled back. “Never.”

He carried her the rest of the way out of the room just as Dani, Chris, and Melissa arrived in the small snack area. Quinn turned to look beyond them to the stairwell. She didn’t see anyone else standing there. For now, her battle hadn’t attracted too much attention. Either people were too frightened to come check out the noise, or the glass doors to the second floor provided better sound protection than she would have guessed.

“Where are Cassie and Devon?” Julian inquired.

“Taking care of cameras, witnesses, and hotel security,” Chris replied. “It comes in handy to have two people with mind control when someone blows out the electricity to a hotel, and it sounds like World War III is going on upstairs.”

So much for her theory that the doors offered decent soundproofing. The noise of her fight, and probably the flashing lights, had scared everyone away.

“Is that one of The Commission?” Dani inquired, her gaze focused on the Hunter’s body.

“He was a Hunter,” Quinn replied. “I tried to convince him I didn’t want to hurt him, but he wouldn’t believe me.”

“So I broke his neck,” Julian said as simply as if he’d said the sky was blue. “No one is going to harm her and live.”

“Julian,” she whispered.

“It’s true. We need to take care of the body.”

“I’ll, ah… I’ll get it,” Chris said when Julian stared pointedly at him.

“You can put me down,” Quinn said as Chris slipped by her and into the game room.

“You still have glass embedded in your feet,” Julian replied.

“I’ll be fine. You should probably help Chris.”

“No.”

“Julian—”

“No, Quinn.” His hands settled firmly into the small of her back as he held her closer. “I’m not letting you endure unnecessary pain. You’ve done that too much in your life.”

She bit back her reply when he gave her an unrelenting stare. He would not let her go. Chris reemerged from the game room with the Hunter’s body draped over his shoulder.

“We have to get out of here,” Melissa said. “If there are Commission and Hunters in this place, we could well be outnumbered.”

“Let’s go,” Julian replied.





CHAPTER 12


Julian winced as he pulled another piece of glass from Quinn’s foot and threw it into the trashcan beside him. The others stood around him, most of them trying to keep as much distance from him as they could within the RV. His fury mounted with every shard he pulled from her flesh. He’d already cleaned all the glass from her hands and her left foot while she’d consumed three of the pints of blood they kept stashed onboard.

“My feet will push the glass out and heal on their own,” Quinn said, not for the first time.

“This will help them heal faster,” he replied without looking up.

If he saw the pain in her eyes, he would lose the thin thread of control he maintained right now. He had almost lost her when Earl had taken her, and today she’d been attacked by a Hunter because he had been foolish enough to run off and she’d followed him. She easily could have overtaken the Hunter and killed him, but no, his Quinn had tried to reason with the bastard.

Not her fault. It’s yours! He reminded himself.

He’d caused this. She was his to protect and love, and he’d put her at risk by not thinking about her and what she would do when he charged after that man. If it had been a trap, he could have left her vulnerable to attack. He’d spend the rest of his life trying to make this up to her.

The tweezers trembled in his grasp. He took a minute to steady himself before pulling another splinter of glass from her sliced and bleeding feet. Finally, he removed the last broken piece and wiped her foot off with a towel. His hand lingered on her slender calf before he released his grip on her and rose.

Quinn’s hands rested on his stomach when he pulled aside the curtain covering the window of the RV to reveal the night beyond. Two police cars were still parked in front of the hotel. Their sirens were off, but their lazily spinning lights flashed red and blue across the asphalt. Two police officers walked out the front door and toward the cars. Julian’s gaze scanned the parking lot as the last police car pulled away from the front door.

Devon and Cassie had managed to confiscate all the camera footage of what had occurred and changed the memories of any who may have witnessed something. They’d disposed of the body and covered their tracks the best they could, but there had been no hiding the damage done to the arcade room. Someone had discovered it soon after they’d left the hotel and the police were called in.