Scorched Ice (Fire and Ice #3)(32)
“No, I’m not,” she replied.
“You can barely walk.”
She lifted her feet and wiggled her toes as she bit into her peanut butter cup. “Almost as good as new.”
“Are you going to walk into the hotel in your bathing suit? All of your clothes are inside.”
“I’m sure there are some clothes in here I can wear.”
Julian cursed; he nearly ripped the curtain from the window. Devon adjusted Cassie, settling her into the passenger seat before rising to his feet. Walking over to them, he rested a hand on Julian’s shoulder.
“She’s right,” Devon said. “They don’t know what she is, which means they won’t be expecting the amount of power she can unleash if it becomes necessary.”
“I’m trying to keep her from having to do that!” Julian spat at him.
Devon glanced at Cassie before looking to him and Quinn. “But you can’t. Birth placed her in the middle of this battle, more so than either one of us. She is a part of this, and so is everyone else in this RV. This is their history, their people. The Commission has only ever been our enemies, but they created the Hunter line.”
“To let her go in there—”
“You’re not letting me do anything. This is my choice. I’m not asking your permission for it,” Quinn interjected.
Her irises leapt with fire when he met her gaze. Red filtered out through the whites of her eyes like little bolts of lightning. It truly was amazing and unnerving to see. Melissa and Chris moved further away from her when her power seeped out to sizzle in the air around her.
“You are my mate,” she said. “That does not give you the right to control my life, just as it doesn’t give me the right to do the same to you.”
Julian almost punched the side of the RV, but he knew this was a battle he wouldn’t win.
***
Quinn winced and then smoothed her face out to smile at him while she took another step forward in Melissa’s sneakers. The sneakers were too big on her, as were the jeans and sweater she wore. They made her appear far smaller and more vulnerable than she was. He wanted to pick her up, carry her back to the RV, and lock her inside, but she’d never allow it.
“Are you going to be able to run if we have to retreat quickly?” he inquired.
“Pain won’t stop me when our lives are on the line,” she replied.
Turning away from her, he focused on the front of the quiet hotel. Early night had slipped into midnight and then onto the predawn hours before they’d emerged from the RV. It would be easier for them to discover information about the man from The Commission and the Hunter when there were fewer people around.
Luther, Lou, and Dani stood on the other side of Devon. Over the years, the three of them had had the biggest contact with The Commission before they’d broken free of it. They may be able to recognize a name on the guest registry. Otherwise, it was going to take a lot of searching through the rooms of all those staying here.
Tucking Quinn’s arm through his, he kept her against his side as he walked toward the front doors with Devon at his other side. The others had all agreed to stay in the RV to keep watch, for now, but if this took too long, there would be no keeping Cassie back.
Luther opened one of the glass doors to the hotel and stepped aside to let everyone else enter. Stepping into the lobby, Julian’s gaze was drawn to the darkened restaurant on his right. He stopped to examine the room within.
The scent of human food lingered in the air, but he detected no heartbeats from anyone who may be inside. He stepped away from the restaurant and glanced over at where Devon and Luther stood on the other side of the lobby, staring down the hallway leading toward the pool.
“It’s all clear,” Devon said and moved away from the hall.
Julian’s gaze ran over the lobby with its white walls and the logo of the hotel on the wall behind the desk. In the dim light, their shadows danced over the tile floor. Power had been restored to the building since they’d left, but the lights in the lobby were lowered for the night. Devon’s light footsteps were the only sound as he walked to the left to examine the hallway stretching past the desk and leading toward more rooms. Julian had expected to encounter the nightshift employees, but no one sat in the chair behind the desk.
“No one down there,” Devon whispered when he stepped closer to them once more.
Julian kept a firm hold on Quinn as he strode behind the empty desk to examine the monitors there. The others all filed in behind the desk and spread out around him. All of the monitors were black; the security system was still down from whatever Devon and Cassie had done to it earlier.
“That’s a good sign,” Devon murmured.
Julian turned his attention to the backroom when he caught a whiff of floral perfume seconds before something clattered to the ground. His eyes narrowed and his fangs extended as he prepared to tear the throat out of whoever was back there. A low moan and grunt reached him when he stepped closer to the door. Beneath the flowery scent, he caught the musky aroma of sex. His fangs retracted as the tension in him eased, and he turned away from the room.
“Guess we know how they pass the time at night,” Luther murmured.
Lou slipped by Devon to pull the chair up to the computer behind the desk. Lou’s nimble fingers flew over the keyboard while he worked to navigate through the hotel’s computer system. Julian glanced away from the screen as a loud cry filtered from the backroom. Dani was beginning to resemble a tomato as she kept her gaze resolutely focused on the screen. Lou remained completely oblivious as he typed.