Scorched Ice (Fire and Ice #3)(66)

“You’re not cute.”

“Now we both know that is a lie.”

Her eyes narrowed, but he saw the telltale upward twitch of her lips. “Julian—”

“Listen to me. This will work, and I have complete faith in you. You’ve taken from me and others plenty of times, and you’ve given it back without killing us.”

“You could bust down the door and something could happen to break my concentration and the flow. What then?”

“We could all die tonight. Life is a crapshoot. We’re going to have to roll with this one, and I’m betting on you.”

“That was the corniest line you’ve ever uttered,” she muttered.

“Some of my lines landed you.”

“Believe me, it wasn’t the lines.”

“I always knew you couldn’t resist my extremely good looks.”

“I’m not normally attracted to arrogant, hotheaded blonds with a Superman complex.”

“Not Superman, God complex.”

“You’re an ass.”

“That too.” Resting his hands on her hips, he gave them a playful wiggle. “It may have been corny, but I meant what I said. I believe in you. I know you can do this.”

Groaning, she stepped away from him.

“I don’t like to admit it, and fortunately it’s not often that I have to, but he’s right. You can do this,” Chris said to her.

“See,” Julian said. “I’m right.”

“I doubt you’ll get many volunteers for this,” Quinn replied. “They all saw what I did to those two men.”

“You’ve got me,” Chris said.

“You said never again after I took from you when we first met with the vamps in Arizona,” Quinn reminded him.

“I was wrong. It happens once in a while.”

“Chris—”

“It’s fine.”

Julian rested his hand on her arm. “I meant what I said. I have complete faith in you, but I won’t push you into this if you truly feel you can’t handle it. We will find another way in.”

Quinn glanced between him and all the others gathered around them. Many of them were watching her, though they were far enough away that they most likely hadn’t heard their conversation.

“Some of them died on those mines,” Quinn whispered. “All of them are scared, but they’re all still here, willing to fight and willing to work together because they believe we can make it better.”

“They are,” Julian agreed.

Quinn’s eyes came back to his, and he saw the determination in their golden depths. “No matter how much I hate this idea, I won’t turn away from that.”





CHAPTER 24


Vern stepped up to his left side and rested his hands beside Julian on the door. “Make sure you don’t touch me,” Julian said quietly, and Vern nodded.

Julian had a feeling Quinn would be able to spread her power beyond him and into Vern, but he didn’t want any of them to know she could be capable of such a thing. He preferred for them to believe he was the only one she could funnel her power through because of their bond. So far they all seemed trustworthy enough, but the temptation of harnessing her power for themselves may be too much for a vampire to withstand.

Most likely, Quinn would drain them dry if they tried to capture her and use her to do what they wanted, but if someone with mind control got hold of her again, she could be bent to their will. He would do everything to keep her protected from something like that happening again. Including taking the chance of not being able to get into this place by keeping her power centralized only on him.

Quinn stood on his other side, one hand squeezed in to rest against the door, the other on his shoulder. He saw no cameras around the building, but he had no doubt The Commission was somehow watching them. No doubt they’d seen Quinn survive a near staking and turn their fellow dickheads into ash. They’d tried to kill her before. After seeing what she was capable of, they wouldn’t go for the kill again. They would capture her for their own uses if they could.

He’d ordered all of those who had volunteered for this to stay around them, touching each other in one way or another. Melissa stood against his back with Lou at her shoulder and Chris on her other side. It was the first time Melissa had willingly touched Chris in days, and Julian could feel the tension in her rigid body, but she didn’t try to move away from him.

Almost all of the vampires had volunteered to help with this. A feat he never would have considered possible ten minutes ago. The vamps who hadn’t volunteered were the ones who were injured and couldn’t have helped anyway. Afraid she wouldn’t be able to handle too much influx at once, Quinn had only asked for ten vampires to gather closer with Lou, Chris, and Melissa. If they found she required more, they had another group ready to step forward in order to add to the power source.

“Are you ready?” Quinn asked him.

“Yes.”

Julian knew she started to draw from the others when behind him, Melissa and Lou sucked in sharp breaths. The vampires remained silent, but their bodies stiffened. Having already experienced what Quinn could do, Chris was the only one who showed no reaction to her ability. Julian remained against the door, waiting as he felt the rippling swell of her power against his back.