“Sorry. It’s been two months,” I exasperate, and our whispers are almost too low for us to hear in the stuffy room full of refined business suits with a trio of species.
“Here’s what we know,” a human asserts, and apparently we missed the cue where the meeting was starting.
Brazen’s hand tightens on mine, and he leans to where he’s a little closer as he listens attentively to the short, pudgy man addressing the room. I look over to see Hale’s eyes turning from me to find the human’s voice, and chills ensue.
This is so hard to deal with right now. I should be over Hale enough to sit in the same room with him by now. I love Brazen. Hale may be my counter, but Brazen is my soul mate. He’s so much better to me than Hale ever was, but damn… the passion Hale and I always had was undeniably stronger than my passion with Brazen. Damn him for being here, and damn him for looking so fucking good.
“We’ll hear from the full bloods now,” a man announces, and Brazen stands while adjusting his tie.
Shit. I missed the whole human input on the situation. Fuck.
I was too busy stressing over this foolish nonsense that I completely tuned out everything the human representative was saying.
“For the past two months we’ve been tracking this group. At first, we thought it was our kind due to the scents left behind, but then we found food at the compounds. We thought then it had to be hybrids with a strong scent. There were empty blood packs there to support the theory, but we didn’t find any proof of someone being hurt. Human scents lingered behind later, and it just messed up every theory we had. Whoever it is, they continue to stay a step ahead of us, and here are some of the damages they’ve left behind.”
He dims the lights, and the projector begins the slide show. Hale’s eyes are burning into mine when my focus accidentally strays, and he looks away when Brazen starts talking again.
“This is the Lankton compound. As you can see, it was smaller, but it was still a strong facility.”
I take notice of the large castle-like compound surrounded by intricate mazes of walls for separation. The full bloods don’t usually attack humans anymore, but safety is still an issue to prevent an infectious outbreak.
Full bloods officers in the United are allowed to mingle with them because of their high status and rank. I forget Brazen is a full blood most days, but there’s always that one divide that stands between us - my dangerous blood near his perfect mouth.
“This is what it looks like now,” Brazen says, and I snap out of my trance to see the flattened valley that used to be a proud facility.
Several gasps emerge, and one slips through my lips as well.
“This is after they hit the first arsenal. We believe they did this as a demonstration of power. They’re after something, and this is them showing they’ll stop at nothing to get it before they even start making demands. We’re adding security to all the compounds in the region, and we’ve reached out to the other divisions to do the same. Until we find out what they want, no one without our security clearance can leave the compounds. They may have moles, so this will force them to contact them via phone, email, text, or some other electronic form of communication that we can easily listen in on.”
Brazen removes himself from his commanding position at the head of the room and comes back to take his seat by me.
“The humans are confined to the compounds at all times anyhow in case one of your kind goes rogue and forgets the law,” the pudgy man growls to Brazen.
My eyes darken when I feel my protectiveness burning through my veins. The room threatens to shift, but Brazen pulls my hand back in his to calm me down before I rip things apart, starting with Mr. Pudgy.
“Easy, Cavine. We’re called the United for a reason. Humans with the right gene roam freely,” Clay asserts.
“It should be them that are locked up,” Cavine interjects, and his eyes point to my man.
“No one would be locked up if the humans hadn’t toyed with things outside their realm of knowledge. You created all of us by playing God, and now we all need to work together to survive,” I growl, and the walls lightly begin to rattle, cautioning the pompous man to stand down.
“Easy, Babe,” Brazen coos in my ear.
Cavine slinks back into his seat, fear etching itself into his eyes, and then Clay cracks his neck to the side before continuing.
“Araya is right. We all need each other to survive, so let’s stop fighting and start working together. If no one stops rogue full bloods from feeding on a vein, the humans will become infected by the multitudes until they’re extinct. If humans become extinct, full bloods will starve to death. If both species cease to exist, our kind - the hybrids - will eventually fade as well since we’re the only ones incapable of bearing children. There are good and bad people in all of our species. I would like to think the best of all three are in this room right now,” he admonishes, and everyone squirms uncomfortably at our childlike scolding.
I glare at the pudgy man who dared to insult our stronger breeds when he depends on us to keep him safe. He slinks down even farther in his seat as my eyes threaten the blood in his veins. Brazen can’t touch him, but there’s no law stopping me.
“Please calm down, Araya. I don’t want this place to fall apart,” Brazen whispers into my ear, and I sit back while taking a deep, calming breath.
“He shouldn’t have said anything like that to you,” I grouse, and my eyes continue to taunt the foolish bastard on the other side of the table.
He almost snickers at my rage. I can’t believe he’s taking this so casually in stride. This fat piece of shit has the audacity to provoke my full blood, and he’s just going to laugh it off.
“I love it when you act so protective,” he murmurs against my ear as Clay sets up the next slide show.
“I can’t believe you’re finding humor in this,” I huff.
