I smile a little at his eagerness to assure me of the fair treatment I’ve already witnessed with my own eyes. His soft eyes are sweet and generous as he does his best to make me feel at home here.
“You don’t have to sell it to me, Captain. I’ve never seen a place try as hard as this one does. I also notice you don’t segregate the humans from the full bloods. It shows you’re giving your kind the respect they’ve earned as well. It’s all refreshing, and I really like it here. Is that why you were at Seminole? To ask for a grant?”
He smiles as he leans over the wall to rest his elbows, and he stares down at the laughing children straight below.
“Yes. There has been a motion that passed recently to install better schools with better emotional building skills for hybrids. I went to be the first to take on the task outside of the Seminole. As a matter of fact, you probably know the man who put forth all the work to get the motion to the United community. He’s the captain of the Seminole. I think his name is Hale Banner,” he murmurs naively.
My stomach flip flops with incredulous turmoil as Hale’s name is said aloud for the first time in three weeks. Tears threaten to expose my broken heart I haven’t revealed to anyone here.
“I don’t know him as well as you might think,” I mumble.
He starts to say something about my vague remark when his phone rings. He smiles very large as he looks at the number, and then he holds it to his ear before turning his back to me.
“Hey, Angel.”
“Hey, Daddy. Where are you? I have something I want to show you.”
“I’m on the rooftop of the interrogation tower. Come on up,” he says so sweetly, and I smile lightly at the endearing tone he uses with her.
“Be right there,” she giggles out, and then he laughs while hanging up his phone.
“I’ve been here three weeks, and I’ve yet to meet your daughter.”
He smiles a proud father’s grin before saying, “Well that’s about to change. She’s apparently rather excited about something.”
Suddenly I see the almost white hair of a girl who doesn’t look like the small girl from the picture he carries in his ride. She’s at least sixteen, and she’s stunningly beautiful. Her speed is phenomenal this early on in her life, and she swishes over to throw her arms around her dad.
“Someone’s in a good mood,” he chuckles out.
“They’re coming, Daddy. All of them are coming,” she squeals out, and she hands him a pile of invitations where so many have circled yes.
“That’s excellent. I told you that you would have plenty of people show up.”
She shrieks out her delight, and then he hands her his credit card.
“Go buy more food. I don’t think you’ll have enough now that you have every teen in the compound showing up.”
She squeals even louder as she takes his card, and then she jumps on him to hug him again. He laughs at her ridiculously high excitement level, and then he motions to me.
“Angelica, this is Araya Crush.”
I smile, and her mouth drops open. The second my eyes meet hers, my jaw almost unhinges.
She’s a hybrid! What the hell!
Her young age disturbs the scent that won’t be more pronounced until after her change, but her eyes give her away very easily.
He smiles at me before giving me a wink, and then she rushes over to hug me. I’m startled, and I barely pat her back in response to her overly affectionate actions. Hybrids don’t act like this with strangers. What the fuck?
“I’ve been dying to meet you,” she gushes while pulling back. “You have to come to my party tonight. My dad is throwing me the best eighteenth birthday party ever. Please say you’ll be there. I want everyone to meet the hybrid queen of interrogation.”
“Um… yeah…” I stumble out, and she starts her high pitch squealing even more vigorously.
Holy nails on a chalkboard, this girl is giddy. Too giddy to be a hybrid.
“That’s awesome. I have to go buy several things now that so many are coming, but I’ll see you there. Wear something casual dressy,” she giggles out, and then she hugs Nicholas one last time before running back down the stairs.
“Wow,” I gasp.
