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There was a thread of heat in his voice. I felt it lash out with every word and slither across my skin. A shiver trailed down my spine, and I had to force myself to stay seated in the chair and not jump up and run from the promise of violence I heard in Adrian’s voice.
Quinton wasn’t like me. He didn’t scare easily, and he didn’t ever look like he wanted to run away from anything.
Normally, it was one of his most attractive qualities. At the moment, I wasn’t finding it as attractive as I usually did. I wanted to grab him, give him a firm shake, and hope like hell it rattled some sense loose in his thick head.
Quinton was the one who was constantly telling me to watch my tone when I was with the Council members, and to act respectfuly towards them. Something, I might add, I failed spectacularly at all the freaking time.
Now, here he was, pulling this shit. Not cool.
“I’m not trying to be disrespectful towards you,” Quinton bit out. “And I apologize for any rudeness you’ve felt I’ve handed you. It has not been my intention to be rude towards you. But we’ve been under a great deal of strain lately, as you are well aware of, and it’s become very hard for me to not snap at anyone who isn’t a member of my family who gets near us.”
What he really meant was anyone who got near me. Back on the pedestal I went, and I wasn’t a big fan of being on a pedestal. Not at all.
“This motherfucker hurt, no, that’s not even the right word for it. Hurt is too tame of a word. It doesn’t even begin to describe the damage he caused. And, yes, before you can call me out on it, I’m going to admit that I am partially to blame for the things that happened to my family. I take full responsibility for that, as you well know, seeing as I shared this with all of you when I first told you what happened and offered to take whatever punishment you felt I deserved.”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
Quinton had gone to the Council and asked to be punished for what had happened to myself and Dash? This was the first time I’d heard of this.
I stood up in a rush.
“No,” I whispered fiercely. “No one is punishing Quinton for anything. Not you. Not the rest of the Council. Not any damn body.”
“Calm down, Ariel.” Adrian barked at me.
I knew things were serious when he used my first name. He only ever called me “child” or “my dear.” He never used my real name. Probably because he wasn’t sure it was the name I had been born with, but who could blame him for that?
Quinton moved into my side. He wrapped an arm around my back and pulled my front into his side. His hand slid down to my hip and he squeezed firmly as his other hand came up to cup my jaw.
Heat from his bare skin licked up my body, and he put pressure on my cheek and tried to turn my face to look at him. I resisted, and shook my head free of his hold. I wasn’t about to allow Quinton to distract me from what was going on with his touch.
“Both of you need to cease speaking immediately and listen to what I have to say,” Adrian practically shouted at us.
Quinton’s head snapped in the direction of the little man at the same time as mine did. I imagined Quinton was just as surprised as I was at hearing the small Council member nearly shouting at us. It seemed so out of character for him to so much as raise his voice. It seemed so undignified, and not like Adrian at all.
Adrian threw his hands up in the air in frustration, and the heavy gold bracelets on his wrists clanged together noisily with the harsh movement.
“No one is punishing Quinton for his recent behavior, Ariel.” Adrian said in exasperation. “He did nothing the rest of the Council wouldn’t have contemplated doing themselves if they’d been in his position. We never even considered punishing him. We are here to look after our people, to take care of them when the need arises. I wish more people would remember this.”
I pursed my lips as I leaned into Quinton’s hard body.
I didn’t believe Adrian. I really wanted to bring up Mr. Cole’s dead sister, but I kept my mouth shut because it wasn’t the time for that particular conversation. There would likely never be an appropriate time for me to bring up that particular subject.
Adrian clapped his hands together in front of him loudly.
“Now,” he said. “Back to what is important here. That being the young Charles. I-”
“Wait, wait,” I said, interrupting him. “Who is Charles? I don’t know anyone named Charles.”
Adrian sighed heavily and closed his eyes as if he were in pain.
“I believe he goes by the name Chucky,” Adrian informed me. “Though, I have no idea why a man named Charles would ever choose to go by Chucky. It’s quite ridiculous, if you ask me.”
I pressed my lips together tightly in an attempt to keep the bubble of laughter that crawled up my throat inside. I didn’t want to laugh at him because I didn’t think he’d been joking.
“Now,” Adrian said in a condescending tone. “Can I continue speaking, or are you going to rudely interrupt me at every chance you can get?”
I wrapped my arm around the small of Quinton’s back and bit the corner of my bottom lip as hard as I could. The sharp sting of pain chased away the laughter. I licked my bottom lip, tasting copper, and knew I had made my lip bleed. There wasn’t much blood, so I wasn’t concerned. It didn’t exactly hurt. I didn’t seem to feel pain like a normal person; it didn’t always register with me.
