Chapter Fourteen
Selena was almost nervous when Cady Vrost approached her. For one thing, she must have looked terrible. Her hair was tangled, her top was torn, and she was pretty sure she had a nasty scrape on her thighs from when she hit the pavement. Cady, on the other hand, looked perfect with her coppery red hair up in a French twist and her expensive-looking skirt suit. Still, she couldn’t very well ignore New York clan’s Human Liaison and her distant cousin.
“Hi, Selena Merlin, right?” Cady asked as she held out her hand. “I’m—”
“Cady Gray. I mean, Vrost,” Selena corrected herself. “I know you. I mean, I know of you.”
Cady raised a graceful brow. “Really?”
“Yeah, we’re related. I mean, sort of. Distantly. My great-great-great-great er … I’m not sure if that’s enough ‘greats,’ but anyway … I’m also related to Charlotte Fontaine on my mother’s side.”
“Oh!” Cady exclaimed and, instead of shaking her hand, drew Selena in for a hug. “Nice to meet you then, Selena. And you’re a witch,” she said, releasing her from the hug. “This makes my job much easier.”
“Er, technically, I’m not a witch, but yes,” Selena nodded, “I know about Lycans, and you don’t have to send me off with a dose of confusion potion.”
She chuckled. “Right. Well, can you tell me what you’re doing here and what happened?”
“Er …”
“Selena! Are you all right?” Meredith exclaimed as she approached the pair.
Great timing. Selena turned to the Lycan. “I’m fine, just shaken, and I kind of kissed the pavement trying to get out of the way.” She raised her hands to show the scratches on them.
Meredith took her hands excitedly and scrutinized them. Her brows knitted together then she looked at Selena’s face. “Your forehead.”
“Oh, crap.” Selena touched her left temple gingerly and winced when she felt the lump and scratches on the skin. It wasn’t bleeding, thank God, but she was going to feel it for a while. “Maybe I should go to the emergency room.”
“You shouldn’t have to …” Meredith muttered. She glanced over to where Quinn was talking to Killian and Nick, and then back to Selena. “Are you sure you’re … okay?”
Selena shrugged. “I mean, I can walk and stuff. It was the fall that hurt me more. Quinn managed to push me out of the way before the car hit us. But I’ll live.”
“So, what were you doing here?” Meredith asked, her eyes narrowing at Selena. “Outside Quinn’s apartment?”
“I … we were coming back from dinner,” Selena lied. “I walked him back, and my Uber was going to pick me up here.”
“Is that so?” Meredith sniffed at her. “Hmmm, you smell like gasoline and concrete.”
“Well duh, a car exploded six feet away from her.”
“Wait, are you still a virgin?”
“Meredith!” Selena cried. She could feel the heat in her cheeks, clearly showing how embarrassed she was by the question. “What does that have to do with this?”
Cady cleared her throat politely. “Um, Selena, are you sure you’re okay? I can have our doctor check you over if you’d rather not have anyone asking questions.”
Selena looked around them. A crowd was already starting to gather outside the barriers the NYPD had erected. “I think I’m fine. I’ll just head home. My roommate is probably worried.”
“We can have our car take you home,” Cady said, taking her phone out of her purse.
“That would be great,” Selena said with a sigh, not having the strength to protest. “Can I go and say goodbye to Quinn first?”
Cady nodded. Selena left her and Meredith, then turned toward where Quinn was still talking to Killian. Her heart pounded in her chest, but the ache in her stomach was gone now, especially when she saw Quinn up and about. Seeing him hit by the car and lying on the pavement had torn her apart, and she still felt the tears welling up in her eyes when imagining Quinn’s body. She had to see that he was all right and then … then maybe she really needed to be firmer in her resolve to not sleep with him again. And next time she was tempted? Well, she’d have to continue with what she was trying to do just before the runaway car interrupted them. Tell him the truth. She figured he would hate her, but at least he would stay away if he knew she was considering getting engaged.
“Quinn,” she called softly.
Quinn went very still and then slowly pivoted. His blue eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, scanning every inch of her.
“I’m all right,” she said when he moved a step toward her. He raised a hand to touch her face. “Please,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “Everyone’s here. Watching.”
He gritted his teeth and then dropped his hand. “Are you really okay?”
“I’m fine. A little bruised.” She paused. “Thank you for saving my life.”
He nodded, his jaw tense. “Of course. Are you headed home?”
“Yes, Cady Vrost is having a car take me to my apartment.”
“I have to stay and sort this out.” He sighed. “Just message me when you’re in bed, okay?”
“I will.” With one last glance at him, she turned away and began to walk back to Cady and Meredith.
She stayed a few more minutes to answer some questions from the police officers on the scene. When they told her she could go, Cady helped her get into the car. The drive back to her apartment was mercifully quick. Evie had been waiting up for her. Selena didn’t know Killian’s number, so she had called Evie who then called Killian. She was too tired to tell her what happened, but accepted her comforting hugs and help getting out of her dirty and ripped clothes. Selena texted an “I’m home” message to Quinn before collapsing in bed.
***
Quinn stared at the report on the screen, reading it over and over again. The Beta was able to get a copy of the detective’s initial findings on the incident and sent it over to Lone Wolves.
The authorities were ruling it an accident. Apparently, the man who had run them over, Jon Dover, was seen leaving a bar a few blocks away from the scene drunk as a skunk. Witnesses said Dover had been drinking all night before he stumbled out the door. The Medical Examiner’s report wasn’t in yet, but he would get it as soon as it was ready.
Still, no one had seen Dover get into his car. There were no cameras on the street that caught him entering his vehicle (or none that were functioning). Quinn had hacked into a couple of cameras around the area, including one that monitored the outside of his building, but they only showed the vehicle speeding down the street and then heading straight for them.
He should just call it a day. It was a freak accident. But there was something not right about the whole thing. So, he reached out to a couple of contacts on a private network—people who could help him do things that were not quite on the right side of the law. It might take a while, but he would get the information he needed eventually. Until he was one hundred percent sure it wasn’t an accident, he wouldn’t be able to breathe easy.
Quinn leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. He’d been working on this for two days now. The day after the accident, he went to work, barely eating or sleeping, to find out what happened. Wolf was not happy, but he told the animal he needed to know if anyone was trying to hurt Selena, and that seemed to quiet down the beast. He thought of looking into Selena’s background to see if someone was after her, but that would be an invasion of her privacy. If it turned out it wasn’t an accident, then he’d go ahead and ask her. But for now …
“Jesus,” he muttered softly, looking at the clock. It was dark outside, and he didn’t even notice. His stomach grumbled, and he realized he hadn’t eaten in a couple of hours. His thoughts went to Selena, wondering where she was. If she were hurt, she’d tell him, right? Or Evie would. Quinn tended to be consumed by his work, especially when he was racing to find out what happened before a trail went cold. Plus, if he was in danger, it was better to stay away from Selena, no matter how much he wanted to hold her and make sure she was okay. Wolf growled when his thoughts strayed to Selena, the animal obviously unhappy about being away from its favorite person.
“All right!” He shot up from his chair impatiently. He thought of calling or texting her to see what was up, but she might turn him away. All those times he did show up at her place with food and beer, well, they ended up in bed. If Selena invited him to have sex, he wasn’t exactly going to say no. Maybe it could be his lucky night again.