Page 22 of Flock This

I furrowed my brows. “Pretty sure you’re wrong about that.”

“I’m not—you’re just oblivious. That mutt has been sniffing around you this whole time. I remember the look on his face when you tested. He’d figured you’d be under his thumb right from the start and when you weren’t?” He laughed, the sound almost intimate. It made me wonder for a moment if he were in bed at his place. He’d look damn good in black silk sheets, no matter how much I wanted to deny it. “Well, it reminded me of when a cat runs away, how no dog can resist chasing.”

“I don’t think I like that comparison.” I dragged my fingers along the edge of my boba cup, the place where the lid had been sealed to the cup. “And no matter how wrong you are about all that, I still turned his offer down.”

“Why? If you were part of his pack, he could speak for you, and the Weres can stand toe-to-toe with the Graves. It’d be unlikely they could get a death order on you, not with that kind of backing. At worst, you’d be looking at an order of expulsion from any non-were territory. No one would dare touch the mate of the alpha sitting in the Were council seat. It’d be a smart choice.”

“Galen has too many people who could pay the price for that. Besides, who’s to say the vampires wouldn’t try to get revenge still? I couldn’t live with myself if innocent people got hurt because I was too cowardly to deal with my own problem.”

“What about someone else?”

“What?”

“Galen’s charming, sure, but he isn’t the only option. Other people could hide you.”

“Like who?”

“What about me?”

His words surprised me so much that I went silent for a long minute, trying to do the mental gymnastics necessary to understand how truly bad a decision that was. Finally, I sorted my thoughts enough to respond. “Last I checked, it was your clan who wanted my head. Seems pretty stupid to hand myself over to you.”

“You forget the important part. Thralls aren’t blamed for what they do.”

“Oh, fuck that bullshit.” I uttered the rejection before I even thought about it.

At least Kelvin’s responding laugh didn’t sound insulted. “That’s pretty harsh when someone’s offering to help you, don’t you think? I’m serious, though. If you became my thrall, you’d be under my protection. Thralls have no rights of their own, but they also aren’t held responsible for previous crimes. So if you became my thrall, I could keep you safe. You’d still have to show up at the trial, but I could make sure you get off easily.”

“And the vampires would just be like, ‘oops, someone killed our leader, oh well!’ Because the vampires I know aren’t nearly that forgiving or understanding.”

“It hurts that you think me so unreliable that you doubt my ability to protect you.” Even as he said that, no signs of hurt rested in his voice. “But if you won’t do that, what do you expect to do?”

Him giving up the idea so easily concerned me, but I let it go. No doubt he had plans of his own, scheming to get his way. I knew better than to try to figure it out, though. Kelvin was on a whole different level when it came to orchestrating plans. Trying to outsmart him would only give me a headache to show for it in the end.

“I have to figure out who actually did it,” I said as though that were an easy task. “If I find evidence—”

“Then it won’t matter because no one can present it for you—no one will have standing if you are still clanless.”

“If a Justice gets the information before the trial, they’ll cancel it.”

He paused, then let out a low sound that didn’t strike me as so amused anymore. “So that’s how it is, hmm? And here I thought Ruben was smart enough to stay out of a mess like this.”

I didn’t admit or deny his very correct guess. I couldn’t throw Ruben under the bus, not when he’d risked himself by helping me already.

That was the thing about Kelvin, though. He was far too smart, so I didn’t need to confirm what he already knew. He kept speaking as if I had. “He isn’t wrong. You can’t officially speak in a council meeting, you can’t have anyone else speak for you, but if a Justice somehow gets evidence that shows you aren’t guilty, they’re required to consider it and not hold the trial. Of course, that means getting up close and personal with vampires who want you dead, so it doesn’t strike me as the brightest of ideas.”

“Trust me, getting friendly with a bunch of dead bloodsuckers isn’t on my list of great times, but if it means saving my own neck? Worth it.”

“You know, when I first met you, I didn’t expect you to be this troublesome. I should have, though, given you stole a crystal orb from the council waiting room.”

My cheeks flushed at the memory, at the small item I’d pocketed while waiting for the council to call me for the official testing. I’d sat in that room, the opulence of it distracting, the shiny things all calling to me. I had a bad habit of stealing shiny things—it felt like I was really a crow at times—and the small crystal had stood out.

The smooth surface was cool against my fingers, and I’d tucked it into an interior pocket in my jean jacket.

“I didn’t think anyone knew about that,” I admitted.

“I saw you take it. You weren’t very observant back then, and I couldn’t help but take notice of the blue-haired girl eyeing our stuff like it was a home decor store.”

Was that how he saw me? Let’s be real, that’s how everyone sees me because that’s how I am. The many items I hid away in my room, stolen from all sorts of places, the shiny treasures that I cherished, were proof of just how unstable I really was.

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