The Silence

Chapter 5

Adriel

The past few days had been stressful. All I wanted to do was curl up on my bed and sleep, preferably for a week. But that wasn't an option. Instead, I was in my bedroom hunting for a missing clothing item. I'd told everyone that it was my earring when they asked, but in reality it was too embarrassing to admit to anyone. Problematically, this happened way too often and I was sure someone was playing a stupid prank on me.

Weirdly, Alpha had retreated into his own room ever since the first night of Quinn's arrival. Many speculated that the show with Quinn had rattled him and he was hiding, but that was bullshit. The Alpha of the Keres Crest Pack did not rattle easily. More likely he was plotting the best way to murder her.

Quinn had reverted back to her boring, creepy self. The fascination my Pack had for her was disgusting. Quinn was viewed like she was some foreign species of animal, something that could be gossiped about, gawked at, and poked out. The youngsters had created a game of trying to provoke Quinn into getting angry enough to attack. They threw sticks and pebbles at her, taunted her whenever they could, and I learned that a lot of their actions were encouraged by their parents.

Credits to her, she didn't seem to be the angry type, but that only confused me more because of how she reacted to Lysander that day in the kitchen. She had no reason to be protective over me so that couldn't be it, right? And finally, the freaky moments when she shot into the woods, practically making a beeline to the spot in the road where . . .  but she couldn't have known. No one would dare to tell Quinn about that. It was a forbidden topic, and anyone caught speaking it was killed, quick and brutal. But the point was, she'd sat down right on the spot where the body had lain.

There was a knock at my door, making me jump. I was using too much energy, focusing on Quinn the way I was. However, the universe seemed to be demanding it, because when I opened the door, there she was, standing beside Lucas.

I don't know what I'd do without Lucas. I would probably have given up a long time ago. At the moment, however, he clearly wanted to relieve himself of his burden. I'd tasked my Packmates, the ones who acted decent to her, with showing her around. In other words, they were babysitting her, making sure she didn't blow up the Packhouse. They probably regretted being nice, especially Monique. She'd just found her mate and desperately wanted to spend some . . . quality time with him. Without being watched by an eerie human.

"Leave her with me," I muttered, hearing Lucas chuckle behind me. The door closed and the room instantly felt colder. Was I imagining that?

"I'm looking for something right now, you'll have to wait for a bit." Actually, it wasn't that vital I found it, because I had many more. But last time Kaden had found them in the basement furnace room. They'd been burned beyond recognition, luckily, but I knew what they were and that they were mine. I just had no idea how they'd gotten there, because I certainly hadn't put them there.

Hunting for something was better and easier than trying to make some idea of a conversation with Quinn.

I watched, feeling more exasperated than scared, when her gaze dragged away from mine and focused on my bed instead. Shaking my head, I went back to checking under the many unnecessary things lying on my desk. When I turned, she was staring at my nightstand.

"That's off-limits," I informed her. "Don't go sticking your nose in there."

She lifted one skinny arm and pointed at the nightstand, making me frown. "I just said no, kid."

Her eyes darkened a shade, something I now recognized as a warning sign. She kept pointing to the nightstand.

"There's nothing in there except my clothes and you don't need to see those, okay?" I gentled my tone as much as possible, not wanting her to freak out and fly into explosive mode.