The Brightest Night (Origin #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,135

jury here. No one has that kind of power.”

“Are you sure that no one is playing judge or jury?” Luc asked as he surveyed the room. “Sort of seems like that’s what occurring right now. The only difference is that I don’t hide it when I do.”

“Luc,” Cekiah said in soft warning.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure what you want me to say about Jonas other than you should train your humans to be very sure who they are shooting before they pull the trigger.”

Eaton lifted his brows from where he sat on the other side of Cekiah. “Duly noted.”

I didn’t even have to look to know Luc was smiling.

“Any of us would’ve done the same as Luc,” Daemon spoke up, straightening.

“Right or wrong, that’s just the way it is,” Dawson chimed in. He sat beside Dawson, and I wondered if they chose to sit side by side to mess with everyone. He looked down the table at Quinn. “Just like you would’ve done the same if Jonas had shot Alyssa.”

Quinn sat back in his chair, not saying a word, and I had a feeling Alyssa was someone very important to him.

“His silence means he knows exactly what he’d do,” Hunter added from where he sat reclined, a leg kicked up on the table. Serena was next to him. Luckily, today neither were trying to kill me. “But he’s a civilized Luxen.”

Daemon snorted. My eyebrows started to climb up my forehead.

“What happened to Jonas is a shame, one that should’ve been avoided,” Bethany cut in from the other side of Dawson. “But I don’t think we were called to this meeting to discuss that.”

Beth sat so close to Dawson that their arms brushed, and my empty stomach dipped as I recalled the horror in her voice. She’d been so afraid for her daughter, of what I’d done.

Of what I might do.

“You’re here to talk about me.” I decided there was no reason to beat around the bush. “And whether or not I should be allowed to stay here. You did warn me that there’d be problems if I proved to be a risk.”

Surprise flickered across some of the human’s faces, but not Cekiah’s. “I also warned Luc of this. I kept your secret until I could no longer do so.”

“We weren’t aware of the fact that you were anything but human until yesterday.” The features of the female Luxen from the day before were taut. “Needless to say, none of us were all that pleased to discover that not only Cekiah had kept the secret from us but so did several trusted members of our community.”

I really had no idea what to say to that, and none of those trusted community members looked all that bothered by being called out. Frankly, Daemon and Dawson looked bored.

“And here I thought we were going to talk about important things like how close the Daedalus came to discovering the community.” Luc planted his cheek on his fist as he propped his arm on the side of the chair. “And what will be done to ensure that never happens again.”

“That is what we’re discussing,” Cekiah responded. “That thing was obviously here because of Evie.”

That thing.

“And that means the community is at a risk,” a human said. She was young, probably in her thirties. “Another could come looking for her the same way this thing did.”

There it was again. Thing. My hands curled into fists. I wasn’t like Sarah, but did they understand that? Was I a thing to them?

“Are we to stop transporting those in need of safety here?” A male hybrid joined in. “Because how else would we prevent something like that from happening again?”

My skin chilled. I thought about Heidi and Emery still out there, and all the other unregistered Luxen who needed shelter. If they closed up shop, would the other zones follow out of precaution?

“You can’t do that,” I blurted out. “There are still Luxen and others who need a safe place to go. If you or the other zones start turning people away, they’ll be defenseless. Anyone taken into custody and processed has never been seen again. If these zones shutter their doors, you’d basically be signing their death certificates.”

“I’m relieved to know you’re thinking about those who need our help.” Zouhour eyed me from where she sat, her nose pinched. “You understand the importance of what we do here.”

“I do.”

“Then you have to also understand why we’d be concerned about how you jeopardize what we do here.”

And I did.

Lifting