A Fox Among Wolves

Chapter Eleven

Walking into the City Hall building, we are directed to a large conference room. We were told a few days ago about this meeting the mayor was holding, supposedly to explain what had happened with the mutated hybrids and why they were attacking us. I know something crazy is going on, but I doubt the mayor would tell the whole truth.

According to Lottie, he has been acting weird at work, and all of his television appearances have been off. The mutated face I had seen in the hospital two weeks ago still haunts my dreams, and the lion that tried to attack us wasn't helping me in the sleep department. Now, as I sit down in between Braeden and Lena in the designated room, I fight to keep my heavy eyelids open.

"Hopefully this won't take too long," I whisper, leaning my head on Braeden's shoulder. "He's probably not even going to tell us the truth."

"You never know," my mate mumbles, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his side. "Maybe we'll learn a little bit about the mutant you saw in the hospital and the mutant that attacked us."

I lift my head off of his shoulder and look him in the eyes, rolling my own at what he had said. His laugh helps to release some of the tension in my body, and I return my head to his shoulder. The noise in the large room is a soft droning sound, making it impossible to decipher one conversation from another.

"What do you think he's going to say?" Quinn says, leaning over Braeden. Link and Braeden watch us as we talk, while Lena and Lottie are having their own conversation.

"I don't know, probably shift the blame to someone other than himself, or make it seem like the mutants were some type of fluke." I sit back in the chair, all of their eyes on me. "But it's not a fluke. Something has been up for a long time, and I think now it is just getting too far out of hand. Mayor Klarr won't be able to brush off these incidents for much longer."

Quinn has his head cocked to the side, absorbing everything that I had just said, while Link has a confused look on his face. His gaze shifts from my face up to my mate's and Braeden nods his head in confirmation.

"What do you mean 'incidents,' Henley?" Quinn questions, honest curiosity in his voice. I swallow and lean my head on the back of the chair, staring up at the ceiling. He is my best friend. If I tell him about the mutant in the hospital, he wouldn't think I'm crazy, would he?

"Henley?" he questions, his voice soft. A hand brushes through my hair, and turning my head, I see that Quinn had changed seats with Lena while I had been lost in my thoughts. "Tell me."

I let out a long sigh before sitting up again. "I saw something the other day while I was at work." The deformed face of the mutant is stuck in my thoughts, and I am unable to clear it from my mind. I shake my head and lock gazes with Quinn again.

"What was it?" he says, leaning his elbow on the back of the chair and resting his head on his hand. His green eyes fill with worry and his brow is furrowed with concern.

"Something... disturbing," I say. Turning around, I see that people are staring at us, probably wondering what we are whispering about. "I'll tell you about it later when we get back home."

Quinn nods his head slowly, the concern still clear on his face, but he drops the subject. He doesn't give Lena her seat back, just sits with me quietly as we wait for this meeting to start. A good ten minutes later, the mayor finally makes his way up to the podium placed in the middle of the room.

The noise in the room quiets down once everyone notices the mayor standing at the podium, interested in what he has to say. I attempted to rub the tiredness from my eyes, hoping to stay awake during the mayor's talk. It would be interesting to hear what he has to say about the mutants.