Free Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series by T.M. Nielsen Page A

and up to the trial area.
    “ We were in lockdown
because of Emily?” Quinn asked.
    “ No,” Emily scowled, and
pulled her arms from Mark and Kyle.
    “ Damnit, Emily. Where’d the
bruise come from?” Chevalier sighed.
    “ Fine…” Emily took a deep
breath, and as quickly as she could, explained. “I went to eat and
Exavior came in and then William came in and then they drank and
there was a bar fight and a mortal hit me and pushed me through a
window and then William drove the Jeep home with Exavior and then I
got dizzy and Exavior carried me inside and that set off the
alarm.”
    Emily took another deep breath and
cringed.
    Zohn grinned slightly, “Well, explains
that.”
    “ We called you, and you
didn’t answer,” Quinn told her.
    Emily sighed, “They took my phone.”
    “ Why didn’t you ash them?”
Zohn asked, frowning.
    “ There was no threat. As
annoying as it was, they just talked while I ate,” Emily told
them.
    “ So you had dinner and
drinks with an Encala and a Valle?” Zohn asked.
    Kyle took a step back when he saw Emily’s
hands clench into fists, “Am I on trial?”
    “ No, it just
seems…”
    Emily cut him off, “If I’m not on trial,
then I suggest you mind your own business, and leave me the hell
alone. I… did… nothing… wrong!”
    She stormed out of the room and slammed the
door behind her.
    “ You’re being quiet,” Quinn
said, turning to Chevalier.
    Chevalier blurred from the council chambers
and the others followed him quickly. They all stopped in Kyle’s
bedroom as Emily was sitting on the bed. Zohn, Quinn, Mark, and
Kyle appeared between Chevalier and Emily.
    “ He tried to kill you, so
you decided to have dinner with him?” Chevalier growled, and
crouched slightly.
    Emily stood up, “No I did not! He showed up
out of the blue, so did William, and by then I couldn’t get out of
the booth.”
    Quinn put his hands out, “Both of you calm
down.”
    “ Yet you wouldn’t defend
yourself?” Chevalier hissed.
    “ I said calm down!” Quinn
yelled.
    “ From what? Forced
cheesecake?” Emily yelled. “I saw no reason to cause a major
incident because of dinner.”
    “ You were
injured…”
    “ By a mortal! I did what
you asked. I let the heku fight their own battles, and still got
punched,” Emily said angrily. “So what do you want me to
do?”
    “ Elder, calm down,” Kyle
said when Chevalier took a step forward.
    Emily glared at Chevalier and then shut her
eyes as her breathing slowed. The heku all frowned slightly and
then she opened them and looked at Chevalier.
    “ How did I get in here?”
Chevalier asked, and looked around the room. He was standing
straight and perfectly calm.
    “ Did you have to do that?”
Kyle asked, sighing.
    “ Yes, I did,” Emily yelled,
and ran past the heku and down the stairs.
    Chevalier frowned, “Who in the hell made her
mad, and why does she have a bruise on her face?”
    Quinn sighed, “Come with me.”
    Chevalier followed Quinn out of the
room.
    “ Do we follow her?” Mark
asked Kyle.
    “ Let’s give her an hour to
calm down. I’m pretty sure she’s going to the Durango,” Kyle said,
and sat down on a chair by the empty fireplace.
    “ There was some validity to
Damon’s claim,” Zohn said, sitting down.
    Kyle glared at him, “There was not.”
    “ He was an idiot,” Mark
said, leaning against the fireplace.
     
    ***
     
    Emily sat in the Durango, covered in a
blanket, and shivered from the cold. She’d cried enough it had made
her headache worse, and all she wanted to do was to feel some
warmth and go to sleep.
    She jumped when the driver’s side door
opened, and watched Chevalier get inside and shut the door.
    “ I’m not mad,” Chevalier
told her.
    “ I didn’t do anything
wrong,” Emily said, fighting back the tears that had been falling
for the last hour. “I just went to get something to eat. I didn’t
invite them.”
    “ Em,” Chevalier said, and
took her hand. “I know that. The