Page 145 of Elven Shadow

“No more imaginative than you burning giant rats in an empty parking lot.”

Oh great. He was on to her about allthatagain too?

“The others believe you’re the best one to lead us after all this,” he continued. “For now. Maybe they’re right. Maybe not. But whatever it is you don’t want me or anyone else to know, I promise you I will find it. And when I do,I’llbe the one who decides where the real threat lies.”

Well, hot damn.

Mr. Hot and Heavy Hannigan really was this serious, wasn’t he?

Rebecca had had her suspicions about him over the last six months, just like he’d had his of her. She had no idea he’d been this intent on doing his job to the letter or even protecting Shade’s other members. He certainly hadn’t seemed as concerned for her welfare whenever they’d been assigned to the same mission team.

She still didn’t believe it. Not completely.

“Well then,” she said, settling her arms on the armrests again, “I guess I’ll just have to take extra precaution to cover up my reallyheinouscrimes. Thanks for the warning.”

With a disgusted sneer, he turned his back on her to head for the door.

This whole time, Rebecca had simply assumed the shifter’s hardcore persona was mostly a show for Aldous’s sake—a role Maxwell had filled in order to keep their psychotic, narcissistic ex-commander happy because Maxwell had answered directly to Aldous.

But no. This was real. He took his job seriously, and his role, and this surprisingly militant protection of the entire organization was clearly a top priority for this guy.

Fine. She could play this game too, if necessary.

As long as it kept Maxwell from digging too deeply into her, she figured she could throw him a bone here and there. Make him feel like he was doing a good job for the organization as a whole and in his quest to discover her secrets without actually letting him get anywhere close.

Despite her rapidly weakening state, Rebecca forced herself up out of the armchair, her legs wobbling beneath her until she commanded them to cut it out and do their job. Then she took a few casual steps across the office and called out to Maxwell one last time before he reached the door.

“I’ll tell you what,” she said.

The shifter paused, his back and shoulders growing rigid at the sound of her voice, but he didn’t turn around to look at her.

“You go ahead and get rid of Hector and his undead constructions however you see fit. Since I don’t have any suggestions for you, whatever you decide is fine by me. I’m sure you’ll do us all proud by keeping your side of the street clean and running smoothly, sticking to protocol while everyone else gets used to this new situation you didn’t even want in the first place.”

That new situation being Rebecca as Shade’s new commander, of course. If she could believe him, they had that much in common, at least. Neither one of them had wanted her to fill Aldous’s old shoes, but that was beyond them both at this point.

The dizziness returned a second later like a physical blow, and she reeled to catch herself just as Maxwell started to turn back toward her. Somehow, she managed to straighten and stand upright when he did, and even the tight smile she flashed him felt real enough to fool him. Hopefully.

Whatever he saw in her expression then, the shifter clearly didn’t like it. With a hissing sigh through clenched teeth, Maxwell whirled away and reached for the door handle.

Rebecca steadied herself on the edge of the desk, fighting not to collapse before he got far enough down the hall that he wouldn’t notice.

She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep up this “well enough to sit casually on top of a desk” ruse and really hoped Maxwell had filled his daily quota of delivering vague threats to her when it suited him.

Even with her limbs trembling beneath a sudden onslaught of overwhelming fatigue and a heaviness of pressure on her chest, making it hard to breathe, she couldn’t help but appreciate the sight of Maxwell stalking away from her, looking all hot and bothered like that. She wouldn’t mind watching him a little longer, either.

He struggled to open the office door as effectively as he wanted with a box of homunculus parts and Hector stuffed under his arm. When he finally got it open wide enough, the box tilted a little in his arm, shifting its contents, and Rebecca got one final clear view of the top of Hector’s bald, lifeless gray head and the Azyyt Ra’al thrall brand that remained after his lifeforce had long since disappeared.

Not the best reminder of other potential threats she faced in Chicago now, but the information was definitely valuable.

“Leave the door open on your way out,” she called after him just as Maxwell finished slipping into the hall and was about to pull the door shut behind him.

The closing door paused with a grunt from the other side, then Maxwell shoved it back open again, his face already hidden behind the other side of the door.

She wished she could see his face right now, but she also enjoyed imagining his expression when she heard his final aggravated grunt before he did as his commander ordered.

Because now he had to.

If Maxwell really did take his job as Head of Security as seriously as he made it seem, he would do anything Rebecca commanded him to do, because those were the rules he valued above all others.

---