Page 186 of Elven Shadow

If they were going to pull Shade out of the giant crater in which Aldous had left it.

Maxwell was a pain in her ass. He’d screwed with her plans to an almost disastrous degree and clearly knew exactly how to push her buttons.

But she couldn’t deny the fact that they’d worked fairly well together in the prison yard, just the two of them, given the circumstances. Nor could she turn a blind eye to all the hard work still waiting for them back at headquarters.

If they were ever going to make it through whatever came next, they’d have to work together. At the very least, that meant coming to some kind of mutually understood agreement.

When he finally finished buttoning up the shirt, Rebecca took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh before trying again. “Look, if you’re gonna keepdoing this, being my Head of Security, second in command, whatever…doing your job the way you say it needs to be done, then you gotta doallyour job. Including taking me seriously.”

“Interesting.”

She cocked her head and fixed him with a deadpan stare. “I’m serious, Hannigan. I need you to follow orders, not try to undermine them. If we’re gonna make this work, you need to be the guy I can depend on to get shit done, when I need it done.”

She took two slow steps toward him and ran a hand through her hair, trying to summon the parts of herself that knew this kind of diplomacy for mutual benefit was the only solution right now, no matter how much he infuriated her.

“Does it need to go both ways?” she continued. “Absolutely. ButI’mnot prying into your secrets to figure out whether or not you’re good enough to do your job. And I won’t. All I’m asking for is the same courtesy from you, all right? Then maybe, once we get past that part, we might finally learn to tolerate each other.”

Maxwell didn’t respond. He didn’t move a muscle as he stood there, barefoot in some random stranger’s clothes, watching her while she delivered her little speech. His silver eyes flickered back and forth across her face.

That was the look of someone who’d finally decided to listen.

But he still wasn’t going to give in, was he?

No, he would refuse to meet her in the middle, because he was a stubborn asshole who would rather focus on not trusting her than on what could be done for the benefit of their shared responsibility.

She almost turned away from him, to leave him there in the trailer park and figure out a different way on her own, because she’d given what she could, and he just wasn’t willing to budge.

But then he cleared his throat and muttered, “You’re right.”

Wellthatwas unexpected.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow.

“I still don’t trust you,” he added, “but I can trust the job. Maybe even your dedication to it. If you quit running off every night like this.”

“I can’t make any promises,” she said.

“Yeah, me neither. But I can follow orders.”

“Yeah,insteadof following me,” she reiterated. “Not both at the same time.”

Maxwell snorted. “Sure. You’re still the commander. And Iwillfollow orders from my commander. That Icando. For Shade.”

Finally, they were starting to get somewhere.

“Thank you.” She tried not to let even more aggravation seep into the small bit of gratitude, even while she genuinely meant it.

Then Maxwell stepped forward to loom over her again and lowered his voice into another deep, threatening growl. “But if you fuck this up, elf, Iwillcome after you with everything I’ve got.”

“Fine. Deal.” Rebecca thrust her hand toward him and waited for him to take it.

He stared at her hand, then took a deep breath. “Being at the top like this isn’t supposed to be about those in power. At its core. It’s about everyone else. That’s what Aldous could never learn.”

“Trust me, I know what it’s about.”

Rebecca understood the victories and pitfalls of taking leadership.

More than she could ever let him know. She could never tell him why.

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