Page 83 of Elven Shadow

But she couldn’t hide forever.

It was a little ironic coming from the Bloodshadow Heir who had literally spent the last several centuries in hiding, though at an unimaginably greater magnitude. But this was different.

This was Rebecca staying out of other people’s business and clinging solely to her own.

That was what she told herself over and over as she moved through the compound’s labyrinthine corridors to make her way to the common room for her first and only meal of the day.

No one stopped Rebecca in the halls. No one dragged her aside before she reached the common room. No one even seemed to notice her entering, heading toward Bor’s service window off the kitchen, or grabbing a tray of food with a nod of thanks and a tremendous amount of effort focused on not stuffing tonight’s meatloaf surprise into her face with her bare hands. Or even snarfing it right off the tray.

She took her food and water to her usual dining spot in the common room—the gray leather couch along the far wall, its upholstery chipped, ripped, and fraying while the left end drooped closer to the floor despite the fact that she almost always sat on the right and no one else seemed to enjoy this particular seat as much as she did.

While she ate, Rebecca watched the common room fill with more operatives by the minute.

No one paid her much attention beyond the occasional glance and a nod of greeting. Nothing to hint that the rebellion that had swept through nearly the entire task force had a presence in the common room this evening to put something into action.

Nothing to suggest there evenwasa rebellion, or that the magicals here had come together to plan an internal takeover barely more than twenty-four hours ago.

As Rebecca finished her meal in record time, washing everything down with the rest of her water in one long, breathless chug down to the last drop, she finally noticed what was different tonight.

There was no sign of Diego or Leonard.

No sign of Nyx either, which could have meant anything when the katari could disappear and reappear at the drop of a hat.

But Leonard and Diego?

Those two never missed a meal.

So where the hell were they?

She scanned the room again, and her gaze fell on the entryway into the hallway leading to the second-story staircase. Standing within that entryway was Maxwell, and by the time she found him, he was already staring at her.

Dammit, couldn’t he just leave her alone?

The shifter’s silver eyes flashed as he just stood there in the entryway, his expression cold and unreadable like always, his furrowed eyebrows casting darker shadows across his face Rebecca just couldn’t read.

She hated that she couldn’t.

Trying to pick out the shifter’s thoughts was like pulling teeth in most scenarios. Only now, as they stared at each other, she found herself captured by a different look in those silver eyes she hadn’t seen before.

If she had, she would have recognized it.

There was a challenge there, yes, a darkness that pulled at every forbidden thing Rebecca had the capacity to carry out but hadn’t let herself give in to in so long.

A darkness inside Maxwell Hannigan that called to her, tugging at her core, trying to convince her she was safe with him, her darkness with his.

That whatever trouble Maxwell posed to her would be trouble well worth it.

Trouble shewanted.

What the hell was that feeling supposed to mean?

As soon as she recognized her own thoughts, she snuffed them out of her mind. It was useless thinking. Pointless. Dangerous.

In a different life, in a different place, maybe the kind of trouble Maxwell Hannigan caused would have been worth it to her. But here? Absolutely not.

While all this raced through Rebecca’s mind in seconds, making her hate the feeling of his gaze on her while not quite wanting it to end, the sight of the shifter just standing there staring at her, challenging her, letting that coldly suspicious smirk of his flicker again like he knew something she didn’t, infuriated her.

Whatdidhe know that she didn’t?

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