Page 107 of Elven Shadow

And what was Maxwellwaiting for?

Aldous had finally stopped bitching at his Head of Security long enough to take a good look around him. Yes, the entire task force was already well armed. Yes, they all watched him intently.

And yes, it looked like everyone else down here right now was itching to get started withsomething, just as soon as they received the signal they’d been waiting for.

From whom?

Until this moment, Rebecca had assumed that by making herself unavailable to Leonard and Diego’s little plans, there wouldn’tbeanyone to give the signal.

Then she found Diego across the garage. The Cruorcian’s red-glowing eyes flickered toward her before he raised his eyebrows in silent question and lifted the fully automatic assault rifle he’d swiped from the armory.

As if telling her now was the time.

Fat chance.

Rebecca shook her head as inconspicuously as possible and hoped he understood she still refused to be a part of this. Whatever this was.

She wanted to see what Maxwell would do first. Until now, the shifter had given no indication that he was ready or willing to turn against Aldous when the opportunity arose. Except for showing his face at that first meeting in the library, of course.

No surprise now that Maxwell was still the hardest person to read in any room, including this one.

Something was about to blow any second now.

No surprise, either, when that turned out to be Aldous.

“What the hell is everyone just standing around for?” he screamed. “Are you waiting for a fucking cookie? I want these assholes found, and I want them on their knees at my feet. Five fucking minutes ago!”

Maxwell’s only response was a deepening frown.

Was he warring with himself about his upcoming decision to deliberately defy orders from a superior? Was he just ready to rip Aldous’s head off because he’d finally reached his limit with being treated that way?

Rebecca watched him intently, wondering if the shifter had finally come this far in his plans only to realize he just couldn’t go through with it.

Ifthathappened, all of Shade was screwed all over again, and Aldous would still be here.

The changeling’s already splotchy face darkened even further, more of his natural green-tinted skin showing through his human illusion as he clenched his trembling fists, clearly on the verge of losing it. “I said fucking move! And anyone who doesn’t obey a direct order will answer to me personally!”

Whether he was ready to follow through with the threat didn’t matter.

Because a low, rumbling growl reverberated through the entire garage, coming from seemingly every direction at once and nowhere.

The task force held together, though it came with a lot of shuffling, sidestepping, and nervous glances sent to those standing beside them when the growl ended in horrid laughter that sounded like death being tickled silly.

Not the kind of thing one heard every day. Even with magical blood.

Rebecca could have sworn she knew that voice. While her physical senses and her adrenaline and her battle readiness had all spiked thanks to Zida’s fun little vial of whatever it was, her ability to piece together external facts with memory was clearly still very much affected.

She wasn’t left in the dark to guess about it for very long though.

A flash of dark, turbulent energy that sucked at the low light in the garage—almost as fervently as Rebecca’s own Bloodshadow magic—strobed into existence at the foot of the staircase. From pure nothingness, a dark shadow materialized, taking on form and shape and solidity.

The shadow became a body. The body moved, and that same dark voice ricocheting off every surface around them returned, laughing like this was all one enormous joke.

“That won’t be necessary.”

Every magical in the garage brandished their weapons, magitek devices, and inherent battle magic, all of it aimed toward the dark coalescing shadows at the base of the stairs.

Rebecca would have loved to conjure her spear again right now, but that would only open the wrong kind of door for the wrong kind of questions to be asked of her later.

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