Page 115 of Elven Shadow

And now everyone on the task force faced not only a hostile takeover from within but the surprise of having pitted themselves against Maxwell Hannigan and his men.

Rebecca would have loved to join them, but she could hardly stand.

At least now they all knew whose side Maxwell was really on. She just wished she could have walked up to him and clocked him a good one for being such a rigid moron.

The changeling burst out laughing, though it was tight and stilted and just made him look even more insane. “Then you’re all dead. I can’t believe we’re actually having this conversation. Every single one of you would benothingwithout me. You know that, don’t you?”

He gaped at all of them, and the next time Zida reached toward him for some other form of poking and prodding, he slapped her hands away before finally succeeding in pushing himself to his feet this time.

Another bitter laugh burst from his mouth. “You’re all fucking traitors! Ungrateful little shits. You haveno ideawhat I’ve done to keep this place running. To keep all ofyoualive!”

“Last I checked,” Nyx shouted, aiming a relatively small device reminiscent of an RPG launcher at the changeling’s head—though in Nyx’s grip it looked three sizes too big for her—“you haven’t done shit.”

Someone laughed, others chimed in, then a few magicals shouted their agreement in wordless cries of encouragement.

“This is bullshit,” Aldous snapped. “And if this is the way you useless piles of shit wanna thank me for all I’ve done for you, fine! You’ve obviously forgotten who you’re up against. Hannigan! Time for you to eliminate the threat.”

Maxwell didn’t move, already frozen in a ready stance of his own as he slowly swept his gaze from one hardened, dedicated rebel’s expression to the next. “Which one?”

Aldous hissed and tossed a hand in the general direction of the entire garage before slumping backward against the wall for support. “How stupid can you get? All of them!”

The shifter’s frown darkened as he assessed his team’s chances of surviving a standoff like this. He did lift a hand to gesture for his five other guys to wait, to hold their fire and not make a move until he told them otherwise.

Rebecca wasn’t entirely convinced he wouldn’t tell them otherwise, but she hadn’t expected him to hesitate, either. That could still mean anything.

“You have your orders, wolf. Take them down! What the fuck is wrong with you?” Aldous screeched, his head whipping wildly in every direction like he expected to see fireworks any second. “Open fire! Don’t forget I own your asses too, morons. And I’m telling you to do as you’re fucking told!”

Maxwell’s glowing silver eyes settled on Rebecca next, that darkness inside him calling to her just like every time he stared at her like this.

If she’d been more herself, she would have fought harder to push it away. To not think about what might be waiting for her if she gave in to that alluring pull emanating from the callous, stony, stuck-up shifter the way it had never emanated from anyone else.

He looked like he was about to attack.

She prepared herself to fight back, if it came to that. The shifter was fast as hell, yes. But very few people, humans or magicals, got to see a Bloodshadow Elf in action, so she couldn’t blame anyone for not already knowing she could match him in speed, strength, and ferocity, should it come to that.

Or, at least, she could when she was at one hundred percent. The way she felt now, Rebecca was operating at more like thirty percent, and that number was steadily dropping. But she’d still give it her damnedest, either way.

All while hoping Maxwell wouldn’t bring it to that, because now that they stood on the verge of an all-out battle in Shade’s underground parking garage, she realized she really had no desire to hurt him. Not the way she’d have to if she and the rest of the task force were to make it out of this alive andwithoutAldous calling the shots from here on out.

“Hannigan!” Aldous screeched.

“Understood,” the shifter barked, still holding Rebecca’s gaze with those silver-glowing eyes. “I’ll do what I have to do. What I should have done a long time ago.”

Shit. That didn’t sound good.

He really was going to turn against the rest of Shade, wasn’t he? To keep them away fromAldous? To protect the already decimated status quo?

If she’d ever taken the time to consider giving the shifter a shot, what chances he might have had were gone now.

Despite her failing strength, Rebecca summoned a crackling red orb of battle magic in one hand, her other still pressed against the wall so she wouldn’t fall flat on her face.

Going down here, fighting for something that actually made sense, was better than going down in darkness and obscurity, at least. It wasn’t her first option, but there didn’t seem to be many of those available to her these days.

The task force aiming weapons on Aldous and his security detail held a collective breath, waiting for their Head of Security to make the first move.

With a final nod, Maxwell leapt into action.

Rebecca almost tossed a handful of searing battle magic at the shifter’s face, which she really would have hated to ruin. But her homunculus-induced weakness made her slow, which gave her an extra second to stop herself just in time.

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