Page 163 of Elven Shadow

Would she bury herself beneath a mountain of enemies before she even realized she’d spent all this time unknowingly digging her own grave?

Not a grave for her lifeless body, no. Just a tomb for her freedom. A sepulcher in which her autonomy and power of choice, whereeverythingthat made her who she was, would be laid to rest.

If any of her enemies found her now—the Azyyt Ra’al, or Harkennr, or even the Bloodshadow Court itself…

“Roth-Da’al!” Maxwell practically shouted, ripping Rebecca back into the present.

She looked quickly up at him, trying to steal her expression, but the look on his face told her he must have already called her a few times before opting for one good shout to get her attention.

The frown she forced onto her face didn’t feel anywhere near convincing. “I’m right here, Hannigan. No need to shout.”

“Then feel free to answer me the first time,” he grumbled. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Wrong?” She crumpled up Harkennr’s note in her fist before opening the top drawer of her desk and cramming it inside, as if it were her newly designated trashcan. “Honestly, Max, if you wanna show a girl you care, the words ‘what’s wrong with you?’ should never come into it.”

His scowl only deepened, which she should have expected.

But she was stalling for time so she could get her own reactions under control before he asked even more dangerous questions and she let something important slip just because this surprise package had now officially rattled her senses.

“You got a welcome gift and an invitation,” Maxwell added, nodding at her closed desk drawer. “So why do you look like you just got a death threat instead?”

His dark eyebrows quirked in just the right way, lifting ever so slightly with an unexpected gentleness in his voice that suddenly made her want to tear down all her defenses and take what comfort she could from finally being wholly open, honest, and authentic with someone.

Anyone.

It had been so long, and Maxwell Hannigan was the lucky winner, because he was the one standing in front of her right now.

She would have loved to believe the concern in his voice was genuine and meant solely for her.

An impossible expectation, really, but an elf could dream.

Rebecca wrinkled her nose and sat back down in the office chair. “I just thought I’d have more time…”

The sudden calm in her own voice surprised her, and it certainly didn’t match her growing fear of the unknown and her swelling desperation to figure it all out anyway.

Maxwell’s frown nearly turned in on itself. “For what?”

When she looked up at him again, the same concern bordering on tenderness still seeped from the shifter’s expression, but she forced herself to ignore it. Giving in was too dangerous for both of them, let alone every other member of Shade for whom Rebecca was now explicitly responsible.

She couldn’t afford to let anyone else get dragged down into this with her any more than she could afford unnecessary distractions.

“It doesn’t matter,” she muttered through a sigh. “You read the note. Any idea what this Harkennr person wants?”

His silver eyes settled on the figurine at the corner of her desk before he shook his head. “Never heard the name.”

“Really? Interesting. I thought you were Aldous’s confidant and personal errand boy and… I don’t know, butler or something.”

The shifter let out a noncommittal hum, which was probably supposed to make him sound indifferent but only piqued Rebecca’s curiosity so much more before he replied, “I never assumed Aldous told meeverything. Which, as I’m sure you can imagine, was part of the problem.”

When he met her gaze again, Rebecca had to look away. No matter what the cause of it, that unanticipated tingling across her skin beneath his gaze was really turning up the intensity dial right now.

Not that she didn’t enjoy the sensation. Quite the opposite, actually.

That was a problem in and of itself, and not currently a problem to which she could prioritize rooting out a solution. Not now.

Plus, if her Head of Security was trying to hint not-so-subtly that the majority of Aldous’s bigger problems came from the fact that he hadn’t told the shiftereverything, the message certainly wasn’t lost on Rebecca.

That didn’t mean she would take the bait and bite just for fun. Just because he’d brought it up.

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