Page 169 of Elven Shadow

“I told you tomorrow, Hannigan,” she said, finally pulling it together to remove herself fully from his hold and stand on her own again. “I meant it. I’ll be fine. I just need a full night of sleep that isn’t in an infirmary bed, and I’ll take it easy tomorrow. Then we move out tomorrow night with that team. Got it?”

He didn’t look convinced.

He didn’t look like he wanted to let her go, either, but then Rebecca opened her bedroom door and stepped through it.

“Just think about it,” he said behind her. “About taking it easy on those vials. Whatever that stuff is, it’s obviously powerful. And to be honest, right now, I can’t smell anything else on you.”

Oh, how sweet…

“If it ends up completely overwhelming your scent,” he added, “that’ll become a major problem. For both of us.”

Rebecca scoffed. “Oh really? Because what I smell like is somehow any of your concern?”

“Because if I can’t track you, Roth-Da’al, it interferes with my ability to do my job.”

She gripped the edge of the door with both hands, hoping it wasn’t overly obvious that she did so to keep herself upright again, and shot him a tight smile. “Yourjob. Right. Which includes sniffing me whenever you feel like it?”

Okay, maybe the sarcastic-and-prickly way wasn’t the best method right now, but she really needed him to get the hell out of her doorway and leave her alone.

So she could go do what she did best out there on the streets of Chicago. Under the cover of darkness. Alone.

Her wry comment did what it was supposed to do.

A second later, all the concern and openness it had carried across Maxwell’s features disappeared, replaced in an instant by that perpetual scowl that made her a lot more comfortable to see now, because she needed to expect it.

“I’m not going to answer that,” he said.

“Great. I didn’t want you to. I need you to put that team together, Max. Intentionally. With all the right operatives to come in tomorrow night. I’ll be ready to brief them in the morning. You’re dismissed.”

He looked surprised by that, maybe even as surprised as Rebecca was to hear those words coming from her mouth, but the words had a purpose and were quite effective.

Her Head of Security turned quickly on his heels and stormed off down the hallway to go carry out his orders.

She didn’t even wait for him to get halfway down the hall before slamming her bedroom door shut and taking a deep breath.

When she could no longer hear his footsteps—and then after waiting just a little longer—she pulled out the last vial she’d taken from her desk and struggled for what felt like another two hours just to pry out the stopper.

She finally managed it with her teeth again, and the vial’s contents blasted into her lungs to fill her with their effects racing through her brain, racing through her veins, piercing her skull, flooding her exhausted limbs with borrowed energy and strength.

This was it. The one shot she had to take care of this therightway. Her own way.

Rebecca just hoped playing up her current infirmity had convinced Maxwell enough to keep him away from her for the rest of the night.

Only on her own, unseen and especially un-followed, could she leave the compound to find a target for her Bloodshadow magic. Once she did, she could then pry the homunculus poison out of herself and finally get her body back.

If Maxwell found out what she was doing, he’d be beyond pissed. It certainly wouldn’t help her case now or in the future. Not as far as the shifter was concerned.

Even less helpful to her overall, though, was the possibility of anyone remotely connected to the Azyyt Ra’al or Rebecca’s other enemies or her old life finding out who Shade’s new leader really was. Of anyone discovering that the Bloodshadow Court’s secret weapon was actually right here in Chicago, right under their noses.

If they put that puzzle together, the consequences would be so much worse, not just for Rebecca but for all of Shade.

If she was found out here, it would ruin everything for all of them.

Dammit, being in charge of an entire task force like this was practically her worst nightmare, second only to being discovered.

Leadership roles sucked. Some people just weren’t built for them. She liked to think she was included in that category.

The situation in which she now found herself wasexactlywhy Rebecca had never wanted to lead anything or anyone, even when she’d been raised to believe her purpose and her destiny would never include anything else. That her life was meant for nothing but fulfilling her role as a leader and as the Bloodshadow Heir, as the next elf in a long and proud bloodline.

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