Page 77 of Elven Shadow

“Always diligently at work to keep these streets safe, huh?” Rebecca folded her arms and stared back at him. This guy didn’t get thrown by much of anything, did he? “I thought you said you were off duty.”

“Yeah, well, curiosity never sleeps.”

Oh, so now he was trying to analyzeher? Fatfucking chance.

Maxwell leaned slightly toward her. “And now I’m especially curious to know whatyouwere doing out here.”

“I stepped out to clear my head,” she replied with a quick shrug. “Work out a few things. Think over some life choices. And I ran into a little trouble. Nothing I can’t handle, obviously. So if you don’t mind—”

“What kind of trouble, exactly?” Maxwell’s unreadable expression made his questions that much more infuriating.

Dammit.

Of course he wouldn’t back down and just accept whatever answer she wanted to give him. This guy had been suspicious of her from the start.

Until tonight, he hadn’t taken that suspicion any further than staring at her from across a room at the compound, or through the rearview mirror of their getaway van, or even in the middle of a mission.

And now he wanted to know what kind of trouble she’d found for herself tonight? Like she’d actually tell him?

“Rats,” Rebecca said plainly.

“Rats,” he echoed.

“Yeah. I came through this alley and stumbled into some kinda…nest, I guess.”

“And you didthatto ’em?”

It took everything she had not to snarl at him. To back the hell off and right on out of her business. Technically, he was still her team leader. Technically, she still had to answer to Shade’s chain of command, even if they were off duty.

So she gritted her teeth, slapped a deliriously tight smile on her lips, and replied, “I’m not a big fan of rodents.”

The corner of Maxwell’s mouth twitched again. “That’s what you’re going with? Rats.”

“Really big rats.” Rebecca lifted her chin. “This city has more than a few big problems. That’s just one of ‘em.”

He snorted. “You should check for bites, then. That’s a nasty thing to carry around. Especially when you’re trying tohideit from everyone.”

Okay, what exactly was this smartass trying to insinuate now?

It couldn’t possibly have been what it sounded like.

And it sounded like Maxwell Hannigan might have seen a lot more of Rebecca’s little adventure tonight than she could afford.

She had to get out of here.

“I’m fine,” she told him with a quick nod. “Not a scratch on me, but thanks for asking.”

“That’s a whole lot of blood fornotascratch.”

“Rats get aggressive,” Rebecca snapped. “I did what I had to do. And I can promise you, every other annoying question you’re gonna ask me right now will be answered the same way. So let’s skip the interrogation and the part where you pretend like you care, and we can forget about the whole thing.”

She started to step around him, but at the same moment, Maxwell sidestepped to block her from slipping back down the alley.

Rebecca stopped short, clenching her jaw and lifting her chin again to glare at him as the shifter loomed over her, silver eyes flashing.

What was he going to do? Fight her right here behind this alley?

He could try.

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