Page 76 of Elven Shadow

One side of his nose wrinkled, making the same corner of his mouth twitch.

That was probably as much of a smile as she was going to get from the guy, especially now.

“What makes you think I followed you?” Maxwell asked.

She swung her arm to the side, gesturing toward the empty lot behind her peppered with dank, filmy potholes and five piles of unrecognizably charred debris.

The crackling hiss of attack magic in her open palm cast red-tinted shadows across the asphalt and reflected in the scattered puddles of grime. “This doesn’t exactly scream Wolfie’s Favorite Hideout.”

Maxwell leaned slightly away from the wall to look down the left side of the parking lot and nodded toward the end of the block. “But that bar down there on the corner? That place has a little something for everybody. Even for someone like me. Maybe someone like you too, if you didn’t look like you just walked out of an active war zone.”

Rebecca darted a glance down the row of buildings toward the far corner in question. Almost a complete city block existed between them and that bar on the corner. Now that he’d mentioned it, though, she recognized the flicker of blue and yellow neon lights washing across the intersection barely visible from back here.

She should have recognized it sooner, but she hadn’t exactly been thinking about directions or stopping by a few magical-friendly haunts along the way tonight.

The Xaharí patrons of Underdark wouldn’t have appreciated Rebecca’s version of blowing off steam. Nor would she only have had to take on five low-level idiots before eradicating all visible traces of their existence.

“Wasn’t really in a drinking mood when I left the compound,” she said.

Maxwell raised an eyebrow. “You look like you could use a strong one now, though.”

She thrust a hand on her hip, feeling the slackness of deadpan boredom on her own expression. Because she couldn’t let anything else show.

Not when she had no idea how much the shifter had seen.

Better to go about findingthatinformation through an entirely different route.

“Is this your way of asking me out for a drink, Max?”

His non-expression remained unchanged. “Not really. Just making an observation.”

“Great. Next time I give a shit about what you think, I’ll make sure to ask for more opinions.” With a quick flick of her wrist, she snuffed out the crackling battle magic, plunging the mouth of the alley and this side of the parking lot into deeper darkness once more.

The shifter’s silver eyes flashed at her just as brightly even without the extra light.

Like he wanted her to see them.

What waswrongwith this guy? She’d gone out of her way to give him the slip so she could finally get out from under his constant stalking at the compound, and he’d figured out how to track her down anyway.

That had to mean he wanted something, right?

“So. You were just out for a drink on a Thursday night?” she asked, tossing a hand casually toward the back of Underdark at the end of the block.

“Contrary to popular belief at the compound, I’m not on duty twenty-four-seven.”

“Uh-huh. But something tells me they don’t serve drinks all the way out to this back lot a whole block away. Unless you have a better excuse for showing up here and interruptingmynight out.”

His silver eyes flickered away from her before his gaze settled on the piles of charred remains behind her.

Thank the Shadowed Seat the piles had all stopped smoking by now. Good thing Rebecca had thought to tamp down her Bloodshadow magic again too, and just in time.

Or Maxwell Hannigan would be staring at an elf he didn’t recognize instead of the elf he only thought he knew.

But now he’d seen the bodies—or what was left of them.

She raised her eyebrows and waited for him to say something.

“I smelled smoke,” he said, frowning as he eyed each charred pile in turn. “Not a scent I generally pick up in this part of town, so I thought I’d check it out.”

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