Page 41 of Elven Crown

Rebecca forced to stare straight ahead, as if this juvenile behavior had no effect on her ability to contain herself as Shade’s leader. On the inside, her growing anger cranked up the heat and threatened to boil over.

“No inspiration at all,” she replied blandly. “It was like this when I took the job.”

“Huh.” Rowan appeared in her line of sight again on the other side of her desk. He stopped in front of it and partially lifted one leg to half-sit on the corner of the desk, his other boot planted on the floor. “Well then. Now that I’m here, we might as well—”

“That’s not how this works,” Maxwell said with another growl as he headed toward them. “You wait for the Thon-Da’al to call you. You wait for your assignments. Or you make a fucking appointment.That’show this works.”

Rowan’s hardy, careless laughter echoed around the office as he rocked backward on the corner of Rebecca’s desk. “Listen tothisguy. He knowsall abouthow this works.”

“You should listen to him,” she said, fixing Rowan with a deadpan stare, pleased by the flatness of her own voice.

She had to get him out of here.

“Boy…” When his laughter died down, Rowan slapped a hand down on his thigh and leaned toward her. “Listen. This is really cute and all, but now that you’re up here instead of everywhere else in this dump, why don’t I just make an appointment? For right now.”

The nerve of this guy.

She might have forgiven some other idiot for acting like this if he’d just come in off the streets and had nowhere to go. But she knew Rowan. He was doing this to amuse himself, and he still didn’t take her or her dedication to this task force seriously.

He thought she was kidding.

“That’s not possible,” she told him.

He looked her up and down and added a playfully pouting frown into the mix. “Oh, come on. You don’t look that busy.”

“That’s not for you to decide. Hannigan?” Rebecca gestured toward the open door and finally looked away from the elf sitting on her desk. “Please escort our newest member back to the areasof this compound thatareavailable for him to explore on his own time.”

Rowan snorted. “Isn’t that a little rude?”

“No ruder than you barging in where you weren’t invited,” she snapped, then nodded toward the shifter again.

Maxwell’s eyes widened. He looked impressed by her decision to hand the situation to him so he could deal with it as he saw fit. Or maybe he was surprised to see her finally acting like a leader, even if it was with their newest member and another elf.

Either way, she couldn’t have been more grateful for the fact that her Head of Security tookherseriously. At least for now.

With a firm nod, Maxwell stepped forward and crossed the office to stop on the other side of Rowan and hover over the elf. “You heard her. I can escort you, or we could go the more challenging route. Either way, you’re leaving this room.”

Chuckling through a fake grimace of nervousness, Rowan lifted both hands in concession.

It looked like he was ready to give in, but Rebecca’s instincts went into overdrive and put the rest of her on high alert.

Rowan wouldn’t concede anything. He wouldn’t give up, just like that. He had no intention of backing down. She knew him too well for that.

What would she have to do to get him out of here?

But then he laughed again, slid his thigh off the edge of her desk, and turned toward Maxwell. “All right. Message received loud and clear. See? I’m going.”

He backed away from the desk, keeping his gaze on Rebecca and his hands lifted in front of him as he slipped toward the open door.

In the hallway, Rick still stood outside the office, gaping at the entire scenario.

With every step, Rowan’s laughter trickled out of his open mouth. Even after he’d exited the office and walked back downthe hall, even after Rick had pulled the door shut again with another apology, the Blackmoon Elf’s laughter echoed toward Rebecca’s office.

For minutes more after that, his laughter bounced around within the walls of her mind as well, filling her with an expectant certainty she appreciated only for its capacity to prepare her for what came next.

Rowan had given up and given in. This time.

But he wasn’t finished with her. Not by a long shot.

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