Page 110 of Elven Crown

Damn, she was in a foul mood this morning.

She blamed Rowan, wholly and completely. This was all because of him.

All because he’d found her here on Earth, in the waking world, and now he’d found her in her dreams again, where the vault of her stored memories had been broken into and looted for whatever it was worth.

It wasn’t worth more than frustration and a bad attitude, neither of which would do her any favors right now.

What Rebecca needed was to get started with her day, focus on the present, and let her dreams and memories sink back down again where they belonged.

Thiswas her life now. No amount of reliving the past, awake or asleep, could change that.

Maxwell respected her aggravated request after that, but only halfway. He didn’t ask more questions. He didn’t try to talk to her at all. But, once again, he picked up his preferred position for following his commander around the compound and stuck to it, trailing after Rebecca by three feet and just to her left.

How long was he going to keep this up?

Something told her it would be much longer than she cared for, despite their tentative truce. She was sure some part of him enjoyed pissing her off by doing his job, just not to her specifications.

After she turned the last corner into another hallway, the common room now in sight, Maxwell clearly couldn’t contain himself any longer.

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

The genuine concern in his voice, tinged with a note of apprehension she hadn’t yet heard in him, made her stop.

Was he genuinely worried about her? That didn’t make sense. She hadn’t given him a reason to worry since the night he’d followed her to the Old Joliet Prison. And just last night, he was congratulating her for proving him wrong.

So whatwasthis?

She glanced at him over her shoulder, but that didn’t tell her what concerned him. If he was asking on a more personal level because he felt something forher, specifically, no matter what position she held within Shade’s ranks…

She still couldn’t read that in him, either. She couldn’t tell.

Right now, she wasn’t in the right headspace to filter her reactions so they appropriately matched the context. So, everything just came flying out of her mouth like crackling sparks.

“If you wanna spend more time with me, Maxie,” she quipped as she picked up her pace down the hall, “you could just say so. It’s not my job to read your mind.”

His footsteps stopped briefly, as if she’d caught him off guard.

Good. They were evening the score a little.

It didn’t last long before he caught up with her again and now walked at her side instead of his usual three feet behind her during an escort. “We’ve been alone this whole time, though.”

Had he just attempted a joke? Or was he naturally this clueless all the time?

“This morning, yeah,” she said. “And you still haven’t asked me about the weather or what my plans are after work.”

He let out a choked-sounding snort, and from the corner of her eye, she saw him frowning again beside her. “Are those things youwantme to ask first thing in the morning?”

Rebecca scoffed. “Well, they’re better conversation-starters than ‘You look awful,’ and ‘Tell me what’s wrong with you.’”

He must have been as clueless as he seemed. Rebecca honestly couldn’t imagine the shifter engaging in any form of small talk. Not that he was too awkward or incapable of it but because he seemed like the kind of guy who grew easily bored with any conversation that didn’t include duties within Shade, protocol,missions, and how much he suspected Rebecca of something he didn’t like.

Or maybe this was his version of trying to tease her?

That thought was too overwhelming—the idea that Maxwell Hannigan even knewhowto make jokes without directly referencing his darker suspicions of anyone. She couldn’t think about that.

She couldn’tstopthinking about it.

Then they reached the end of the hall where it fed into the common room, and Rebecca stopped to consider her options.

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