Page 33 of Elven Crown

First and foremost, Rowan had just sworn his oath to the organization. Beyond that, giving into the urge would onlycompromise her position and her leadership abilities by going back on her word as Shade’s commander. Not to mention exposing her personal attachment to Shade’s newest elf.

That personal attachment was the only viable reason for denying Rowan a position within the task force, which he had absolutely earned, but it wasn’t a good enough reason.

After only a few minutes of watching the celebration and all the other members’ excitement and Rowan’s self-important smile through it all, Rebecca had to get out of here.

She turned away from the knot of magicals surging around Rowan Blackmoon and stormed across the common room toward the opposite hallway that would take her to the residential wing. She made it halfway when she noticed Maxwell standing beside her intended exit with several of his security guys around him.

The shifter glared non-stop at Rowan, his arms folded while everyone else in the common room lived it up and enjoyed the moment. In fact, Maxwell looked almost exactly like he had right after Rebecca had successfully completed The Striving and sworn her oath to Shade.

As she approached, though, he didn’t look her way despite that strengthening pull of energy between them, the tingling across Rebecca’s skin, the way the warmth built on itself until she imagined herself stopping beside him and leaning into his body simply because it felt right.

That sensation flared up again with every step, impossible to ignore.

She might have thought he hadn’t noticed her yet if she wasn’t already certain Maxwell felt that same shifting force between them like she did. Maybe not as intensely or as often as she felt it, but he definitely knew it was there.

Her certainty solidified when Maxwell finally pulled his gaze away from Rowan, almost at the last second, and settled it on Rebecca instead.

The second their gazes locked, that surge of dark, electrifying energy—the pull of something inside each of them, tugging constantly at each other—tripled in strength.

Rebecca reeled under the shocking intensity of it and almost stumbled in her path. This…thingbetween them, whatever it was, had undoubtedly been amplifying over the last week. The longer they were around each other, the stronger that pull and the tingling warmth racing across her body became.

And the harder it was to resist.

None of which helped her now. She had so many other things to focus on besides getting all tingly around a shifter.

Maxwell straightened from where he’d been leaning against the wall, unfolding his arms to let them hang at his sides and watching Rebecca with growing curiosity as she approached.

She wouldn’t have thought she’d given him a reason to look like he’d just been caught with his paw in the henhouse, but her Head of Security straightened his composure and watched her as if he expected to be reprimanded for bad behavior at any moment.

Maybe she’d gotten used to her new role as Thon-Da’al faster than anyone expected, including her.

Instead of avoiding him and everyone else to go hide in her room until she cooled off, Rebecca stepped even further into her new role when she stopped at Maxwell’s side and turned around to face the activity in the common room, her back to the wall. It felt right.

Talking shop with Maxwell while the task force had a little downtime also felt right.Ifthat was where this was going. She didn’t know yet.

Though she gazed blankly across the room, the sensation of Maxwell’s stare on the side of her face made it particularly difficult to focus on the conversation she wanted to have. She pushed herself through it anyway.

“Where are we with confirming that false alarm the day Blackmoon showed up?” she asked.

“Rebecca!” Rowan shouted, his voice capturing her attention against her better judgment. He’d thrust a hand in the air from the center of the crowd partying around him and waved it in her direction. “Come join us! Come on… Commander!”

Rebecca forced herself not to look at him, pretending as if she couldn’t hear the elf man beneath the chaotic buzz of dozens of conversations and laughter and storytelling filling the common room.

Maxwell surprised her by pausing to watch her, as if he expected her to excuse herself so she could speak with Shade’s newest member. When she didn’t, he cleared his throat. “There’s been some chatter. Not too much of a difference from all the speculation that apparently made everyone lose their minds the other night.”

“Oh, comeon!” Rowan shouted again, now pushing his way through the gathered celebrants with that gleaming trickster grin of his lighting up the entire room. “No one likes a wallflower. Is this a party, or is it aparty?”

Rebecca kept ignoring him. She had to. Plus, getting the necessary updates from Maxwell to help her stay on top of potential new work for the task force was a far better use of her time. “Just rumors, huh?”

Maxwell dipped his head once in a curt nod, though now the intensity of his gaze on her had faded because he was watching Rowan again. “For now.”

“And how often do these kinds of rumors become something more substantial?”

“More than you’d think,” he muttered.

No, it wasn’t a straight answer, but it gave Rebecca the general feel of things.

It felt like growing rumors in the streets about magical threats and catastrophes came true more often than not.

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