Page 54 of Elven Crown

“All right, then.” Leonard nodded, then raised an eyebrow as he scanned the faces all around him. “Just one more question.”

“Make it fast,” Maxwell said.

“What’s Plan B?”

The armory fell silent as the rest of the team stared at him in disbelief. Then the moment was punctured by Titus’s boominglaugh, his torso shaking beneath the force of it and the deep bass vibrating through Rebecca’s chest.

She couldn’t help but laugh with him before the rest of the team relaxed into their terrible inside joke. “Well, we already know we’re really fucking good at carrying out Plan B. So if shit hits the fan, we get out of there. All of us.

“This time, I have a feeling we won’t have any extra obstacles popping up for us to deal with on the fly, if that’s the case. Honestly, it sounds to me like Plan A’s been combed over and well thought out on this one.”

The team shared another laugh, which helped break some of the tension inherent in Shade’s first missionwithoutAldous’s destructive oversight in longer than most of the task force could remember.

The nervousness was to be expected, all things considered. This was new territory for everyone without Aldous, without the threat of death or dismemberment hanging over their heads because their commander had put it there for no reason.

But at least this team was still smiling.

At least they still rememberedhowto smile.

She looked up at Maxwell standing beside her and found the shifter smiling too. It was small and understated and still such an unexpected reaction, Rebecca almost laughed again when his silver eyes met hers.

It looked like Maxwell Hannigan could take a joke, after all. On incredibly rare occasions.

“Anything else?” she asked again, ready to get moving while the team armed with advanced magitek weaponry had already loaded most of their gear into the waiting vehicle.

“Yeah.” Titus’s voice ricocheted like thunder between the concrete walls, floor, and ceiling. “Just got one question, actually. What’s the new guy doing here?”

She thought it was another joke until Titus nodded toward the center of the garage and Rebecca turned to search in that direction.

She should have known “the new guy” was Rowan.

Shit. She should have prepared for this. Why hadn’t it even occurred to her?

The Blackmoon Elf strolled casually across the parking garage the way he’d been strolling everywhere else for the last several days, gazing around in curiosity and smirking to himself.

Like he knew all the secrets of the universe and had just stopped by for a little fun.

Dammit, he wasnotsupposed to be here.

More than that, Rebecca had just gotten rid of Maxwell as her one constant shadow at every waking moment. Now she had to keep dealing with Rowan’s shit too?

No, his being here was not part of her plan, which she wanted to shout loud and clear for the entire team. Especially to Maxwell when his tiny smile disappeared beneath a scowl sent directly her way.

But he had no reason to think Rowan’s arrival washerfault, so she didn’t need to try to apologize for it.

After sharing a quick glance with Maxwell and hoping he understood it as her silent promise to handle the situation, Rebecca stepped out of the armory to meet Rowan halfway. Though there was no use pretending even that much distance would conceal their conversation.

Even a whisper could sound like a gusting windstorm down here if it echoed off the right surfaces.

It was a small win when she stopped in front of Rowan, folded her arms, and he paused as well instead of blowing right on past.

“Didn’t I leave you upstairs to keep cleaning weapons?” she asked.

His smile glinted at her in the garage’s low overhead lighting as he shrugged. “Yep. But I realized it’s just not for me. I’m all thumbs with that stuff, you know? But hey, don’t worry. I got Archie to pick up the slack for me. Poor guy just couldn’t teach me how to do it the right way, but lucky for all of us…I’m free now.”

Rebecca hadn’t heard so much as an approaching footstep from behind, but she absolutely felt a growing shock of electrically pulsing energy growing stronger, sending both a shiver and a flush of heat up her back and into her face seconds before Maxwell stopped at her side with a low growl and a hiss.

She didn’t have to look at him to know it was all meant for Rowan.

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