Page 1 of Elven Lies

1

Rebecca Bloodshadow couldn’t remember the last time she’d eagerly counted down the seconds for an official and desperately grave meeting to begin.

Sitting behind the desk in her second-story office at Shade headquarters this morning, however, counting down the seconds was all she could do. The worst part was, she had no idea how this was going to pan out.

Fiddling with the small carved figurine of cream-colored stone, twirling it between her clammy fingers between brief interludes of dropping it onto the surface of her desk with a startlingly loud clatter, she couldn’t help glancing at the clock on the wall above the door.

It had to be running five minutes late, right?

When her knee began its bouncing tempo beneath her desk, matching the rhythm of the figurine she anxiously twirled between her fingers, she doubted she would last another fiveseconds before the growing urgency compelled her to get up anddosomething.

The only thing keeping her in her seat was the knowledge of everything at stake for Shade—for its individual members; for her, its commander; and for the injured operative who’d been abducted from within Shade’s headquarters compound, right under all their noses.

Every cell in Rebecca’s body urged her to move, to leap into action the way she almost had last night. But if she wanted to continue her track record of being the kind of leader this privatized magical task force in Chicago needed, she couldn’t keep trying to do this on her own.

Everyone else would recognize the importance of a decision like this. At this point, Rebecca figured she had a fifty-fifty chance of rallying the others to see this situation for what it was, the way she did. Even with so much riding on the line.

The next two minutes felt like two decades until a physical compulsion to move overcame her hard-earned patience. With a hurried sigh, she pushed her office chair away from the desk, meaning to stand. But the knock on the office door made her reconsider.

Before she could respond, the door opened anyway, and Maxwell Hannigan took two steps into her office.

“Well,” Rebecca said with a wry smile as she settled back into her chair, hoping it made her look as calm and collected as she didn’t feel. “If no one else in this place prioritizes being on time, I can always count on my Head of Security.”

The shifter’s perpetual scowl remained unchanged as he studied her with those glowing silver eyes.

“They’re on their way,” he told her, his voice gruff and all business. Then he glanced over his shoulder. The stiffness of his composure softened before he met Rebecca’s gaze again andtook two more hesitant steps inside. “I wanted to check on you first before we started.”

Then his silver eyes softened as well, pinning Rebecca to her seat with their intensity while the warm, ever-present weight of Maxwell’s presence and his gaze on her rippled through Rebecca’s limbs like the opposite of a cold shudder.

She forced herself to ignore the odd sensation, like an inexplicable chemical reaction between them. That was particularly difficult to do when they were alone.

Now just wasn’t the time to let herself get caught up in whatever this was this was developing between her and her Head of Security.

Rebecca nodded and tore her gaze away from his so she could focus. “I’m fine. As fine as I can be, given the circumstances.”

“Sure,” Maxwell replied with a shallow dip of his head, his voice gentled by their privacy. “Of course, whatever happens here this morning, I want you to know—”

Approaching footsteps echoing down the hall cut him off. Maxwell stepped aside and turned toward the open door just as the warlock from his personally assembled security team appeared in the doorway. He gritted the first to arrive with a nod. “Whit.”

Whit stepped hesitantly into Rebecca’s office, glanced around, then cleared his throat. “I’m not early, am I?”

“You’re late, actually,” Maxwell grumbled.

“Just like everyone else,” Rebecca added and gestured toward the table she’d had brought to her office an hour ago just for this. “Take a seat, Whit. As soon as everyone’s here, we’ll get started.”

“Sure.” Whit nodded, shot Maxwell another questioning glance, then approached the empty table before pulling out a chair for himself and taking a seat. “Roth-Da’al.”

Rebecca tried not to grimace at his use of the terribly formal old-world title she also held as Commander of Shade.She’d hoped the members of her task force would eventually discontinue its use, but apparently, Maxwell had set a trend by refusing to call her anything else since the position was thrust upon her only a few weeks ago.

Now, it seemed every magical in the building had decided to take a page out of the shifter’s book.Almostevery magical.

With Whit now waiting patiently in his seat for the meeting to begin, her office fell tensely silent again.

Her and Maxwell’s privacy had been shattered, meaning whatever he’d intended to tell her before Whit’s arrival would have to wait.

The same did not apply, however, to the prickling tingle roaming across Rebecca’s face like a physical touch as Maxwell studied her. Sheknewhe was studying her, because she could feel it.

She always felt it.

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