Page 29 of Control's Undoing

Colum agreed without argument, aware the archive would be safer with knights and Spartan Guards protecting it.

“Why now?”Annie said slowly.“Assuming that this is related to the manuscript.I know there was an inquiry on the dark web, but that wasn’t recent.Why tonight?”

“How did they find out about the archive?”Xavier added.“If you told a member this manuscript existed, they would assume it’s with either the admiral of England or France, since Wilde lived in those places.The archive is a secret, even from our own people.”

“And what about—” Annie started.

“Stop,” Eric ordered.His gaze slid from Colum to Annie, then to Xavier.His next words meant for all three of them.“I’ll bring in more people to work on this.Those are all good questions, but you’re not the ones who are going to answer them.Your only job is to find the rest of that manuscript before someone else does.”

Annie steppedonto the elevator of 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, catching sight of her reflection in the mirrored doors as they slid closed.

Yep.Just as she thought.A zombie would look better than her right now.Her makeup was faded and smudged and her clothing wrinkled after too many hours of shifting uncomfortably on the plane.There were dark circles under her eyes, and a large section of hair had fallen out of her loose ponytail.She was also starting to fear she’d never be able to turn her head again, thanks to one hell of a stiff neck.She winced as she bent it to the left, then to the right, in an attempt to work out the kinks.

She’d only just managed to fall asleep last night, tossing and turning as she considered the investigation, when Colum called about the break-in.Concern had driven her from her bed and, not wanting to wait for a rideshare or taxi, she’d raced through the streets, arriving at the same time Xavier arrived in his friend’s car.

Despite her short association with Colum, she’d felt a pull toward the quiet, intelligent man, so the idea that he’d been in danger and injured bothered her quite a lot.

Once she and Xavier had taken care of Colum, spoken to the fleet admiral, then done a quick check to make sure all the doors and windows of the archive were securely locked, they’d said good night to the archivist for a second time.

Xavier had dropped her back at her hotel sometime around three a.m.The sleep that had been elusive prior to Colum’s call had been impossible after, so she’d managed little more than a few hours of fitful dozing before the alarm went off.

The largest part of Annie’s restlessness had less to do with tracking down Oscar Wilde’s manuscript and more to do with the two men she was working with.She wasn’t sure what it said about her that she was as wildly attracted to Xavier’s arrogance and cutting wit as she was to Colum’s shy, absentminded-professor vibe.It was probably an indication that she’d let too much time pass between lovers.

Dropping out of the dating scene hadn’t been an intentional decision; rather, it was something that had just evolved into being after too many shitty dates.Being a single woman in this day and age sucked.One might think living in a big city like New York would increase her chances of meeting a decent man, but instead, too often she felt lost in the masses, stuck wading through online dating sites or going to meat-market-like clubs with her friends.

Neither had proven an effective means of finding someone to sleep with.Which was all she wanted.It wasn’t like she was looking for a long-term commitment because finding her future spouses was in the hands of the Grand Master.All Annie was seeking was a handsome, nice man—or woman, though she definitely preferred a dick—who got her blood pumping.In the past year, there’d been no one she’d been attracted to enough to take to her bed.

“Christ, but I’m knackered,” Colum muttered, his words mimicking her feelings.Annie shuffled a foot closer to him, lightly resting her head against his arm, giving him a tired smile through their reflections.

He looked a little startled that she was touching him but returned the smile.She’d spent a good bit of her first night in Dublin worrying about the archivist, after his abrupt departure from the pub.Part of her had been tempted to follow him to make sure he was okay, but given the fact they were virtually strangers, she didn’t feel as though she had the right.

She still wasn’t sure what had driven him away from the table like the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels, and she had intended to ask him outright yesterday morning.That plan changed after Colum opened the door to the archive and she’d taken one look at his face.His gaze had been lowered as if embarrassed, while his stooped posture and obvious unease proved he was bracing himself.Rather than mention the pub, she’d given him a cheery hello.It was the right thing to do, because he’d finally lifted his gaze to hers in obvious relief and returned the friendly greeting.

She wasn’t sure what secrets Colum was harboring, but she had caught a glimpse of something in his expression when he’d talked about meeting Eric.It was something sad, something broken, that didn’t seem to match the story.

“Long day,” she said.And it had been.Because Murphy’s Law had decided to make Annie her bitch.On top of two nights of little to no sleep, their morning flight was delayed due to weather and hadn’t left until dinnertime.So while it was only nine p.m.in New York, her system—which was still dealing with the jet lag from flyingtoDublin—was all out of whack.

At least the trip back across the ocean to New York was uneventful, as she, Colum, and Xavier had been seated in separate rows due to their last-minute booking.She’d hoped to grab a few hours’ sleep while they were in the air, but her mind wouldn’t shut off.

She’d decided to get a room in the hotel because the thought of grabbing a rideshare and making the hour-and-a-half journey to her place in Jersey felt like a nightmare.Besides, she preferred to hang close to the guys rather than slow down their investigation by adding a commute in and out of the city.

“I’m going to sleep the sleep of the dead,” she murmured, as the elevator slowly rose.Colum, whose dark circles rivaled hers, merely nodded.Xavier, on the other hand, smirked, looking almost well rested.Every time she’d glanced in his direction on the plane, he’d been reclined with his eyes closed, so apparently he’d been able to sleep just fine, which struck her as odd, considering the phrase was “no rest for the wicked” and the sexy Frenchman was sin incarnate.

Once the elevator stopped on their floor, Annie dragged her suitcase behind her wearily.They’d managed to get rooms on the same floor, Colum’s directly across from hers, Xavier’s to the left.

“This is me,” she said, stopping in front of her door.Both men paused as well.

“Such a waste of money,” Xavier murmured, shaking his head.

She laughed softly.Xavier had strongly suggested they cut down on the costs of the trip by sharing a room.

“Not our money,” Annie reminded him, repeating the same thing she’d said at the check-in desk when she asked for her own room.Their societies were footing the bill for this scavenger hunt.Of course, that wasn’t to say Annie hadn’t been tempted, certain that if she hadn’t been so damn jet-lagged, she would have given him a different response.Unlike the countless men she’d met over the course of the past year, Xavier had no problem revving her engine.She was suddenly regretting not packing her vibrator.

“We’re on the pig’s back here, eh?”Colum said, glancing down the wide, tastefully decorated hall.He whistled when they’d first stepped into the brightly lit, elegant lobby, clearly impressed by their five-star hotel.Annie recalled Colum’s story about growing up on a sheep farm, and how his family had been poor.Given his simple, functional wardrobe, he was clearly the type of man who didn’t need money to be happy.

Xavier frowned, confused.“We’re what?”

Annie laughed, able to use context clues.“It’s a nice hotel.And I love your accent, Colum.”

---