Page 14 of Elven Prince

He stepped closer, holding her in his gaze. “I’d say now’s the perfect time.”

He really was determined to push this, wasn’t he? To pushher.

Maybe she did owe him an explanation. They’d been through enough together, helped each other, and in small ways trusted each other enough for that to be true.

Despite that, she still couldn’t tell what else he really wanted, if anything, beyond her confession of exactly how she’d saved his life.

She could either give in to this flaring connection beckoning her closer—to just submit and hand everything over to the shifter bearing down on her—or she could keep her wits about her and wait for more information.

For the chance to make an informed decision instead of rushing headfirst into something she could never take back.

If he was lying, if he was still hiding something from her, falling into his trap and relinquishing priceless information could very well end her and Shade and the entire Bloodshadow Court.

The problem was, Rebecca just didn’tknow…

She finally tore herself away from him, hopped off the edge of her desk, and walked around it to put more space between them. The sharp pain of their separation almost made her gasp.

But at least she didn’t have to look at him.

“It doesn’t matter now anyway. Blackmoon’s gone. No one’s seen or heard from him, and it doesn’t look like he’s coming back.”

“Some of the best news I’ve heard in a long time,” Maxwell grumbled, turning to keep her in his sights.

“Which, honestly, is why I’m surprised you wanna spend your time still talking about him. He’s gone. Let’s just leave it at that, okay?”

Just like that, the moment she’d been dreading for weeks now—the culmination of that powerful and strange connection between them that never went away—was over.

Even while Maxwell stared at her in mute shock, she knew it was over.

Rebecca’s walls had come right back up, and just in the nick of time.

As she plopped back down in her office chair and pretended to study the intel reports again, she couldn’t ignore the ache in her chest, intensified by what had almost happened. What she’d almost done.

She’d wanted to tell him everything. At the last minute, before they’d been interrupted by a knock on the door, she reallyhadwanted to tell him.

Now she kicked herself for almost having revealed everything without first knowing exactly what it would do. Without knowing exactly how Maxwell Hannigan was involved in all of this. Her life, her secrets, the Bloodshadow Court, that fucking tattoo on his chest…

She felt his stupefied stare fluttering across her face while she gazed at the reports and didn’t see a thing. It only lasted a handful of seconds before he snorted and stepped back from the desk, clasping both hands behind his back.

There he was, returned to his usual defensive, broody, moody, shifter Head-of-Security self.

Right now, that was how Rebecca preferred him. It was safer that way.

Now what the hell were they supposed to talk about? He obviously didn’t feel like leaving, and she couldn’t bring herself to order him out. Passing the time in this awkward silence wouldn’t do them any good, either.

Fortunately for her, Rebecca’sjobwas real, and it came with its own never-ending list of real tasks needing to get done.

She cleared her throat and opened the center desk drawer to find the nondescript silver key resting in the center, exactly where she’d left it. “I think I’ll go back to the Nexus vault this morning. Five new members need funding, along with everything else.”

“Are we running low?” Maxwell grumbled, glowering at her and failing to hide the sarcasm in his voice.

She’d really pissed him off.

“Not even close,” she replied cheerily, then snatched up the key before rising from her chair. “But why wait until we’re completely dry? Gotta keep the faucet turned on whenever we can, right? And for now, at least, it looks like we’ve got a never-ending supply.”

He raised an eyebrow. “The vault is not the definition of never-ending.”

“Well in most ofourlifetimes, yeah. It is.”

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