Page 69 of Elven Prince

“I want to make it perfectly clear, this was not a sanctioned action on his part, nor did he escape the consequences of acting on his own and disobeying a direct order. I hadn’t previously briefed anyone on this issue, because I had no other intel on Bigg Boss. And until now, the possibility of his gang in Chicago or a potential attack on Shade from Big Boss hadn’t yet existed.

“The orcs never delivered my message, so Big Boss most likely never found out what happened to them in the first place. But now the informationisrelevant, and I want every member of this task force to operate in the future with the full scope of available information at their disposal so these mistakes hopefully don’t repeat themselves. If ever.”

Rebecca paused at the end of that revelation so everyone had a little more time to fully digest what they’d heard. Judging by the disapproving scowls and grumbling remarks throughout the gathering, nobody liked hearing what she’d had to say, which she’d also fully expected.

She hadn’t liked saying it.

After another moment that seemed to last an eternity, the dissatisfaction rippling among her task force calmed into a tense but silent expectation once again.

Now seemed as good a time as any to continue.

“With that said,” Rebecca continued, “we aren’t entirely out of options or resources. Last night, one of our teams successfully thwarted an attack on a known contact. As many of you already know, that contact is here with us at Headquarters and will remain here until we can ensure his continued safety elsewhere. I’ve spoken with Bruce, and he’s agreed to help double down on all security measures here and our modes of surveillance already established throughout the greater Chicago area.

“That’s our first step and an important one. No matter what, our top priority now is vigilance, and this goes for the entire task force. I want everyone to be on their toes, watching, listening, however you can. Should you encounter any suspicious activity or signs of movement from criminal organizations elsewhere in the area, no one handles it on their own. You come directly to me about it. Or to Hannigan. Or to any member of Shade’s council standing up here with me. Then we’ll decide how to best move forward.

“On that note, I’ve issues orders to stay clear of the areas where our contacts, distributors, partners, and suppliers were recently attacked. These hot zones are strictly off limits until you hear otherwise. Report anything remotely connected to these various factions out there in the city who may be gunning for Shade. Every move we make from here on out has to be meticulously devised and perfectly executed.”

Murmurs of ascent rising through the room again served as a natural stopping point in what had become Rebecca’s longest—and probably the most important—address to the task force. It gave her a moment to breathe. Or at least to try.

She spared quick glances at the members of her council she’d specifically asked beforehand to stand up here with her for just this purpose.

As far as she could tell, each of those council members took her revelations and most recent orders in stride, as if they’d already heard any of it, which Rebecca had fully anticipated.

When her gaze landed on Maxwell, of course he was already staring at her, his blazing silver gaze burning across her face.

Or maybe she’d imagined that brighter glow after how dark Shade’s prospects had become.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell if her Head of Security wore his usual scowl because that was how he preferred to present himself or because he also disapproved of what she was doing.

He could disapprove all he wanted, as long as he didn’t sabotage her efforts to arm Shade with all the facts in the hope that it would keep them from being caught with their pants down again and their contacts were systematically wiped off the map. Rebecca had no reason to believe he would act against her in this, either.

But the way he stared at her now reminded her there was always the possibility of it.

She just couldn’t trust him the way she’d begun to believe she could before everything had so drastically changed again.

It took a surprising amount of effort to tear her gaze away from him before she addressed the common room again.

“We’re facing a bigger threat than ever now,” she said. “Made even bigger by the fact that, as of right now, that threat still doesn’t have a face or a name. It’s more work for us in the short term, but in the end, approaching everything and everyone with the utmost cautionwillpay off. I want to avoid anyone else getting the jump on this task force in any capacity. Which means every single one of us will need to step up more than we ever have to ensure we don’t get taken off guard like this again.

It brought her a small measure of relief and maybe even hope to see the nods of agreement rising from her operatives and support staff, expressions settling into variations of grim determination and acceptance.

They were all in this together, and it would serve them well for every Shade member tofeellike they were all in this together. Like they’d made the choice to be involved, to support each other, to look out for each other, and to carry out their orders to the best of their ability.

Only together would they make it through this and come out the other side as unscathed as possible.

She hoped.

So far, this mass briefing had gone a lot better than she’d dared to hope it would. But then Maxwell stepped forward to address the common room, without preamble or any signal from the Roth-Da’al, because Rebecca had had no idea he’d planned to deliver his own little speech on the tail end of hers.

“And finally,” he said, his voice booming around the room, “because this is new territory and not something previously included in standard operations, I want to make it clear that during this time, every member of this council, myself included, will make themselves available when necessary, either to receive reports on this matter or to field any questions that may arise. Should any individual present find a little more clarity necessary to aid in successfully and efficiently carrying out their duties, I urge you to utilize us as a resource.”

It was a particularly open-ended statement for Shade’s Head of Security and far more than Maxwell was known to say beyond the scope of briefing for large-scale missions.

Rebecca wasn’t alone in her surprise.

The common room fell into a stunned silence at the shifter’s words, everyone waiting for him to either end it with what they’d grown accustomed to hearing from him or to wrap up this briefing that didn’t actually contain much pertinent information regarding the current threat.

Maxwell surveyed the gathering a moment longer, eyed every other member of the council standing in line with him and Rebecca, then nodded as if fully satisfied with the way he’d brought this to an end.

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