Page 75 of Elven Prince

“I’m sure Blackmoon would agree with you,” she replied, still refusing to look at the shifter. “But we can’t afford to wait around for him until he hands us the rest ofthatstory, so I made an executive decision.”

“Without the courtesy of telling me anything about it beforehand,” he snarled. “You haven’t once mentioned or even alluded to Blackmoon since the night he disappeared, and now you make the decision to brand him a defector and place him at the top of our high-priority threat list, on your own, with everything else we’re juggling right now.”

“We?” She stopped and whirled to face him, trying her damnedest to ignore the flare of longing coursing through her, as if their connection was just as determined to overpower her personal autonomy as Maxwell was to make her talk. “Wearen’t juggling anything, Hannigan. I’m making call after call every single day, doing my best and hoping it’s the right thing for all of us, because at the end of the day, I’m the only one whocan.”

His silver eyes flashed dangerously when he elicited another growl, this one unmistakably directed at her. His flaring nostrils and the muscles of his clenching jaw worked furiously while he loomed over her likethatwould be enough of a threat.

The shifter clearly fought to retain control of himself, to not lash out the way his instincts or his anger or this damn cord of energy and need and oblivion pulsed between them like an overpowered magitek weapon.

They squared off like that for another interminable moment, glaring at each other, both of them breathing heavily in their agitation and the effort of resisting the overwhelming temptation to exchange words for actions.

Actions Rebecca was certain would directly contradict their current argument.

Actions that would only pull them closer together when more distance was what they absolutely needed if either of them were to keep a clear head.

If clear heads were even possible anymore.

With a burst of searing agony cutting through her chest and head as the result of her defiance, Rebecca finally tore herself away from him. Somehow, despite the growing power of their connection desperately working against her to haul her back, she continued down the hall, picking up the pace as much as the pain of that separation would allow.

She wished she could have broken into a run to escape him altogether.

And, as always, Maxwell was at her side, matching her pace, growling and making her face blaze with heat the longer he glowered at her.

Would sheeverget away from this?

“Hey, Knox!” Jay called after emerging from an intersecting hallway up ahead. “Do you want all written reports sent up to you first? Or are we supposed to take that to Security or council members first?”

The question didn’t sink in until she’d almost reached him and somehow pulled herself out of the intense concentration it took just to make her legs move forward one after the other.

“Does that report contain immediate details of the crime factions in this city or other possible attacks?” she asked, the words sliding out of her mouth like sludge, as if someone else were making her speak.

Jay looked back and forth between Rebecca and Maxwell, then glanced at the printed report in his hand and shrugged. “Not immediate. Just a write-up of yesterday’s recon across Englewood.”

“That can go straight to Whit,” Maxwell cut in with a firm nod. “He’s still processing daily reports.”

“Oh.” Jay clearly tried to act nonchalant about the conversation, though he failed to effectively hide his confusion as his gaze flickered back and forth between Head of Security and Roth-Da’al. “Yeah. Good to know. Thanks.”

The guy darted past them down the hall, as if the worst threat wasn’t somewhere beyond the compound or somewhere else in Chicago but right here in this corridor with his superiors.

Unable to fully process the conversation or even remember what she’d said, Rebecca picked up the pace again, moving as quickly as she dared.

All the while, the strength of that mesmerizingly dark pull tugged her eternally back toward the shifter.

Just before they reached the base of the back stairwell, Maxwell dropped another surprise in her lap.

“If I didn’t know better,” he growled, “I’d say your latest declaration regarding Blackmoon is about alotmore than simply protecting Shade.”

Rebecca hissed out a sigh, all her attention now focused solely on making it to the base of the stairs before she could address whatever came after that.

“Well maybe youdon’tknow better,” she snapped.

“I’d even go so far as to say this decision isn’t solely a tactical response to his disappearance. Not at the same time that all our contractors and contacts start dropping all over the city. This is personal, isn’t it? Foryou.”

“Every fucking decision of every fucking day is personal for me, Hannigan!” Rebecca snapped as she charged up the stairs and wondered how long ago she’d begun the climb. “I’mthe one who has to deal with the fallout, whether I deserve it or not. Now please, I have a lot more of those decisions to sift through in the next twenty-four hours, hopefully before even more of our operatives are cornered and beaten to a pulp before we find them in the nick of time. I can’t talk about this right now.”

Her footsteps echoed madly up the stairwell, almost as if there were two of her storming toward the promise of just a little peace at the top.

The shifter’s steps hardly ever made a sound, and only when he wanted them to.

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