Page 82 of Elven Prince

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Maxwell snarled, then tore away from Rebecca to stomp out his frustration across the room, growling and pacing again like a caged animal just waiting for the right moment to pounce.

“Not now!” Rebecca shouted through her own frustration. Her tightened with a painfully heavy grip around her lungs at Maxwell’s sudden departure.

They were having this conversation right now. It had to be done and anything else could wait.

But the door to her office opened anyway with a soft creak before Rick poked his head in, his eyes wide.

Rebecca whirled around to glare at him. “Rick. Did I not say it loud enough?”

“No, you did. I heard you. I’m real sorry, boss, but youreallywanna see this. Like right now.”

23

Goddammit!

The storm of rage and relief swelling through Rebecca in an instant made it impossible to respond.

She could breathe again, however shakily.

Her fists burned with the urge to throw Rick out and pretend he’d never appeared.

She’d finally given in to Maxwell’s hunger for the truth that spanned so much farther and ran so much deeper than simple curiosity. She’d finally relented, about to tell him exactly what he wanted to know about how Rowan Blackmoon fit into her history.

About why the shifter would have died that night at the warehouse without the Blackmoon Elf.

Ofcoursethere was another emergency, and even the Roth-Da’al’s barked warning that now wasn’t the right time wasn’t enough to keep her duties at bay just a little longer.

This was fucking ridiculous.

Breathing slowly to calm herself and her racing heart while the painful tug and pull of her connection with Maxwell raced back and forth across her body—he was pacing again—Rebecca had no choice but to relent.

She stared at Rick’s red- and black-mottled face peeking through the office door and spread her arms. “If it’s that important, why aren’t you showing me already?”

“Right. Yeah.” The blackhorn scurried into the room, waving around a small device in his hand. “Caught it on camera. The whole thing. Visualandaudio. It’s insane.”

He stopped in front of her desk before turning toward her with a baffled frown. “Where’s your computer? I’ll plug it in.”

The question caught her off guard, then she blinked dully and turned toward her Head of Security. “Hannigan? Where’s the computer?”

He shrugged. “Aldous never wanted one.”

“And were we going to change that up here?”

“Just…haven’t gotten around to it yet,” he grumbled, glaring right back at her as if she’d specifically concocted this entire scenario just to make him look bad.

With the way Rick looked urgently back and forth between them, the flash drive she now recognized still raised in his hand, Rebecca was pretty sure not having her own office computer ranked particularly low on the priority list.

It didn’t make this any less awkward.

“Then let’s go find a damn computer,” she said.

“On it.” Rick spun around and hurried back toward the door. “The fastest one’s down in security. Best graphics card, too. Let’s do it.”

He scurried into the hall, the hustling echoes of his footsteps quickly receding.

Rebecca met Maxwell’s gaze again, which hadn’t changed from its previous scowling accusation. Before she could say anything, he took off across the room.

He stopped beside her on his way past and leaned in so dangerously close, it felt like he was trying to leanthroughher as he growled, “This isn’t over.”

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