Page 55 of Elven Throne

The inconceivable discomfort worming through him with a new type of internal agony she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

It made her think of the pain and rage and monstrous resentment that had filled her when she’d agreed to perform the connection spell with Rowan to finally, after so many centuries, speak with the Bloodshadow Council face to face.

She understood those feelings, which seemed to be exactly what had been terrorizing Maxwell since before they’d even left their decimated compound.

Still, he refused to give her a straight answer or elaborate any further. She could only assume that was because he didn’t think he could control whatever might explode out of him if he opened that can of worms. Even to her.

The unwavering intensity of all that complexly layered pain inside him, every bit of which she still felt, made her want to fix it. That didn’t seem quite possible now, but she had to dosomething.

She reached out to gently settle her hand on his upper arm, meant only to reassure him.

The shifter flinched at her touch, grimaced for half a second before covering it back up again beneath his unreadable mask, and didn’t move.

This wasreallybad, wasn’t it?

She didn’t remove her hand, though, and gazed up at him before softly adding, “I understand.”

He closed his eyes and sighed, as if he couldn’t bear to hear those words.

As if he’d wanted nothing but to hear those words fromanyone.

Clenching his jaw again with the almost violent effort of holding himself together, he finally opened his eyes and still stared straight ahead. “You should go. Meet your hosts. Introduce yourself, if you wish.”

“Nice try.” Rebecca removed her hand from his arm, fighting back a gasp at the tingling surge of energy racing across her fingers as she did so. Then she returned her attention to the livening gathering and lifted her chin. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She meant it. Shade was clearly safe here. All signs pointed to the astronomical probability that they would all be well cared for here during the week of sanctuary and support the gray-haired man had agreed to provide.

Which meant she had plenty of space and time to focus on her concern for the shifter standing so painfully rigid beside her. Right now, that seemed more crucial than anything else.

After another twenty minutes, though, she found a variety of other subtle clues to confirm her original assessment.

Something was clearlyverywrong here, as far as Maxwell’s presence was concerned.

The adult shifters never once looked their way. The children eventually accepted the fact that the elven woman among them was also off-limits, for the time being. As a result, they also completely ignored Rebecca, as if she wasn’t even there.

No one attempted to approach or showed any sign of acknowledging her and Maxwell standing silently off to the side.

No matter how much time passed or how quickly it seemed Shade’s operatives received what they needed to settle in for their temporary stay, Maxwell’s boiling discomfort—with that same looming thread of quivering violence and denial and terror underlying it all—didn’t fade.

In fact, it only intensified, bit by bit and second by second, until Rebecca was certain his steady resolve would burst. Then they might have a real problem.

That never happened. Maxwell didn’t move a muscle, his shallow breath barely audible, and he still said nothing.

The more Rebecca watched the shifters, feeling everything coursing through Maxwell with an agonizing intensity that never let up, the more she identified the finer details of what was happening.

Maxwellknewthese shifters. That was a certainty. No stranger could have elicited this kind of reaction in her normally stoic, even-tempered Head of Security.

The shifters here knewhimtoo, despite the collective decision to never once acknowledge his presence.

But the familiarity there was not normal. Far from it.

There was something else at play that just…wasn’t right.

Something that had turned the Maxwell Hannigan she knew into a complete stranger. Eating away at him like acid from the inside out. Shutting him down.

Whatever existed between him and what Rebecca could only assume was an entire shifter pack living on the property, it was some serious shit.

Another ten minutes of standing, watching, listening, and growing more frustrated by the glaring lack of answers, the last of Rebecca’s patience frayed.

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