15. Chapter 15

15

A s soon as they stopped in the hallway, Maxwell snatched his hand away from her, gripped it briefly with his other hand as if he were trying to rub away the discomfort, then clasped both hands behind his back and regained control of himself before dipping his head toward her.

He had definitely felt that too. Apparently, they were just going to keep ignoring it.

The absence of his hand on Rebecca’s lower back almost made her cry out as if it were some great loss—like it had physically hurt her.

She didn’t, but recognizing the sensation was all the more reason to force her focus onto this urgent update from her Head of Security. Suddenly, that felt like an impossible task.

“Before that last mission at Eduardo’s hideout,” Maxwell began gruffly, “Aldous had constant security on the guy, watching his every move twenty-four-seven. He wanted to keep tabs on the weapon at all times. You know, the one you—”

“The one I destroyed so our entire team could live to see another day?” she quipped. “Yeah, I’m familiar with that one.”

Maxwell pressed his lips together and shuffled his feet, his entire demeanor of confidence and control twisted, unsteady, and twitchy.

Why did he look so embarrassed to have brought this up? He normally reveled in bringing attention to Rebecca’s faults.

He cleared his throat again and looked physically pained to continue this higher priority update. “The surveillance continued, even with the change of leadership. I take full responsibility for not having stayed on top of which operations were left running without further assessment by you. And I apologize for the oversight—”

“Hannigan,” she interrupted, then waited for him to meet her gaze again. “I don’t care about surveillance ops running in the background before or after Aldous, okay? Just tell me why this is an emergency.”

The softening in his eyes and a slow exhale hinted at Maxwell’s relief before his entire demeanor changed. “We just picked up new activity on that surveillance line.”

“Are you telling me Eduardo has another one of those energy cannons?”

“I can’t say for sure. It’s possible, though highly unlikely. That kind of weapon doesn’t seem to flood the illegal magical weapons market at the moment.”

Rebecca snorted. “That’s a relief.”

“But we did confirm that one of Eduardo’s griybreki teams is on the move with a heavy cargo of illegal weapons. Three-vehicle convoy. We don’t know yet exactly what they’re transporting, but knowing Eduardo…”

“It’s something we definitely don’t want to see in the wrong hands.”

“Exactly.” Maxwell nodded. “If we don’t move on this, whatever Eduardo’s trying to sell off or move himself might be gone before we get another chance.”

“Where are they headed?”

“Port of Chicago shipping docks.”

Something about the concern still churning behind her eyes made her stop before the next most important question occurred to her. Rebecca knew she shouldn’t have cared so much about what her Head of Security thought, but she couldn’t help the suspicion that all this concern on Maxwell’s part stemmed from him not knowing how she’d respond.

She didn’t intend to turn it into a joke, but she couldn’t contain the wry amusement flickering across her features when she fixed him with a playful frown. “You’re not expecting me to wanna get my hands on all Eduardo’s weapons, are you?”

Maxwell lifted his chin, looking like he couldn’t decide between laughing or snarling at her question. “Not explicitly. But I do expect you to care about keeping the wrong weapons out of the wrong hands.”

“Well, on that, we can agree.”

“Oh, she’s got that covered, friend,” Rowan called from inside the secondary armory and chuckled without looking up from the pieces of disassembled magitek weapon in front of him. “Trust me.”

Maxwell turned toward the open door, scowling in Rowan’s direction until he seemed convinced the elf man was finished. “Someone needs to teach him the meaning of a private conversation.”

“We can put that on the to-do list for after we take care of the biggest problems first,” Rebecca said.

That made the shifter look at her again with a mixture of surprise and approval before he nodded.

At least, she hoped that was approval. Otherwise, continuing to get along with her Head of Security would be that much more difficult when she couldn’t get an accurate read on him. Something told her this was as close as she was going to get.

“All right,” she said. “Let’s move on this. We’ll intercept the convoy and be another major headache for Eduardo tonight. And this time, we’ll do it right.”

When Maxwell pursed his lips and nodded, she could have sworn that was the beginning of a real smile.

“I want you to put together a team for this,” she told him. “Whoever you think is best for an ambush at the docks. I’ll leave that up to your discretion.”

“I’m on it.”

She was about to ask how much time he thought they could spare to prepare for an operation like this last-minute, but she didn’t get the chance.

Rowan appeared at her side, seemingly out of nowhere and grinning like a maniac as he leaned toward her and wiggled his eyebrows. “Trouble in paradise?”

Maxwell’s warning snarl felt like an especially appropriate response. Rebecca would have liked to do the same.

Instead, she stepped away from Rowan so he couldn’t keep hovering over her shoulder, then gestured at Maxwell to hold off for a moment longer while she spoke to the Blackmoon Elf. “We’ve got business to handle. Nothing for you to worry about. We’ll take care of it.”

“Oh, I’m sure you will.” Rowan folded his arms and chuckled. “Does this emergency have anything to do with the prison, by any chance?”

Maxwell’s snarl dropped into an ominous growl as he stepped forward, his silver eyes flashing at the elf man. “No one invited you to this conversation.”

“Then how am I supposed to be a part of it?” Laughing, Rowan shot the shifter a mocking wink.

Another low growl rose from Maxwell’s throat, this one deeper and louder.

The growing tension between them just kept dragging Rebecca down right along with it, but she couldn’t move on from what Rowan had just said.

He’d asked about the prison as if he already knew everything about her and Maxwell’s little adventure on Harkennr’s property. Why would he do that?

No acceptable reasons came to mind—unless the worst, most devastating possibility were true and she’d been blind to it this whole time.

Unless Rowan had aligned himself, or at the very least was currently in contact with—Kordus Harkennr and that connection was how Rowan had found her here.

And if Rowan had found her through Harkennr, that meant the psychotic bastard already knew exactly who she was and where she was hiding.

He would already know that Rebecca Bloodshadow had taken command of Shade as Aldous’s replacement.

But Rowan would never do something as selfish as make a deal with Harkennr like that , would he?

Honestly, she didn’t know anymore. The thought of no longer being able to depend on her anonymity here, now that its disappearance seemed not only possible but a likely reality, terrified her.

“Rebecca!”

Maxwell’s shout tore her from her thoughts, and she frowned up at him before remembering they’d been in the middle of a conversation. “Yeah?”

“You good?” Rowan asked, a small measure of concern in his eyes as he leaned toward her, though there was still far more amusement in his voice. Of course there was. Everything was funny to him. “You went somewhere far away for a second.”

She shook her head and swallowed, then turned toward Rowan to ask him point-blank, “Why would you bring that up?”

“Because you just went blank and stopped responding,” he said. “Really, that’s pretty obvious—”

“No. Before. You asked if this had something to do with the prison. Why would you ask that?”

He barked out a laugh and dismissed her question with the wave of his hand. “Come on, that’s not a big deal. You brought it up when the two of you were whispering together, and honestly, I’m just really curious to know exactly which prison we’re talking about here, hmm?”

“ We aren’t talking about anything,” Maxwell snapped and took another encroaching step toward the elf man. “No one addressed you.”

“Well I am standing right here…”

“You weren’t assigned to this briefing.”

“And you need to chill the hell out.” With another laugh, Rowan leaned toward Rebecca again and stuck a thumb out toward Maxwell, as if the shifter could no longer hear him. “He does know this isn’t an officially sanctioned military body, right? If you ask me, it’s really more like a fancy club with human weapons.”

Rebecca glared at him.

“When you’re wanted for a briefing,” Maxwell snarled, “ if that ever happens, you’ll know. But until then—”

“Really?” Rowan grimaced at the shifter. “You’re seriously calling that a briefing? Wow. Things are really run a lot differently over here, aren’t they?”

He raised an eyebrow at Rebecca, and she almost had a response for him before Maxwell cut in again.

“You’ve clearly had no experience with an acquisition operation of this caliber.” The shifter surged forward again, fists clenched at his sides while silver light flashed violently behind his eyes. “Until you gain the experience necessary to back up the superiority complex you’ve waving around in everyone’s face, I suggest you stay the fuck out of it.”

Great. Now Rowan had gotten her Head of Security to start cursing. This wouldn’t turn out well for anyone.

None of it cowed Rowan, though, which Rebecca had fully expected.

He laughed and spread his arms, still baiting the shifter right there in the hallway while the operatives in the secondary armory had a front-row seat to the show.

The others watched and listened in the background, only pretending to clean their weapons now.

“That’s no way to treat a fellow member of Shade, now, is it?” Rowan asked.

The murderous intent in Maxwell’s glaring stare told Rebecca it was time to step in again.

But Rowan was on a roll, and he didn’t offer her any window for intervening before he just kept going.

“Nah, let’s get this straight between you and me.” The russet-haired elf dared to close in on Maxwell before clapping a hand down onto the shifter’s shoulder like they were best friends. “Hannigan, I’m one of you now. Didn’t you know?”

With his eyes flashing and a constant growl emanating from his throat, Maxwell had obviously reached the end of his self-control. He’d made an impressive effort at maintaining it a bit longer when he slowly turned his head to look Rowan in the eye. “I wasn’t just blowing smoke up your ass, elf. I told you I’d rip your hands off, and I am this close to fulfilling that promise.”

Time seemed to freeze in the hallway as the shifter and the elf man glared at each other—Maxwell’s features darkened by fury and restraint, Rowan’s contorted in amusement as his carefree grin mocked everything Shade’s Head of Security represented.

If something didn’t change in the next two seconds, Rebecca was sure they would end up killing each other before they came to a resolution.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to intervene all by herself.

“Hey, Blackmoon!” Leonard called through the secondary armory’s open door. “You better listen to him, man. Hannigan’s not screwing around.”

“Punched a hole right through a nurúzhe just the other day,” another operator added before a murmur of assent rose from the others still sitting at their workstations. “With his bare hands. Went right through guts and everything.”

Now that the operatives assigned to weapon-cleaning and maintenance had given up trying to be covert, the ensuing silence while everyone stared through the door at Rowan—with his hand still clamped down on Maxwell’s shoulder—felt like a million pounds settling down on Rebecca’s own shoulders.

One wrong move, and it might crush her into dust at any second.

Maxwell glared at the elf man with more venom in one expression than he’d ever shown Rebecca.

When Rowan met the shifter’s gaze again, gauging his apparent opponent against all the warnings of others and judging the risks of what he wanted to do, Rebecca silently pleaded for him to just stand down and walk away.

Maxwell already took serious issue with being stared down by anyone, let alone Shade’s newest elven member. He wouldn’t stand for much else if this went on any longer.

Then Rowan barked out a laugh, and the bubble burst around the previous tension tightening like a noose.

“Now that I would have loved to see!” he told Maxwell before removing his hand. “Not that I doubt your skills or strength, shifter. Obviously. Just that I would love to finally find my match. What do you think?”

Maxwell turned his entire body to face Rowan directly, his silver eyes still flashing with all the warning of a wolf’s aggression and the inherent instinctual power that came with it. He did, however, seem to have pulled himself back under control. For now.

“Keep at it,” he grumbled, “and you’ll just end up being disappointed.”

“Aww. Pity.” Rowan feigned a pout. “I would have scored us with equal points in a few different categories.”

One corner of Maxwell’s mouth twitched as he looked Rowan up and down. “You haven’t found your match . Just your superior.”

Rebecca’s eyes widened at that, and she expected Rowan to make one of his characteristic shifts from joking mockery to offended brawler at any second.

When he cracked up laughing instead, shaking his head and clapping his hands together in delight, she couldn’t keep from dipping her head to pinch the bridge of her nose with a sigh.

This really had to stop.

“You’re so sure of that, aren’t you?” Rowan shrieked through his laughter. “By the Blood! You’re like a caricature of yourself .”

“All right, Blackmoon,” Rebecca finally cut in, stepping toward him and widening her eyes at Rowan. Someone had to tell him he was taking this way too far. She just couldn’t tell him directly in any way that would signal she knew full well what he’d been trying to do. “I need you to step aside so Hannigan and I can get back to work.”

“What?” The elf barked out another laugh, then swiped a tear from the corner of his eye before blinking furiously at her. On anyone else, that expression would have looked like pure innocence. He’d almost mastered it.

“Come on,” he whined. “I passed the test. I swore an oath and everything. Now you’re saying I don’t get in on any of the action? Don’t try to convince me it isn’t safe enough. I mean, just look at this guy.”

Rowan shoved Maxwell sideways by the shoulder, testing the shifter’s resolve and the limits of his patience, all while making himself look like the easygoing, fun-loving elf who couldn’t possibly mean anyone any harm.

And staring directly at Rebecca the whole time.

“I was just trying to have a little fun,” he added.

She knew better.

Something told her Maxwell did too. The shifter probably smelled all kinds of covert duplicity hovering around the Blackmoon Elf.

But, in pure Rowan fashion, he just had to take it a step too far.

He shoved Maxwell again, like he didn’t give a shit about the chain of command. Like he wanted Maxwell to snap and murder him right there in the hallway.

Or try.

Rebecca gaped at Rowan. It felt like the entire world ground to a halt with this testosterone-fueled conflict sucked into the very center of the universe.

In the secondary armory, someone gasped.

Rebecca was pretty sure it was Nyx.

Maxwell froze, then slowly lowered his gaze toward his side, where Rowan had just jostled him. His eyes flashed with the deepest, darkest hue of silver that almost reflected the burst of his own inherent magic just before a shift.

Rowan’s stupid grin didn’t even twitch.

Rebecca’s heart fluttered to a halt before rushing back in a burst of pounding dread lined with a gut-wrenching irritation. Two grown men who couldn’t keep their shit together long enough to take each other seriously.

Then Maxwell looked up at the elf beside him, and she knew.

Shit. They were about to duke it out right now. Right here in the hallway. And once they started, the only assured outcome was that of Rowan and Maxwell seriously injuring each other over something so stupid.

And at a time when Rebecca could have used them both.

Now that it occurred to her, she honestly didn’t know which one of them would gain the upper hand and come out on top. If either of them ever did.