by W. J. May
Behind Mallins’ back, Devon fought back a scowl. He’d always cautioned her on showing the proper deference to authority figures, and was always appalled when she blew it off. Truth be told, she said it half to bait him. But he ignored her—keeping his eyes firmly on the wall.
Mallins reached into his desk and pulled out two manila folders, handing one to each of them. “It’s basic reconnaissance. Should be simple enough even for the two of you.”
Devon flinched and started thumbing through, but Rae kept hers closed, staring unblinkingly back at Mallins. “And who are we doing recon of?”
“His name is Jackman White. Son of an oil tycoon and heir to a small fortune. He’s here in London for a business conference before flying off to Milan on Friday.”
Devon frowned, speed-reading with his tatù. “And what is the Council’s interest in him?”
Mallins’ colorless eyes narrowed. “We think he may also be in contact with the Xavier Knights. You’ll be tasked with searching his office at the hotel. We need to know what, if any, information has been passed between them.”
Again, Rae slipped into Maria’s telepathy.
Or we could just ask Luke.
Devon’s shoulders tightened and he flashed her a look that said one thing and one thing only: ‘Stay out of my head.’
She rolled her eyes and tried again. What? First you don’t want to be partnered with me, and now we’re not even speaking? What’s next? You’re going to start deleting pictures of me in your phone?
A muscle in his jaw twitched and he shifted impatiently from foot to foot, unable to answer back but clearly dying to give her a piece of his mind.
On the other side of the room Mallins was pacing back and forth, saying something about the importance of this work to the Privy Council. Except, Rae and Devon were in their own little world.
It isn’t enough that you lied to Julian this morning about where you were going—now you’re going to stand there and try to shut me out as well?
His blue eyes narrowed into a smoldering glare and he looked her pointedly up and down, making careful note of her spandex clothes.
That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe I actually did go jogging—you don’t know. I’m not the one who’s going around actively lying about their whereabouts.
His lips thinned into a hard line and he cocked an eyebrow sarcastically.
Don’t give me that! I already told you why I went to New York. It was to visit my aunt and uncle.
He shook his head a fraction of an inch.
Argh! You can be so childish sometimes—
“Mr. Wardell,” Mallins’ voice interrupted their silent back and forth. “Are you even listening to me?”
Yeah, Devon…
* *
They were dismissed about half an hour later, having been thoroughly briefed with strict instructions to pack a pair of bags and check in to the same London hotel where Jackman White would be staying.
What the hell kind of name is ‘Jackman White’ anyway? Rae thought as they stepped out of the Oratory into the bright summer sunlight. What mind of a mother looks down at their newborn and thinks, ‘I know, I’m going to name you Jackman.’ Must be an heiress thing…
A sharp tug on her sleeve jerked Rae out of her trance, and she looked up to see Devon standing in front of her, arms crossed over his chest, a giant scowl on his face. “I want to thank you for that in there. Really. I love being the victim of your one-sided telepathy.”
She glared up at him. “Can’t blame a girl for being curious.”
“No, but I can blame a girl for being ridiculous in the middle of a mission brief with the President of the Privy Council.”
“One of two presidents, Devon. I know you and Mallins are all, ‘Go PC!’ but in case you forgot Carter is the president as well.”
Devon’s handsome face grew cold. “That’s not the way it is and you know it. You know exactly how I feel about both Carter and Mallins. There’s no comparison.”
“But you’re certainly a fan of the Council again.” She folded her arms across her chest and stood up as tall as she could to face him. “I don’t think you wasted more than twenty-four hours before you signed back up with them.”
He threw up his hands in exasperation. “What would you have had me do, Rae? You signed up with them, too!”
“Yeah, but that’s different!”
“How is it different?!”
“It just—” She caught herself and brought her fingers up to her temples. It was different because she was doing it simply to infiltrate the society and get the information she needed. But it’s not like she could very well tell Devon that, now could she? Not when she and Julian had both sworn to leave him and Molly out of it to protect them. “It just is,” she finished rather lamely.
He eyed her defeated posture, and his face softened as he took a step back. “Look,” he began, raking his fingers back through his hair, “if we’re going to do this, we’re going to have to find a way to work together. This is an official mission. We can’t be like…like this.”
“I know,” she sighed. She was being ridiculous. “I’m sorry for earlier. For talking in your head. I just…” Her voice trailed off as she finally lifted her eyes to look at him. “Devon, I don’t know how to do this.”
The flash of honesty surprised them both, and for a moment there were no walls between them. He looked down at her with pained understanding, then he bowed his head.
“I know,” he muttered, his dark hair spilling down his forehead. “I don’t either.”
They were quiet a long while, standing in silence in the tall grass as the birds and the breeze struck up a peaceful descant around them.
“How can we just be friends?” she whispered, not daring to look at him. “When I see you, I don’t see a friend. I see something so much more. If we can’t be that…I don’t know what we are.”
“Rae…” he spoke so softly it was almost hard for her to hear, “you know why we’re doing this. You and me? Us? That’s forever to me. And that’s not something we can rush into. You…” he swallowed hard, but pushed himself forward, “you kissed Gabriel. You’re not—we’re not in the same place about this.”
“We are.” She looked up, staring into his clear eyes. “I promise we are.”
But she also remembered her promise to herself. Devon was right. She’d kissed Gabriel. That didn’t come without repercussions. He might be claiming this time gap was for her, but he needed some time to work things out for himself. And on that note, she needed time herself as well. Time to find out the answer to her father’s riddle. Time when Devon wasn’t around to get hurt.
“You’re right,” she continued suddenly, dropping her gaze. “It’s probably best that we just take it easy for a while. Let things cool off.”
His eyes tightened painfully, but he nodded. “Cool off. Right.”
Every part of her ached to reach out and take his hand. From the look on his face, she was willing to bet he was feeling the same way. But it was like there was a wall between them. One that had sprung up overnight. One that neither one of them knew how to cross.
And no matter the reasons, no matter the rationalizations and benefits to both sides, Rae had a sinking feeling that if they weren’t careful that wall might just crush them both.
“So what do we do about this?” She waved the manila folder in the air between them, trying to move the conversation along.
It was the right thing to say. Devon had been trained to be the perfect soldier. The second she circled the discussion back around to work, he snapped back to attention.
“We do our jobs,” he said briskly. “We’ll go back to London, pack, and check into the hotel at four. With any luck, we can break into White’s room tonight and have the whole thing wrapped up by tomorrow morning.”
She nodded and forced a quick smile. “Sounds good.”
“Okay then.”
“Okay.”
“So…bye.”
“Yeah,
bye.”
Their eyes met, and they actually laughed nervously at their own awkwardness. Then, before things could get any worse, Devon turned on his heel and headed back towards the parking lot. He was halfway there before he turned back and called, “I forgot that you came with Mallins.” He sounded a bit uncertain. “Do you…do you need a ride?”
Rae hesitated. She hadn’t even thought about it, but the truth was she did need a ride. Then again, she literally couldn’t imagine a forty-minute car ride with Devon right now. They’d had enough trouble simply trying to say goodbye. A long drive through the countryside? Probably best to leave until later…
“Uh—I’m good actually. But thanks. I’ll see you at four.”
“Cool.”
He turned on his heel and disappeared over the ridge in the trail. Meanwhile, Rae glanced discreetly around the campus before darting beneath a towering willow. Once she was confident that no one could possibly see, she stripped off her fake jogging clothes and left them in a spandex pile in the tall grass. A moment later, she slipped into her prized eagle tatù and took to the sky, leaving the wretched morning far behind her.
* *
Despite being somewhat impractical, Rae had to admit that Rob’s eagle ink was one of her all-time favorites. There was something about feeling the lift of the wind beneath your wings that had absolutely no earthly comparison. That being said, it did come with one huge drawback.
The landing.
Rae circled around her penthouse three times, peering into all the windows in all the rooms before she was finally satisfied that it was deserted. Once she was, she crammed her football-sized body through a partially-open window and soared into the living room. It was rather odd, seeing everything from this perspective. She perched on a picture frame, cocked her head, and looked around for a moment. Then her sharp eyes landed on the clock hanging on the wall.
Already coming up on noon. When did that happen?
It’s so hard to keep track of these things as a bird…
She hopped down onto a Persian rug and shifted back, feeling her bones elongate and stretch as her blanket of feathers was replaced with tumbling raven-colored curls and a layer of glowing, porcelain skin.
There. Everything back to normal. Right on schedule.
She was just getting back to her feet when the front door burst open.
Then everything started going very suddenly wrong.
For a second both of them just stood there.
She and Gabriel.
His eyes swept over her naked body as his lips parted in shock. All the color drained from her face as she simultaneously wished she was dead, and prayed she no longer had any feathers.
Then they sprang into action.
She snatched a fur blanket off the sofa to cover herself, while he collapsed against the kitchen counter throwing back his head with clear, unadulterated laughter.
At first she couldn’t help but be thrilled. This was the old Gabriel. Careless, effervescent, and radiating pure energy. The sight of it warmed her heart. To be honest, a part of her hadn’t thought she’d ever hear the sound of that laugh again.
Then she remembered why he was laughing and her skin darkened to an angry shade of red.
“Yeah, yeah, very funny,” she growled, shifting impatiently in her blanket. “You know, I’d forgotten how completely insufferable you are.”
Unfortunately, that only made him laugh harder. He doubled over against the counter, completely unable to speak as little tears slipped down his cheeks.
“What?!” she demanded. “You try transforming into a bird.”
His fingers came up over his face as he gasped for breath. “Oh, thank the Maker! You transformed into a bird. That makes so much more sense.” Then he lost it all over again.
“Why else did you think I was surrounded by a circle of feathers?”
“I wasn’t going to ask about the feathers.” She cast him a dubious look, and he held up his hands. “Hey, we all have our quirks.”
An involuntary giggle slipped through her lips, and she smiled at him resentfully. “You are the absolute worst. And you have the absolute worst timing in the whole world.”
“Quite the contrary,” he chuckled. “It looks like I got here not a moment too soon. I only wish I could have seen you…well…molting.”
There was a beat of silence, then they both burst out laughing.
It was laughter they hadn’t done together in a long while. Completely uninhibited and relaxed, but at the same time spirited and gasping for air. It went on for a long time, and even when it died down their smiles lingered long after.
“I’ve missed you,” Rae found herself saying, smiling at him from across the room.
He picked himself off the counter, and crossed the floor—looking years younger than he had before. “Yeah.” His dimples flashed as he shot her a grin. “I missed you, too.” His hand reached out, and he extracted a long eagle feather that had tangled in her hair.
“Friends?” she asked hopefully. The feathers had been there when she first shifted; as she’d learned to be more graceful with the ability, it had become a kind of addition.
His eyes sparkled and shook his head with a grin. “Oh no—you know friends has never been good enough for me.”
Her mouth fell open in amazement, but while he didn’t seem to be joking, he wasn’t in the least bit upset with her either. He simply stood there, his fingers twisting around a stray curl, as his eyes danced with that old, mischievous smile.
“Gabriel…” Although she didn’t want to spoil the happy mood, she felt as though she needed to be clear. “There’s still no…I mean…I still want Devon.”
He shrugged, looking completely unbothered by the information. “Well, then it looks like we’re back exactly where we started.”
His undaunted enthusiasm was catching, and she felt herself grinning along before she realized what was happening. “Oh yeah? And where’s that?”
He shook his head with a mock sigh. “You’re still pining for the lesser man, and I’m still here. Gorgeous, unattached, and miraculously unfazed by the fact that you just turned into a bird.”
Another giggle burst through her lips, and she pulled the fur tighter around herself, hiding her blushing face in its folds. “I can’t believe that just happened…”
“You better believe it. It’s a sight I’ll remember forever.” He tapped his temple with a wide grin. “Photographic memory.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” she said sarcastically, shaking her head in amusement at the look of sheer victory plastered all over his face.
Yet the longer she looked, the more she found herself growing nervous. She really had missed this—more than she realized. Their playful back and forth. Their carefree banter. But most of all she had missed the sincerity behind it. Gabriel was one of the few people in the world who would always call it exactly how it was, no matter how potentially upsetting it might be. And while his feelings for her might be potentially hazardous to their health, at least they were all out in the open. All cards on the table.
She was anxious because…she didn’t want to lose all that.
“Hey,” he said suddenly, his face growing serious as he stared at her, “what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just…” An unexpected wave of emotion crashed through her whole body, and she bit her lip to keep back the tears. “I really missed this.”
His face softened tenderly, and without seeming to think about it he reached out and pulled her into a warm embrace. She sighed as she buried her head in his chest. Her shoulders relaxed, and for the first time in what seemed like forever she felt as though she’d gotten at least one thing back on track. At least one part of her crazy, upside-down life had finally fallen back into alignment.
Then his hand drifted a little lower, and she slapped it away with a grin.
Yep—everything was exactly how they’d left it.
Chapter 7
What exactly does one wear to
a swanky London hotel on a fake date/super spy mission with the newly platonic love of their life?
These were the kinds of questions Rae normally asked Molly. If this was a normal situation. And apparently her best friend had taken this time—in Rae’s time of need—to become one of those obnoxiously happy couples who was never around. Rae was on her own.
She flipped frantically through a couple of fashion magazines she had found stashed under Molly’s bed, casting nervous glances all the while at the clock. Four p.m. was getting closer and closer, but she was still no closer to being packed than when she and Devon had parted ways this morning at Guilder.
To be fair, most of the time crunch was her fault. After she had finally extracted herself long enough to put on clothes, she and Gabriel had spent the afternoon together. Laughing, talking, eating—generally just wasting time in good company. She had no idea how good it would feel to just put aside all her heavy hidden agendas for a moment and act like a normal eighteen-year-old. The relaxation was addictive, and, frankly, she couldn’t imagine a better person to do it with than Gabriel.
It made her feel guilty. She should be doing it with Devon. However, that wasn’t possible at the moment. Gabriel knew how to make the complicated things in life… well, easy.
Aside from his occasional advances—all of which were so ludicrously over the top they could hardly be considered serious—Gabriel was the perfect companion. He was honest, funny, engaging, and entirely too bold. It was a lethal combination, and one to which she could see herself losing many afternoons if she wasn’t careful. If she had been worried that this newfound forgiveness of his was a passing phase, those fears were soon laid to rest. According to him, the only thing that had changed between them was that now he had seen her naked. This was a point he continually circled back to until she finally threw him out at three-thirty to get ready.
She wished she had his courage, his ability to move forehead, his cockiness. He’d be an amazing agent for the PC. A real agent, though she had hesitated in telling him that.