Page 39 of The Devil's Waltz

“Camille.” Her voice stops me before I can walk away, and I turn to face her. “It’s good to see you, hun.”

My eyes widen slightly. “Thank you.”

After walking to the bank of elevators, I get in and bite the inside of my cheek on the ride up until the skin is raw and stinging. It stops a few floors before the office, and my heart lurches when Noah enters.

His eyes snap to mine and fill with suspicion. “Didn’t think I’d see you around here again.”

“Nice to see you too, Noah,” I remark dryly.

He narrows his blue-gray eyes, and I’m reminded of how often I found myself staring at him during training. “What are you doing here?”

“What areyoudoing here?” I cross my arms over my chest and lean against the mirrored wall. “Shouldn’t you be at Ballard?”

Noah smirks. “Still keeping tabs on me, I see.”

I roll my eyes. “Hardly. Harper told me you’re teaching now.”

“Hmm,” he murmurs. “I had a meeting with Rach—your mom—and a few of the global directors this morning.”

“Lucky you.”

“I’m assuming you’re here to see her?”

I level my gaze at him. “You know what they say about assuming things.”

He all but glares at me. “Grow up, Cam.”Cam. He’s never called me by my full name since I’ve known him.

I used to find it endearing. It made me feel special.Noticed. Now it’s just a reminder of the life I want left in the past.

“No, thanks. Not if ‘growing up,’?” I use air quotes, “means turning into someone like you.”

He pulls the emergency stop before I even realize what he’s doing and moves closer, towering over me by at least a foot. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

So dramatic.

I shrug, swallowing past the dryness in my throat at his proximity. “When was the last time you did something for fun? Or for yourself instead of for the organization? Hell, when was the last time you smiled?”

A lustful and smug smile plasters across his lips, and he lowers his voice. “Last night.”

I scowl, shaking my head. “Gross.” Glancing past him to the buttons on the elevator panel, I gesture to it. “Can you please turn the elevator back on now? I want to get in and out of here as fast as humanly possible.”

It’s his turn for the dry tone. “Of course, you do.”

“What’s it to you?” I snap. “Why does everyone have a stick up their ass over me not training anymore?”

He leans in close enough for me to count the freckles dusted across the bridge of his nose, slightly crooked from having been broken while on assignment. “Wasted potential,” he says in a low voice.

“Screw you, Noah. I don’t need this.” I shove past him and slam my fist into the emergency stop button to reset it, making us continue the ascent. When the doors open on my floor, I step off without a word and don’t look back.

Noah may be hot, but the guy is a complete ass. His status has seriously gone to his head. It’s a shame, too, because so many hunters—in training and full-fledged—look up to him. When I was enrolled,Ilooked up to him.

His voice echoes in my mind, making the walk from the elevator to my mom’s office seem far longer than it is.

Wasted potential.

I shove his words away as hard as I can and step into the office of Rachel Morgan.

She’s on the phone when I walk in and close the door, so I take a seat on the couch overlooking the city until she’s finished.

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