Page 94 of The Devil's Waltz

“I do not care, Xander,” she scolds cooly. “I want to know whyyoureyes are not on her.”

I close my eyes briefly to center myself before responding. “I felt it was important to address your concerns surrounding the loyalty of our kind. I will have more information for you upon our return to Seattle, but Blake and I are ensuring the demons around here understand the only alternative to bowing to you is being reduced to ash.”

There’s a stretch of silence that has my pulse ticking faster. Sweat dots my brow as I stand, pushing my chair back, and pace the suite as Blake watches. If I were standing before Lucia, I’d be royally fucked. She’d know immediately I wasn’t being truthful. She’d see right through me.

“I am pleased you are finally stepping into your role, my son.”

Her voice makes me freeze, and I turn away from Blake’s gaze. “Yes,” I force out, balling my free hand into a fist at my side.

“I look forward to your return.”

The line disconnects before I can respond, leaving me feeling utterly empty and nauseous. I drop back into my chair with a heavy sigh, my heart pounding hard enough it pulses in my throat. The bit of Thai food I managed to swallow threatens to make a return, and I clench my jaw, willing the bile to stay in my stomach.

I have to face Lucia sooner than later. If this plan has any chance of working, I need to be better at pretending I’m who she wants me to be.

TWENTY-EIGHTCAMILLE

The next evening, I get a message from Xander, letting me know he and Blake are back in Seattle.

How did it go?

He doesn’t answer for a few minutes, and I chew the inside of my cheek until his reply comes through.

Are you home? We should talk.

My stomach churns as I read his text. I walk over to the kitchen counter and show it to Harper.

She’s currently stuffing her face with a slice of extra-cheese pizza, but speeds up when she sees the message. She swallows, downs half a glass of water, and wipes her hands on her napkin as she asks, “What are you thinking?”

I shrug. “We should probably see what’s going on.”

“Okay,” she says, sliding off the stool. “I’ll call Noah and Elias.”

I wrinkle my nose at that. “Are yousurewe need to involve Noah?” I can just imagine the judgment he’ll bring with him, and I’d really rather avoid that. More than that, there’s a part of me I can’t explain that feels wildly uneasy over Xander and Noah meeting.

“Uh,yeah. We’ve been over this, Cami. We’re going to need all the help we can get to make this work. Noah flew in yesterday to help us, so I’m not about to turn him away, especially considering he—by some miracle—agreed to keep this off the record.”

“Yeah, how exactly did you pull that off?” Noah has always been a stickler for the rules, to an annoying degree.

She purses her lips. “Well…” She drags out the word. “I explained the situation and also kind of expressed that we were going to do it with or without him. He was the most pissed off I’ve seen him in, like,ever.”

My brows lift. “Because you told him about all the protocols we’re completely ignoring by pursuing this without the organization?”

She tips her head back and forth. “Sure.”

I pin her with a look. “Harper.”

She sighs. “He got all tense and irritable when I told him about your part in the plan. I think—Iknow, actually—the thought of you being in danger really bothers him.”

I ignore the dip in my stomach, and instead of responding to that, I ask, “How’d you convince him not to report this to HQ?”

“I told him you asked us not to.”

I shake my head. “And he just accepted that?”

“Temporarily. We’ll see if it sticks after we get everyone together to discuss the plan.”

“Right,” I mumble. “How’d he get authorization to travel to Seattle with everything going on?”

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