Page 21 of Wicked Grace

“You’ve suffered enough.” He used his enforcer tone, the one that none would dare argue with.

“That isn’t your decision to make. I already deal with my brother and his mate’s family trying to run my life. The last thing I need is someone else treating me like a problem to be managed.”

“You’re not a—”

“Boss?” The voice over the speakers interrupted him again.

“What?” Alexei didn’t bother hiding his frustration, no matter how his driver gripped the steering wheel tighter. Hell, Joelle acted as if he’d committed a crime by merely protecting her.

“We couldn’t shake the tail.” A pause followed as though the other guards didn’t want to chance pissing him off. “We’ve tried evasive maneuvers, blowing through a red light, everything. It’s like they have a tracker on us.”

“The Order,” Joelle whispered. She glanced at him, raised her voice. “Did any of you take anything from the party tonight? Accept any gifts, cards,anything?”

Silence met her questions, only a couple of seconds but more than enough to test Alexei’s patience.

“Answer her,” he demanded. “And tell me if there have been signs of someone following us.” If he hadn’t been so distracted by a gorgeous, angry woman, he would’ve checked. She destroyed his concentration.

“No, sir,” the driver answered, but Eddie glanced in the side mirror.

“The wristbands,” a female guard from the other SUV called over the speaker. “The reality show required bracelets for the outdoor guests. We don’t have party bags or any of the flyers, but two of us were tagged with bands. They’re not setting off the counter-surveillance equipment.”

“Because it’s not strong enough,” Joelle said. “The Order uses the most advanced technology. Rip those wristbands off and ditch them in a dumpster. Somewhere public with a lot of people around so they can’t track you from the location. Turn off cell phones, smart watches, nav systems, anything that can be hacked until you’re behind protection wards.”

“Understood, ma’am,” the woman said. “Will do immediately.” The connection dropped.

Joelle let go of Alexei’s hand and leaned toward the driver and front passenger seat. He resisted the urge to tug her back to his side.

“Did either of you take anything from the party?” she asked.

“I didn’t go, ma’am,” Eddie told her.

“And you?” she asked the driver, who didn’t answer out loud but just shook his head in a frantic gesture that screamed he’d either swallowed a handful of uppers or he had something to feel guilty about.

“Pull over.” Alexei didn’t raise his voice since a calm, level interrogation could intimidate more than a shout. He waited until they’d stopped on the shoulder of the road that ran parallel to the harbor. “Keep your hands on the steering wheel where I can see them. No sudden movements, or Eddie’s twitchy trigger finger will be the least of your problems. You moved here with your mom, right?”

“Yes, sir.” The guy’s voice shook, bordering on a squeak.

“What’s your name?”

“Kyle, sir.”

Keying in the code to his personal lockbox in the rear of the center console, Alexei bypassed the 9mm and grabbed a charm. “I’m holding a lie detection spell, but I’ll give you a chance to tell me the truth now.” The damn things worked only about half the time, but knowing he had one usually sufficed to make people confess. “If I have to spill blood to invoke its magic and make you talk, you’ll regret it. Understood?”

A jerky nod, a broken bobblehead begging for this interrogation to end before it’d begun.

In the nearness of impending violence, Alexei found the inner stillness of the role he’d been trained to fulfill since birth—the vindicating villain, the general to his father’s demon horde, the threat that kept the scariest kingdom in the world from descending into chaos. “Did you betray me or my family?”

“No.” Kyle shrank in his seat. “But the Order…they have my mom. I’m supposed to message them with your location while I’m working for you.”

Alexei let the inactive charm fall to the floorboard with a clink.Should have started with the gun.“Dead men can’t talk, and everyone knows the penalty for acting against the Maronovs.” He aimed the 9mm at the driver’s head, ready to force every detail of the Order’s scheme out of the man.

A blinding white light flooded the interior of the SUV, making him squint against the brilliance.Joelle. She dazzled like a star in the night sky.

“Stop.” Angry didn’t begin to cover the menace in her tone. “I’ll handle this.”

What could be hotter than an enraged angel? One who sounded as though she could annihilate them with a blink of her powers.

He couldn’t keep her. Not as his mate. Not as his anything. Alexei swore. He really should’ve stayed home tonight.

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