My weak grin faded.
The three men looked up as I entered the room. “I just saw a fae in the parking garage we use,” I told them. “Actually, I saw two of them. One killed the other and the other sort of . . . impaled herself on my dagger.”
David blinked slowly. “Come again?”
“Yeah, if you heard what you think I said, it’s what I said.” I walked further into the room, giving the other two dudes a wide berth. I stopped at the corner of David’s desk. “I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff, but that was . . . Yeah, that took the cake.”
“I don’t even know what to do with that info,” David replied, leaning back in his chair. He glanced at the two Elite members. “You guys?”
“Nope.” Kyle eyed me. “Did either of the fae say anything?”
“One looked like he was about to, but the other—a female fae—killed him before he could. She had one of our daggers.”
“Thanks to Val, I’m sure,” David muttered, and my chest clenched.
“The fae have long since adapted the use of iron for their own in a self-policing sort of way,” Kyle replied, casually tossing his arm over the back of the chair. “Though, it is rare that they use it against one another.”
I glanced at him. Real helpful intel right there.
“It’s good that you’re here,” Kyle added. “Got some questions to ask you.”
My stomach dipped. Obviously they couldn’t care less about the two fae. “What’s up?”
“Last night we were chatting with Ren, and then he left here to meet with you. David advised us that you two are seeing each other,” he stated.
I glanced at David, who looked rather bored with the conversation. Then again, he looked bored with everything. I lifted my chin. “Well, I’m also sure Henry told you that since he saw us kissing.”
Henry arched a reddish-brown eyebrow. “Still surprised you didn’t get pregnant from that kiss. Jesus Christ.”
I wrinkled my nose at him, but refused to actually answer the question, because I was sure that Ren and I weren’t dating anymore. “You guys still haven’t heard from him?”
“No,” answered David.
“That’s why I was in the parking garage,” I explained. “Ren parked there yesterday, and his truck is gone. So he must’ve gone back there. I was thinking—”
“Ren was asking some off the wall questions last night.” Kyle kicked his booted feet up on the desk. “He was asking if we knew anything about fae who didn’t feed on humans.”
Oh. Oh, shit.
“Do you know why he’d ask something like that?” Kyle asked, his head tilting to the side. “Because that’s a strange thing to ask.”
Double shit. Instinct told me to lie, but then lying meant I was leaving Ren, wherever he was, out there hanging on his own. He’d done that to me when we’d first met, and I remembered how crappy that made me feel. But telling them about what Brighton had found would turn Kyle and Henry’s attention to her and Merle, and there was something about those two I didn’t trust.
And I probably didn’t trust them because I was the halfling, but whatever.
Plus, I remembered what Jerome had said about talking about that.
So I shook my head. “I don’t know why he’d ask that, but Ren’s always curious about things.”
“Huh,” replied Kyle. “What a weird thing to be curious about. Maybe you need to find better ways to occupy his mind.”
I started to frown.
“His absence and its timing is strange,” Henry stated from his corner. “Do you have any idea where he could be?”
My Spidey senses were tingling now. “No. I mean, I was thinking about checking his place, but this . . . isn’t like him.” I looked to David and admitted, “I’m a little freaked out about this.”
“Yeah, well—” David’s phone rang and he picked it up. “Yeah?” he grumbled, rubbing his hand over his head. I hoped it was Ren, but the way he suddenly stiffened and then stood, told me that if it was, it wasn’t good. Several seconds passed. “I’ll send a team down there now.”
My little ears perked up with interest. “What’s going on?” I asked.
He hung up the phone. “Jackie just called. She and Dylan said there was a lot of police activity down at Flux. Several cars. Reporters setting up outside.”
“I thought you guys checked that place out,” I said.
“We did. There were no fae there when we went,” David replied, thumbing through his phone contacts. “This may not have anything to do with fae, but it warrants investigating.”
“I’ll go.” I turned and jerked back, finding Miles in the doorway. God. Was he there the whole time, lurking all quiet-like? Creeper.
“Not you,” David called out, stopping me. “I want that report about Val filled out. Now.”
I pivoted around. “But—”
“Why is it that I always have to tell you an order is an order?” David walked around his desk, a folder in his hand. “Every single time.”
He had a point.
I took the folder from him as Kyle stood up. Henry was the first out, glancing down at my folder. “I’d rather be shot in the fucking head than do paperwork.”
Um. Wow. Okay. I hated paperwork too, but that was excessive.
Kyle said nothing as he walked past me. I was half-tempted to toss the folder back on David’s desk, but I knew better than to do that.
Under Miles’s watchful gaze, I walked out to the common room, plopped down at the table, and picked up a pen. I opened the folder and was about to relive something I really didn’t feel like doing at the moment, but stopped when I felt eyes on me.
Lifting my gaze, I saw Miles leaning against the wall, staring at me. I waited a second and decided to make use of the fact that he was being a creep. “Can I ask you a question?”
“If I say no, you still going to ask?”
“Probably.” I twirled the pen between my fingers. “The crystal that Val came back and took from here. What is the significance of it?”
One shoulder rose, but there was a forced casualness about it that I didn’t trust. “Just a piece of shit gem that doesn’t mean much.”
“Then why would she come back and take it if it’s nothing?”
He shrugged. “Probably because she’s a dumbass and thinks it holds some value.”
Okay. Yeah, I wasn’t believing that for one second, but it was obvious he wasn’t going to tell me anything else. I got back to filling out my report, and when I peeked up again, he was still being a creep. I sighed. “What?”
Miles smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You and I don’t really know each other.”
I tilted my head. “To be honest, no one really knows each other in the Order.”
“Except you and Val. You two knew each other fairly well, and she betrayed the Order and is now dead.” He pushed off the wall
, approaching the table. “Fell off a roof. Huh.”