I melted into the shadows along the wall, and she raced down the alley.
“Remember, the shadows are watching you!” I shouted in her wake,
probably a little over-dramatically. Maybe I was drunk with power, but I
didn’t want her alerting the sorcerer.
Once she was gone, I dropped the shadows and strolled down the alley. I
was confronted by the sudden reality that I didn’t have my phone, and I had
no idea how to get back.
A hulking shape thumped to the ground beside me, and I screamed and
staggered back.
Jaxson.
I bared my teeth. “You asshole! You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
“Perhaps a little of your own medicine.” His voice was low, but his eyes
were full of amusement.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You heard.”
“Most of it. I was watching from the roof.”
I wasn’t sure if I was embarrassed or immensely proud. “Then you know
I got the information.”
“Remind me to ask for you when I need to scare the living piss out of
someone.”
I cocked my chin up. “At least my solution was more elegant than
threatening to break her legs. I don’t feel guilty in the slightest. She helped
Kahanov get out of town and get the grimoire. She’s at least partly
responsible for the successive chain of shit that has happened to me. And
your pack.”
He was silent for a time as he studied my face. “You did well. Good
work.”
A shiver of delight ran down my spine, and my heart began to glow. His
low, rich voice brushed against my nerve endings and made my skin pebble.
By his scent, I could tell he meant it. That he was turned on by my
confidence.