At least Rossi was old enough to know how to contain and control his fury.
Unfortunately he controlled it by making “deals” that were a lot more like “threats” and were justthisclose to being “preachy” and “condescending.”
“Youdounderstand the terms?” he asked for like the fifth time.
“I am not a child, Rossi.”
He blinked. “Compared to me, everyone is a child, Delaney.”
“Not Bertie. Not the gods and goddesses. Pretty sure we have a couple gnomes older than you.”
“Delaney.” His mouth pulled down against what looked suspiciously like a tolerant smile. Or frustrated grimace. Yeah, probably more that last thing.
I started counting on my fingers. “Don’t let Ryder out of town. Don’t let him out from beneath my supervision. Don’t let him out from under the watch of one of your people who has sworn not to harm him in any way. Don’t expect him to be innocent. Don’t confront him on my own. Those terms?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. Did vampires get headaches?
“And the last term to our agreement?” he asked behind his palm.
“I let you question him.”
He nodded, but that condition of Ryder remaining unscathed was the one I was least comfortable with.
“I’ll be there when you question him,” I said.
“We didn’t agree to that.”
“We’re going to agree to it now.”
He dropped his hand, long fingers brushing over the soft cotton of his pants. Etta had already left. It had taken nearly an hour for me to wear Rossi down to this agreement. Who knew standing one’s ground made one sweat so much?
His eyes were dark, no color left in them, but they were not insane rage-red either.
Good enough.
“You push me, Delaney.”
“I won’t get in your way when you question him. But I will be there or it doesn’t happen.”
“Fine.” He gathered our cups off the counter and took them to the sink. “Good-bye, Delaney.”
And that was my cue to get the heck out of there. I let myself out, moving determinedly to the door. I took a few deep and shaky breaths once I reached the cool, damp air of the afternoon, and resisted bending in half to keep the blood from rushing out of my head.
That had been exhausting and terrifying.
Etta had seen Ryder.
Sven had seen Ryder.
Rossi had hired Ryder for a remodeling job.
I didn’t know how I was going to keep him safe. I didn’t even know if Ishouldkeep him safe.
The only car in the driveway was my Jeep. A slightly soggy scrap of paper was tucked under the windshield wiper.
I pulled the paper out and got into the Jeep before reading it.
You’re welcomewas written in Crow’s tight, strong script. Below that were a few brushes of ink that sketched a crow in flight.
