"You know I'm going to find out anyway."
Probably, but this method was guaranteed to frustrate the hell out of him. Sometimes you had to take your wins where you could.
"Come on, A. You know I hate being the last to know," Nathan whined.
His head was against the headrest, his eyes on me and his body canted in my direction.
Seeing my attention on him, he gave me puppy dog eyes.
"You know that doesn't really work on me, right?"
He snorted. "What are you talking about? It works on everyone."
"Whatever you want to tell yourself," I said.
With one last look in his direction, I relented, filling Nathan in on recent events as we made the thirty-minute drive to Thomas's main headquarters in Columbus.
Nathan whistled when I finished. "I have to hand it to you; you always keep things interesting. Most vampires never meet a Fae even after centuries of life. You have run ins with them every other month. Not only that, you have the biggest and baddest of the lot wanting who knows what with you."
I eyed him with a sour expression. "Please. Don't hold back."
Nathan's laugh was humorless as we made our last turn. "I can't help it if you're a walking disaster. What are you going to do?"
"That's what I'm hoping to figure out," I said.
He touched my arm. "Hey, in all seriousness, you're not alone. We have your back."
I flashed him a smile. "I appreciate that."
More than he knew. This didn't feel like the other times I'd been in over my head. It was practically a requirement for how I lived my life. This felt different. Bigger.
I felt like a change was barreling down on me, and I was helpless to get out of the way.
Nathan waved away my words. "We're family. Besides, if one of the super-rare magic breakers died on our watch, our reputations would never survive."
That got a disbelieving huff out of me as we pulled to a stop behind Liam, who was inputting his code for the gate.
The Gargoyle was a stately mansion that looked like an ode to gothic architecture. Surrounded by a large wrought iron fence, the mansion sat on at least two acres of prime real estate in the heart of downtown Columbus. A few streets to its north was East Broad Street known for its sky scrapers and business offices.
On the other side of the street was a neighborhood that looked like it had seen better days. Some of the houses were shuttered, their windows boarded up. Others had lawns that looked like they hadn’t been cared for in years.
Despite the less than stellar surroundings, everyone knew not to mess with the grounds or inhabitants of the Gargoyle. It had only taken a few interlopers going missing for that message to get across.
A circular driveway led up to the Gargoyle's front door, past the topiary garden.
Rumors around town had it that the building was an exclusive school for the wealthy and children of foreign diplomats. I had a feeling someone in Thomas's camp had encouraged the claim. Along with the disrepair of the neighborhood.
It was easier to come and go as you pleased when no one cared or noticed.
Nathan and I headed toward Liam and Connor on the steps.
I paused halfway there, noting a car parked on the other side of the street and a half a block from the Gargoyle’s parked gate.
That wasn’t strange in and of itself. No, what set my instincts ablaze was how nice the car was compared to the rest of the cars in the neighborhood.
“Aileen? Something wrong?” Nathan asked.
I didn’t answer, squinting at the car. Perhaps it was the attack the other night that was making me more paranoid than usual.
