Flat-Top’s eyes narrowed. “Is that a threat?”
Ithadbeen, and Rhys intended to make good on it if these guys didn’t back off from Maisie.
“Just let her go,” he said, looking the man in the eye. “She’s gotnothingto do with this.”
Flat-Top raised an eyebrow. “Oh no? So… you wanna explain the chain of events to me, then? I’m only getting this second-hand from headquarters, so perhaps you can tell me if I missed anything. First, she just happens to drive you right to your office. How’d she know where that was, huh?”
Rhys’s lip twitched. “She told me she got a call on my phone while she was driving me to the hospital, telling her where to go.”
“Did you check your phone?”
Rhys opened his mouth to sayOf course I checked my phone,and he had. But then, he remembered – there’d been no log of the call in there at all. At the time, he hadn’t thought much about it, but, he realized, he couldn’t say that to Flat-Top here.
“And then you took her to your dropout hacker friend, didn’t you?” Flat-Top said, his smirk deepening. “And what happened to him?”
Again, Rhys realized, he couldn’t say anything. Heknewwhat had happened to Michael and Shaz – they’d had to go on the run in their shifter forms. He had to assume they wouldn’t have done that without averygood reason. And he’d gotten that text from Michael only seconds earlier telling him he’d been set up.
“And then… what? Shecoincidentallyasked you to come up here on a holiday, with her spare airline ticket?” Flat-Top looked like he was about to burst into laughter at any moment. “To come with her up here, away from your team and any kind of support, and the first thing that happens pretty much is you get attacked by some bunch of hired yahoos – so you tell me, what kind of picture does this paint to you?”
Rhys growled. Perhaps to an outsider, itdidlook bad. But not for one second did he believe Maisie had had anything to do with what had happened. The phone call he’d need to look into, but everything else…
“That’s all just a coincidence,” he said, realizing as soon as the words were out of his mouth how unconvincing they sounded. “You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.”
“Well, we’ll see about that,” Flat-Top said, shaking his head.
“I’m telling you for the last time, let her go,” Rhys snarled, aware that there were other agents crowding in on him – but hedidn’t care. He’d fight every single one of them, lose his job, and have to deliver pizzas for a living if it meant protecting Maisie.
“Rhys!” Maisie called out again as the agents started to manhandle her toward the newly-landed helicopter, and Rhys tensed, calling his griffin forward and starting the shifting process. He didn’t give two shits who saw him – the only thing that mattered was Maisie.
We will spill the blood of any who harm our mate!
The world went blurry in front of his eyes, as he felt his arms and legs start to elongate –
“Rhys! No! For fuck’s sake, mate,stop!”
Shock made Rhys stop mid-shift, slipping back into his human form.
Because he knew that voice. He trusted that voice.
Trent.
Sure enough, Trent was sprinting toward himfromthe helicopter that had landed a minute ago, Euan right behind him.
What the hell are they doing here?!Rhys thought – though it didn’t matter.
Hehadto protect Maisie, and they couldn’t stop him.
“It’s okay, we’ve got him,” Trent said as he raced over, grabbing Rhys and hauling him away from Flat-Top, who released Rhys’s shoulder reluctantly. “This is Sydney business – we’ll take over from here.”
“Whatever,” said Flat-Top, as he turned to head toward the helicopter. “You can deal with your own mess.”
“Trent?!” Rhys exclaimed, barely able to think any kind of thought exceptgo rescue your mate right now.The sound of the rotors whirring back to life ratcheted up his apprehension even further. “You have to let me go – they’re taking her away! Let meGO.”
Trent grabbed Rhys by the shoulders, forcing Rhys to look him in the eye. “Look, mate, I hate to be the one to tell you this,but she was spying on you. Feeding information back about your movements to whoever it is that’s after you.”
Behind Trent, Euan nodded, his face solemn.
No. Absolutely not.
