He took his time studying my face. “You look surprised.”
I closed my gaping mouth, shooting Malik a dirty look from over James’s shoulder.
“It gets worse,” Malik said as they pushed past me.
I stepped through the doorway, the cold air biting at my exposed midriff beneath the cropped sweatshirt. My gaze trailed down the stairs to where Agent Hill ascended. “Which one told you?” I huffed, crossing my arms.
Hill waited until he reached the top step to reply, “The one who was given a government order to tell us when you move. The same wayyouwere given an order to tell us when the Alpha moved.” He squared his shoulders. “Are you going to let me in, Joey?”
I dropped my gaze to the floor in shame and stepped aside for Hill to enter.
Maybe things would’ve been different if Li and the Bureau had gotten involved. But that would’ve forced me to tell them about Latoya, and that hadn’t been an option.
Malik whistled. “To think it took you screwing a werewolf for me to finally step foot into yoursanctuary, Little Red.”
I should’ve felt angry, but my discomfort was all I could manage. There were too many people in my loft. “How long did you wait before you went running to James?” I asked Malik.
He dropped onto the couch, stretching his legs out in front of him. “Not long.” He clasped his hands behind his head. “And you should be grateful I did. Deandre is the only one here with enough IT knowledge to crack the damn device.”
“At least you were smart enough to realize that list doesn’t belong in the hands of werewolves,” James added. “We were worried you’d hand it over to Blackwood.”
A surprising sadness sagged through me. My gaze drifted up to Malik as he continued to make himself comfortable.
“You weren’t checking on me last night to make sure I was okay, were you?”
His sharp eyes narrowed, and he shook his head. “I can worry about you, Joey. That doesn’t mean I trust you or your ability to do the right thing.”
“But you trust him?” I snapped, gesturing toward Hill. “He works for the people who wrote the damn treaty and then nearly lost it, Malik.” I rubbed my palms against my sweatpants. “But you do you.”
The three men waited in front of the loft as I retrieved the laptop and cloner from my desk. I held up the cloner before setting it down on the kitchenette counter.
“That’s it?” Hill asked as he walked toward me. At my nod, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to power it off.
“Smart,” Malik said, powering his off as well. “No telling what I have on this bad boy,” he muttered. “And Little Red has been lost dick-pic privileges.”
Hill groaned. “Really, man?” he criticized. He removed his suit jacket and draped it on the back of the bar stool, then sat down and plugged the cloner into my laptop with his own USB cable before getting to work.
His fingers flew across the keyboard as green symbols flashed across the screen. He stared at the mountain of pop-ups, his brow furrowed in concentration.
“Your girl’s good,” he said under his breath.
“I’ll be sure to let her know,” I lied. I never wanted to see the Blackwood Pack again.
Ten minutes later, Hill gave his hands a single clap and leaned back on the stool. “We’re in.”
All hunters sighed in relief.
“But there’s a lot to sift through,” Hill continued. “Make yourselves comfortable.”
While Hill worked on organizing the files, Malik looked over his shoulder, and James watched as I brewed the two of us coffee.
His eyes danced from my face to my hands. He drummed his fingers on the countertop until I slid the steaming mug over to him. “What happened to us, kid?” he asked, his pained voice low. He propped his head on one of his hands. “You used to tell me everything. Now I’m learning about undercover operations from Malik?”
I shrugged. “I thought you’d be happy we were getting along,” I muttered, taking a sip of the bitter drink. “You always seem to want him around when it’s no secret I don’t.”
James glowered at me. “The stunt you pulled yesterday could’ve gotten you—”
“Leaving my house can get me killed, James,” I huffed, cutting him off.
