Gabriel stopped and pulled up the sleeve of his T-shirt. He ran a thumb over the inside of his wrist. “I have authority to share this with you because you’re helping with this investigation, but this information goes no further.” He glanced at Axel, then me, where it lingered. “Lady Sarhin assured us that you have the trust of the high court.”
Axel snorted beside me but I ignored him. “Of course. I have to report my findings to Lady Sarhin, but that is all. Whatever you tell me will not go beyond that.”
Gabriel nodded, then pointed to a slight discolouration on his skin. Not something I would’ve noticed without him pointing it out. “We don’t use magic to safeguard our building, as magic can be manipulated.”
A fair point, I had to concede.
“So everyone who works here is fitted with a chip that allows us entry to the building.”
I scrunched up my nose. “Like a tracker?” The idea of my whereabouts being monitored at all times made me uneasy. Not that I had anything to hide, but still…
Gabriel hummed. “Kind of. But they can track us by our phones anyway. And to be honest, I’ve only just got mine, but things would’ve been a whole lot easier if I’d had one when Tombs was around.”
He didn’t elaborate further and I glanced at Axel for clarification.
“Tombs tried to frame him,” Axel offered.
“Sorry,” Gabriel said. “I forget that they’ve kept you in the dark on all of this.” He led us through a large open-plan office, and unsurprisingly we garnered a few curious glances.
“It’s fine. I’m hoping to rectify that today.” But I still had a few questions about their security. “So if you can only get in here with that chip, how did we get in so easily?”
Gabriel smiled. “Because I called ahead. Your presence was registered on our approach, but because they knew I was escorting you and Axel in, we didn’t have to wait for approval.”
It was so simple I felt foolish for asking, but in my defence, this was all new to me. I doubted their way of doing things was better than ours, but it was certainly going to take some getting used to.
We followed Gabriel into a long corridor with offices on either side, stopping at one near the end. “This is me and Max.” He gestured for us to go inside.
Max Knowles stood to greet us as we walked in, not looking the least bit surprised at our arrival.
I remembered him from Axel’s house.
Shifter.
No wonder he wasn’t surprised. He’d have heard us coming long before we got there.
His smile was warm and welcoming as he directed it at me. “Good to see you again.”
I smiled back. “Thank you for allowing me to work alongside you.” I turned to Gabriel. “You too. On behalf of the high court, I’d like to say how much we appreciate it.”
Max’s smile widened. “It’s our pleasure.” His eyes twinkled with amusement, or mischief, I couldn’t quite tell, but one thing I did know was that this assignment wasn’t going to be boring.
I glanced from Max to Gabriel, then back again. “Is everyone in the paranormal police this attractive?” Gabriel was half fae so it was a given that he was beautiful, but Max? He was a hot huge mountain of muscle.
He laughed and held out his hands. “What can I say?”
Shifters weren’t usually my thing—too broody by far—but I could probably make an exception for Max. That spark of mischief in him called to the fae in me.
“I hear you met Rys again earlier,” Max said, perching on the edge of his desk. “I bet that was a treat.”
Axel grinned and answered before I could. “I don’t know about Rys, but Nick was certainly pleased to see us.”
Ahh, the lovely Nick Parker.
Tall, dark, and tattooed with so many markings I wanted to trace with my tongue.
A witch. A powerful one if I wasn’t mistaken, but his magic had been locked down so tight it’d been hard for me to get a read on it.
Max’s eyebrows rose, and he turned to Axel. “Are you two a thing again, or…” His gaze landed on me.
