Nick clears his throat, giving us such a dry look we both snicker. The moment is broken when a short man with dark, wavy hair and brown eyes walks in the front door. “Oh good, the party’s all here,” Nick says, clapping his hands together once. “Everybody in the conference room. Ren, go get Director West. We’ve got a situation to get worked out.”
We file into the small room, each taking chairs around a long, rectangular table. I snag a chair on the end, and when Henry moves to take the seat beside mine, Terrance yanks him away by the collar of his expensive suit. Henry whirls on Terrance, and the two are snarling at each other before I can blink. “Stay away from her!” Terrance roars.
“She is mine!” Henry shouts.
Nick moves to the head of the table and does that scary badass thing again. There’s definitely some kind of power rolling off of him in waves. It’s a neat trick. I totally wish I could do it. “Shut it! Both of you!” he snaps.
Terrance and Henry glare at each other a moment longer, but they both calm down and fall into empty chairs. Wulf decides to take the seat beside me. Both Henry and Terrance narrow their eyes at him, but neither complains.
“Now that that’s settled,” Nick grumbles, “first item of business. Enzo?”
“Of course.” The shorty with the wavy hair squats down beside me. He holds a hand toward my face and offers me a sympathetic smile. His fingers pause an inch away, and he locks eyes with me. “With your permission?” he asked softly.
This must be the healer Nick mentioned back at the club. I don’t know anything about magic healing, and I’m a little freaked by the idea of him using it on me. But my head is still pounding and my face is throbbing.
At my small nod, Enzo gently cups my face in his hand. His thoughts fill my mind. He’s livid. He knows my injury came from being hit in the face and realized that it had to have been one of the men in the room. He figures it was Henry, from the way Terrance got after him, and wishes he could put an ash-wood stake through the bastard’s heart. Henry is not Enzo’s favorite person. This endears me to him just as much as the fact that he’s getting rid of the pain in my face. Again, I’m surprised. Like Terrance, Enzo seems less of a monster and more of a person who is genuinely concerned for me. Every belief I’ve had of underworlders is being proved wrong tonight.
As I sit there reading his thoughts, tingling warmth spreads through my face, dulling the throbbing in my cheek. In less than a minute, the pain and swelling are both gone. I gasp when I realize I’m fully healed.
Enzo grins. His chocolate eyes twinkle with amusement and pride. “Better?”
I nod, dumbfounded, and manage a very breathy, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Is there anything else?”
“My head. I think I have a concussion.”
Terrance growls at this, and Henry grimaces. At least the jackass feels a little bad for almost knocking my head clean off.
Enzo moves his hand to the top of my head, and seconds later my vision clears and the headache disappears. I sigh in relief.
He releases my head and offers me a sweet smile. “Good as new, miss.”
He’s not lying. There’s zero pain in my head or my face. Whatever their faults, underworlders have some sweet medical practices. I smile a big, toothy grin at my healer. “Thank you, Enzo. That was amazing.”
Enzo ducks his head. A light blush rises on his cheeks at my praise. “Thank you, miss. Glad I could be of assistance.”
He steps away just as two people enter the room behind Ren. The first is an older woman—maybe in her fifties. She’s got a military no-nonsense vibe about her. Sharp, intelligent eyes and pinched face as if she’s used to scowling, and her silver hair is pulled back in a severe bun. She’s wearing a power suit with a pencil skirt and practical black pumps. No doubt all personality, this one.
The second is a younger man. Though he’s dressed nicely in an expensive suit, making him look much more handsome than I’d first given him credit for, I recognize my sweet bus companion instantly. I’m so shocked to see him that my mouth falls open. “Oliver?”
My library/bus companion’s eyes widen. “Nora? What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” I repeat.
He ducks his head at all the incredulous looks being thrown his way and mumbles a soft, “I work here.”
My eyes bulge. Oliver is an underworlder.
Before I can ask him any more questions, the woman in the pencil skirt moves to the head of the table closest to me, where Nick is standing. He gives her a nod and moves to take an empty seat near the other end of the table. “Well,” the woman says, eyeing first me, then the random group of underworlders that have been assembled, “this is interesting.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Nick says, smirking.
The woman’s eyes circle the table again. “So who would like to tell me what’s going on?”
“I say we let the pretty human explain,” Ren chirps.
“Sounds good to me,” Nick agrees. “She seems to be both the victim and the witness here.”
“What happened?” Oliver asks. His question is directed at me and oozing with concern.
I still can’t believe he’s here. He’s an underworlder. The quiet geeky guy that had offered to walk me home when I looked sick is part of the world I’ve always been terrified of. I just can’t believe it. I can’t form any words to answer his question.
“You weren’t at the library or on the bus yesterday,” he says. “After you looked so ill, when you didn’t show up the next day, I was worried about you.”
He’s so sweet. My face melts into a smile, and I finally find my voice. “Well, I missed an entire day because stupid Parker kidnapped me, compelled me to sleep for a whole day—for which I’m probably fired from my job, thank you very much.” I scowl at Parker, who sighs in return and mouths Sorry. “Then, his asshole master decided I’d make a good tool and kept me against my will until Nick rescued me. Oh, and for some reason, Henry thinks he can claim me as his mate.”
Director West’s eyes widen, and Nick grins. “See? Told you you’d want to hear this,” he says to her. “Only it gets better. The little spitfire impaled him with a barstool leg when he attempted to turn her against her will.”
“She is human, and she knows of the underworld,” Henry sputters when Director West frowns. “It is my right to deal with her as I see fit.”
“But claim a woman to be your mate against her will? Change her?” Wulf growls a low, rumbly growl that makes me shiver. “It’s despicable.”
This comment seems to offend Henry on some deep level, because he shoots to his feet and starts yelling at Wulf. Wulf, of course, does the same, unleashing the fullness of his werewolf temper. Terrance and Parker join in the chaos, and suddenly I can’t make out any words among all the shouting.
“ENOUGH!” Director West shouts. She doesn’t have Nick’s badassery, but the command still has punch. Everyone returns to their seats and closes their mouths. Director West’s eyes return to me. “It seems you are the center of the squabble, so why don’t you start by telling us your side of things, miss…?”
“Nora Jacobs.” I shoot a nasty glare at Henry and Parker, then shrug. “What’s there to say? I got abducted at knifepoint by my psycho neighbor last night, and rather than let him assault me like he was planning to do, I passed him off to someone I knew could handle him.”
“Cecile,” Parker clarifies when Director West frowns.
“Is that the succubus?” I ask. Parker nods. “Okay, yeah. I handed him over to Cecile. Trust me, the guy deserved whatever she did to him, and then some.”
Director West nods. “Okay. And then what happened?”
I continue on explaining how handing my neighbor over to a succubus tipped Parker off that I knew about his world. Once I finish with the entire story—where Nick helpfully reminds her again about the improv wooden stake—all eyes turn to Henry. He sits up straight, defiant and prideful as ever.
“Henry?” Director West demands.
“She is human, Madison.”
“Gifted.”
“Still human.”