I huffed a cold chuckle, even as Elder Jacobs shifted on his seat, a sure sign he hadn’t known this little fact. And…not only that…my lips curved with my simmering hatred for him, utterly loving the fact it must have been a rude awakening the next morning after he had thought to dupe me to realize I wasn’t a Shifter, and then, I thoroughly enjoyed the frigid hatred he didn’t bother to hide entering his own gaze as I laughed in his face.
Elder Jacobs cleared his throat after a moment, sitting forward in the recliner, putting himself into my line of eyesight to catch my gaze. “It wasn’t entirely Elder Merrick’s fault to deceive you as he did.” I quieted some, trying to reign in my anger, raking hair off my face with a damn still slightly shaking hand as I turned my attention toward him while he continued. “When we saw you outside the hotel with the Prodigies, we thought it surprising you recognized us so quickly, thought perhaps we had met before, but since neither of us forgets a face, and we knew we had never met you, we brushed it off as an oddity, our faces recognizable because of our history and position.”
I had recognized Elder Merrick instantly when I had rolled over that morning, right along with recognizing Elder Jacobs instantly outside the hotel.
He waved a hand. “But, after we followed you, ran the background checks, and ran your prints on a glass you’d used from the limo,” he shrugged a shoulder, sitting back on my recliner, “you didn’t exist on any databases, so Elder Merrick and I…did what we do best.”
My mind whirled, realizing they had already done a fingerprint check…and the bit he was blatantly telling me they were damn spies.
Elder Merrick efficiently released the clip on my gun and begun a quiet study of each of the silver bullets without flinching. “Now that we know you’re from the future, Elder Jacobs and I believe you knew us before.” He rubbed on one of the bullets, peering at it more closely. “In the future, I mean.”
I snorted, glaring at him. “Fuck you.” Oops, we had already done that, hadn’t we, which I bet chaffed him like no other.
“Hmm.” He peered more closely, ignoring my anger. “Which means, we knew you, too, since this,” a flicked hand around the room, “is the past for the us of the future, if you are truly meant to be here.” I went quiet, thinking that through slowly, even as he asked, voice still void, “How did we really meet in your eyes?”
“Elder Merrick…” King White murmured a quiet warning.
A cold, direct order. “Answer the question.”
My nostrils flared, but he did have my damn gun in his hands, so I sucked in a breath, keeping it simple. “I met you and Elder Jacobs for the first time in a formal living room after a dinner.” Not to mention, he hadn’t seemed to like me very well, which made sense now, the him of the future with this as his past, and…there had been something in both of their eyes, and even an odd comment by Elder Jacobs…I shook my head. “Yes, I think you both knew me. There was something there you both tried to hide.”
“Hmm.” He started putting the bullets back in the clip. “We only knew each other briefly?”
“Somewhat,” I stated vaguely, not going into details. “I went back in time not too long afterward.”
“But, we didn’t tell you.”
Not a question, but I stated, “You couldn’t alter time.”
He grunted, slamming the clip back into place on the gun, eyeing me coldly with his own simmering hatred.
Elder Jacobs interjected then, taking over, stating calmly, “As I said,” my eyes turned to him, “Elder Merrick is not only at fault for this. Since I was currently busy with another affair, it was decided between us Elder Merrick would take the lead in a private investigation of you. And after learning more about you during the interrogation, it was quickly surmised it would work.” His lips actually quirked. “You should feel somewhat fortunate, Ms. Farrow. You appeared to only need companionship. Had it been me doing the investigation, instead of someone who despises mixed-faction relations with a vengeance, I would have used a more sensual approach.”
My face stayed blank. “Yes, that’s very fortunate, because I probably would have killed you while you slept one night had you deceived me like that.”
Ah…that idea had merit.
Dark eyes stared back at me calmly. “Was that a threat?”
“Did you sleep with me to gain information?”
“No.”
“Then it wasn’t a threat.” I kept my mouth shut after that, seeing as how my gun was in the hands of the man I was threatening.
Elder Jacobs sighed heavily. “I understand you’re upset, Ms. Farrow, and I can’t even say I apologize for our actions because we were moving in the best interests of the Prodigies, but you shouldn’t take out your hurt feelings on King White. He had no indication of what was transpiring while we conducted our private research,”
I waved a hand, jumping from my seat, not able to sit still any longer. Anger burst forth as I had never felt before…because there had been a slim possibility I had actually started to have feelings for Elder Merrick. Real damn feelings for a prick who had fucked me as part of his job.
“Don’t fucking tell me what I’m feeling!” It was even worse than the Walker Leric, because whereas the Walker had spun a twisting loyalty within me, Elder Merrick had started to worm his way into my damn heart. Not a lot, but he had still managed to get there, which burned like acid down my throat.
All three were utterly still, staring at me quietly with varying expressions, I realized there were tiny little stars popping off any of my exposed flesh, like sizzling bursts of anger.
Well, that was a new one.
I swiped a hand over my face, swiftly moving to the patio door, opening the blinds and the door, sucking in oxygen to try to calm down. “Fucking betrayed again.” I shook my head, chest heaving. “Goddammit.”
Elder Jacobs’s voice was extremely slow. “It had to be done.”
Eyes flared, nowhere near calmed, I glared at him over my shoulder where he was still staring at me in shock. “I never would have hurt the Prodigies. I explained that. And all I got in return was your fucking deception.” My furious gaze went to Elder Merrick’s, who was decidedly not shocked, actually resting against the back of my couch calmly while staring at me coldly. “Congratulations, you bastard. You played it perfectly.” My head tilted toward the front door. “Now, since I understand why you did what you did for the Prodigies, I’ll give you ten seconds to get the fuck out my apartment before I really show you what I can do.”
Even from his relaxed state, his wolf growled quietly at the challenge.
King White threw up his hands, his expression still wide-eyed on me, and the tiny, bursting stars. “Both of you, just calm the hell down.” He ran a hand through his red hair. “Christ, this is getting out of hand.” He stood, quickly moving between Elder Merrick and my hate-filled stare down, and actually placed a hand on mine, only to jerk back shouting, “Shit!” He waved his hand as if I had burned him, but he breathed even, stating over Elder Merrick’s low growl, “I had nothing to do with their actions, Ms. Farrow. And the reason,”
I waved a hand, cutting him off, my hair blowing in the night-time breeze from outside, moving to my front door, opening it and holding it there. “I know why you’re here now.” I shook my head, voice void. “I won’t work for you, King White. I have no bad blood for you, as you put it, but I can’t. Every action I make here can have consequences on the future.”
His mouth opened—
A flash of brilliant gold.
Time…stood still.
Utterly and completely.
King White stood frozen, one foot forward on the ground as he had stepped, mouth parted the barest bit, his opened suit jacket stopped in mid-wave. Elder Jacobs quiet and still where he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. Elder Merrick still resting casually on the couch, one arm over the back of it, feet crossed on my coffee table. Silence rained down around us, the sounds of life outside gone, only our breathing heard as they blinked slowly at me.