Pirate's Alley

Then he was there, fear and love and hurt and anger, all wrapped up in one snarly shapeshifter ball.

 

“Does Zrakovi know I got away?”

 

“Not yet. What the hell are you doing here, DJ? We had it worked out.”

 

I held out my wrists. “Bind them, and take me in, or whatever you were supposed to do with me.”

 

“What?” Alex blinked. “Why, DJ? Why not let them think you outsmarted all of us? Why did you even come here tonight?”

 

Maybe he didn’t know me that well after all. “Because I want to have my say. I owe that to Jake, and to you, and to myself.” I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes, willing away the urge to cry. I didn’t regret a thing I’d done. I was finished apologizing for putting people before politics.

 

He blinked once, twice, and looked away. “DJ, I don’t want this.”

 

I stood on tiptoe and kissed him. “I know.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

I nodded. “Absolutely. Just remember that Rand is an unknown factor, and Mace will be desperate once he’s exposed. Be prepared for anything.”

 

He pulled out handcuffs and snapped them around my wrists. “Where’s your bag? You didn’t bring your staff?”

 

“I have it. It’s hidden.” Charlie was currently tucked inside the leg of my Harry Potter pajama bottoms, which were beneath my jeans, but that fell under the category of TMI.

 

“Did I ever tell you how smart you are?”

 

If I was that smart, I wouldn’t be marching into the Interspecies Council meeting in handcuffs.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 31

 

I was pretty sure protocol called for Alex to grasp my upper arm and steer me to a bench that stretched along an inner wall—the prisoner area. I also was pretty sure protocol did not call for him to walk me in with his arm around my shoulders, almost protectively. Well, except for the whole part about me being handcuffed.

 

Zrakovi and Lennox had been talking, but Lennox stopped mid-sentence when he saw me. I thought a small smile crossed his lips before he squelched it. Zrakovi turned and his aura virtually leapt with joy to see me this way. “Good work, Alex. I can’t tell you how disappointed you’ve made me, DJ.”

 

How did he really expect me to respond to that? Apologetically? I wanted to say “Blow me,” but instead I smiled and kept my mouth shut. Lennox reached out and grasped my wrist as I walked past, which he really shouldn’t have done. I could read him like a first grade See Spot Run primer. He was excited, which I didn’t understand.

 

He stepped closer to me. “Hang in there, love. You’ve done the right thing, and we’ll get this overblown toad out of office before long.”

 

I smiled at him, too, mostly to keep from letting my mouth hang open in shock. Lennox was a player; that much I knew. What I didn’t know was his game. Right now, it appeared to be Get Rid of Zrakovi the Toad.

 

“Will you be okay sitting here?” Alex stopped in front of the bench.

 

“Sure. Is this where they’ll bring Jake and Rand?”

 

My ploy to find out Rand’s status worked. “Jake’ll be here in a minute. We never found Rand to even deliver the warrant.”

 

I’d spotted a familiar halo of wavy blond hair near the doorway. “There’s your chance.”

 

Alex whirled. “Shit. I guess he didn’t know we were on to him.”

 

Oh yeah, he knew, thanks to his non-wife. But what he’d done about Mace—that was the question. Rand scanned the room until he found me, and treated me to a wide smile.

 

Whatever I say, just go along with it, Dru. When you get the chance, make a run for it. Stay gone for a while, until I give you the go-ahead to come back. It’s gonna be fine.

 

Oh, I so didn’t like the sound of that. Alex approached Rand, who turned a sunny smile in his direction and said a few words that caused Alex to shoot a bug-eyed look toward Zrakovi.

 

Alex shrugged, though, and walked back to me.

 

“He doesn’t get handcuffs?”

 

“Not yet,” Alex said. “He says we don’t have jurisdiction to arrest him here since he wasn’t served with the summons, but that if we want to get one trotted over here, he’ll be happy to comply.” He looked back at Rand. “He’s up to something.”

 

Yes, he certainly was. This was going to be interesting. I felt relatively sure that Rene and Jean would be able to get Jake out safely. I had no idea what I’d do, and I hated that my fate lay in the hands of an overly ambitious wizard, a temperamental faery, and a freakin’ elf.

 

Christof was the first of the contingent from Faery to arrive, and I was glad to see he’d abandoned his Justin Bieber face for a Viggo-Mortensen-as-Aragorn look, complete with the dark shirt, black, distressed-leather hooded cape clasped at the neck, and two-day stubble. Nice. Except for the little chocolate problem, being a faery could be fun.

 

Except oh-em-gee Eugenie could get into such trouble with him.

 

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