Page 31

T wo hours later, I was skeptical while Luke and Mave work on a telephone junction box, splicing wires so they can direct the calls to Luke’s laptop. He’ll look for outgoing calls from the evidence lab and pick up that call to confirm Mave’s paperwork .

We’re dangerously close to the big brick police building. But the guys work quickly .

“I don’t like sending you in without me.” Luke carefully closes the junction box .

“Don’t fuss over me,” Mave tells him as the three of us head for the car .

“I’m not fussing.” Luke’s lips purse to one side as he ducks into the car. “You’re a terrible liar. It worries me .”

“People find me very charming,” Mave reminds him. “They don’t mind if I’m lying to them. Are you coming with me , Ash ?”

Part of me is curious, to be honest. We pull around the corner, parking in the lot behind a Dunkin’ Donuts. Luke puts his seat back all the way and rests his laptop on his knees, plugging in a headset .

“Ash?” Mave prompts again .

“I don’t know,” I confess. Part of me wants to go; it’s the same part of me that hums with excitement about walking into a den of vamps and that doesn’t shy away from a fight with a geist. It’s a part of me that feels unfamiliar. Maybe that love for adrenaline is one more gift from the Far, an adaptation to my life there that doesn’t serve me very well here .

“She doesn’t want to be a criminal like us,” Luke tells Mave. His fingers tap rapidly over the keyboard, and a black command window opens on the laptop screen. Phone numbers begin to pop up on screen .

“Of course not,” Mave says. “Who wants to be a criminal ?”

Luke shrugs. “It doesn’t bother me much. Better than doing nothing with my gifts .”

“I thought you lost your gift.” I don’t mean to be unkind, but if he has gifts, plural, I’d like to know what they are .

Luke glances at me in the rearview mirror, and when our eyes meet, he winks. It’s sexy as hell, I have to admit, even if I don’t want to. Luke drives me crazy in more ways than one .

“I’ve got plenty of other gifts,” he promises me. I roll my eyes at the innuendo .

“I’ll take care of you,” Mave promises me .

“She’s too young,” Luke says, his voice flippant, as if he doesn’t care too much. “She’s a bit baby-faced to pretend to be an FBI agent .”

“I am not…baby-faced.” I can’t tell if Luke is insulting me or not .

In response, Luke twists in his seat to pinch my cheek gently, and his eyes meet mine playfully. “You are. You’re adorable .”

I grab his wrist and shove his hand away. My cheek burns—not because he hurt me, but because there’s something electric when he touches my face so familiarly .

“I get that it’s hard to believe when you are a foot taller than me,” I tell Luke, “but I am far, far scarier than you are .”

“I’m sure you could be very scary,” Mave says .

Luke’s mouth turns up at the corner, in profile. Mave taking my side isn’t helping .

“Yes, Mave,” I say. “I would love to go with you .”

“Great,” Mave says. “But you can’t wear jeans .”

My usual life rule is that if I have to wear a skirt somewhere, that place is not for me. After all, the last time I wore a dress was prom, and I wore the shreds of that satin-and-tulle monstrosity for a year in the Far .

Okay, I hated wearing a skirt before that, but I made an exception for prom. And look how that turned out .

“Are you going to make me an FBI badge?” I ask. “Can I keep it ?”

Luke rubs his hand over his face. “Why, though? Why , Mave ?”

“We’ve got to teach her the ropes,” Mave tells him .

“No, we don’t,” Luke says. “The princess is not coming with us when we move on to the next ghostie. She’s not going to live this life .”

“You keep saying that. I can’t tell if you’re trying to get inside her head or inside your own,” Mave says .

Despite Luke’s protest, he closes his laptop and slides it between the seats for now in the center console, then he pulls out onto the road .

“I’m not trying to get inside anyone’s head,” Luke says quietly. “It’s a good thing if Ash is taking a hard pass on this life. I’m just reminding us all not to get too comfortable .”

There’s something sweet about that, and sad too, and I can’t answer him. Maybe Mave can’t either, because we all look out the windows, gazing at the gray city around us. Drizzle begins to splat against the windshield .

“Maybe you could make me a fake ID too?” I suggest .

Luke shakes his head, but the tension eases in the car. “You’re bad enough sober, Ash. Can’t imagine you drunk .”

“He should talk,” Mave says to me confidingly .

I’d kind of like to see Luke drunk. I wonder if he’s rowdy or if his walls come down a little, for once .

An hour later, we leave Luke behind at the motel with his laptop, and Mave and I walk into the Municipal Building. Long-term evidence storage is in the basement. It’s deathly quiet in the lobby, which is cavernous above a white tile floor and almost empty, except for a receptionist at a long desk. Since we have to go down, I start toward the elevator bank, and my high heels click-clack across the floor .

Mave whispers in my ear, “ This way .”

He hasn’t touched me, but his voice still seems intimate. His voice is low, all honey warm and roughly masculine at the same time. Without missing a beat, I swivel toward my left and walk with him toward the reception desk .

There’s a guy at the reception desk, his jaw and lip curved by the tobacco dip he holds in his mouth. His eyes widen when he sees Mave .

Mave leans on the counter with his elbow. “ Afternoon .”

“Afternoon. What can I help you with?” There’s the faintest flutter in the receptionist’s chest, like his heart is racing just staring at Mave’s face, but he’s trying valiantly to hide his reaction .

Mave isn’t helping, either; he meets his eyes steadily, his voice intimate. “We need to take a request down to Evidence .”

“Of course.” He starts to shift to one side, reaching for a button on a control panel, then pauses. “Oh, can I see your paperwork ?”

It’s as if he lost his mind when he met Mave’s gaze .

“Absolutely.” Mave hands over his forged police documents, and my breath catches in my chest .

Ellis and I have already put our mom through a lot of hardship. I can’t go away to prison .

But still, the guy barely looks away from Mave for his eyes to flicker quickly across the papers. I don’t think he really sees them. Then he hands them back. “Take elevator four. It’s authorized to go down to Evidence .”

“Thanks,” Mave says easily .

When the two of us are in the elevator, I find the camera watching us from one corner and then turn my back to it, so only Mave can see my lips move .

“What was that ?”

Mave shrugs. “That’s why we ward anyone I have to work with, and I do my best to avoid everyone else .”

“You’re a very pretty man, but you’re not that pretty .”

Mave’s eyebrows lift, a surprised smile crossing his lips .

Oh , man .

“You know you’re pretty,” I say, feeling like I’m digging myself deeper .

He shrugs. “It’s still different when you say it .”

“I’m just speaking facts .”

“Beauty is subjective,” he tells me .

“It’s also scientific. It’s mathematical, even, since it’s about proportions and parallels. The human eye is drawn to symmetry .”

His eyebrows arch. “You never fail to surprise me , Ash .”

“Don’t be too impressed, I learned all that in a Teen Vogue article a while back .”

His smile widens. “I have to admit, I’m fascinated by your immunity to my glamour .”

I cock my head to one side, studying his face. His eyes are mesmerizing, with the bright silver flecking the deep gray and his thick black lashes. “Are you doing it right now ?”

“I always am. I haven’t learned how to turn it off,” he says. “It isn’t something most Fae would ever try, on the rare occasion they enter your world these days. Your immunity gives me hope .”

“Why?” I ask .

“It’s one thing to use my glamour when I must, for a mission,” he says, “but to have everyone I meet feel enamored by something that really has nothing to do with me ? It’s …”

When he pauses, seeming to struggle for the word, I think of the thing I feel the most. “ Lonely ?”

Relief flashes across his face, as if it’s easier to have the feeling named by someone else. “Yes. Lonely .”

“I know what you mean,” I tell him, and his eyes sharpen. Discomfort makes me suddenly restless—I don’t want to talk about that feeling, I don’t even like to acknowledge it—and the doors chime as they open. Saved by the bell .

Mave outpaces me on the walk across the small evidence room lobby to the desk. It gives me the chance to observe him. His black suit fits him well, tailored to his broad shoulders and narrow waist. His dark hair just brushes his collar, and he tucks one hand absently inside his pocket before he leans against the counter. He looks like a magazine model stepping out into the real world, and it would be no surprise if women swooned for him even without the magic .

Sometimes I wonder if the moments of attraction I feel for him are the glamour breaking through. I don’t like the idea. My ability to resist him makes me special, just a little bit. If breaking the glamour would make Mave happier, I want to help him .

But there are plenty of reasons to crush on Mave that don’t involve magic .

He smiles at the evidence tech as she makes her way up from the back, but she doesn’t see him at first. She’s looking down at a stack of papers. “Can I help you ?”

“Yes, please,” he says. His voice is as deep and sexy and soft as ever—the kind of voice that belongs in the bedroom—and she looks up. Her eyes widen .

He lays the fake badge and the paperwork on the counter. “I’m here to pick up some evidence from a cold case for a new round of testing .”

She stares into his face, and then reluctantly drags her gaze away, scanning the paperwork. She flips over a page and gazes at the second. “All right. I have to call to verify this authorization .”

“I’m in no rush,” he says, giving her a slow, easy smile .

Despite my immunity, that smile makes my heart rise in my chest. She gazes into his eyes, biting down on her lip. Her teeth crush her pink lower lip so hard that I think she’s about to draw blood .

He ducks his head, breaking contact, and she eases up on her lower lip. She turns to the phone and punches in a number. Cradling the headpiece between her shoulder and jaw, she turns to look back at Mave .

This is it. This is the make-or-break moment. Hopefully Luke hasn’t gotten distracted by BustyAsians.xxx and he’ll pick up the phone when he sees the outgoing call from the evidence lab .

Mave turns toward me, deliberately avoiding eye contact with the receptionist—who seemed to be on the verge of hurting herself in her lust—and winks. She can’t see it from here. That quick flutter of his black lashes against his cheekbone, a hidden gesture just for me, eases my racing heart .

“Just calling to verify this request to draw evidence, ah,” she has to finally glance down at the paper, “five-four-zero- zero - nine .”

She listens intently, twisting the phone cord around her fingers, and then nods. “ Thanks .”

When she hangs up the phone, Mave continues to study a chip in the countertop, which he rubs his thumb over. She gazes at him like she’s trying to catch his eye again. “I’ll be right back with your evidence .”

“Thank you,” he says, and even though he doesn’t look up, that voice alone is pretty enamoring .

Her breath catches in her chest, and she stares at him for a few long seconds before she gives up and goes into the back .

Mave shakes his head to himself, his lips tightening, as if he’s embarrassed by the effect he has on people .

I bump my shoulder into his, quickly, since there are probably cameras on us somewhere and it doesn’t seem very police-y for partners to bump each other. He glances at me in surprise, his lips parting above that chiseled jaw .

“We all have our gifts,” I say softly. “No need to feel bad about them .”

His eyes crinkle at the corners, although he doesn’t smile. “I guess. It’s just hard to figure out what to do with mine .”

Even though he means it for himself, his words make me feel a throb of guilt. Luke’s made it clear he thinks it’s stupid for me to waste my time with a real job when I could be helping people. Now I wonder what Mave thinks .

But I can’t ask him now .

The evidence tech comes back with a white plastic box with a lid and numbers lettered across the front. She sets it down on the table in front of us, then pushes the authorization papers back across .

Mave signs for them, and a few minutes later, we walk out of the evidence room and take the elevator back up. I’m nervous until we’ve climbed back in the car and driven away down the street, and then I sigh in relief .

Mave glances over at me, a smile playing across his lips. “Well? Was that fun ?”

“Not fun,” I say. “But interesting, to see how it works. And to see you in your element .”

Now I certainly understand why when Luke came to campus to find me, Mave stayed behind .

He shakes his head. “That was not my element .”

“What is , then ?”

But Mave goes silent on me. His lips curl up a little more, but he refuses to say anything else .

“It must be hard to be so charming.” I know it’s stupid to say it even before the words are out of my mouth. I’m just babbbling, because I miss the comfortable comradery we shared a few minutes before .

“You should know, Ash,” Mae says lightly. “You’re damnably irresistible yourself .”

I turn toward the window to hide my smile, which I can’t resist .

But I don’t think he misses his words’ impact .