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B lackmoon? Blackmoon ?

Of all the shitty excuses ever given at all the worst times, this was what Maxwell chose now to ruin the perfection of what had been such a long time coming?

With a growl of her own, Rebecca pushed herself up to sit on the bed, her loose hair plastered to her face and neck, and hissed, “If you don’t want this, Hannigan, all you have to do is—”

A harsh, deafening knock at the door made her freeze.

Maxwell whirled in that direction.

“Rebecca! Guess who? It’s me …”

Oh fucking hell.

She scrambled off the bed and to her feet before she even knew what she was doing and was at Maxwell’s side the next second.

“You could smell him coming?” she whispered.

His flashing silver eyes were glued to the motel-room door. “I have grown particularly familiar with his stench.”

Well, that made a lot more sense, no matter how horrendous Rowan Blackmoon’s timing.

Another knock on the door, followed by Rowan’s voice. “I know you’re in there! And we’ve got a lot to go over before we make this happen, so open up. Let me in.”

Fury and murderous intent surged out of Maxwell as he stormed toward the door, ready for blood. And with good reason.

Rebecca slipped in front of him and stopped him with a hand on his bare chest. If he’d really wanted, he could have easily blown past her.

The gentle pressure and another electrifying jolt bursting between them was apparently enough to capture his attention again. The shifter lowered his gaze from the door, glanced at her hand on his chest, then met her gaze again.

The rest of the world seemed on the verge of fading away again. They could pick up right where they’d left off. They could ignore the asshole elf on the other side of that door and everything else that might have mattered once.

The option was there, sizzling between them. Both of them still flushed and breathing heavily as they leaned in toward each other…

“Rebecca!” Rowan pounded on the door with both fists. “Come on, now. People are starting to stare out here, Kilda’ari , and I know it’s not the getup. I made sure to change before stopping by.”

That did it.

Rebecca hauled herself away from Maxwell and seethed at the door. “I told him not to fucking call me that.”

“What does it mean?” Maxwell rumbled.

“When it’s used correctly ?” she snarled. “It’s a term of endearment.”

“If he thinks…” Maxwell stormed toward the door again, fueled by a possessive fury and a need to leave Rowan bleeding out in pieces on the motel-room floor.

But Rebecca slipped in front of him again. “Don’t. I’ll handle it.”

Then she was at the door instead, wrenching it open with a violent jerk to find Rowan right there, grinning at her.

Only when he looked her up and down and cocked his head did she realize she stood in the doorway in her jeans and bra and nothing else.

Probably would have been better to put something else on first, but here they were.

Then Rowan peered past her into the semi-dark room, first taking in the sight of Maxwell, also shirtless, then the state of the room beyond.

The broken picture frames that had fallen off the walls. The furniture shoved haphazardly from their places. The lamp from the bedside table lying broken and useless and halfway shoved under the bed.

“Well, this is interesting,” he crooned. “I’d definitely call this a bad time to interrupt, but we’re running short on that now. Time, I mean. So…”

Rebecca couldn’t think of anything to say. She was so infuriated by his shitty timing and the fact that he still treated everything like a fucking game.

She peered outside, up and down the ground-floor row of motel rooms, and then across the parking lot, as if a single glance from the doorway would help her confirm they weren’t already surrounded by even more enemies.

“Don’t worry,” Rowan cooed. “I left the Hakalini’ir behind this time. Bringing them by just to say hello would certainly be awkward to try to explain, don’t you think?”

Blue Hells.

She snatched a fistful of his shirt and hauled him into the room before slamming the door shut behind him.

Rowan’s laughter set her nerves on edge. She gritted her teeth and held her anger in check as he sauntered about the room, finding hilarity in everything.

“Not that I’m complaining, exactly,” he said. “But you gotta admit it’s pretty cozy in here now, just the three of us.”

He stopped when he saw the empty pizza box off to the side and chuckled. “You even ate without me. Made yourselves real comfy in this quaint little getaway here. How long were you planning on staying?”

“As long as necessary,” Rebecca hissed, glaring at him.

“Hmm. Good thing I found you when I did, then. I’ve made all the preparations, so we’re ready to rock.”

“Great.” She gestured toward the door. “Come back in the morning, and we’ll start then.”

Rowan stepped over what she thought was Maxwell’s torn shirt, staring at it with a smirk before he turned back toward her. “No, you misunderstand me. Now that I’m here, I’m not going anywhere without you. If we separate, that only gives everyone else a chance to step in and divert us from our cause. I’m sticking on you like a blue priestess on hinwi. ”

Maxwell took a massive, lunging stride toward the Blackmoon Elf and snarled, “Not in this room.”

“Are you kidding me?” Rowan barked out a laugh. “Look at this place. We could fit another three or four people in here at least. Assuming everybody else slept on the floor. Not the dirtiest motel-room carpeting I’ve ever seen…”

“Then you won’t have a problem getting your own room,” Rebecca spat.

“Or you may never leave this one,” Maxwell warned.

Rowan merely laughed again, wagging a finger back and forth between them. “You two really are cute, you know that? Might even be starting to grow on me. You know what? That’s my bad. I left too much room for interpretation. None of us are staying here.”

Then he raised his eyebrows at Rebecca and spread his arms. “When I said everything’s ready, I should’ve added that it means we have to leave now , or we’ll miss our window.”

Rebecca groaned. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Nope.”

She and Maxwell exchanged a knowing, aggravated look before she asked, “Where?”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that,” Rowan replied, casually moseying around the room again, as if inspecting an art gallery. “It’s still in Illinois, if you’re worried about leaving the state, for whatever reason. Not too far of a drive.”

“Wanna be more specific?”

“Not really. We need to move. I made a sort of…appointment, if you will. Punctuality’s pretty key.”

Really?

After all his posturing about this being a step-by-step process and needing to make the necessary preparations beforehand, he came to them first with an appointment somewhere else not too far from Chicago?

With another sweeping glance around the room, Rowan took a deep breath and clapped his hands together. “Okay! Well, pack your things. We’d better get moving.”

As he meandered back toward the door, Rebecca leaned toward Maxwell and murmured, “I know it’s not ideal, but at this point, we just kinda have to follow his lead on this.”

“Far from ideal,” he grumbled, never letting his flashing silver gaze stray from Rowan. “Nor do I relish the idea of spending any length of time in a car with him, no matter where we’re going. It significantly increases the chances of me driving all of us off a bridge. On purpose.”

“Hey!” Rowan spun back toward them and spread his arms. “I’d be happy to fold all three of us, if sharing a vehicle is too much bother. It’d move up our arrival time by quite a bit—”

“No!” Rebecca snapped. “Absolutely not. We’ll drive.”

His dangerously flashing grin returned, hazel eyes almost sparking in the semi-darkness. “Well, yeehaw. I love a good road trip.”

“Just…go wait outside.”

“So you two can try to give me the slip? Or, better yet, finish whatever kinda kinky role-playing you started in—”

“Outside!” she barked.

“Okay, okay.” He lifted his hands in mock surrender, bunching his shoulders toward his ears as he headed back toward the door. “Just don’t take too long. And try not to break anything else, huh?”

She didn’t stop glaring at him until the door shut again with Rowan on the other side of it.

Then it felt like she could breathe again without worrying how he might try to take advantage of it.

“Fold?” Maxwell asked.

“The best way for us to end up literally anywhere else but where he says we’re going,” Rebecca explained, then headed toward the duffel bag for another shirt. “If you think you’re pissed now , traveling that way will redefine everything you thought you knew about it. Trust me.”

“I do.” Maxwell watched her rummage through the bag and caught the new shirt she tossed toward him, seemingly without moving a muscle. “But I do not like it.”

No shit.

“I’d think something was wrong with you if you did.” Rebecca tugged on a plain gray t-shirt and pulled her hair hastily out from beneath the back collar.

It wasn’t meant as a joke. When she looked up at the shifter again while he fastened the buttons of a brand-new shirt, he remained just as unamused as she felt.

“Come on,” she added, rolling her eyes. “We better go.”

They quickly pulled themselves back together, gathered what little they had to take with them, and headed for the door.

Maxwell stopped her before she opened it. “You should be aware, I will not be held liable for what may happen to the elf should he turn against us again. Nor will I regret any of it.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s well aware of that. But if I’m wrong, I won’t stop you.”

That seemed to please the shifter, as much as anything could right now, before he settled a hand on the small of her back with another flaring jolt of tingling energy bursting between them. Then he opened the door for her instead.

He also stepped out first, checking the parking lot and the other closed doors on the motel’s ground floor to be sure no other dangers waited for his Roth-Da’al on the other side.

Rebecca let him have that moment to settle back into his usual role he still took with the utmost seriousness. It gave her time to really consider what they were about to do.

She couldn’t believe they’d be spending any length of time driving all together in a car across the state, especially after everything that had happened in the last few days alone. They’d already had their fair share of it when Rowan had played them all, pretending to be a part of Shade.

She never would have expected them to be back here again.

Rowan had already picked out the Honda, waiting for them with a lunatic’s grin as they approached. “So. Anybody bring any snacks?”

Rebecca didn’t slow or swerve out of the way but stormed right up to him until she was inches from his face. “I don’t care who you brought with you to this world or what your higher aims are. If you pull anything that even hints at screwing me over or our chances of finding the prophecy, I won’t think twice about whatever happens to you.”

Then she nodded toward Maxwell. “And neither will he.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He dismissed it all with a flippant wave. “You’ll sic your dog on the Blackmoon Scion. Awesome. Now that we’ve got all our threats and promises of violence out of the way, can we get going? We’re wasting time.”

Of course this was no big deal to him. Nothing truly at stake. Only Rowan could act this way about something so important.

But at least she’d just said it all out loud and got it off her chest.

If he tried anything after that, the responsibility was on him. And all the blame.

When Rebecca slid into the front passenger seat, Maxwell was already behind the wheel, revving the engine and nearly peeling out of the parking lot before Rowan had even closed his own door in the back seat.

Then they were off, chasing after this prophecy with the potential to change everything for her. For everyone, really.

And Rebecca was deeply aware of the fact that while he could give reassurances and promises until he was red in the face, Rowan Blackmoon’s word meant something completely different than when anyone else gave their own.

After everything he’d done, at this point, Rebecca no longer had any idea what his word was even worth.

But they were about to find out.