Five bounty hunters, people I worked with, stared as the door closed behind me. I wished Fin didn’t look quite so...different right now.
Hawk appeared out of nowhere
right in our path, not three steps inside. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Good morning to you too, we’re here to see the chief.”
He crossed his big beefy biceps. “Chief’s busy.”
I checked my non-existent watch and gave him my I’m-crazy-but-in-a-good-way smile. “No problem. We can wait.”
“Zoey!” The chief’s voice echoed through the warehouse.
Hawk tensed in front of us and I skirted him with a clap on his shoulder. “Looks like he’s free now. You have a wonderful day.”
Taunting him had always been more fun than it should have been.
I led Fin back to the chief’s office and closed the door behind me.
The chief stood on the other side of his desk glowering at both of us. “What are you doing here, Zoey? And what’s with the Fae?”
Fin took up a position behind the battered leather chair I’d grown up in. It always let out a tiny squeak as I slid into its embrace.
I ignored the Chief’s question and pushed on with my own agenda. “I want to know if you have any information about the Black Mage.”
The chief’s eyes narrowed. “Of course, I don’t. Why would you think I’d keep it from you if I did?”
“You have been warning me off chasing the man down for years.” I said. “Every chance you get to lock my investigation down, you do.”
He slapped his big meaty hand on the desk. “Because I’m trying to keep you from ending up like your parents.”
We all froze. He’d said the wrong thing, and now he couldn’t take it back.
“Fin,” I said sweetly, not looking at him. I glared into the hard eyes of the chief. “Can you do that thing you do that I hate, but will get us answers?”
His fingers closed over my shoulders, warm and steady. “I seem to do many things you dislike. Can you be more specific?”
I turned to glare up at him. If I said it out loud the chief might use some preventative measure. I cocked my head toward the chief and tapped my temple. “How are you not understanding what I want you to do here?”
“I am perfectly aware of what you want me to do. I’m giving you a chance to take back your request as I believe you will regret burning this particular bridge.”
The chief shoved his chair back and stood, fists pressed into the wood, his weight braced forward. “Zoey, you are pushing the far edges of my patience. If you don’t walk out of this office and stay away until I call you, I’ll see to it you never hunt again. Do you want to lose your license over this?”
Something warm and slippery wormed its way into my belly, sinking deep where his sharp words grazed. I turned back to look at him. The man who had raised me after my parent’s death.
This was the man I’d spent years trying to impress. The man I wanted to live up to. In this moment, he grew smaller. He knew something and he chose not to share it with me. As if I were still that impulsive teenager looking for something to tear and break and bend to vent her anger.
I sat down in the chair opposite the chief and twisted around to address the Fae in the room.
“Fin, I said what I said, and I’m not changing my mind. Get the information we need so we can be on our way.”
He gave my shoulders a pat and then came around to sit in the chair next to mine. The profile of his face caught my attention. He furrowed his brow, his lips drawn in.
“Are you doing it?” I whispered. “Nothing seems to be happening.”
The chief levelled his I’m-more-disappointed-than-angry stare at me. “Nothing is going to happen. Fae magic can’t touch me.”
Fin straightened beside me and gripped the chair arm so hard his knuckles whitened.