Before I can ask him any more questions, the woman in the pencil skirt moves to the head of the table closest to me, where Nick is standing. He gives her a nod and moves to take an empty seat near the other end of the table. “Well,” the woman says, eyeing first me, then the random group of underworlders that have been assembled, “this is interesting.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Nick says, smirking.
The woman’s eyes circle the table again. “So who would like to tell me what’s going on?”
“I say we let the pretty human explain,” Ren chirps.
“Sounds good to me,” Nick agrees. “She seems to be both the victim and the witness here.”
“What happened?” Oliver asks. His question is directed at me and oozing with concern.
I still can’t believe he’s here. He’s an underworlder. The quiet geeky guy that had offered to walk me home when I looked sick is part of the world I’ve always been terrified of. I just can’t believe it. I can’t form any words to answer his question.
“You weren’t at the library or on the bus yesterday,” he says. “After you looked so ill, when you didn’t show up the next day, I was worried about you.”
He’s so sweet. My face melts into a smile, and I finally find my voice. “Well, I missed an entire day because stupid Parker kidnapped me, compelled me to sleep for a whole day—for which I’m probably fired from my job, thank you very much.” I scowl at Parker, who sighs in return and mouths Sorry. “Then, his asshole master decided I’d make a good tool and kept me against my will until Nick rescued me. Oh, and for some reason, Henry thinks he can claim me as his mate.”
Director West’s eyes widen, and Nick grins. “See? Told you you’d want to hear this,” he says to her. “Only it gets better. The little spitfire impaled him with a barstool leg when he attempted to turn her against her will.”
“She is human, and she knows of the underworld,” Henry sputters when Director West frowns. “It is my right to deal with her as I see fit.”
“But claim a woman to be your mate against her will? Change her?” Wulf growls a low, rumbly growl that makes me shiver. “It’s despicable.”
This comment seems to offend Henry on some deep level, because he shoots to his feet and starts yelling at Wulf. Wulf, of course, does the same, unleashing the fullness of his werewolf temper. Terrance and Parker join in the chaos, and suddenly I can’t make out any words among all the shouting.
“ENOUGH!” Director West shouts. She doesn’t have Nick’s badassery, but the command still has punch. Everyone returns to their seats and closes their mouths. Director West’s eyes return to me. “It seems you are the center of the squabble, so why don’t you start by telling us your side of things, miss…?”
“Nora Jacobs.” I shoot a nasty glare at Henry and Parker, then shrug. “What’s there to say? I got abducted at knifepoint by my psycho neighbor last night, and rather than let him assault me like he was planning to do, I passed him off to someone I knew could handle him.”
“Cecile,” Parker clarifies when Director West frowns.
“Is that the succubus?” I ask. Parker nods. “Okay, yeah. I handed him over to Cecile. Trust me, the guy deserved whatever she did to him, and then some.”
Director West nods. “Okay. And then what happened?”
I continue on explaining how handing my neighbor over to a succubus tipped Parker off that I knew about his world. Once I finish with the entire story—where Nick helpfully reminds her again about the improv wooden stake—all eyes turn to Henry. He sits up straight, defiant and prideful as ever.
“Henry?” Director West demands.
“She is human, Madison.”
“Gifted.”
“Still human.”
Director West pinches up her face as if Henry’s argument tastes sour, and looks at Parker. “You compelled her and brought her to Henry. Why?”
Parker, unlike Henry, doesn’t look defiant. He looks…resigned. “I didn’t know she was gifted. She was human, she knew about our world, she knew that I was a vampire, and she was associated with my main suspect.”
“Are you a cop, too, then?” I ask. “How come you didn’t bring me here instead of taking me to Henry?”
Parker shakes his head. “I don’t work for the Agency.”
“Though we’ve tried to recruit him many times,” Director West says with a sigh.
Parker shrugs helplessly to the director—who is actually smiling for once—like they’re buddies sharing a tired joke. “I’m Henry’s chief enforcer,” Parker explains to me. “Head of security for the clan.”
Okay. I can see that.
“I’ve been trying to find Nadine all week. Xavier, your neighbor, was my main suspect. I was undercover last night. I thought Xavier was going to try to take another underworlder, but instead he picked up you.”
I shiver. Xavier is a creep above creeps. What the hell is he doing that he’s involved with underworlders disappearing? I quickly shake off the thought. Xavier is a psycho pervert, but he’s also a moron. He can’t possibly know that the underworld exists. If he did, he would definitely do something stupid and get himself killed.
As I digest this news and mentally argue the possibilities, Parker turns his attention back to Director West. “It was my job to be suspicious of Xavier and all of his associates. While Nora clearly wasn’t friendly with Xavier, she was out with him. I didn’t know he’d forced her to come, and she obviously knew of the underworld. I hadn’t been sure Xavier knew what he was dealing with, but Nora was different. She knew about it. It would have been irresponsible of me not to look into it further.”
As much as it grinds, I can see his point. I hate that his argument makes sense. “But why bring me to Henry?”
He shrugs. “Clan rules.”
When he says that, it rings familiar. I remember hearing that in his thoughts last night. He’d been conflicted about bringing me to his master but felt he had no choice. It was the rules.
“Henry has special gifts with his compulsion. If we find a human who knows about us or we accidentally expose ourselves to them, we are to bring them to him and let him decide how to proceed. I didn’t know you had any gifts. And though I didn’t believe it, there was a chance you were involved in Nadine’s kidnapping. I’m sorry, Nora.”
Damn him for sounding sincere. He’s telling the truth, and it makes sense. From his perspective, I can sort of believe he did the right thing. Director West must feel the same as me, because she smiles affectionately at him again and then raises an eyebrow at Henry. “When you looked into her memories, did you find evidence that she was involved in Nadine’s disappearance?”
Henry shakes his head. “No. She was merely an innocent victim of her neighbor.”
“And do you consider her a threat to the underworld? Do you feel she will expose us to humans?”
Henry’s headshake becomes emphatic, and his voice turns prideful. “No. She would never try to harm us that way. Nora is much smarter than that.”
Director West levels Henry with a heated glare. “And after discovering that this woman was no ordinary human, that she has gifts of her own, and was not a danger to the underworld, you still felt it necessary to keep her hostage? You forced her to use her gifts to your own benefit, you compelled her to do your bidding, and you attempted to turn her without her permission?”
It warms my heart that the woman is pissed on my behalf. It’s the first sign of her opinion where I’m concerned. I’m glad it seems to be in my favor. Henry, on the other hand, is pissed. I don’t think the master vampire is used to having his authority questioned. “I did what I felt was necessary,” he growls. “Nora’s is a unique situation. I had her best interests at heart.”
Madison turns her angry glare on Parker. “And you? Do you feel your sire was acting in Nora’s best interest? Did you have no problems with what was going on?”
Parker is startled to be addressed so directly like this. His eyes bounce back and forth between Madison and Henry, then finally turn my direction. It’s clear he doesn’t want to answer, but the director is waiting. Finally, his shoulders slump, and he says, “I was conflicted. For the first time in my life, I did not agree with Henry’s choices.”