Magic Strikes(47)
mind with mine and crush it like lice, but telepathically I was a complete dud. I ducked into my
office, expecting a two-foot-tall stack of paperwork. My desk was clean. Pristine. Stack-less.
«Maxine? What happened to my files?»
«The knight-protector decided to clear your schedule.»
«Is that a good thing or a bad thing?»
«The Order appreciates your services. Particularly when it comes to your late-night work.»
The light dawned. Ted was giving me unofficial approval to screw with the Midnight Games.
There would be no investigation. Ted already knew as much about the Games as could be humanly
known. He simply lacked the means or an excuse to do anything about them. Now I presented him
with a golden opportunity. He was throwing me at the Games like a stick into a wheel. I was
capable and completely expendable. Any public problems I caused would be excused by my half-
assed status. I wasn't a knight. I wasn't properly trained. The Order would disavow any knowledge
of my activities, paint me as an overeager incompetent, and toss me out on my behind.
Andrea manifested in my doorway, walked in, and closed the door. «Raphael called. Apparently
an order just went down the chain of command. Any member of the Pack who attacks you is going
to have a long, unpleasant meeting with Curran.»
I raised my pen in a mock salute. «Yippee. I had no idea I was a fragile flower in need of His
Majesty's protection.»
«Have you been attacked?»
«Yep. I was good and didn't kill anybody.»
Andrea sat down in my client chair. «What's going on?»
I got up and activated the ward. Dim orange glyphs ignited in the floor, intertwining in twisted
patterns. A wall of orange surged up to seal the door. It was the spell my guardian had used to
secure the room. People told knight-diviners secret things, the kinds of things a confessor or
psychiatrist might hear. Greg's defensive ward was soundproof, sight-proof and magic-proof. Not
even Maxine's telepathy could penetrate it. It had taken me a month of painstakingly retracing the
glyphs on the floor to figure out how he had done it.
I unlocked my top drawer, pulled out the file, and put it on the desk. «Do the hand.»
Andrea raised her hand. «I will not disclose the information I am about to receive, unless
authorized by the person who surrenders this information to my discretion. I will not use this
information for personal gain even under duress, coercion, or to save myself or others from
imminent physical harm. I do so swear by my honor as a knight of the Order.»
It was a hell of an oath. More people flunked out of the Academy on oath breaking than any
other test of will. When you've been beaten, drowned, whipped, and then branded with a hot iron,
most people will say anything just to make the torture stop. There was a narrow band of pale skin
on my back, the reminder of where a hot iron had kissed me. It proved I'd passed. I knew Andrea
had an identical scar. We both would remember the secrets we had to keep for our test oaths to the
end of our days and never reveal them. Not even through a stray thought.
I handed her the file. She read through the pages and looked at me. I filled in the holes, including
Curran's visit.
Andrea blinked a couple of times. «Shit. Fuck shit.»
« ' Shit fuck' would also have been accepted.»
«The head of Pack's security has gone rogue, Derek is near death, and you're mated to the Beast
Lord.»
«Jim hasn't gone rogue; he's just not following orders at the moment.»
«That's what going rogue is!»
Okay, I had to give her that one. «And for the record, I'm not mated to Curran.»
Andrea shook her head. «What planet are you from? He's slipping into your apartment to tuck
your blanket in at night. That's the protective urge at work. He thinks you're mated.»
«He can think whatever he wants. That doesn't make it true.»
Andrea's eyes widened. «I just realized: he's treating you like a shapeshifter alpha. You're
playing by the rules of not-quite-human courtship here. Has he asked you to make him a dinner yet?
Dinner is a big deal.»
«No, he hasn't.» Hell would freeze over before I cooked for Curran. «Look, I'm not a
shapeshifter and he's dated humans before.»
«That's just it.» Andrea tapped her nails on the table. «A direct come-on like that is a challenge.
That's how an alpha male would approach an alpha female. They are all about power struggles and
the hunt, and they don't do subtle well. I realize this sounds twisted, but it's a backhanded
compliment on his part.»
«He can take his compliment and shove it where the sun don't shine.»