He raised a brow. “And…your sadness isn’t enjoyable to me.”
Her brief beam of approbation turned into a glare, which he confronted without any obvious remorse. There was no good way to determine whether he harbored any real concern of his own for the girls, but she supposed that didn’t matter right now either.
Sighing silently, she removed her hand from his arm and ignored his small grunt of protest. When his own hand came to rest on her lower back, though, she didn’t shake it off.
“Thank you for your kind concern.” Lips twitching in amusement, Riley raised a brow at Max. “But we’ll be fine, and we need to warn anyone still outdoors to find secure shelter. Otherwise, our Community Helper badges mean nothing.”
At the thought of leaving them behind, every instinct within Edie revolted. Surely there had to besomeargument that would convince the girls—
“Very well.” Max looked down at Edie. “I know their decision distresses you, ma puce. But we can’t force them to find shelter, and we need to get back on the road. The sooner we alert the authorities, the soonereveryonewill be safe.”
“Riley…” She drew a hitching breath and tried not to picture the entire troop of Girl Explorers sprawled lifeless and bloody across a shadow-soaked forest. “Please.”
“Don’t worry, Edie. We really will be fine. I promise you.” Riley stepped forward, and her hug was quick but warm.“Besides, we all have our hiking and tracking badges. We’ll catch up with you soon enough.”
“We have acar,” Edie said slowly. “So…”
How exactly were the girls supposed to catch up withthat?
Riley and the rest of her troop simply smiled, and before Edie could protest further, they headed into the woods. As soon as they vanished behind the trees, Max’s hand on Edie’s back urged her toward the SUV.
When he opened the door for her, Edie sighed and boosted herself into the passenger seat. As she situated herself comfortably, he lingered, with one hand braced on the SUV’s frame, one hand on the door itself. He was forcing her to stay within the vehicle, an outside observer might conclude. Eliminating her means of escape, like the canny predator he was.
But Edie knew better. Although he was probably tempted to handcuff her to his SUV after her impromptu roadside dash, this wasn’t about keeping her inside. This was about making sure any and all threats to her well-being remained safelyoutside.
Unable to resist, she planted a fond kiss on his nose before buckling up. “Thank you for offering to help the girls.”
“You were going to volunteer my assistance anyway. I just saved you the trouble.” Her door closed with a quietthunk. Then, before she could even blink, he’d sprinted around the hood, boosted himself into the driver’s seat, closed his own door, and hit the lock button. “Before we get going, we need to consider what we just heard. If Riley’s unnamed witch is correct and the door through Wall Four is closed, we may not be able to leave the Zone.”
“And we’ve now identified the culprits responsible for the breach. Demons.” She hesitated. “Assuming we can trust what we were told.”
Max’s lips thinned. “We don’t know anything about this very informative witch. Including whether she or Riley might have an agenda different from ours.”
“Yeah.” She slumped in her seat. “I hate that we can’t take anything at face value. You’re right, though. We don’t know either of them. They could have some kind of vendetta against demons.”
His forefinger tapped against the steering wheel. “Or Supernaturals in general.”
“If we manage to get past Wall Four and alert the authorities, whoever caused the breach will be in deep, deep shit. Like, Mariana Trench deep.” Her lip stung as she bit it slightly too hard. “I don’t want to point the finger at demons if they might not be at fault.”
“There would be government payback.” He swept an alert glance around their surroundings before speaking again. “Probably vigilante violence against demons by common humans too. Anti-Supernatural bigots have been looking for an excuse for over two decades.”
If something she told the government led to that kind of indiscriminate violence, she wasn’t certain she could live with herself. “We could simply fail to mention the possibility of demon involvement. Let officials discover it for themselves.”
“That might not be possible.” His eyes met hers, blue and solemn. “The perpetrators have had ample time to clean up any tangible evidence at the breach site. Scent evidence may be the sole remaining indicator of demonic involvement. And while there’s still no good way to erase an olfactory signature, despite the efforts of various Supernatural species, it fades rapidly.”
Fuck. “There might not be any traces left by the time authorities arrive.”
“Correct.” He exhaled slowly. “Even if the human government coordinates with SERC immediately and recruits the urgent assistance of an extremely high-level vampire to gather olfactory clues. We’re the only ones who can determine a species’ designation from scents too faint for even werewolves to detect.”
“And the government may not contact SERC right away.” Bowing her head, she dug her fingertips into her temples. “Either because of bureaucratic delays or simple mistrust of their ostensible allies.”
“Correct again.” His strong fingers massaged the taut muscles of her neck. “I apologize, Edie. I didn’t consider scent evidence when we discussed inspecting the site this morning.”
Her poor brain was spinning. “You’re a high-level vampire. Right?”
He simply looked at her.
“Of course you are. Show-off.” She dismissed that question with a wave of her hand. “So you can gather that kind of evidence?”
