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Adam’s triumphant grin did nothing to help the nerves go away. He worked his jaw, like he wanted to say something smart, but remained silent.
“I won’t let you,” Gabe said, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Gabe’s right,” Luke added with a sharp nod of his head. “I don’t want to risk you getting hurt.”
And just like that, I was shut down.
Adam started another round of argument as I sat down and rubbed my temples. We were getting nowhere. The goddess was out there, still hunting for me. I couldn’t go to her and she couldn’t come to me. How many people were going to die before she got what she wanted?
Chapter Twenty-Two
I ate dinner that night with Raquel and the three other nineteen-year-olds she trained with every day. Despite the delicious fillet mignon paired with perfectly whipped potatoes and bright green asparagus, my attention wandered over the room. Adam was sitting two tables away with Ashley, Bree, and Dominic. He kept making eye contact with me and raising his eyebrows. I wasn’t sure if he was hitting on me or trying to tell me something. I hoped it was the latter.
The meeting with Luke had produced zero results. I’d been banned from moving forward with Adam’s plan, and the three of them had basically reached an impasse. The patrols would continue to search for the goddess, and I would stay in the manor like a good little girl. Not that I wanted to put my life in jeopardy, but it just didn’t seem fair to everyone else in harm’s way that I was here, safe and sound, where Margaret Thatcher couldn’t reach me.
Grinding my teeth in frustration, I said goodnight to Raquel’s friends and headed toward the lobby. There were some leather chairs tucked in a corner, and I planned on hiding there until I stopped feeling so antisocial. Maybe with a good book and a little alone time, my head would stop buzzing with restless anger.
“Lizzy!”
Gabe’s voice reached me before I could sit in one of the brown leather chairs. I turned to see him walking toward me, a bandage peeking out from under his clean t-shirt at the neck. Even though he’d been attacked just hours earlier, he was nearly back to normal; which meant he looked as gorgeous as ever, with the shirt that clung a little too tight to his trim torso and stretched to cover his muscular arms. Even his customary frown sent a thrill through me.
“What do you need?” I bit my bottom lip until it stung, in the effort to distract myself. It didn’t work.
“Listen, I’m sorry about earlier. We’re going to find a way to kill that demon without putting you in harm’s way. I promise.”
I looked at him through my lashes. It was starting to become clear to me why Gabe acted the way he did around me. He was a protector. He couldn’t help himself. That’s why he made such a great warrior.
“Lizzy, I can’t let you get hurt,” Gabe said, stepping closer. “You’re my partner, now. We’re in this together. Just remember that.”
I closed the gap between us and put my hands on his shoulders. They tensed under my touch as I reached up on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his cheek. Maybe it didn’t make up for the fact that he was putting his life on the line for me, but it felt good to touch him and show him I appreciated his help.
His cheek was surprisingly soft underneath my lips. I heard him swallow and work his jaw while I pulled away. A dark flush filled his cheeks. For once, I wasn’t nervous around him.
“Goodnight, Gabe.”
He blinked a few times and then nodded his head. I sat down in the leather chair and watched him ascend the stairs, his eyes firmly planted to the ground in front of him.
He was only gone for a minute when Adam came strutting through the lobby, his eyes zooming straight in on mine. My stomach sank when I saw Ashley at his side. His hand was on her backside, sinking lower and lower. She whispered something into his ear which I was glad I couldn’t hear from my chair.
They stopped by the chair opposite me.
“Lizzy, can we talk?” Adam asked.
Ashley pursed her lips and stared at me like I was a worm on the sidewalk. Reluctantly, I nodded. It wasn’t like I could run and hide. They had me cornered.
“So, about the meeting we had earlier today…” he raised his eyebrow, as if hoping I would pick up what he was throwing down. “You know… the one about bait?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Yes…”
“I think we should go ahead with the plan.” He plopped himself in the empty leather chair and draped his arm across the back.
“But Luke…”
“Luke’s too cautious. So is Gabe. They’re going to get more people killed if we don’t take action soon.”
Ashley looked back and forth between us, her lower lip pushing out into the perfect pout. “Tell me you’re not working with her. I thought we were going to have nothing to do with her.”
Adam shrugged. “If we want to get rid of that deceiver demon, Lizzy’s going to play an integral part of the plan.”
