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Yeah, right. I gave him the look he deserved. He promised to shield me from Dylan, not bring me into things when he didn’t warn me Dylan was there. I was about to remind him of that except I did a double take when I saw the signs of sleep deprivation.
And he was down on the tank, a mistake Elijah never made.
“I feel like I should pick a fight with him so you’d have an easy way to feed,” I hedged, rubbing the puppy’s back so he settled.
Elijah didn’t deflect, nodding that he knew I was chastising him. “There is a particularly rough fight about to start soon that I plan to feed on and then sleep hard. If we can handle this, so I’m asking you to be gentle with me right now.”
“Okay, but you have to hold the puppy because it will amuse me,” I teased. I chuckled when Elijah gave me a look that it wasn’t happening. I went to push but then winced. “Wow, my head was full of puppy, and I forgot I don’t have the stuff with me.” I passed him off to Owen. “Two seconds.” I went for the portal and activated it.
“Stay,” Phillip growled.
It took me a moment to realize he was talking to Dylan.
Wow. Things had really taken a turn there.
I grabbed what I needed and then at the last second found a dirty sweater dress that was in the hamper. I figured that might be good for Mudbug to have so he didn’t forget me.
When I came back through the portal, I heard a soft yowl cry and was instantly by Mudbug.
“You are so fucking adorable,” Owen chuckled.
“He knows it,” I cooed as I picked up the puppy.
“He meantyou,” Elijah drawled.
Oh.
I shrugged it off and handed Owen the sweater dress. “It’s dirty, but I thought—puppies are supposed to have scents of the people they love, right?”
“Yeah, especially since clearly you’re hisfavorite,” Owen drawled, nodding to how the puppy couldn’t get enough of me.
I stuck my tongue out at him. “He has good taste.” I danced over to Elijah and handed him the disk drive. “When I finished kicking out the spies on the vampire council and getting all of the information back—which took a lot longer than they assumed it would, so please remind them that they’re stupid—I decided to be smart.”
“You checked what they had on us,” Stevens surmised. “And clearly found something.”
“Bingo,” I sang, tapping Mudbug’s nose. “They have information. Too much. They have drawings of headquarters and sketches of high-ranking agents.”
“There was a spy before the cleanup.” He wasn’t the only one who went tense when I clucked my tongue. “Now?”
“I don’t know. I think it’s stupid to assume it was before. You were looking for traitors and selfish people. Would someone loyal to the French government register as a traitor? Or selfish? No, they would think they were loyal and brave.” I nodded to the disk drive as I kept dancing. “The name and all the information of the operative is on there.”
“You think we should keep them in play,” Dylan said.
“Yes, it’s my lying, deceptive nature without morals after all,” I purred.
“Don’t poke the bear,” Elijah grumbled, snorting at his own pun.
Oh boy. He really needed sleep if he was making dad joke-type puns and slipped in what he said. I wasn’t the only demon there who gave him a look like we couldn’t believe he’d done that.
“I was thinking we might be able to have some operatives shadow since they might know too many ISLE agents,” I told Elijah, nodding when he did a double take. Yeah, not demons… Germany.
“Smart. Yeah, I’ll think on it and see what the others think.” He scrubbed his hand over his face. “Did you get the information back?”
“Okay, I’m not going to crack you for asking when you’re this tired, but now you have to hold the puppy. I want that as your apology.” I held out Mudbug to him, making it clear that I wasn’t kidding.
I mentally pumped my fist when Elijah sighed and caved.
“You are a handsome little gent,” Elijah praised Mudbug. “Give your mom a lot of love and help her settle her heart, okay?” He brought the pup up to his face and gave a firm nod. “Good man. I’ll bring toys. Do your job well.”
