“Why in the hell did you go back there to talk to her?” Okay, Raif was shouting now. And it wasn’t because of frustration. He was flat-out pissed. “I told you to stay the hell away from that Oracle!”
“Raif-”
“You were not instructed to visit that facility. You talked your way in under false pretenses. You attempted to interrogate a prisoner under magical restraint! What has gotten into you? Have you lost your mind?” Those last five words roared across my kitchen.
Throughout Raif’s tirade, Xander sat stoic, his fingers in a steeple resting against his pursed lips. I could practically see the gears grinding in his mind as he processed every tiny syllable passing between us.
“You violated a direct order, Darian. How should I deal with this?”
Oh no. Raif did not just treat me like some low-level greenhorn. “You don’t have to deal with this, Raif. I’m a freelance employee. I’m not a royal subject.”
Raif raised a brow to Xander, and I suddenly felt as if I’d just dug my own grave. “I’m afraid that’s not necessarily true,” Xander said in his rich velvet voice. “You agreed to work under retainer; therefore you are subject to reprimand. And if you’ll remember, Darian, you set out the terms of our agreement. You requested to work directly under Raif, taking instruction specifically and solely from him. If you disregarded his request to leave the Oracle be, then I’m afraid you did, in fact, violate a direct order from your superior.”
Fuck me, the asshole was right. I’d screwed myself over with my own stupid rules, making sure Xander couldn’t use me to play his adolescent games. I could have kicked myself.
“But since we’re on the subject…” God, Xander, leave-it-alone. “What is this all about? Why did you go back to see the Oracle?”
Shithead. Just had to stick his nose where it didn’t belong. I kept my mouth clamped shut. No way in hell was I going to supply him with any information.
“The day we took Delilah into custody,” Raif answered for me, “the Oracle tried to trick Darian into releasing her by saying she had information concerning Brakae’s whereabouts.”
Tyler squeezed my hand. Hard. He’d known what I was after, but his overbearing show of-ouch!-affection, let me know he obviously agreed with Raif and felt I should abandon my quest.
“I see,” said Xander, having nothing more to offer. “Darian, stop by my home tomorrow. We’ll discuss the terms of your reprimand.” He stood and stared down at Tyler with a contemptuous sneer. “I assume I can count on you to keep your eye on her tonight? If you need assistance, Jinn, I can send Dimitri over. I’d hate to see her slip through your fingers for another two days or longer.”
“She’s not yours to worry about, Xander.” Tyler’s fingers left my hand as he wrapped an arm protectively around me. “I know how to protect what’s mine.”
Xander’s cold smile betrayed the hateful venom in his glare. A muscle ticked in his cheek, and he cast a glance my way before dissolving into shadow and disappearing completely. I stood, shooting a glare of my own in Tyler’s direction before crossing the kitchen to Raif, who was about to follow his brother’s exit.
“Raif,” I said again, unable to form the necessary words to calm his anger. He took a step toward me, and I flinched, thinking he meant to strike me. But instead, he pulled me into a hard embrace, laid his cheek against my head, and like his brother, became one with the shadows.
I stood with my arms hanging at my sides for a stunned moment. The brotherly gesture from Raif had been no less shocking than a right hook to my face. Emotion swelled in my chest, rising to form a tight knot in my throat. Nothing short of an outright plea would have strengthened my resolve more.
I would not rest until I found Brakae.
A sigh from the couch reminded me that I wasn’t in my apartment alone. Annoyance replaced tenderness as Tyler’s proclamation that I was essentially his property echoed in my mind. I rounded on him, my hands clenched into fists. “Why didn’t you just lift your leg and piss on me? It would have had the same effect.”
“Where have you been?” Tyler said instead. I’d never heard the tone of his voice so hard; it was low and serious, nearly shaking with controlled emotion.
“I told you”-I looked at the floor, unable to meet his gaze-“I’ve been here the entire time.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. Though the emerald had without a doubt transported me somewhere, I’d never actually left my apartment.
“Bullshit.” He choked on the word. “I’ve been here more than once over the past two days. You weren’t here. I couldn’t feel you. It was almost like our bond had been broken or the distance between us was too far for me to sense you.” I looked up to find Tyler’s head resting in his hands. “Darian…I thought…I couldn’t sense our bond. It was like you didn’t exist.”
The annoyance melted right out of my body. While I’d felt as though I’d been gone only a matter of minutes, to the rest of them-Ty, Raif, Xander-I’d been gone without a trace for a couple of days. I thought about how I’d feel if I woke up one morning and Tyler had left without a single clue to his whereabouts. In fact, I knew from experience how it felt to be abandoned by someone you loved. I would be crazy with grief and worry if Ty disappeared. Hell, I’d probably slice up anything that walked too close until I found him. But despite that, I just couldn’t bring myself to tell him about the emerald. More than once the confession had been at the tip of my tongue. Something had made me swallow it back, however-a compulsion to keep this secret to myself and not divulge the information to anyone. Why couldn’t I have had this problem earlier today-well, two days ago-with Fallon?
“Ty, I’m so sorry.” I moved to the couch, where I stood before him, burying my fingers in the thick curls of his hair. “I had no idea.”
“Raif seemed pretty distraught over your disappearance.” Tyler’s tone became the same mixture of jealousy and suspicion he’d used days before. “Even more than Xander. I guess the sonofabitch can’t handle a couple of days away from you either.”
Christ, not this again. “Tyler, how many times do I have to tell you there’s nothing between Raif and me besides a deep respect and friendship?”
“Doesn’t feel like it to me.”
“You’re unhinged. Seriously.”
Tyler’s eyes flashed with emotion. I could see the concern, but just barely. Something else festered below the surface. His emotions were volatile, shifting without notice. I stroked his face, my own fear tickling at the edges of my senses. Call it intuition, or foreboding, but I had a feeling that these sudden flashes of jealous temper were only the beginning. “I don’t want him here,” he said in a low growl.
My hands shook from a healthy dose of anxiety. I kept my voice calm and even as I tried to soothe him. “That’s going to be tough to agree to when we work together, Ty. Take it easy. He’s. Just. A. Friend.”
Tyler shook his head, as if cleansing his brain of dust. “You’re right.” God, he sounded exhausted. “You’re right. This is stupid. It’s the bond; it just needs to settle. I’m still a little on edge. Darian, you seriously have no memory of where you’ve been?”
“No.” The lie escaped my lips so easily, without the bitter taste of remorse I thought I’d feel. “I thought I’d been here the whole time. I don’t remember anything about the last two days.”
That much, at least, was true. This wasn’t my first encounter with a deviance in time. When I’d been kidnapped by the creepy teenagers who’d fed themselves to the Enphigmalé, I’d counted the days with perfect clarity. Though to my perception, I’d been on the island for nine long days, when Raif came to the island, he told me only twelve hours had passed. And now, minutes had slipped through my fingers with the girl on the knoll while days flew by around me.