her breathing smoothed out. She rubbed the base of her neck as if something had stung her. Why would being in Mercy’s proximity give Promise a raging headache? That was three for three times—so it wasn’t a coincidence, and it had nothing to do with the car accident the day before. At least he didn’t need to carry that guilt. For now.
Was it because Mercy was a Fae? Did Promise, as an Enhanced human female, have some sort of allergy to the Fae? Was that even possible? Damn it. Where could Ivar find another fairy to test his hypothesis? They weren’t just hanging around, and most of them didn’t like the Seven. Mercy was definitely an exception, and frankly, he wasn’t sure she liked him very much.
The back door clanged, and Ivar turned toward another monitor. Benny was back. Good. Benny was usually on Ivar’s side, and he’d understand why Ivar had tried to kidnap the physicist the other day. Oh, he’d have plenty to say about the mission being a failure, but at least he’d still be supportive. Besides Ivar, he was probably the member of the Seven most removed from sanity, which wasn’t a terrible place to be. Reality often sucked.
Benny high-fived Mercy and then kept walking, finally reaching the first conference room.
Ivar cocked his head and turned up the volume on the speakers. It’d be riveting to see how the cerebral woman interacted with Benjamin Reese. Benny was around six foot eight with size sixteen boots and an even bigger ego. His hair was dark, his eyes a metallic mesh of colors, and his laugh booming. At the moment, his T-shirt was torn, his mouth bleeding, and his left hand full of candy corn.
Ronan’s face hardened to that granite look he got when his plans weren’t going as he wanted. He partially stood and introduced Promise and Benny, his gaze all but shooting blades at the newcomer. “Why are you bleeding?” he asked, way too calmly.
“Was sparring with my bastard demon cousin,” Benny said, munching on the corn. “The guy who helped Ivar with the shrink?”
Ivar groaned. They had to get Benny out of there before he said something he shouldn’t. Something else, that was. Hopefully Promise would think “demon” was an expression and not meant literally. Of course, she might just think Benny was nuts, and she’d probably be correct.
Ronan nodded. “All right. Why don’t you go find Ivar and report on the shrink?”
Benny leaned against the doorjamb. “I don’t know. I’m part of this organization, and I like conference meetings.” He looked up at the camera and winked.
Ivar reached for his phone again to call Benny if he didn’t comply. Then he noticed Promise’s face. Pinched with wide eyes. She clutched the armrest of her chair so hard, her knuckles had turned white. She swayed.
“Time to go, Benny,” Ronan growled.
Benny rolled his eyes and strolled away, heading down the hallway toward the computer room.
Promise slowly released her hold on the chair. Her breathing smoothed out. She smiled at Ronan, but her lips trembled a little. “I’m sorry. I think my headache is returning.” Her voice was soft but clear.
Huh. This was getting weirder.
Benny stomped through the doorway of the computer room, dropping candy corn on the way. “Hey, buddy. Heard you screwed up on a simple kidnapping mission yesterday.”
“Affirmative.” Ivar narrowed his gaze to watch Promise’s every reaction. Something heated in his chest. Something strong and protective and totally fucking weird. He didn’t like how she kept ending up in pain, and it wasn’t making a lick of sense. “What do you and Mercy O’Malley have in common?”
Benny dropped into the only other available chair—another eco-friendly piece of crap that was too small. It lurched and groaned in protest. “We’re both here in a high-rise when we should be at a better holding somewhere underground?”
“Agreed,” Ivar muttered. For decades, he’d provided mountainous headquarters, one after the other, to keep them safe. Two had been blown up, and he’d disappeared into hell places for too long, and now they were here? In a human building way too far off the ground. Hiding in plain sight was stupid, as far as he was concerned. For now, he had to play along and find the right human physicist to help them. His gut told him Promise Williams was the person he needed. “What else, Benny? You and Mercy must have more in common than we know,” he murmured.
“Mercy hit me in the nose yesterday because I called her