He eyed me for a moment, expression disbelieving. "Are you saying Jack ordered you here?"
"Yes, I am." And heaven help me if Jack didn't back that statement up.
If Rhoan detected the lie, he gave no indication of it. He came down the steps and strode toward me. I held my ground in the face of his fierceness, even though all I wanted to do was run.
"Why the fuck would he do that? You're not Directorate."
No, I was something far worse—Hunter's go-to girl when it came to all things hell related. And while Jack might be the senior vice president of the Directorate and the man who ran the guardian pision, it was Hunter who held the reins of overall control. She also happened to be Jack's sister, and he was undoubtedly wise enough not to go against her wishes—not even when it came to something that would ultimately cause him grief. Uncle Rhoan had not been a happy camper last time I'd been called in to help the Directorate, even though that had been totally accidental. The lunatic he'd been hunting just happened to be the same one I'd come across on the astral plane, and the creepy bastard had subsequently decided he only wanted to play his games with me.
It was a game that had almost killed me.
"Look, ring him if you want to chew out someone. I'm here in an advisory role only."
Rhoan snorted. "Don't get me wrong, Ris, because you know I love you to death, but what the hell can you give a murder investigation that I and everyone else at the Directorate cannot?"
"Hell is precisely what I can give you," I replied, voice grim. Damn it, while I understood his anger stemmed from fear for my safety, it was fucking annoying to get chewed out over something I could not control. Not if I wanted to keep on enjoying my life, anyway. "Or rather, a working knowledge of what is—and isn't—coming through the gates now that one has been opened. And then there's Azriel."
Rhoan's gaze cut briefly to the man standing quietly at my back. "And whatever happened to the option of saying no? You're not employed by the Directorate. They can't force you to do anything you don't want to do."
Yeah, but Hunter could—not that that was something I could admit to. I took a deep breath and released it slowly as I racked my brain for an answer that wasn't going to get me yelled at too much more. In the end, I went with the truth—or as close to it as I was likely to get in this sort of situation.
"I agreed because if whatever—whoever—is committing these crimes is a denizen from hell, then it's my damn fault that it's out there."
He continued to glare at me but, after a few minutes, muttered something under his breath and thrust a hand through his short hair. "I hate that you're involved with the Directorate, however peripherally. They have a way of sucking you in deeper and deeper and never letting go. Neither Riley nor I want that sort of life for you."
"I don't want that sort of life for me, either." I gave him the best fake smile I could manage. "Trust me, you're welcome to the investigation. I'm just here to see what you might be dealing with."
His expression remained uncertain. "You're hiding something, Ris. I can smell it a mile off."