man,” I replied in a taunting tone.
He leveled me with a hard stare, and I couldn’t help but admire how ballsy it was for him to act in a threatening fashion towards me.
“Do not patronize me, Mistwalker,” the Director said in a clipped tone. “This is still my organization, and you still report to me. You do not order me around, shadow tentacles or not.”
“They’re tendrils,” I corrected.
“I don’t give a flying fuck what they are,” he snapped back. I raised an eyebrow, impressed to see the tougher side of our division’s leader. “I’m temporarily stepping aside to avoid further jeopardizing the safety of the people of this organization, and the residents of this city. Don’t get too cocky. You will assess the two Nightmares as soon as they come in, and report back to Tate right after you’re done, understood?”
I should have snapped his neck for his insolence, but the old man was growing on me. I smirked and rose to my feet.
“Safe journey home, Director Thomson,” I said in a taunting tone while walking out of his office.
“Arrogant son of a bitch,” Thomson muttered while picking up a few items from his desk.
I chuckled and left his door wide open. I strolled past the dozen agents gathered outside his office, putting as much swagger as possible in my steps. The poor humans didn’t know what to think or how to react. I entered the elevator and turned to face them. As the door closed, I winked at them, which earned me a barrage of swear words quickly cut off by the doors shutting.
I made a beeline for my quarters to find my woman on a video call with one of her psychologist colleagues. She quickly ended it, which pleased me immensely. I liked being her main priority.
“Sweetie, is everything okay?” Naima asked as she came to stand in front of me.
I drew her into my embrace and kissed her deeply. She melted against me, yielding the control I craved, and responding to my passion in equal measure. My female was a drug I could never get enough of.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there when he stalked you,” I whispered against her lips.
Naima frowned and pulled back to look at me. “What did I tell you about it being impossible for you to be everywhere at once?”
“I know, but that doesn’t change how I feel,” I said before nipping at that plump bottom lip of hers that always drove me crazy.
She yelped in surprise when I picked her up and carried her to the couch before sitting her on my lap. I gave her a summary of the discussion I just had with Thomson. Although she was floored that Darryl had been his Nightmare, she wasn’t surprised he had been spawned by someone within the agency. She had suspected two other agents instead.
“I would like you to list all the agents you believe to be at risk, and for us to compare their energy signatures to those of both victims and Nightmares that have been eliminated over the past year,” I said. “We need to know who else might be leaking, and to nip in the bud any new Nightmare in the making. I need to hunt tonight anyway. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.”
“Okay, I can definitely do that,” Naima said, her eyes flicking from side to side as she mentally reviewed the agents she had already started having sessions with. “I’ll get on it right away. Who knows if one of their Walkers will show up tonight during the recruitment.”
I bit back a growl of annoyance. I understood the urgency of finding more potential Nightmares to join our ranks, but the timing couldn’t be more rotten. I didn’t want to spend the next few hours evaluating the Wishes, Nightmares and Dark Desires that might come stalk the candidates. I wanted to hunt and then to lose myself in my woman.
“When the Mist is over, I want you to promise me not to go out again without some sort of escort,” I said, abruptly changing the subject.
I had expected her to balk at this invasion of her privacy—a thing humans seemed pretty big on—but to my pleasant surprise, she merely nodded.
“Yeah, I was just thinking that,” she said pensively. “That bastard has it in for us. I do not want to give him the opportunity to corner me alone anywhere.”
I kissed her one last time then let her get to work.
I watched the new groups of