Proof of Life (The Potentate of Atlanta #4) - Hailey Edwards Page 0,79

my hair into a high ponytail. “Remy didn’t do too badly.”

“It’s tame by her standards.” Midas raked his heated gaze down me. “It’s hard to go wrong with you as her model.”

“You’re adorable.” I pinched his cheek. “Can we spare a second for me to look in on Boaz and Addie?”

“Sure.” He took my hand. “Grier and Linus are still at our place. It’ll take them a minute to get downstairs.”

Our place.

Music to my ears.

“You texted them?” I made stiff progress to the door, but my ankle was loosening. “Good deal.”

“Grier is our best bet for getting information out of Ares without resorting to the usual methods.”

The usual methods being torture, which no one would want to inflict on her, even a shell of her, least of all him.

“I’ll keep my fingers crossed she can work her magic then.”

Midas stopped a few yards down from my room in front of a door with a cutout identical to mine. I pressed my face to the glass and ignored the slight hitch in my breath.

Boaz and Addie each had a bed, as reported, but he had hauled her onto his, and she slept draped over the top of him. His arm, the one not cuffed to the bed, circled her waist, and he held on as if afraid someone might take her from him again. Her face was turned toward the window, and she was smiling even in her sleep.

Yep.

She was a goner.

We might be hearing wedding bells this year after all.

“They’re cute.” I resisted the urge to tap the glass like they were fish swimming in an aquarium. “Right?”

“They love each other.” He rubbed my shoulders. “They might not have realized how much.”

“Boaz is a loveaphobe, and a commitmentaphobe. She’s got her hands full with that one.”

“Yes.” Midas twisted me away from the window before I registered the squeak of my shoes on the tile. “She does, literally.” He captured my face between his palms. “No.” He held me still. “Don’t look back.”

“Eww, eww, eww.” I threw up a little in my mouth. “Get me out of here.”

We hit the elevators and rode up to the lobby then crossed it to reach the enforcer’s on-site HQ.

An uncomfortable silence fell when I entered, which I would have blamed on the intrusion of an outside authority figure in their personal space, if not for the fact I had bought their loyalty with pizza, donuts, and fried chicken over the last several months. No, the quiet wasn’t my fault. It was our fault.

Midas and I had caged Ares. We were hunting Liz. And we couldn’t exactly make an announcement to put everyone at ease. From the outside looking in, we had done the unthinkable in turning against a packmate, and it smarted. They understood protocol better than most since they had hands-on experience dealing with gwyllgi-on-gwyllgi crimes, but it sucked all the way around.

“She’s in A2,” a slight female told us. “We have four guards on her.”

Midas nodded then escorted me through a reinforced steel door into a dim observation area with one-way mirrored glass overlooking a mini prison-style pod with two levels of cells that must extend into the basement and might explain the cramped underground parking deck. The facilities belonged to the Faraday, not the pack, and were rigged to hold every flavor of resident should they become a problem for the rest of the building.

There were four cells on each floor for a total of eight. The top row was outfitted with metal bars, two in silver and two in bronze. They were meant to accommodate shifters. Gwyllgi and wargs in particular. The bottom row were solid gray boxes of undetermined material outfitted with clear polycarbonate doors to contain vampires, humans, and fae offenders until their faction leader arranged for their release.

The enforcers on guard duty snapped to attention at our arrival, but none of them looked at us, and not just because of the dominance factor.

“We need a few minutes alone with the prisoner,” Midas told them. “Grier Woolworth and Linus Lawson will be joining us. Escort them back when they arrive, please.”

“Yes, sir,” they echoed in unison then pivoted on their heels and marched out in a single file.

“The pack isn’t happy about this,” I stated the obvious. “How do we smooth things over?”

“When enforcers hunt one of their own, it reminds the pack what can happen if they ever step out of line.” He gazed through the door into the bright cell holding Ares. “We’re supposed to take