Chapter 1
1
Raze
“ D o you have a moment?” Ashton Payne pops his head through my doorway. He steps inside my office without waiting for me to reply. James Stanson follows closely behind, and my muscles lock up at the sight of them standing beside one another.
The council members of the Syndicate are rarely seen together in public, especially without their anonymous garb. To have two of them standing in my office, casually dressed as if we’re going to lunch, is unheard of. It’s never happened before in the decade I’ve worked for them.
James pulls out one of the chairs across from me and takes a seat without an invitation. Even seated, he commands power.
“We don’t want to take up much of your time,” he begins, glancing over his shoulder at Ashton, who has chosen to remain standing near the door.
“What can I help you with?” I ask, my tone carefully level.
Their presence here is indication enough that something has gone terribly wrong.
“We’ve been notified that a student of yours is attending the university under a false name.”
My brows hit my hairline in mock surprise.
Shit, shit, shit.
“It’s your teaching assistant, actually. The one who had trouble with the Ashbluff boy. He felt it was his responsibility to inform us of her transgressions. ”
“Penelope Ellery,” I supply dutifully, my tone detached.
“Yes, that’s the one.”
Fuck .
“And Hayes thinks the woman attending isn’t Penelope?”
I’m going to gut him alive.
“We’re positive. In fact, we’re quite certain that the person using Divina Carmichael’s legacy spot is related to Constance Chevalier.”
He tilts his head at me curiously. He’s well aware of the history I have with Constance and Divina, having been in the Syndicate when everything went down and we were all forced into our roles. My little slipup with Hayes has exposed my hand and put a target on my back.
“Constance and Divina were friends,” I remind him. “They married a set of twins, if I’m not mistaken.”
“That they were,” he nods. “Except, to our knowledge, Constance didn’t have an heir.”
That’s who she’s reminded me of all this time.
Double fuck.
It was the perfect set up. She attends the university under the Ellery name—one that she technically shares with the real Penelope—and makes her way to the inside without anyone having a clue she even exists. I’d be willing to bet they even share enough similar traits for the average person to not look twice.
James is right about one thing, though: there is no record of Constance and Carter Ellery having a child. I know because I personally checked.
So, where the hell did she come from? And why?
“For fuck’s sake, we don’t have time for all these theatrics. Did you know the girl was lying?” Ashton interjects impatiently.
I scowl at him. “Of course not. I’d have reported it to you.”
“We’ve had sources say you were engaging in sexual relations with this girl,” James informs me.
“It’s not against the code of conduct to fuck my students, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
Ashton huffs a disapproving sigh. “It’s not.”
“Then what does this have to do with me?”
“I’m sure you can see how we’ve concluded that you could somehow be involved with this woman trying to infiltrate our school. Being that you have such a sordid past history with her family, it only makes sense,” James supplies.
“I have nothing to do with her in that way,” I state bluntly, leaving no room for argument.
“You just fuck her,” James adds with a sinful grin that has me envisioning the differing ways I’ll scalp him when this is all said and done.
I lean forward, clasping my hands together on my desk in an act that is meant to disarm them. “I just fuck her,” I confirm.
“So you won’t have any issue coming along with us to retrieve her.”
That has my ears perking up. “ Retrieve her? Where is she?”
The edges of my vision blur as rage bleeds into my chest. If they put a hand on her, I’ll end all of this right now. There won’t be any trace of them or the Syndicate once I’m through with them.
“James has her location locked down. It’ll just take a small hike through the woods,” Ashton explains.
Triple fucks.
Infinite fucking fucks.
Of course, James does. The man can hardly be bothered to use his gifts for anything useful, yet he can waste time on something as trivial as this.
“Students aren’t permitted in the woods. She can’t be there,” I dismiss with the shake of my head. And if she is, she’s got to be onto something with those journals, which complicates things for me.
These two men can never know they exist.
“As you can imagine, this young woman has no trouble breaking our rules.”
No, she doesn’t.
When Ashton notices my hesitation, he takes a step further into the office and lowers his voice. “I don’t think we need to remind you that you’re already on thin ice, thanks to her. We caught quite the shitstorm for defending you against the Ashbluff kid.”
James nods once. “Don’t mistake this as a request,” he warns.
I consider them for a moment, debating if this is worth compromising everything I’ve been working toward for the past decade. There’s no doubt I could kill them right now. I wouldn’t even have to lift a finger to do it and they would never know it was coming. I’d probably have enough time to pack up and get out of here before the news broke.
Power swirls around in my veins like a coiled snake, ready to strike.
They don’t get to corner me in my own office and threaten my life as if I haven’t given them everything. They don’t get to target a woman I consider mine and use me as a weapon against her.
But I consider all the people who would pay for my mistake. The lives that would be lost to my lack of control. It would be too great a cost.
It’s with them in mind that I snuff out the angry shadows wanting to strike. The reason I slide my chair out and climb to my feet. James and Ashton share a smug look with one another, gesturing for me to walk down the spiral staircase before them. They’ve got my hands tied behind my back, and they know it.
My little nightmare is in for one hell of a surprise. She’s gotten us into quite the predicament, and I’m not sure if I can save her when it’s all over.