Jaxon snorted. “I don’t hide.”

Alana growled under her breath. “Listen. I don’t have time for your alpha male bullshit right now. We can hide until the bullets stop flying or you can go try to catch one with your chest.” She threw her arms up in the air, backing away from him and towards the spiral staircase leading up to the second floor of the library. “Your choice, Jax.”

“Son of a bitch.” He cursed under his breath but followed her.

“Thought so.”

“Do you always have to have the last word?” He grits out between clenched teeth.

“Um yeah. Added bonus, it annoys you.” She smiled, baring her teeth at him in a semblance of a smile. The shouts and sound of shots fired creeped closer to them and She waved a hand at him. “Come on. Move your ass, we will have to find somewhere to hide up here until they search the room and mark it as cleared.”

They hustled up the stairs, and searched for a place to hide. There were rows and rows of books. A few nooks and crannies that they could hide in if they’d like to get spotted the minute someone walked up there.

“Shit.” She puffed out a breath, looking up at the ceiling.

“You got a plan B?” Jaxson planted his hands on his hips.

Alana noticed the clearance above the tops of the bookcases and the ceilings and smirked. “Actually, I do.” She pointed to the seemingly tight space above the shelves and Jaxson shook his head.

“There is no way my ass is fitting up there.”

“Like there’s a choice here?” She asked, rhetorically.

“God damn it.” Jaxson walked over to the bookcase in the corner and eyes it before cupping his hands together and nodding his head upwards. “You first, I’ll give you a boost.”

Alana didn’t waste any more time with arguing and stepped into his hands, jumping at the same time that he pushed her into the air. She pulled herself up, slithering on top of the wooden structure until she was belly down and out of the way.

She peered over the side. “It’s actually a bit roomier than we thought. Come on up. Plenty of space.”

“You better not be just saying that.” He grumbled.

He jumped up, huffing and hawing as he got situated. Jesus he was huge. She pressed flat against the wall and making herself as small as she could, yet he was still so close to the edge, if anyone was directly under them, they’d see him immediately.

“See, not so bad.” She tried to make her tone light.

“I don’t like small spaces.” Jaxon admitted.

“Well, we can talk about how my bosses are here, and raiding the same party we showed up to if that will help?” She wasn’t not sure how they knew to look there, or how to even find the party, it was by invite only.

“How do you think they got in?”

“Someone probably tipped them off. They wouldn’t make such a public display of force without evidence. Honestly, it could just be a regulation raid for illegal magical substances. I won’t know until I can report in and find out who ordered it.”

The door to the library opened and they both fell silent, their bodies tensing against each other. She tossed up a prayer to whoever was listening or even feeling generous and hoped that the team didn’t think to look up there.

She choked on her tongue as Nolan and Mason entered the study, both carrying weapons, but neither fully geared up.

“What is it?” Jax whispered.

“That’s my boss, Mason. And that douchey looking guy next to him is Nolan. The head of the Order of Magique.” She left out the part about Nolan being her ex for now. They’ve all made mistakes and now wasn’t the time to rehash hers.

Jax’s eyes widened and he turned to give the search party a second look. The team cleared the bottom level, not even bothering to come up to the second. Fucking idiots, but Alana wasn’t about to complain.

“All clear!” The leader of the team waved a hand in the air, and the rest of the team moved out while Nolan and Mason stayed behind.

“How did we miss him? Our intel was from a good source.” Nolan questioned harshly, his ire directed at Mason.

“Don’t look at me. Damon is a slippery bastard, and it wasn’t my source.” He shook his head.

“This was a waste of our time. He could have easily escaped right under our noses. We should have brought offensive mages with us, not defensive ones.”

“I made the best call I could with the factor of humans involved, Nolan. You know the protocol. Hell, you helped write some of it.” Mason shrugged. “Let’s go. We’ll check the rest of the penthouse and keep looking. He won’t evade us forever. Not on my watch.”

They left the room and Alana let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. What a cluster-fuck. “You know that Nolan doesn’t come out in the field often, right?” she asked Jax.

“I assumed he was a desk jockey.” He rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t want to mess up his pretty face, I’ll bet.”

He wasn’t far off, but she ignored the jibe. “You know, speaking of unusual things, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“Yes, we can finish what we started earlier.” His gaze dropped to her lips and desire tightens her insides.

“Yes. I mean no.” Alana stuttered the words and he chuckled, his body pressed against hers set the sound through her bones. “That’s not what I wanted to ask.”

“Well out with it then. It’s not like I’m going anywhere.”

“Why didn’t you fight me that day?”

“What day?” Jax asked, his harsh face softening in confusion.

“That day in Que Theran’s tomb. Why didn’t you fight me like Damon did?”

“I don’t believe in everything my brother does, you know. Just because we’re both warlocks doesn’t mean we’re the same person.” His tone was defensive, and she shifted away from him to get a better look at his face. His body tensed again, his mouth in a firm line.

She’d hit a nerve there.

“I didn’t say that…”

He shifted next to her, his side pressing into hers. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to jump down your throat.”

“It’s okay. I get it. We all have family issues.” Like Alana’ sister. Who thinks she’s crazy pants.

The door to the library banged open and they both go still, slowly looking to see who’s joined them. A disheveled looking human male, his eyes wide as he peers around, and his pallor stark white.

“If he’s running around, the mages have probably left. “She paused waiting to see what the human did. He plopped into a seat, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting up. “We should get out of here before they send a unit to watch the area for any stragglers.”

They slithered out from the crevice above the shelves and stayed alert, ready for a mage with a gun to pop out at any moment. They remained close to each other, crouched low as they head towards the back entrance into the penthouse. The maids entrance as it was called.

Alana pressed the button for the elevator, rocking back on her heels. She bit her lip, eying Jax out of the corner of her eye. He seemed relatively calm. His arms crossed over his chest, his body otherwise relaxed.

The elevator dinged, and they stepped inside the small space, their shoulders brushing. She ignored the tingle that went through her at the contact, and focused more on getting out of there. Why was it always awkward as fuck after you have sex? Or well, in this case almost have sex. Crazy hot, angry, hungry, sex. But it was still an almost.

The numbers softly chimed lower and lower and Alana twiddled her thumbs.

“You know the best way out of here?” Jax asked.

“I’m taking the alley behind the building. I’d rather be unseen right now.”

“Good plan.”

“What way are you taking?” She asked out of sheer curiosity. “You know that they’ll be looking for you right? So, walking out of the front would be a bad idea.”

“I was going to follow your lead.”

She frowned at him. “You can’t come with me. I’m not headed to a safe house. I’m headed to my sisters.”

“What do you mean? We haven’t found Damon yet. We need to keep looking.”

“Do what you want, I have to make sure my sister is safe.” Taylor may not understand Alan’s odd ways or why she was the way that she was, but they were still family. And Alana would protect her over everything else.

“So, you’re just going to give up because we didn’t catch him tonight?” He held the door leading out to the alley behind the building open for her and she slipped through.

“If you hadn’t stopped me, I ‘d have caught him tonight.”

He growled. “I did that to protect you.”

She nodded, picking up her pace to get further away from him. She needed some space to think and to figure out what the hell happened back in that library, and what the fuck she was going to tell Mason when he asked her why she wasn’t there for the raid.

“Sure, whatever you say.” She didn’t mean the words, but she couldn’t deal with him next to her right then. She needed some time to process.

Jaxon grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop and spinning her to face him. “Hey. What’s your problem?”

“You’re my problem right now.” She huffed out a breath, pulling her arm from his grip. “I don’t have time for this. I need to check on my sister.” She walked backwards away from him. “We’ll talk soon.”

“We need to talk now.” He argued, moving towards her.

“Stop. We’re not doing this right now.” She wave a hand. “You need to lay low. We’ll regroup later.” With that, she spun on her heel and took off at a dead run.

Who said you can’t outrun your problems?