Don't Rush Me (Nora Jacobs #1)(73)

“I will,” I agree, because, yeah, this guy definitely won’t accept a not necessary answer. “But honestly, I’ve got Terrance now. Seems like a fair trade to me.”

Terrance chuckles.

The two male trolls exchange wary looks. “It is…unconventional for a troll to claim a human as clan,” the first one says.

The second shakes his head. I can recognize his bewilderment through his permafrown. “It has never been done in the history of trolls.”

“But there is no denying that Terrance’s instincts have kicked in where you’re concerned. He is a good man, and you have proven yourself worthy, so we will honor the claim.”

He holds out his hand, which is a third of the size bigger than Terrance’s giant one. I place mine in it, and my entire hand fits in his palm, so he covers my hand to shake it instead of gripping it. “Welcome to the family, Miss Jacobs.”

“Thanks.”

With that, both men bow to Terrance and me and then tell the girls it’s time to leave. They need to get Shandra home, the poor, traumatized girl. I don’t blame her for wanting to get away from here as quickly as possible. Detroit isn’t a city for just anyone. It takes a special kind of psycho—or someone with no other choice—to stay here.

“We should get you home, too,” Terrance tells me after they walk away. “You should rest for at least a week.”

I’m so weak I can’t really stand on my own. Terrance has to hold an arm around my waist. He offers to carry me, but I’m determined to walk out of here on my own two feet. If it were just us, I’d let him, but I don’t want to look weak in this room full of underworlders. Thankfully, Terrance understands this and lets me walk even though he’s struggling with his instincts to take care of me.

On our way out, Director West stops us. Parker and Nick both follow her over. “Hang on a minute, Nora.” She flashes me that small, stern smile that seems forced even though I don’t think it is. I think she’s just naturally a little prickly. “We still need to get your statement before you go.”

I try not to be rude, but I’m starting to get a headache, and I’m tired as hell. “Can it wait? Elijah took too much of my blood the other day, and then I had to feed Parker in order to wake him up and get him out. I’m really feeling the blood loss.”

Director West shoots me a startled look. I try to make her feel better by saying, “Come over to Terrance’s place after all this is cleaned up, and I’ll tell you everything, I swear. I just need to sleep for a while, and maybe eat an entire cow.”

Terrance laughs at that. Parker looks green with guilt, and Nick is glaring at me for some reason. I’m not sure what crawled up his ass, but I know there’s a lecture he wants to give me about something. That should be fun.

“Talk to Maya,” I say, meeting Nick’s scowl with a frown before turning back to Director West. “Maya, Nadine, and that other werewolf guy know everything that happened here since I woke up. Maya will tell you. She was in the cell next to mine.”

Director West narrows her eyes in thought, then nods once. “Very well.” She gives me another curt smile. “Go get some rest, and we will come to visit you soon.”

“Thanks.”

“Just one thing before you go,” Nick says, stepping forward, his glare as severe as ever. “What the hell were you thinking, Nora? We were supposed to be partners on this. You promised if I let you help me, you wouldn’t go off on your own. Why the hell didn’t you call me?”

I’m surprised that I detect as much hurt as anger in his voice. It makes it impossible to jump on his case back. My anger has to find a different target. Good thing Henry is standing across the room with Nadine. Two of my least favorite people in the world. “You can blame Henry for that,” I tell Nick.

Everyone looks in Henry’s direction. And thanks to Henry’s super vampire hearing, he hears me say his name and returns my gaze. I glower at him. “It was his compulsion that forced me into this mess. I was just out having a burger when Elijah and Mark tracked me down. Once I learned they wanted to kidnap me and bring me to the sanctuary, I had no choice but to let them. Henry compelled me to do everything I could to find Nadine. Coming to the sanctuary, even kidnapped, would accomplish that. I guess the compulsion didn’t know the difference between me finding her and being in a position to rescue her.”

In a flash, Henry is standing in front of me, face crumpled with regret. He isn’t going to find forgiveness from me anytime soon. I glare at him before ignoring him completely, and turn back to Nick. “I wanted to bolt. I tried to call all of you for help, but the compulsion wouldn’t let me. Somehow, the magic knew that if I called you guys, you’d come rescue me, stop the kidnapping, and I might not get to the sanctuary to find Shandra. My fingers literally couldn’t dial the numbers to call for help. The only thing I could do was leave that message for Oliver, because he wasn’t online at the time. I knew he wouldn’t get the message right away. I’d have time to go to the sanctuary and find Nadine first before you all could come rescue us.”

Henry makes several choking noises throughout my speech, and when I’m done, opens his mouth, trying to find the right words for an apology. I hold up a hand. “Nope. Don’t want to hear it. I’m too raging pissed for an apology right now. Just get out of my face before I ask Terrance to hulk out on you.”