Evan was used to sneaking out, but it had never been this complicated. Everyone was still on high alert, as was right. They still all had a hit on their heads, even though Win had finally allowed them to leave the warehouse.

And thank fuck for that. Evan wasn’t sure what he’d have done if he hadn’t been able to go tonight. Fowler was getting more insistent already, and the fact that Evan hadn’t been able to meet him recently had angered him. Evan was going to have to weather that now, and he wasn’t looking forward to it. He couldn’t get out of it, though. God knew he’d tried, and things had ended up being worse. At least this time, no one in the house caught him in the act like Milo and North had the last time he’d snuck out.

He didn’t think he could get away with it again. North was already suspicious, and Evan was lucky he hadn’t tried to get more answers out of him. He’d have to somehow thank Milo for distracting North.

Evan took one of the cars from the garage and breathed more easily once he was out of the warehouse and on the road. He wasn’t looking forward to the meeting, but he also hated the tension that was always present when he was in the house with the other council assassins. Something was going to break sooner or later, and Evan suspected it was going to be him. He’d been giving in to Fowler for too long, and it couldn’t go on forever.

Fowler was already there when Evan got to the abandoned building where they always met. The thing looked like it might fall on their heads any time, and Evan kind of wished it would, possibly while Fowler was inside on his own. He’d had no such luck so far, but he could still hope, right? It would be one easy way to get rid of Fowler and his blackmailing ass.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Fowler snapped as soon as he noticed Evan—which he only did because Evan had wanted him to. He could have avoided it, what with being a chameleon shifter and everything.

“Busy.”

Fowler snorted. “What was more important than talking to me?”

“Not being found out?”

Fowler smirked. “Right. You’d lose your friends if you were. What do you have for me?”

Evan hated this. He hated that he was in Fowler’s hands and that it was because he’d saved one of his friends. He hated that he couldn’t get out of this because he’d put people in danger if he did—and he’d lose his friends, just like Fowler had said. “Nothing.”

Fowler arched a brow. “Nothing?”

“Nothing. We’ve been stuck at home.”

“You haven’t been out? You just said you were busy.”

Evan was not going to tell Fowler about the hit on everyone’s heads. The last thing he needed was for the asshole to have something else to use against him. “I didn’t say I’d been sent out on a mission. I got stuck doing some training and having to go through some medical testing. What do you want?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“Well, I don’t have anything new to tell you. Can I go?”

Fowler stepped closer. Evan had to force himself to stay still and let him. He hated the touches that had become more frequent. He’d kill Fowler right here and now if Fowler hadn’t made sure Evan would pay dearly for it. Fowler had arranged that if anything happened to him, everything Evan had done would come out.

But maybe it was time for that to happen. Evan was lucky he’d had so much time with his friends already. He’d managed to keep everything in place, to protect everyone he needed to protect—until now—but Fowler was pushing for more critical information, and Evan knew what would happen if he gave it to him. Someone would get hurt, and it would be one of his friends, a member of his family.

Evan couldn’t allow that to happen. He still didn’t know how he’d deal with this situation, but he’d have to find a way, and soon.

Because now that Evan wasn’t giving him the info he needed on the council and its assassins, Fowler seemed to have decided he wanted something else from Evan, and Evan was not going to give it to him, even if it meant he had to kill him and that Win and the others would find out everything. There didn’t seem to be another way out of it anymore. Maybe there had never been.

“You haven’t given me anything today,” Fowler pointed out, as if Evan needed to be reminded of that.

Evan tightened his hands into fists and prayed he wasn’t going to lose control and plant one of them in Fowler’s face. “I know. I can’t do anything about that. I told you, I haven’t gone out on a mission recently, and my handler doesn’t let me get anywhere close to his office.” That wasn’t true. Win trusted Evan as much as he trusted everyone else in their group, but Fowler would be all over that tidbit of info if he knew about it. He’d demand more info, and that wasn’t something Evan would ever be ready to do.

“You’re going to have to do better than that, Evan.”

The way Fowler drawled his name made Evan want to throw up. “I’ll do my best.”

“Don’t you think I know you haven’t been doing that? That you’ve only given me stupid bits of info that I could have found out in other ways? I’m not an idiot, Evan. I know you’ve been pulling my chain, and I’ve allowed it because I think you can become useful to me. Don’t prove me wrong. You know what’s going to happen if you do.”

“I know.”