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“She didn’t.” Not even a question.
“No. She went after him.”
“And he killed her.”
Kate shook her head fiercely. “She waited until he was alone in the restaurant, and she confronted him.” Now she was crying in earnest. “And you know what he said? He said he understood, and he wouldn’t put up a fight if she promised to leave his family alone. Then he put his hands up and said, ‘Do it.’
“He was willing to sacrifice himself for his family,” she said. “Just like that. He was going to lie down and die to protect them. And my mom was going to take a father away from that family. She was going to kill a good man because it was her duty.”
Hunter’s brain was spinning, trying to figure out how this man had gone from being ready to sacrifice himself for his family to murdering Kate’s mother.
Kate swiped at her eyes again. “She pulled out her gun and told him she appreciated his willingness to do what was right.” A short, harsh laugh through the tears. “Can you believe that? His willingness to do what was right.”
“How did he kill her?” said Hunter.
“He didn’t,” said Kate. She sat up, moving away from him, pressing her hands to her eyes, sobbing into her fingers. “I did.”
“You? But—”
“I shot her. I shot her in the shoulder just to keep her from killing him. And she turned her gun on me, then fired.”
Hunter knelt in front of her, wanting to touch her, not knowing how she’d take it. “Did she know it was you?”
“Maybe not when she fired the first shot. But she aimed at me again. Twice. She knew it was me. I fired back. I didn’t—it was all too fast. I’d been through all that training—I just—it was me or her. She died, right there on the floor of his restaurant.” Kate looked up at Hunter, tears shining on her lashes. “And if I told anyone I did it, they’d kill me. If I told anyone the Water Elemental had done it, they’d send more Guides after him and probably destroy his whole family.”
“So you told them he killed her, and that you killed him.” He paused. “You let him go.”
She took a shuddering breath. “Yeah.” Another breath, steadier this time. “Do you think I’m a horrible person?”
Hunter reached out and stroked the hair back from her face. “I think you’re an amazing person who had to make a terrible choice at a terrible time.”
“I’m a failure. I should have let her finish.”
“No, you’re human, and you did what was right.”
“I don’t know what’s right anymore.”
He’d said those exact words to Gabriel, what felt like a lifetime ago.
So he told Kate the same thing Gabriel had said to him. “Yes,” he said softly. “You do.”
CHAPTER 30
The blankets were warm, and the sound of the water was hypnotic, stealing tension from the air. Kate was pressed against him again, her head on his shoulder, an arm across his chest. Hunter stroked her hair absently, keeping still otherwise, sure she was asleep.
His father had been wrong. This trust felt a million times better than the walls Hunter had built around himself.
“Are you asleep?” Kate whispered, her voice barely carrying above the sound of the waves.
“No.” He turned his head and brushed a kiss against her hair.
She shifted until she was braced on his chest, looking down at him. The moon overhead caught her hair and filled it with golden sparks, leaving her eyes in darkness and her features in shadow. Her voice was full of sorrow. “I’ve never told anyone all . . . all that.”
He touched her face. “I’ll keep your secret.”
“I know you will. That’s why I told you.” She turned her head and kissed the inside of his wrist.
Then she lowered her head to kiss him on the lips.
