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“I couldn’t,” he said, and those two words were so full of pain, they surprised me. “I couldn’t if I tried. You’re way too important to be just a partner. Your safety always comes first.” He slammed the back of his head to the trunk. “Of course, I screwed that up, too.”
“You didn’t know,” I whispered. “But it’s safe to say that I’m never going on another mission with you.”
He let out a sharp breath, like he was almost about to laugh. But I meant it—working with Dominic would be impossible. Because…ugh, feelings got in the way. As much as I loved being near him, I was never going to accept another mission with him, even if I had to sit behind a desk all day.
“Did you find my note?”
“Yeah—and the pen in that woman’s eye.”
I shivered, expecting the guilt to suffocate me again like it had at the hotel room. My very first kill, and it didn’t even matter that I hadn’t meant it, that it was an accident. She was still dead.
But for some reason, the guilt didn’t reach me here.
“It was that girl from the car show. If we’d just tracked her like I said—”
“We probably wouldn’t be here right now,” he cut me off, lips pressed against my head. “I’m sorry about that, too.”
It felt good, not going to lie. It felt great to hear him say that because it meant that I wasn’t as worthless as I thought, and I could still be an agent. I could still have the life I wanted. I had what it took.
Maybe next time—if there even was a next time—things wouldn’t have such a disastrous ending. Maybe next time, I wouldn’t end up inches away from death before it was over.
“I used your blood to track you, like you said,” Dominic whispered after a moment. “My beast already knows your scent better than anyone else’s, but it did help me find you faster.”
My cheeks flushed a little bit. “So, you weren’t captured?”
“No,” he said. “I came after you as soon as I found the note.”
“And the crew?”
“I don’t know. I just took Derek with,” he said.
I wasn’t surprised—he never trusted the crew. He never trusted anyone for that matter.
“Tailsburry’s dead,” I said, a bad taste coating my tongue at the reminder. “They brought me his head. Detached from his body.”
“Too bad. He was a good guy,” he said in a whisper.
“And the others?”
“I’m not sure. I didn’t stick around to check,” he said, then took in a deep breath. “I didn’t want either of us to be here, Teddybear, but I’m glad I came. I’ve found things on this mission, in the files…” His voice trailed off, as if he had yet to make up his mind about what he wanted to tell me.
“What things?” I could tell how on edge he was simply by the way his whole body was clenched tightly. His eyes were closed, and he exhaled deeply.
“When I was eight, high fae attacked us in our home. They killed my parents, and they almost killed me and Derek, too.”
My heart broke to pieces. I held on tightly to his shirt and the words Derek said to me at the hotel came back in a rush. He said they’d hit him in the head, but that it had been even worse for Dominic. How? What had they done to him?
But I couldn’t bring myself to ask.
“I vowed to find them at any cost, and I think I finally have. The way Michael Bennett was killed, and now his son, is the same way my family was murdered.”
“Dominic,” I said, tears filling my eyes.
“It’s the reason why I’m in the ODP in the first place. I’ve been searching for them since the day I set foot in that place,” he said, his voice restrained, but I still felt all his pain.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered and planted a kiss on the side of his neck.
He looked down at me. “It’s okay. I know who they are now. I’m going to get them.”
