it when they joined JUSTIS.”
Rafe frowned, reflecting on the fact that she had lost not only her father in the London headquarters bombing, but her mother and brother as well. Although Devony was obviously a natural in covert fieldwork and intelligence gathering, he knew a sense of profound relief that she hadn’t followed in the family’s footsteps or she might have also been among the casualties that night.
“I take it you didn’t share their interest in law enforcement?”
She gave him a disagreeing look. “Yes, I did. I wanted to join JUSTIS more than anything. My parents refused to consider it. To make them happy, I agreed to pursue music instead.”
Rafe couldn’t stop himself from reaching up to touch her cheek. “I’m very glad you did.”
She blinked and bit her bottom lip. His gaze followed that sweetly innocent reaction, arousal gripping him in an even firmer hold. A growl built deep in the back of his throat, a warning not only to himself but to her.
He drew his hand away, his molars clenched tight to combat the swelling of his fangs. “I don’t think your father or anyone else in your family would be happy to know you’ve picked up the torch he left behind. You should go back to music, Devony.”
And he should go back to focusing on his own personal mission to bring down Opus and everyone loyal to their cause.
“I can’t go back to my old life. It never really suited me to begin with. This is my life now.”
Rafe exhaled sharply. “Subterfuge and killing? Risking your life and God knows what else by embedding yourself with scum like Cruz?”
“If that’s what it takes, then yes.”
“What will you do if you succeed in finding a link to Opus or any of its members?”
“I will kill them.” No hesitation in her clear voice. Only cold and steady resolve. “I will finish this for my father. For my mother and Harrison, too. I need to finish this for myself.”
Shit. Rafe stared at her, knowing there was nothing he could say to dissuade her. Then again, he didn’t need to dissuade her. All it would take was one call to the Order and she would be removed to someplace safe until this was over.
And she would despise him for the rest of her eternal life.
It shouldn’t matter to him. Until a few days ago, he didn’t have any idea she existed.
But now he did, and that simple fact changed everything.
Nothing could be the same after coming here tonight. Now he knew what she had endured because of Opus’s evil. He understood her desire to make someone pay.
However, knowing that and allowing her to continue on this path were two different things.
She was interfering with Order objectives. She was interfering with his own as well. As righteous as her need to avenge her family might be, he had his own need for retribution too.
“You need to give this up.” He shook his head. “You’re going to get hurt, Devony. I don’t want to see that happen.”
“I’m not worried about me.”
“Damn it, you should be.” His reply came out harsher than intended.
She flinched, but didn’t retreat. She didn’t lose a scintilla of the stubborn resolve in her beautiful eyes or the upward jut of her chin. “Have you ever been alone, Rafe? I mean really, truly, alone?”
“No,” he admitted soberly.
“Then don’t talk to me about getting hurt. Don’t tell me I need to give up when I have nothing else. This hurt,” she said, clenching her fist at her breast as her voice choked. “This rage, is the reason I get out of bed every day. I can’t stop until it stops. Can’t you understand that?”
He did. As much as he wanted to deny it to her, he couldn’t pretend he didn’t know something of how she felt.
His family and friends might have all perished if Opus and their mole had succeeded.
If he had lost everyone that day?
Just the thought of that emptiness carved a hollow in his chest.
Devony had been living that pain every second of every day for five long months.
She sat beside him in a rigid silence that nearly broke him. Her grief was profound, even all this time later. When he first saw her in Asylum, she had seemed so closed-off and brittle. So angry. Now he knew why.
He cupped her lovely face, stroking her velvety skin with the pad of his thumb. “I’m sorry for what you’ve endured. No one should have to experience that kind of loss,