Break the Day - Lara Adrian Page 0,63

powerful.

Her trust in him burned.

As much as he wanted a life with her, it wasn’t his to promise. Not when the Order owned his future and Opus Nostrum still had a stranglehold on his present. If his enemies ever learned how great a weakness Devony could be for him, he had no doubt they would use that knowledge against him. And if anything should happen to her because of him. . . .

Guilt stabbed him at the thought.

Ah, Christ. This was a mistake.

“Enough,” he uttered. When she didn’t immediately stop, he ground out a tight curse. “Enough.”

Her tongue swept over the punctures she’d made, sealing them closed. “Rafe, did I—” She took a hesitant breath, still nuzzled beneath his chin. “I’m sorry . . .”

He snarled at the sound of her uncertain apology. “No,” he said, stroking her hair. “Shit. It’s not . . . it’s nothing you did wrong. Don’t think that.”

“Then why do I feel like it is?” She pulled back and stared at him, confusion and pain swimming in her molten eyes.

He could hardly hold her wounded gaze. “Fuck.”

Some pitiful part of him wanted nothing more than to get out of the tub and make his escape before he hurt her any more. But desire still beat through her veins, hot and uncontained. He couldn’t heap more rejection on top of the regret he’d already caused them both.

She didn’t resist when he drew her close and covered her mouth with his.

The blood bond had its tethers wrapped around them both.

Rafe kissed her slowly, deeply. Her need coiled quickly, out of her control. The anguished sound she made nearly killed him. On a harsh curse, he flipped her over and onto her knees in the water and thrust into her from behind.

He couldn’t look into her eyes while his remorse had him clenched in cold talons.

But he could give her pleasure.

She rocked against him, overcome by the intensity of their bond. That was the irony of it right now. No matter how unworthy he knew himself to be, their connection couldn’t be denied.

When Devony let go a scream and convulsed with the explosion of a ferocious orgasm a few moments later, he collected her against him and followed her right into that fire.

CHAPTER 22

He felt like the worst sort of coward leaving Devony in the guestroom with a head full of doubts and a heart full of hurt.

The excuse that he was expected in a meeting with Sterling Chase was the truth, but it tasted as awful as a lie as he closed the guestroom door behind him and headed through the mansion on his way to the operations area of the command center. She hadn’t pressed him to explain his abrupt withdrawal after she had drunk from him.

That’s how he knew he had wounded her deeply. The woman he’d first met only days ago would have confronted him head-on. She wouldn’t have hesitated to lock horns and fearlessly demand he explain himself.

Tonight, she had retreated without a word of argument. Because she’d been afraid of what he might say.

She didn’t have to tell him that; he felt her dread through their bond.

Dread he had caused by holding duty above his own heart.

Worse, by holding duty above hers.

Rafe stalked down the long hallway of the sprawling mansion’s residential wing, his steps slowing on their own as he reached the chamber that had been his until the past few weeks.

He didn’t know why he felt compelled to go inside. It wouldn’t be his again until his mission was officially over. Maybe not even then, because he intended to end that mission tonight.

He was still committed to taking down Opus Nostrum. That would never change until he succeeded or took his last breath. But if the Order wanted him to fulfill that objective as one of them, he was going to tell Devony everything. With or without their blessing.

And he was going to inform Chase and Lucan of that fact right now.

He preferred not to do it wearing clothes that were stained with blood and death. After his bath with Devony, it had seemed almost sacrilege to put them on again, so he was glad to find his closet still stocked with street attire and combat gear just as he’d left it.

He changed into basic jeans and a black T-shirt, then laced up a pair of black leather boots. As he tied the last knot and stood up to leave, he found Tavia Chase standing in the open doorway.

“You kept