soft against her damp skin. "Alice, there's always another chance."
She met his gaze then, his intense, powerful gaze, and she realized what he was saying. "You? You'll help me?"
"We'll help each other." He edged forward, crowding her space, and he didn't stop until his chest was almost against hers, forcing her to crane her neck to look at him, or else step back. "We both want to find him. I can help you. You help me. The slippery bastard's days of hiding are over."
"I have to find him." It was difficult to breathe with Ian so close. She didn't step back, but her heart started to race. There was no mistaking Ian's intense strength and determination. He was even more powerful than Flynn, who was the backup she'd been counting on when they finally found Warwick's lands. But... "You're dangerous to me," she whispered.
"Am I?" A grim smile flitted across Ian's hard features. "And you're my doom, in too many ways. But I'm willing to take the risk. Are you?"
She stood taller at the challenge in his voice and lifted her chin. Fear burned through her, but deeper still was her need to help Catherine. To end the nightmares that had been haunting her for years. If he could do that... "When we find him, will you help me...save...Catherine?" 'Save' was a close enough word to what she needed to do when she found Catherine, and it would appeal to his Order of the Blade oath to protect.
Because it wasn't enough to simply find Warwick's island. She needed Ian for that final step, the one she couldn't do by herself, no matter how badly she wanted to.
Ian narrowed his eyes for a split second. "I swore an oath to the Order to put its mission first over all others, no matter what the cost," he said. "I will help your sister if I can, but not if it conflicts with what I'm sworn to protect."
"What?" She stared at him. Hello? Hadn't she just offered him something to protect? "What kind of answer is that?"
"The Order of the Blade is an elite team created two thousand years ago to protect innocents from rogue Calydons. We are not allowed to sacrifice ourselves to protect others, because without us, there is no way to stop them. The greater good triumphs."
She gazed at him in dismay. "You would let an innocent die to save yourself?"
"I would let an innocent die if it was the only way to save a thousand others." Flint glittered in his eyes. "It's what I have to do, Alice." He raised his brows. "If you're an angel, you, of anyone, should understand about the greater good. Isn't that what angels are all about?"
She swallowed and looked away for a split second. "Yeah, sure, the greater good," she agreed. "That's what I do every day. Save the world." She couldn't quite keep the bitterness out of her voice, and she grimaced when she saw the flicker of interest on Ian's face. She immediately faced him again and raised her chin. "Promise me you will help me with Catherine," she said.
"I don't make promises unless I know I can keep them," he said. "I don't know what I'll find at his place, but if there's any way at all that I can save her, I will." He met her gaze. "My promise is that I will do my absolute best to save your sister. If there is a way to do it without violating my oath, I will find it and do it. I promise you my best, and trust me, that's a damn good offer. Deal?"
Alice grimaced, shifting under his stare. Did she really dare align herself with a man who was too smart to trap himself with a simple promise? A man who unsettled her far too deeply? A man she couldn't get out of her mind? A man who had saved her life twice in the last ten minutes? A man who claimed her for his own, threatening to strip her of everything she was?
She thought of her mother dying in her arms, and she knew the answer was yes. Absolutely, unequivocally, without a doubt, yes. Anything to keep the past from happening again. She met his gaze. "It's a deal."
* * *
Relief poured through Ian at Alice's acquiescence. She was on his team. Hot damn. She was the first person he'd come across in years who had helpful information about the elusive wizard who had cursed his family.