curled into fists as frustration and fury threatened to consume her. It was all she could do not to tackle him to the ground. To punch him in the face.
To break out into tears.
How could he do this? They were supposed to be a team. They were supposed to be working together. How could he just go and act—commit such an atrocity without even consulting her first?
Because it was his mission all along, a voice inside of her nagged.
“Trinity.” He turned to her, his face a mask of anguish and pain that sucked the breath from her lungs. He looked as devastated as she felt, but she forced down the pity she told herself he didn’t deserve. Instead, she squared her shoulders and tightened her fists until her nails cut into her palms, drawing blood. She wouldn’t back down. She wouldn’t alleviate his guilt or assure him it was okay.
Because it wasn’t okay. He’d killed a dragon. He’d killed Emmy’s daughter.
“How could you?” she repeated, her voice shrieking. “How could you just go and do something like this? After all we talked about!”
She closed her eyes, unable to even look at him as the feeling of betrayal warred with her grief. They’d been together so long, shared so much. But deep down, she now realized, she’d been lying to herself from the start, telling herself that he had changed. How many times had he told her, after all, that he could never truly rest until dragons were gone? And yet still, she’d held on, all this time, to this vain hope that there would someday come a time when he would abandon his quest for vengeance. When he would set down his weapons and accept what was—and what she believed could be.
What a fool she’d been.
“I don’t know why I’m even surprised,” she growled. “After all, it’s why you came to our godforsaken world in the first place, right?” She stared at him, her eyes flashing fire. “Well, congratulations, Hunter, mission accomplished. Too bad you can’t go back home. They’d probably give you a medal of honor.”
“A pin.”
“What?”
“They give pins,” he said softly, his eyes dull and defeated. “If you kill a dragon, you get a pin.”
Trinity scowled. Oh she’d like to pin him all right—pin him to the ground and punch him in the face. To make him feel even half the pain he had inflicted on her. On Caleb. On Scarlet. On Emmy’s poor, poor daughter.
Connor wrung his hands together. “Look, Trin. I think I—”
His words were interrupted as Luke and Nate ran up to them, their faces white with fear. Nate dropped an iPad into Trinity’s hands. “Look!” he cried. “This just came in.”
Trinity stared down at the tablet. A news report from a town a few miles away, the one with the Walmart they’d frequented. The Walmart that, according to this report, was now on fire.
After being attacked by a dragon.
“Is this what you wanted?” Trinity roared at Connor, shoving the iPad in his face. “They were penned up. They were calm. They were peaceful. And now we have one dead and the other ready to take down the world in revenge. Was this your big fat plan for saving our world? ’Cause it’s pretty crappy if you ask me.”
Connor stared down at the iPad, then back up at her. “Trin…”
She held up her hand to stop him; she didn’t need to hear any of his excuses now. None of them could possibly make a difference anyway. Instead, she turned to Nate and Luke, forcing her anguish at bay and summoning all her remaining bravado. She couldn’t let her personal feelings stop her from doing what had to be done. Team Dragon was counting on her now more than ever—not to mention the rest of the world. She didn’t have time to fall apart.
“We need to do some serious triage. Go set up the studio to do a quick broadcast assuring people we’re going to take care of this. In the meantime, Emmy and I will head out to find him. Keep logging every sighting you get; we’re going to need them if we want to track him down before he does too much damage.”
Nate and Luke nodded and ran off. Trinity turned back to Connor. He closed his eyes and sighed.
“Look, Trinity,” he said after a heavy pause. “This wasn’t a decision I made lightly. Time and time again, I’ve held back. I’ve kept my finger off the trigger, even as I saw things getting