“It’s a new design,” he says in answer to my unspoken questions.All I can see is Rex standing there while Burgess empties a clip into him.
Anger takes over.My hand curls to a fist, and I thump his chest.“You could’ve died.”I beat his chest.“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Inara—” He catches my wrists, holding them lightly.
“You could’ve been hurt,” I shout in his face.
He blinks in surprise.“Are you mad that I killed him?Or that I could’ve been killed?”
Oh gods, he killed Burgess.But that’s not why I’m angry.Acid sloshes in my stomach, and my violent feelings give way to fear.“Both.”I stop struggling, sagging against him.“Both.”
His breath huffs out of him, blowing my hair back.I dig my nails into the strange surface of his body armor.He looks like a stranger, but he feels like home.
“I need you.I don’t want you to die.”
“Inara—” He pulls me close, cupping the side of my face.I’m winded, too overcome to say anything.I can only stare into his eyes.They’re an open book of emotions—fear and grim determination giving way to confusion, then surprise and wonder.Hope.
Boom!
A blast of heat sears my skin.Rex barrels into me, enveloping me in his arms.His weight knocks the air out of my lungs and forces me to the ground.I scramble, panicked, until I’m able to suck in a breath.
The ground beneath me rocks like we’re in an earthquake.Debris rains down, and I cry out, pressing my face to the smooth surface of Rex’s protective gear.Rex covers me with his body as the world rumbles around us.
And then...silence.
My ears are ringing again, and I taste ash.Bright lights flash behind my eyes.
And then Rex is lifting me, carrying me to the car.I cling to him, half-hunched into a ball.The world has gone gray.
Rex bundles me into the back seat and slides in beside me.“Alfie, get us out of here.”
I’m half in his lap.“What happened?”
“The warehouse.It exploded.”
I manage to turn my head and see the plumes of smoke and ash filling what was once a clear blue sky.The warehouse walls are caved in, and whole sections have been turned to rubble.
My teeth start chattering, and I’m rocked with a whole-body shiver.My adrenaline crashing and the fear rolling through me are too much to contain.
“My gods, Rex.We almost died.”A few minutes ago, Burgess had me locked in the warehouse.Now he’s dead, and the warehouse is gone.
“I know.”He squeezes me tight, and I’m relieved because his arms are the only thing holding me together.
Someone planted a bomb in the warehouse, enough to blow it sky-high.Was it the Bondage Killer?Was Burgess working with him this whole time?
My mind blanks.I can barely hold myself together, much less think of any answers.I lean into Rex, slumping against him as the car turns a corner and carries us away.
Rex
Sirens scream in the distance.I instruct Alfie to call the authorities and then Hamish to tell him we’re okay.The car will take us to Hotel Magnifique, where we’ll need to dig into Burgess and figure out his part in all this.
But all that can wait.I have Inara safe in my arms.She’s curled into me, shivering like she just had a nightmare.I want to soothe her, but I’m fighting the urge to strip off her clothes and touch her everywhere and make sure she’s real.
I was so close to losing her.If I hadn’t found out about Burgess in time?—
“How did you know I was in trouble?”she asks.
I press my lips to her temple, unable to keep from kissing her before answering, “We got evidence that Burgess was the one who left the birds in your apartment.A neighbor saw him leaving that night.One of my team canvassed the neighborhood and got her to make the ID.”All my tech and an old-fashioned eyewitness broke the case.“Hamish reported it just as we realized you texted Ivan that you were headed to a crime scene with Burgess.”
