“I can’t go back to London. Maybe not ever. And I can’t start over anywhere until I know the monsters responsible for my family’s murders will be made to pay. I won’t rest until it’s done.”
Rafe gave her a stark, questioning look. “A terrorist group claimed credit publicly for that attack, among others. You’re talking about going after Opus Nostrum?”
“That’s right.”
“Tell me you’re joking.”
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
He swore again, more vividly this time. “And you think Cruz or someone he knows is going to lead you to them?”
She didn’t want to tell him about her suspicions, or the steps she’d taken to pursue them in the months since her family’s slayings. Just because he claimed he’d shaken hands with her father at one time didn’t mean she could trust him.
But it was obvious Rafe was on to her ulterior motives where the gang was concerned. He’d been on to her almost from the start. “If Cruz doesn’t lead me to Opus, then I’ll keep looking. Eventually, I’ll find a connection.”
“You’re insane, you know that? All you’re going to do is get yourself killed, Devony. You may think you’re strong—”
“Iamstrong,” she countered grimly. “You’ve seen that for yourself.”
“Yes,” he admitted, looking none-too-pleased about it. “You’d be impressive even without your ability, but you have no idea what Opus is capable of.”
“I think I do. I saw the images from London. I saw the pyre and the rubble. It doesn’t get much clearer than that.”
“You think that’s the worst they can do?” He barked out a caustic laugh. “That’s only the warmup, sweetheart. Nothing is beneath this cabal. They are everywhere. They will use anyone, exploit any weakness they can find. And they have. Christ, they’ve even tried to use me.”
“Use you? What are you talking about?”
“Shit.” He raked a hand over his head and pivoted away from her. “Why didn’t I just stay the fuck away from you tonight?”
It wasn’t a question she had an answer for. Right now, there was only one answer she needed to hear.
“Tell me,” she said to his broad back. “Rafe, please . . . I need to know. What did Opus do to you? Did they hurt you too?”
“Hurt me?” He swung back and grimly shook his head. “I was only a pawn they used to hurt a lot of other people. They sent a mole into the Order’s protection—a beautiful, treacherous one. She played me. You think your gift is powerful? This bitch had a siren’s ability. She tricked me into thinking I was in love with her. All the while she was working against me. She fed Opus the Order’s every move, waiting for the chance to strike at us from within. She almost got it, too. If it wasn’t for some of my teammates in the Order, we’d all be dead.”
“Oh, my God. Rafe, I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “I fucked up. I let everyone down. I allowed myself to be manipulated, and nearly got everyone I care about killed. My friends, my parents. Not to mention Lucan Thorne and several other Order elders.”
“That’s why you’re not a warrior anymore? If this woman held that kind of power over you, how can the Order blame you? It hardly seems fair for them to kick you out for something that was out of your control.”
He didn’t answer. His dark expression shuttered at her probing questions, then he glanced away from her. “You think you have good reason to go after Opus? I’ve got more than a dozen of them. And if I have to tear through Cruz or anyone else to get my hands on even one of Opus’s inner circle, I am damn well going to do it.”
Devony couldn’t help but sympathize with what he’d been through. Their lives had both been irrevocably altered because of Opus Nostrum’s evil. Now, she understood they also shared a similar goal.
Maybe they would both stand a better chance of seeing those goals through to fruition if they joined forces.
“I need to show you something, Rafe.”
She moved past him and entered the study.
Running her hand under her father’s desk, she found the hidden button and pressed it. The bookcase silently unlatched, and Devony opened it wider, revealing all of the dossiers, photographs, maps, and scribbled notes of the private war she’d been waging alone for the past five months.
Rafe stared for a long moment. When he finally turned his head to look at her, his handsome face was slack with incredulity and awe.
“Holy shit,” he said, a slight grin tugging at his lips.
Then he walked inside.
