She slowly turned her head toward him now. “That’s my block, Rafe. That building . . . that’s my house.”
CHAPTER 19
Devony sat beside him in silence in the warehouse guards’ stolen sedan as he drove.
Rafe glanced at her shell-shocked face, illuminated by the dim light of the dashboard. “Are you all right?”
She nodded once, but it was merely a reflex response. She didn’t look at him. She’d hardly said two words since they left all the carnage behind at the marina.
She was a strong, courageous woman, but not even a seasoned Order warrior would be expected to witness that kind of slaughter and come out of it unaffected. And now, according to LaSalle, Opus’s death squad had orders to come for the two of them.
Rafe wasn’t overly concerned that he was in their crosshairs. Just being associated with Lucan Thorne and the Order had put an Opus Nostrum target on his back. He lived with that truth every day. For Devony, the threat was new.
And tonight it had become starkly, dangerously, real.
“They firebombed my home, Rafe.”
“Yeah.” He winced inwardly at her wooden tone and reached over to her, placing his hand over her cool fingers. “But you’re okay. You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”
She mutely shook her head. “But everything else . . . All my work, my father’s research and notes. We’ve lost all of it now. We’re going to have to start all over, Rafe.”
He clamped his jaw closed, struggling to hold the secret that he had passed nearly every piece of intel she had over to the Order. Gideon had probably data mined every photo and note a dozen times each by now.
The Order hadn’t lost anything tonight, but he couldn’t divulge that to Devony without clearing it with his commanders.
Rafe’s answering curse came out brittle. “I’m sorry you’ve gotten mixed up in any of this. I’m just damn glad you weren’t anywhere near your Darkhaven when those Opus killers got there.”
Now, it wouldn’t be safe for her anywhere else in the city, either.
With the exception of one location.
There was only one place he knew of where he could rest confidently knowing neither Opus nor anyone loyal to them could touch her.
He headed there now, despite the understanding that his arrival could blow everything up in his face. His covert mission. His commanders’ faith in him. Hell, his entire future as a warrior could be lost by bringing an unauthorized civilian—one with JUSTIS ties and a price on her head—into the Order’s domain.
But all of those things paled compared to the possibility of losing Devony’s trust at the same time.
The fact that he hadn’t told her about any of that—the fact that hecouldn’ttell her without breaching his duty to the Order—ate at him as the highly secured command center and surrounding grounds came into view up ahead.
When he turned in to the property, Devony finally snapped out of her daze. “Where are we?”
“The only place we can go right now.”
He touched the security panel, holding his palm in front of the reader as he waited for a response. It didn’t take long.
“The fuck are you doing here?” Elijah’s low drawl over the speaker was anything but welcoming. With only a couple of hours left before daybreak, the patrol team must have only just reported back to base.
“I need to see the commander.”
“So call and make an appointment.” His comrade’s attitude was to be expected, especially considering their last conversation at Asylum.
“It’s urgent, Eli. I’m not leaving until I talk to Chase.”
The warrior snorted. “Then it’ll be your funeral, man.”
When the gate opened, Rafe drove inside. He felt Devony’s apprehension as they approached the sprawling mansion. According to the elder warriors, the Order’s original compound in this city had been impressive. This newer one was a fortress, constructed twenty years ago, after the first was compromised by an enemy and had to be destroyed.
Devony turned a worried glance at him. “Rafe, are you sure about this?”
