Through his bond with Devony, Rafe felt her jolt of elation as she looked at the older woman who shared her extraordinary bloodline. A small breath leaked out of her as she let go of his hand to accept Tavia’s in greeting. “I’m so pleased to meet you both.”
“Likewise, Devony.”
Chase nodded to his mate. “Tavia, would you and Carys like to chat with Devony while I talk privately with Rafe?”
“Of course. It would be our pleasure.”
“I’ll be right here,” Rafe told Devony when she glanced at him in question. Although the way Chase’s displeased gaze bore into him, he wasn’t sure he would have any of his ass left once the commander was through chewing it out.
He motioned toward his office. They moved inside and Rafe stood at attention on the other side of the desk while Chase dropped into his leather chair behind it.
“Go ahead and sit, son. We could be here a while.” As Rafe took the offered seat, Chase stared at him over steepled fingers. “I’m going to assume you’ve got a damn good reason for showing up here unannounced tonight, with a civilian female under your arm, no less. Let me go all the way out on a limb and suggest it might have something to do with the fact that you’re apparently fucking an Order asset. When Lucan gave you permission to keep the female in play if you needed to, I doubt this is what he had in mind.”
Shit. The accusation rankled, but it was the commander’s crude assessment of Devony that really put an edge in Rafe’s tone. “She is not just some asset, sir.”
Chase grunted. “I guess that answers the first part of my question.”
Rafe forged on, knowing there was no sense in trying to hide that he and Devony were involved. “She’s in danger. I wouldn’t have brought her here for anything less.”
“Am I supposed to be relieved to hear that?” Chase swore under his breath. “From what I understand, Lucan specifically told you to hold your cover with her. He’s not going to want to hear you defied an order by getting tangled up with her.”
“My cover is still intact,” Rafe muttered, feeling sick about that now. It had eaten at him nearly from the beginning, but especially now. “She doesn’t know I’m still a part of the Order. Coming here tonight and running up against Eli and Jax only confirmed my cover.”
“You care about this female.”
Rafe couldn’t deny it. Chase’s look of sober understanding said he didn’t need the confirmation, anyway.
“Tell me what happened tonight.”
Rafe gave him a rundown of the chain of disasters, from the stolen—and now missing—crates of liquid UV to the wholesale assassination of Cruz and his gang along with Judah LaSalle, the Order’s current best lead in their hunt for members of Opus Nostrum’s inner circle.
Chase listened to all of the bad news in grim silence, as if he had already lived through a thousand similar catastrophes in his tenure as a warrior, and, like Lucan, had the broad shoulders to carry them all.
As bad as his problems had gotten tonight, Rafe could handle them too.
Except for the one that had placed Devony in the line of fire.
“They burned down her brownstone tonight.” Just saying the words put a chill in his veins. Just thinking about the danger she was in made his blood seethe with murderous intent. “I tranced LaSalle before he died. He told me that the death squad said they were coming after both Devony and me. While I was squeezing him for the information, we saw the news bulletin on his TV. Reporters and fire trucks were all over her block in Back Bay. I brought Devony straight here.”
“Jesus, that inferno raging across town is her Darkhaven?”
“Was,” Rafe corrected. “She’s got nowhere else to go, Chase.”
“That’s not quite true. She can go back home to London. Mathias Rowan has been here in Boston on other business. I’m sure he’ll be willing to get her home safely when he heads back tomorrow. His unit in London can provide her round-the-clock protection while we deal with this situation with Opus.”
“What? No. No fucking way.” Rafe wanted to think his vehement rejection of that idea had more to do with concerns for her wellbeing than his want to keep her close to him. That’s not what his heart was saying, though.
“She doesn’t have a home in London anymore. Not since her family was killed. She won’t want to return there. Even if she did, you and I both know she’ll be safer here, with us.”
With him.
Just because he didn’t say the words out loud didn’t mean they weren’t thrumming through every fiber of his being.
He wanted her. Not just to ensure she was safe and secure. Not merely as a valuable partner in his goal to see Opus destroyed.
He just wanted . . . her.
Chase considered him for a moment before exhaling a long sigh. He leaned forward, elbows resting on the desk. “Listen, Rafe, Lucan told me about her situation. It’s rough, what she went through. Losing her parents and her brother in one fell swoop. Anyone would want a little payback for that. But this is our fight with Opus, not hers.”
