“Sounds like the perfect family,” Keira said, glad for Rogue and sad she was the only one left of her small family. She hadn’t even been able to protect her little sister from the horrors of human trafficking.
Rogue scraped eggs onto a second plate and carried it to the table, where he took the seat across from her. “What about you?”
Keira stiffened. “What about me?”
“Tell me about your family.”
Her appetite died a sudden death. “Dead,” she answered and pushed the plate of reconstituted eggs away.
Rogue reached across the table and laid his hand over hers. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “Not all stories have a happy ending.”
“No, they don’t.”
When she tried to pull her hand away from his, he tightened his hold. Not brutally, but enough that she knew he wasn’t going to abandon her.
“What happened to them—if it’s not too painful to talk about them? I’d like to know.” His fingers tightened around hers. “Keira, look at me.”
It took all her control to raise her head and meet his gaze without flinching or looking away. “Why do you want to know about them?”
He smiled gently. “Not out of morbid curiosity but because I want to know more about you.”
She held his gaze for a moment or two longer before looking down at his hand on hers. “You don’t want to know about me.”
“Yes,” Rogue said, “I do.”
She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “My parents were like most parents. They loved their children and made a good life for us. My mother used to sing to my sister and me when we were sad or didn’t feel well. She made cakes for our birthdays and sewed dresses for us to wear to church. My father taught us how to throw a baseball, grow a garden and how to fish.” She shrugged. “Then they died.”
“What was your sister’s name?” Rogue asked.
Pain stabbed through Keira’s heart, and tears welled in her eyes. “Why do you need to know this?”
“I don’t. But she obviously meant a lot to you. I’d like to know her name.”
Keira swallowed hard on the knot forming in her throat. For a long moment, she couldn’t speak, couldn’t push air past her constricted vocal cords.
His gaze veered away. “It’s okay. We can talk about something else.”
“Kit.” She glanced up. “Her name was Kit. She was the sweetest, kindest little girl who’d never hurt a fly. I thought I could save her from a bad foster home. Instead, I led her into the streets, where we went from bad to worse.”
“You must have loved her very much.”
Keira’s lips tightened. “Sometimes love isn’t enough.” She pushed to her feet and carried her uneaten eggs to the garbage pail and scraped them from the plate. “Thanks for cooking. I don’t know why I keep powdered eggs. They’re never as good as fresh.”
“I’ve had some pretty tasteless meals in the Army. Still, food fuels the body. So, I eat.”
Keira shook her head, though she silently agreed. “What made you join the Army?”
“Besides the fabulous food?” He chuckled, and then he lifted his chin. “I wanted to be a part of something bigger than just me.”
“You wanted to belong.” She sighed. “We’re not that different.”
“The biggest difference is that I joined the Army because it’s what I wanted. You were manipulated into joining Onyx.” Rogue brought his empty plate to the sink, rinsed it and set it to dry in a rack. His cell phone chirped with an incoming text. He glanced down and nodded. “Royce says the package should be here.”
Keira frowned. She didn’t like the idea of a delivery van appearing at her cabin. The less anyone knew about its existence, the better. “Any idea how it will be delivered?”
“No.” He left the kitchen and hurried into the living room.
