“You’re sure?” he asked as his hands framed her face, holding it still so he could search her eyes for the truth.
“Positive.” She offered him an encouraging smile and then leaned in to rest her forehead against his. “I trust you, I believe in you, I want so badly for you to trust me, too.”
“Oh, little rabbit, I do.” This wasn't about not trusting her, it was about not trusting himself. All his life he’d believed he would break anything precious, so he’d avoided caring about anyone or anything.
But caring for Cassandra was as natural as breathing.
Stopping himself was impossible.
“Then smell me, see I'm not lying. I'm part of this now, and I'm not sitting back and hiding and letting everyone else do the hard things. I may not be part of your team, but I care about you, and I want to help, even if it’s just by supporting you.”
Pressing his nose to her neck, he dragged in her scent, detecting nothing but a desire to feel part of a family, a team, to no longer sit on the outside but jump all in. Trailing his nose down her neck, he paused above the bite mark hidden beneath the high collar of the jacket she was wearing.
Her trust in him floored him, humbled him, and if he let it, it could also empower him.
Dr. Gardner was going down. The man had signed his own death warrant when his experiments worked, and he tried to keep them as caged animals. For everything he’d done to them, to Rose, and to Cassandra meant Dragon would stop at nothing to destroy him.
Capturing her chin between his thumb and forefinger, he held it tight enough to cause pain and then crushed his lips to hers. When he kissed her, it felt like all the doubts about himself disappeared. Just melted away into nothingness. If a woman like Cassandra could fall for him, then maybe he wasn't the monster he’d always feared.
“H-hmm.”
If Lion hadn't cleared his throat, Dragon probably would have remained lost in the kiss. When he pulled away, he saw that he and Cassandra weren't the only ones kissing. Steel had Rosein his arms, and they were also pulling away from each other, both breathing hard.
“We breaking up into teams?” Voodoo asked as they all climbed out of the vehicle.
“No,” Steel said quickly, his gaze on Rose.
“Too dangerous,” Dragon added, his fingers finding Cassandra’s. Normally, they would pair off to breach three different doors at the same time. But that weakened them today, it meant there would only be him and one of his teammates to protect Cassandra if things went bad.
With an ache in his chest and a sense of unease that he prayed didn't mean things were about to go bad, Dragon kept Cassandra close as they approached the innocuous-looking building.
January 9th
8:03 P.M.
She should be a whole lot more scared than she was.
Cassandra stuck close to Dragon as the eight of them crossed the dark parking lot toward the building sitting before them. The warehouse was somewhat remote, the property was large, and there were more buildings out the back that she was sure they would thoroughly examine before leaving.
In her hand, her weapon felt heavy, unfamiliar. She hadn't been lying when she said she knew how to shoot, she did, and she hit what she aimed at even if she couldn’t make a kill shot every single time, but that didn't mean she was as comfortable with a gun as the men and woman standing around her were.
Still, she wasn't going to be any more of a weak link than she already was. She had no idea what exactly it was they were looking for, beyond the exceedingly obvious like someone who worked there or a computer full of details, but that didn't matter. At least she wasn't sitting back at home, safe and sound, while the people in her life put themselves in danger to gather intel that would save all of them.
There was no going back to be more involved in the search for answers about what happened to her parents, but this time she was determined to be involved every step of the way. Just because she had never personally met this Dr. Gardner man, he’d brought her into it when he sent people to her home to try to abduct her.
If she was involved, she was helping.
So she carried her weapon, stuck close to Dragon, and sucked in a small breath as Thunder opened a window around the back of the building and climbed inside.
“I don’t need help,” she muttered to Dragon when he scooped her up before she could jump up and swing a leg over the windowsill. It wasn't high, and there didn't appear to be much of a drop on the other side, given how the others had climbed in.
Ignoring her, Dragon merely passed her through the open window to Blade, who had followed Thunder in. The man snorted a small laugh as he took her and set her on her feet.
“Indulge him,” Blade told her.
“He’s lucky he has other qualities I like because the overprotectiveness is going to get real old real quick,” she grumbled back. But she’d spent her entire life dealing with overprotective men, and since she knew it came from a place of genuine care and fear for all the bad things that could happen to her, she would deal with it again with Dragon.
The guys didn't communicate again out loud. Once they were all in, Voodoo simply eased the window closed again, and thenthey all started moving. While she knew what her brothers did for a living, knew they’d all been in danger in their various military careers before joining Prey, and then put their lives on the line in every op they went on, she’d never thought much about what that actually looked like.
