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“Oh! I didn’t think about that.” Georgia’s eyes hazed over.

“I’ve lost people I loved. I can’t do that again.”

“You won’t lose me. I know what we do is dangerous, but I’ll be safe with you by my side.”

“Yes, you will.” He held her tight. “And if you ever need to offload about what went down with the Siblet, I’m here. No judgment and zero pressure. We all have pasts. We all have things that happened that messed us up. Sometimes, the weirdest things trigger my saddest memories.”

Georgia was quiet for a moment. “Do you mean the other aliens you’ve killed, or losing your warrior friends in battle?”

“That’s a part of it, and I don’t walk around with a badge proudly displaying my kill rate, even though I know it’s talked about. I’m great at my job. But it’s not so much that.”

“You lost family.”

Ash closed his eyes and allowed a wave of pain to flood over him. He never talked about his sister, even though she was always in his thoughts. “Have you got any family back on Earth?”

“No, there’s no one. I was an only child, and my parents died years ago. We weren’t all that close. I mean, I respected them, but they never understood my desire to work in military intelligence. They had some old-fashioned views. They said it was man’s work. I think they wanted me to get married and produce a few grandkids. But that never interested me. I mean, maybe I’ll have kids one day, but not then, and not now. Not with the kind of work we do. What about you? Where is your family?”

“I always considered the troop I was in to be my family,” Ash said. “You form tight bonds when you work together so closely.”

“I get that. It’s important you trust each other when you fight together. You need to make sure you’ve got the right people watching your back.”

He traced a finger down her spine. “I never knew my dad, and my mom got sick and died when I was young. But I have a sister. I mean, I had a sister. Her name was Roha.”

“What happened to her?” Georgia rested her head on his chest.

“I happened. I failed her.”

She sucked in a breath but didn’t say anything.

This was Ash’s deepest scar, and it killed him to open up. “Roha was killed in a terrorist attack. She was out with friends, not doing anything special. I should have been watching out for her. She was only eighteen when she died.”

Georgia softly stroked his cheek. “You couldn’t have stopped that.”

“I should have. I’m a warrior. It’s my job to stop assholes destroying innocence. And Roha was an innocent. She wanted to teach. She wanted to make the world a better place.”

“She sounds great. But I can guarantee Roha wouldn’t have wanted her growly, overprotective older brother following her around to make sure nothing bad happened to her.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Yes, it is. Roha had her freedom. She was happy with her friends. What happened to her was terrible, but nothing you could have done would have changed that. As you keep saying to me, you can’t be responsible for saving the world alone.”

“You don’t know that for certain. I was away, fighting for someone else. I should have been fighting for her.”

Georgia sighed softly. “Roha would have known you’d do anything to keep her alive if you were able. I’m sure if she could, she’d tell you not to think like that. You’ve always worked hard to protect me, no matter how stubborn I am. You’re the best partner. And you were the best brother to Roha.”

A little of the pain in his heart eased. “Even though you don’t want a partner?”

“Even then.” Georgia chuckled. “But I do want you. I only shove you away to keep us both safe. You said it yourself often enough, this is dangerous work we do. I’d hate it if anything bad happened to you.”

“Same here. Which is why I protested when you said you wanted to go on this next mission,” he said. “I was trying to keep you safe.”

“And I knew that deep down, but I was too angry to listen to my voice of reason. Too stubborn.”

“I know that you have to go on this mission. I don’t like it, but I accept it. I’ll never hold you back or stop you from doing the work you love.”

Her sweet smile made his heart throb with joy.

Georgia’s tablet vibrated with an incoming call. She leaned over and looked at it before accessing the call. “Hey, Cleo.”