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“I want a progress report before nightfall,” he ordered coldly, moving to the bathroom. “And I want that bastard found, Dash. I want him found and I want his blood.”
He jerked open the bathroom door and stepped inside, closing and locking the door carefully behind him.
Steam rolled from the shower, but Dawn wasn’t standing beneath the spray. Seth took just enough time to toe his shoes off before he jerked open the door to the large shower and felt his heart break with grief and pain.
Dawn wasn’t crying. Dawn never cried. How many times had he heard that over the years? Tears did not roll down her cheeks—instead they sliced through her soul. She lifted her head and stared back at him, the eyes golden brown, and filled with pain, as she stared up at him from where she sat, her legs pulled up to her bare breasts, her back against the shower wall, the water falling around her.
“You’re ruining your clothes.” Her arms tightened around her legs as he pulled her between his upraised knees, enclosing her in the shelter of his arms.
“I’ll buy more.” Seth kissed the top of her head as she rested her cheek against his chest.
The was a long silence then, nothing but the sound of the water flowing around them as he rubbed at her back, her shoulders.
Seth had never felt more helpless in his life than he did now. He had no idea how to help her, how to ease her pain, and that sent additional fury pounding through his brain. He wanted to smooth those shadows from her eyes, wrap her in safety and protection and never see fear in her face ever again.
“I wish you had stayed in the house,” he finally sighed, his inadequacies rising inside him.
What was he, that he couldn’t even protect the woman that meant more than life to him?
A small sound escaped her. Caught between a laugh and a dry sob, that sound tore at his heart.
“You’re not made of steel.”
“Neither are you, Dawn.” He rubbed his cheek against her hair, his eyes closing at the smell of Paris with Love, that unique scent that had its matching vial of shampoo and conditioner. He would have to call the soap maker and request more of that scent. It seemed to suit her.
“You’re my mate, Seth,” she whispered. “You’re more to me even than that. I’ve trained to protect, not to hide in a dark room and be protected. What happened was my fault. I let my fury overwhelm me. I didn’t take the proper precautions or he wouldn’t have taken me down so easily.”
“He used a tranquilizer, Dawn.” Disbelief filled his voice. “You’re not immune to it, and you sure as hell can’t avoid that damned dart once it’s fired at you.”
“Actually, you can,” she breathed out wearily. “I should have heard it, sensed it. I have before. I’m trained to know.”
Seth closed his eyes at the confusion in her voice, the sense of helplessness and failure she felt.
Dash said she had remade herself. She hadn’t. The potential for the strong, valiant woman she was had always been inside her; otherwise she would have never survived the life she had been forced to live in those labs.
As the water saturated his clothes, ran off them both in heavy streams, Seth saw what Dash and Callan hadn’t.
“Next time, we’ll work together,” he promised her, knowing he would never take the chance of leaving her behind again.
It wasn’t a lack of trust in her abilities. She would have never survived that attack if she wasn’t strong and well trained. He had heard the battle she waged with her attacker; the strength in the man’s voice, and his shock when she overpowered him.
He had seen the proof of it on the ground around her—the struggle to survive—and he had been too far away from her to defend her. He had left her, when he knew he should have realized she would never wait on him.
Pure rage had governed him though. She had remained calm when the bastard first made contact. She had found the Breed he had attacked, sent her help, begun coordinating the search when Seth picked up the comm link and heard the vile, smug laughter in that voice. The lust and possessiveness, the certainty that he would destroy the woman as he had nearly destroyed the child.
“Next time, we’ll let the team do their job and stay in place.” She leaned against him tiredly, curled against his chest, her naked body warmed by the heat of the water, and by his body. “I can’t lose you like that, Seth. Don’t make me lose you like that.”
The utter loneliness, the helpless emotion in her voice, tore at his soul. If she walked away from him, it would destroy him. God help him, if she were to die. Could he live through the pain? He didn’t think he could.
He lowered his hand until his fingers were tilting her chin, lifting her face to his.
“You won’t lose me,” he whispered, staring into the shadowed eyes, his chest clenching at the fear she was fighting so hard to hide.
He had known this would happen. Had known the memories would begin returning once he had her in his bed. How was he supposed to protect her from those?
“I can kick ass.” She stared back at him somberly. “I trained, Seth. I know what I’m doing. I kept him from hurting me.”
She kept him from raping her. He heard her unspoken words.
