Page 69 of Dark Reunion

Once they were far enough away, Maeve grabbed his arm. He halted, shoulders squared, his muscles tense under her fingers.

“He’ll come for both of us now,” she warned.

“He was coming anyway. How do you think I ended up here,” Dean asked, his tone softened, the soldier’s edge giving way to something that felt like a promise and a threat braided together. “I promised I wouldn’t let him touch you. I failed once. I won’t let it happen again. There are things I need to prepare.”

She watched him start to walk, then called after him, voice thick with her usual stubbornness. “I can help.”

Dean didn’t look back. “No. Go to your room and lock the door.”

“I’m not a child,” she snapped, irritation filling her at his automatic dismissal.

Dean stopped. The corridor seemed to hum as she waited. He turned slowly, scanning the emptiness like a man who never stops measuring danger. “I know, but I can’t do what I need to do while worrying about you.”

Maeve crossed her arms. “You want me to trust you, to forgive you? Then let me in. I’m not the girl who needs saving this time. I’m the woman who wants to get back to the man she loves, and if I have to, I will tear every guard’s eyes out to do it, with or without you.”

Dean’s mouth twitched with half a smile. “Morry rubbed off on you.”

Maeve didn’t dispute it. Morry honed her rage into a weapon that was actually useful.

“She did more than rub off on me. She taught me, and I’m one of her best. I can help, trust me.”

“Fine, you can help,” he said, nodding. “But you do exactly what I say.”

She held out her hand. “Deal.”

Dean met it slowly. Their grips were firm as they shook. “Deal.”

Maeve’s mouth set into a line. One thing was certain now, heavier than any promise or fear.

She would never be a victim again.