Page 107 of The Warrior
I snorted. “I’m no hero.”
“Then what do you call someone who keeps saving other people?”
I turned around, walking back toward the cabins.
“I know you don’t like to talk about it, but you can’t punish yourself forever for what happened to your sister. Itwasn’t your fault.” Finn spoke the last three words slow and clear. “What happened to Dina doesn’t take away from the fact that you saved me from Mentor Johnson.”
My jaw hardened. Finn and I never talked about the monster from our past. I’d been the new student at Finn’s school when I noticed something wasn’t right. Curiosity and intuition had made me listen through the door to Mentor Johnson’s office. What I heard had made my blood boil to the point where I kicked in the door and ended the torture that Finn was suffering at the hands of that fucking sadistic mentor.
“You would’ve done the same thing,” I muttered.
“I would like to think so, but we both know that I am not the only person you’ve saved. You stood up for Khan against your father, and saved his life. Don’t think I don’t know how hard that was for you. And what about Laura?”
“What about her?” My tone was harsh because I hated the way Finn saw me as a hero when I was anything but.
“You always protected her.”
“That’s not how she sees it. She thinks I’m bossing her around and being a dick.”
“You’ve been in more fights to protect your woman than any man in this country. You could have married her when she was fifteen, but you wanted to wait for her to grow up. I always thought that was incredibly selfless of you, and that we all paid a price.”
“What do you mean, thatyoupaid a price?”
“I had to deal with your moodiness. Remember that time when we saw Laura at the football game, just after she had turned seventeen?”
My hands ran through my hair. It was a redundant question. Finn had been there when I stopped dead in my tracks, gaping at the sight of Laura. The girl that I had last seen when she was fourteen had transformed into a breathtaking young woman with curves and a smile to die for. For years, I had felt protective of her because of the short connection we shared when she was nine. But that day I’d felt more than protective of her. I’d felt physically attracted to her too.
“And what about the pilot you saved from the burning drone, or that kid you carried for miles during the survival camp at school?”
“He broke his leg and was slowing us down. Everyone would’ve done that.”
“Maybe. But these examples are just a few of the dozens of times when you sacrificed yourself to help others. You should give yourself credit for it, and stop isolating yourself. You never had social skills, but that’s because you push people away, and never practice at it.”
I sighed. “I miss the good old days when I could fix my problems by beating up the bad guys.”
“Ahh, yes. Those were the days. You beating up bad guys, and me patching them back together. What a team we were.”
My eyes glazed over, memories assaulting me of my sister saying those exact same words to me.
CHAPTER 28
Dina’s Death
Magni
“What a team we were.” Dina’s eyes were sparkling with mischief as she caressed my hair, and continued the story from when I was younger. “I distracted the cook and you snatched two of the biggest cookies she had baked.”
I laughed. “How old was I?”
“Let’s see; you’re seven now, and it was two years ago.” Dina gave me the schoolteacher look that she often used when she taught me to read or count.
“I was five.”
“Yes, and how old was I?”
Math had never been my strong suit and I frowned.
“Use your fingers like I told you to,” she instructed. “What is fifteen minus two?”
