Page 36 of Blood Bearon
He frowned. “That wasn’t supposed to be funny.”
“No?” she asked, sitting up straight abruptly, eyes blazing with blue fire. “Then what the hell was it supposed to be, Khove? A fucking pity party?”
Her sudden coarse language and fury pushed Khove back against the door as he recoiled in confusion. What was going on here?
“Don’t youdareblame yourself for what happened to me,” she snapped. “I was doing my job. The job that I swore to do. Sometimes, shit like this—” she gestured at the cuts and bandages. “Sometimes, it happens. That is the risk I take to do my job on a daily basis, and I willnothave you demean the herculean effort you put in to save me. If it wasn’t for your quick thinking and actions, I would be back in that building.In pieces!”she roared.
“But—”
“You took bullets for me. Or almost did,” she continued, managing to restrain herself, albeit barely, by the looks of it. “I still don’t know how they didn’t hit you. Then you put yourself between me and the blast. And then you took the brunt of the landing on the car as well. Don’t think my memory hasn’t reminded me of that, now I can think it over.”
He shook his head. It hadn’t happened like that at all.
“Now you’re going to sit there and look for pity from me? No. Suck it up, accept that shit happens, and let’s… move… on… Understood?” she barked. “I know the risks of my job. I would have done the same for you.”
There was a long pause.
“I don’t think you could lift me,” he mumbled.
Rachel snorted. “Maybe not,” she admitted. “But I would have tried.”
She sighed, reached over and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I am eternally grateful for what you did last night, Khove. You saved my life. If I have to choose between that, and a few dozen scrapes and bruises? What do you think I’m going to choose?”
He shrugged.
“What more could I have asked of you, Khove? Seriously.”
“I should have stopped them,” he said fiercely. “Icouldhave stopped them. Without anyone dying, or getting hurt. Well, they might have gotten hurt,” he amended.
Rachel stared at him. “What are you talking about? How?”
He just shook his head and tapped the GPS screen of the car, plugging in a destination.
“Khove?”
“Go there,” he said, half lost in his own thoughts.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, though she did pull back out onto the road, glancing at the display to see her next turn.
“You wanted to know what more you could ask of me,” he said quietly. “And its answers.”
“Huh?”
“You have questions,” he said, staring straight ahead. “Now I’m going to give you answers. I owe you that much, at least.”
This was a crazy idea. Absolutely crazy. Why was he even contemplating this course of action?
Because she deserves to know. To understand just what she’s working with as a partner.
This way, Khove could ensure that she never put herself in a dangerous situation again, when she could just send him. He’d spent a good amount of the night thinking this over, and it wasn’t quite as rash as it may appear to Rachel, but that didn’t matter.
They drove on in silence, making their way past the outskirts of town and heading deep into the country.
“Are we going where I think we’re going?” Rachel asked after twenty minutes or so had gone by.
“Probably.”
“Right. Can you elaborate onwhy?” she asked.
