“I’m fine. We almost caught him, Alex.” She scrubbed her hands down her face. “Maybe if I’d allowed you to give me firearms training the other day, I could have made him stop.”

Shane felt a flicker of resentment that she’d consider taking training from her boss but not him. It was dumb. He was being ridiculous.

“As much as I want you to have a way of defending yourself, I do not want you confronting this guy unless you have to. Shooting a person takes more than pointing a gun at a target and pulling the trigger. Not everyone is comfortable taking a life or hurting others.” He squeezed her arm in a way that had Shane grinding his teeth. “Plus, you were up all last night and lack of sleep can affect judgment as much as drugs or alcohol. You want to go home and sit this out?”

Shane hadn’t realized Yael hadn’t gotten any sleep last night. His guilt grew that he’d dragged her into possible danger.

Yael shook her head. “I think Sloan wants to grill us both about what happened and I’d rather get it over with.”

Alex frowned. “Sloan will wait if you need rest.”

Yael smiled at her boss and Shane was once again struck by how fucking pretty she was.

Not the time. Not the place.

“If you want to stay at our place tonight, Mal has a bed made up. Ashley is staying with us too. I don’t know if you know that she and Mal used to work together. I can’t guarantee it will be quiet with Georgie teething, but we can provide ear plugs and a secure place to sleep.”

Yael laughed, finally, and Shane felt the weight that had been crushing his chest ease a little. He’d promised to protect her and she’d ended up tending a dying man and then getting blasted by an explosion.

“There’s no reason to suggest I’m in any more danger than I was this morning, right?”

Alex Parker nodded.

She crossed her arms. “I’ll be okay.”

“You better be.” Alex sent him a look that told Shane who he’d hold responsible if she wasn’t.

He nodded back. He had no intention of allowing anything bad to happen to Yael. The sooner they caught this asshole the sooner they could all get back to normal.

Emotion hit him unexpectedly. His mouth flooded with saliva and his throat grew tight. Scotty would still be gone. Montana would still be dead. But he could get back to normal.

The gaping holes left by the loss of his friends and colleagues felt all-encompassing. He doubted the wounds would ever completely heal. He wanted to take a moment alone but there was no time.