She shook her head, and her tawny hair scattered snow. “You’re not still drowning in guilt, are you? Enough of that.”

He’d forgotten how well she knew him. What he’d shared with her. Oh, he’d never broken his vow of secrecy to the Seven, but she’d figured some of it out on her own, way back when. He trusted her to keep his secrets. “I’ll always have guilt.” The cries of the dying at the Battle of Culloden reverberated in his soul, the pain so deep it could never completely dissipate. He was immortal and one of the most powerful of his kind, and even he hadn’t been able to save his people or even his immediate family.

He wouldn’t fail again, and that meant being prepared for this attack. “Benny? Let’s get going, drop off Jacki, and pick up the explosives we’ll need.”

Ben nodded. “I know, I know. We have too short a time to get things into place, and based on intel I received a few days ago, the Cyst might know we’re coming.” He turned on his massive boot to head back to the vehicle. “I’m driving.”

Adare looked down the empty roadway, where Grace had gone, and then strode toward the back seat of the SUV. “You can have the front, Jacki.” He stretched inside, wincing as his knees hit the back of the front seat.

The door across from him opened, and she gracefully moved inside. “I’ll sit beside you. We should catch up a little, don’t you think?”

“On what?” He slammed his door.

She sighed. “You can’t still be mad at me. It’s been eons and eons.” Her red lips pursed. “Perhaps longer. Time does fly.”

A time they could’ve spent together if she’d made a different decision. The branding on his hand ached, and he glanced down, surprised. A marking appeared on a demon’s hand when he found his mate, and his hadn’t appeared until he’d held Grace. During all the time he’d spent with Jacqueline, the marking hadn’t appeared.

Since he’d bitten Grace the night before, his hand had ached as if he’d never used the brand. There was so much about mating that he’d never learned. Did contact make the pain go away?

“Adare?” Jacqueline asked. “Answer me.”

“What did you ask?” He had to get his brain back where it needed to be.

She tightened her lips. “I asked why you need this kind of firepower. Aren’t you working with the Realm these days?”

He wiped snow off his shoulders. “No. We’re not working with the Realm, and this mission is secret. That’s all I can tell you.”