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"He was always your brother," she said, keeping her voice quiet "He’s just Cam You have to accept that, Chase He thinks he has to protect all of us"

He breathed out roughly "I’d have killed her if I’d known"

Yes, he would have And they would have both paid for it in ways she knew Cam couldn’t accept

"He would have known that," she whispered

Chase wiped his hand tiredly over the rasp of an overnight beard and breathed out The sound was rough and heavy with grief

"It was my job to protect hi, Chase You would have protected him and your pride with the same ferocity Don’t take away from the sacrifices he made He survived He made a man’s choices when he was no more than a boy, and I won’t take that from him I won’t let you take it away from him, either"

"She almost killed him" His voice was hoarse with the tears she kneouldn’t shed here "She did kill a part of hi and he’s honorable He’s your brother and my lover, and he would die for either of us Do you kno very lucky we are to have him? Just the way he is?"

She knew She had known men who had charmed lives Men who had never suffered, never known pain, and they were nowhere near as decent and honorable as her Cam

Chase’s shoulders hunched as he propped his elbow on his knee, his chin in his hand, and stared at the whisky bottle again

"I want a drink so bad I can taste it" He sighed "I have a rule Never before evening I have it for a reason"

Sheher heart break for him She knew he had that rule for a reason Because for Ca an age

"I killed Moriah," he said then "Sweet Moriah" A bitter laugh left his lips "God, she had us all fooled, didn’t she?"

And she had broken Chase’s heart with the decision he’d had toelse you could have done She would have killed Cam, and he would have let her, Chase He wouldn’t have pulled that trigger, because that gun wasn’t aimed at you or me And you cared for her He knew that"

"Yeah," he said softly "I cared for her"

And she couldn’t help herself She moved closer to him, put her head on his shoulder, and wrapped her arms around him After a brief start of surprise, his arms came around her and his hard body shuddered as he buried his head in her neck

He sat there with her for longher, perhaps because he couldn’t rock himself