Page 119 of Pretty Little Shadow
"Even Merrily never went alone to kill people, and sheisdeath," he pointed out.
"Merrily was dealing with the price of her magic. She probably goes alone now."
"No. Darke goes with her, because it's not safe to go fucking murder someone alone."
I let out a slow breath, trying not to lose my shit with the man who had somehow become both my mate and the closest friend I'd ever had, in a matter of a month or so.
"You would never say that to Callum or Grayson," I finally said. "This is a deal-breaker for me, Dare. I told you from the beginning that we needed to have our own lives. My mom never left the house without my dad, and it fucked her over. Shediedbecause of it. Being mates can be all-consuming, and I will not be consumed by it."
"You can't see the difference between hunting someone down alone and leaving the house? I had no problem with you driving across the city to visit Grayson."
"You didn't even want me to pack up my apartment alone."
"Some creep attacked you while you were there."
"He was peeking into the windows of my car. If he'd attacked me, he would be dead. I'm not going to change my mind about this."
Darius clenched his jaw. "Fine. Kill people without me, but don't go alone. Someone else needs to be there too, even if they're just waiting in the car."
"I'll get Kat to come."
He laughed humorlessly. "You thinkI'mprotective? You bring Kat to an assassination, and Callum will lose his fucking mind. That bastard might legitimately kill you. Kat can’t go. It has to be someone who can step in to defend you when something goes wrong."
To defend me?
Did he legitimately think I couldn't physically protect myself, even without magic?
"Ifsomething goes wrong," I said sharply.
"Whensomething goes wrong. You can't transport anymore. There is noget out of jail freecard."
I stood up. "I'm going to take a shower."
"Rae..." Darius shoved a hand through his hair.
I strode into the bedroom, wishing I could slam a fucking door without being stupidly dramatic.
My shower was long.
Extremely long.
Darius didn't interrupt it.
I could see the situation from his perspective. I really could. He thought I was in danger every time I took someone out, and he wanted me safe. That was fair.
But he hadn't asked about my fighting skills.
He hadn't asked how close I got to most of my targets.
He hadn't asked how I started doing what I did, why I did it, or whether or not I'd ever been in any actual danger.
The answers to all of those questions mattered.
He thoughtMerrilycould handle my job better than I could. She was obviously deadly, but she just showed up and killed people with a touch.
I had developed the necessary skills to the point that even Grayson, who had basically adopted me as a teenager, didn't worry about me while I was working.
Darius was looking at the situation from a fae perspective, and I was looking at it from a demon's. There was no getting around our differing opinions, but that didn't mean I was going to bow to his feelings on something like this.
