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Hanna ground her teeth. “Usually when you provide backup, the person knows about it.”

Ash raised a brow. He knew it wouldn’t do him any good to let the hint of a smile show, but Hanna’s bullheadedness was one of his favorite qualities. She was a warrior in every sense of the word, and she would go to hell and back to protect the people she cared about.

That could have been me.

Maybe it could have been the him now, the Ash who had learned patience and humor, who had accepted that life wasn’t fair, but that he could carve out a space for himself with a family forged in the fire. At seventeen, he’d been consumed with anger and fear and the very scent of Hanna lingering in their shared bathroom, and the kindest thing he could have done for her was walk away.

“Hanna, please.” He knew it came out on this side of pleading, but the one thing that hadn’t changed after all these years, the miles stretching between them, the lives they had lived, was that he would always want to keep her safe. It didn’t matter that she was the one with the gun and the badge and the attitude that would scare off criminals twice her size. All that mattered, in his bones and blood, was making sure she was all right.

Even if, ultimately, that meant walking away from her again.

When. When, ultimately, it means walking away again.

Hanna glared at him.

This time, Ash did smile. Because he couldn’t stop himself, looking at her furious expression, the woman who never asked for help, except when she had no other options, furious and fiery as the dark red curls she had pinned back under her sheriff’s hat. And because Ash knew it would piss her off more than anything else.

“Dashiel Rhodes.”

He groaned. “Don’t even with that shit.”

It was Hanna’s turn to grin, a little vicious and entirely too attractive. She smiled like a vampire about to suck a man dry…

And apparently, I like that.

“Then don’t be smug.” Her gaze darkened. “And don’t tail me again, Ash. Give me some credit for knowing how to keep myself safe.”

He’d give her all the credit in the world. But she’d never accept it, not from him.

“You’re not invincible.” His words came out softer and more revealing than he had intended for them to.

“Neither are you, Ash,” she bit off, as if the response cost her. “You have to be careful too.”

“My team is good,” he replied. “We know what we’re doing.”

“I thought I knew what I was doing.” Hanna’s reply was so quiet, Ash almost missed it, the tone of self-recrimination catching his attention more than her words.

“Come for a ride.”

Hanna started. Ash knew her well enough, even after all these years, to recognize the signs of when she had started to turn inward, that dark spiral that could pull a person down if they weren’t careful.

“What?”

“Come on. It’s a warm night. You need to clear your head. Come for a ride.”

Even as he said the words, Ash knew the offer was a devil’s deal. The very thought of Hanna pressed against his back, holding him tight as they took familiar turns in mountains he had once called home, it was a surefire fast track to Hell.

But the one thing no one had ever called him was a coward.

“I have to find Grace, Ash. I promised I would keep her safe. I need to figure out what leverage she had and…and I need to sort out my own department.”

“Jinx is already tracking all the cameras in town, and Nicco has Gray and Xander on surveillance. There’s nothing more you can do until the recon comes in.”

She hesitated, and in that moment, he could see the dark shadows under her eyes, how her freckles stood out against pale skin, the way her fingers trembled so lightly he would have missed it if he hadn’t been looking.

“Ash…”

“Call it a temporary truce, Han. We’ll grab food on the way home and then you can go back to hating me again.”