Kade pulled her against his chest before she could sink any deeper into the thought.
"You didn't do this."
Dakota shook her head against him, her tears soaking into his shirt.
"I wasn't there."
Her voice became muffled against his chest.
"I wasn't there when Cooper needed me."
Kade closed his eyes as the blood oath carried the full weight of her guilt into him. He could feel how mercilessly she was blaming herself, as though every terrible thing that had happened to her children had somehow been the consequence of her absence.
And then he understood why her rage had become so violent.
It wasn't only because someone had hurt Cooper. It was because somewhere inside herself, Dakota had already decided that she should have been there to stop it, and now that she had finally found him, she was being forced to confront everything she believed she had failed to do.
