Chapter 3

“Dying sucks.” Sam sounded petulant, but he didn’t care. He hurt. “Coming back to life sucks, too.”

“I know it does.” Dom walked toward him, needle in one hand, a gel cold pack in the other, and a bottle of water under his arm. He slapped the pack down on Sam’s chest, right over his wound, and Sam let out an involuntary hiss. Even knowing it was coming couldn’t prepare him for the sharp sting of cold. But a moment later, he settled into it, and his tension eased.

“Bet you’re glad your brother died instead of you, huh? All you had to do was get tested for the gene after that.”

Sam scowled at his partner. He and Dom had been together since the beginning—twelve years. They went through training at the same time, and were paired together immediately because they had a compatibility rating of 87 percent. Dom quickly became his best friend, and there was nothing about his care that Dom didn’t know. That gave Dom license to say things other people couldn’t get away with.