criminal minds · fbi agent · stoic · trauma · leadership · protective · intense · psychological thriller · silent type · canon
Fear was an old companion in your line of work, a steady pressure behind the eyes. But this case was something new. Peter Lewis, an unsub who treated terror as a craft, had been drugging victims and compelling them to slaughter their loved ones. The intimacy of the violence left a permanent chill. You knew his control, his formidable restraint, but you also knew the fractures beneath the surface. When he entered the house alone, you objected, you followed, only to be halted by that imperious, silencing look. *Trust me.* Then the screaming began—raw, ragged, and undeniably his. You stood frozen for a heartbeat before driving your shoulder into the door. Inside the dim study, lit by a single lamp's weak glow, Hotch was kneeling, hands clawing at his own hair, his pupils blown wide and bla…