Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 215412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 862(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 862(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
He must read the surprise on my face because he adds, “I don’t lie to her. Not about anything.”
If he’s telling the truth and she knows we fucked around, how are they still together? That’s a hard limit for Dove. Non-negotiable. The moment I get involved with someone she likes, she drops them. No second chances.
But she didn’t drop Wolf? Does that mean she’s open to something blooming between him and me? Or between us three?
A spinning, falling sensation rips the air from my lungs. Hope. It burns bright and dies clean.
It’s too late for hope. Too late for this conversation. Too fucking late for any of it.
I pull my hand from his, removing a fuse before it ignites something neither of us can control.
“I know what happened when you left that day,” I say quietly. “I watched the video footage of your path from the shop to the pier and saw you break. The panic attack, PTSD, whatever the hell that was… I know I triggered it.”
He nods once, eyes on the water.
“It won’t happen again. I’ll be gone by tomorrow.” I glance at the dark sky, remembering how late it is. “Technically, today. When you drop me at the dock, it’ll be the last time you see me.”
“That’s adorable. You think you’re in charge of the itinerary.” He turns his back to me and walks away, his shoulders loose and gait confident as he joins Kodiak’s side.
For the remainder of the ride, he watches me across the yacht. He and Kodiak bow their heads together, discussing whatever plans they think they can force on me.
When we dock, they fall into formation behind me. Wolf, Kodiak, and eight security heavies follow me to the tattoo parlor. Whatever. Let them babysit.
I unlock the shop door, and the parade files in after me. Guards sweep the lobby, the stations, and the break room where I sleep. I don’t fight it. I’m too tired and don’t have anywhere else to go. This is where I planned to stay until the cartel transport arrives.
Security finishes its sweep, hauling knives and guns out of the break room. Every weapon I stashed in there is found and confiscated. Annoying, but temporary. There’s nothing in that pile I can’t replace.
Behind me, Kodiak grunts, and I turn in time to see him pass a book to Wolf.
“Thanks for grabbing that.” Wolf tucks it under his arm.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Kodiak glares.
“Not even close.” Wolf gives his stone-cut cheek a patronizing pat. “I’m the jump-first, regret-it-on-the-way-down type.”
“I fucking know.”
Security herds me into the break room. I let them, knowing Wolf’s right behind me.
When he shuts the door, it’s just him. And me.
No Kodiak. No guards. No witnesses.
Wolf sets the book on the table and takes a slow look around the room. There’s not much to see. Cot, chair, metal table, bare walls. His gaze lingers on my duffel bag slumped in the corner, frayed straps, dirt ground into the seams.
“That it?” His brows pinch together. “Everything you own?”
I’ve lived out of a bag since I was sixteen. It never struck me as strange. But to him, son of the wealthiest man in Alaska, it probably looks sad and small. Proof I never stayed anywhere long enough to matter.
I say nothing, and he doesn’t press. Instead, he edges closer, crowding my space and hiking my heart rate.
“Everyone who comes to Alaska is either hiding from someone or hiding from everyone.” He rests a finger against my sternum. “If they leave, it’s because the danger finally caught up.”
I can’t argue that, so I don’t.
He lowers his hand, tracing the bottom of my rib cage through my shirt and pausing unerringly on my worst scar, the one I never talk about.
“When I saw this during the tattoo session…” He caresses the wound through the fabric. “I thought Dove stabbed you.”
My breath shortens. Not enough to be obvious, but he notices.
“But after tonight?” He floats closer, grazing his thigh against mine. “After seeing you two together, I know she would never hurt you.”
God knows she had dozens of opportunities and even more reasons to put me down, but she never laid a finger on me. Not even a courtesy nick.
“Tonight was eye-opening.” His palm climbs up my chest, making a lazy, heart-pounding trip. “Watching you with her. The way you go on high alert when she’s near. The way she responds to you. This thing between you two is protective, instinctive, and devoted.”
The accuracy of his words lodges in my chest.
“That’s how I know.” He walks his fingers higher, over my collarbone, up my neck, drawing shocks of heat across nerves that haven’t fired in years. “I know you’re not leaving for yourself. You’re doing it for her. Maybe even for me.”
I should shut this down.
I will shut this down.