“You’re not going back to Texas,” I said firmly. “This is your home.” I looked over at Christophe. “Send me that information. I’ll put in some calls in the morning.”
Her eyes bulged and she started to shake her head, but I took her by the arm before she could respond and stalked out of my brother’s house.
“I need to get back to Texas to check on my friends,” Reese insisted, pulling her arm free from my hold. “I told you I would stay until Henry healed. He’s doing better now.” She stood there, arms folded across her chest, digging her proverbial heels into the ground.
Fuck.
I swear I didn’t know if I wanted to fuck her or spank her.
Both.My wolf growled.
“Reese,” I exhaled her name, working overtime to calm myself. “This is your home now.”
“First of all, you can’t rip me away from my home and everyone I know to stay in a state I’ve never lived in,” she protested.
“Do you not like it here?” I held out my arms wide. Though it was dark out, the shadows of the mountains in the distance and the shining stars overhead covered our commune in a peaceful safety that my pack had desired for many moons.
The thought of Reese not enjoying this area felt like a silver knife to the heart.
“Of course I do.” She pushed out a breath and started walking.
I took her by the hips and steered in the opposite direction, more toward the outskirts of our commune. I wasn’t ready to share her with the remaining packmates still at our house. Or even Henry, for that matter. Selfish? Yes. But I craved alone time with her more than a drowning man desires his next breath.
“Where’re we going?”
“To talk,” I said.
“What’s there to talk about? You want me to stay here, hidden, for whatever reason.” She shrugged. “And I need to get back to my life in Texas. Hopefully, I still have a job to go back to.”
“Have you not forgotten that wolves attacked you?” I queried.
“But you took care of those wolves, didn’t you?” She looked at me with wide eyes. “They’re in like shifter jail or something, aren’t they?”
“Shifter jail?”
She nodded.
“Baby, those motherfuckers were sent to meet The Holy Mother Moon herself within twenty-four hours of attacking you.”
She inhaled sharply.
“No. They’re not in jail. We don’t have those. They are burning in the fiery depths of hell, though.”
The air around us swirled with tension. Reese lowered her eyes to the ground, and I hated that I couldn’t see what she thought.
“Then I should be safe. I can go back home,” came her eventual response.
It felt like she had kicked me in the stomach. “Am I not taking care of your needs? Do you not have everything you could want or need right here?”
She stopped walking to look up at me. “I—” Her shoulders deflated as she pushed out a sigh. “What about the residents at Creekview? How do I know they’re safe?”
“I gave you my word. I am doing everything in my power to ensure their safety.”
She tilted her head to the side but didn’t say anything.
“You don’t believe me.”
She sighed. “I do, but… I don’t want them to think I abandoned them. I left without even getting a chance to say goodbye.” She turned her head, looking away from me, but I didn’t miss the water in her eyes.
