Fear sliced through him, sharp and sudden. If he kissed her, he would lose the careful walls he’d built. She would feel the secret beneath his skin. The strength he couldn’t fully hide. The truth would claw its way out, and she would never look at him the same again.
Jakob jerked away as though burned. “I can’t.”
Mallory froze. Confusion flickered across her face, quickly followed by something far worse.
Hurt.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, stepping back. “I shouldn’t have…it was stupid…”
“No.” His voice cracked, betraying him. “You did nothing wrong.”
“Then what?” Her eyes searched his, desperate for something that made sense.
He dragged a hand down his face before his nails bit into his palm as he fought the instinct tearing him apart. “Because if I kiss you,” he rasped, “I won’t stop.”
For one suspended heartbeat, she looked like she might step toward him anyway. He couldn’t let that happen.
Jakob turned sharply and strode away. His boots crunched hard through the snow as he fled down the ridge. He didn’t look back. If he did, he would go to her. He would take her into his arms and damn the consequences.
Luckily he could hear her footsteps chase after him.
And Jakob hated himself with every step. For wanting her, for protecting her, and for knowing that the truth inside him would always keep her just out of reach.
CHAPTER 8
Mallory
By the time Mallory made it back to the resort, the sun was fully up and casted the lobby in a bright, warm, light. Her body felt wrung out. She was tired, warm, and humming in places she refused to examine too closely. She slipped inside as quietly as she could and hoped against reason that no one had noticed her absence.
Hope, apparently, was not on her side.
“Mallory MacDougal, you’ve got some explaining to do!”
She froze.
Violet stood near the elevators with her arms crossed and eyes that blazed with equal parts relief and fury. Brooke hovered beside her and held coffee cups in both hands with her ponytail crooked. She stared like she’d just spotted a ghost.
“It would be my luck to catch them getting breakfast,” Mallory muttered to herself.
“Oh my God,” Brooke breathed as she surged forward to wrap Mallory in a fierce hug. “You’re alive.”
Violet followed a beat late and crushed them both together. “You disappeared. All night. No text. No call. Do youhave any idea how close we were to filing a missing persons report?”
Mallory laughed weakly and the tension finally loosened in her chest. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“Save it,” Violet said, but she was smiling now. “You arenotgetting out of this.”
They dragged her back to their room like bounty hunters and plopped her onto the edge of the bed while Brooke locked the door with dramatic flair. Violet shoved a cup of coffee into her hands.
“Okay, you.” Brooke perched on the desk chair and spun toward her. “Start talking.”
Violet grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest. “Tell us everything. I heard a rumor in the cafe that the king was missing last night, too.”
“He was with you, wasn’t he?”
Mallory’s cheeks instantly flared.
“Ohhh,” Violet sang. “That face. He totally was.”
