“And how is that exactly?”
“He has you locked in.He wants Wolf for some reason, and he made it clear that I’m part of the equation.I have to stay for it all to work.”
“Fuck that.”My neck tenses.“I won’t allow you to be caged by him or this place or anyone.Nobody decides your future except you.If and when you’re ready to leave, I’ll make it happen.Understand?”
“Go shower, Jag.”She stares at her hands on her lap.“Then we’ll talk.”
“Stay in this room.”I leave her there and strip in the bathroom.
In the shower, I let the hot spray pound my skin as my thoughts start to unravel.
Deep down, I know they aren’t going back to Alaska.
Wolf is already mentally and emotionally committed to me and Dove and a life with the cartel.
And the moment I tell Dove about the promise I made to her mother and the twenty years I sacrificed to keep her alive, it will upend everything she stands on.
She’ll need time to process it.Then she’ll forgive me.And she’ll want to stay.
Every instinct I have tells me to take that choice away from her, to lie to her and let her hate me if that’s what sends her running from this place and its teeth.
That’s how I’ve always handled things.I decide for her, absorb the damage, and move us forward, whether she understands or not.That was the job when she was a kid.
But she isn’t anymore.
She’s not my ward.She’s not the little sister who trusted me because she had no alternative.She’s a woman who deserves the truth, even if it drags her deeper into the cartel.
And it isn’t just her and me against the world anymore.
There’s Wolf.
A vote already cast.A third axis I’ll never control.A future already bending around him.
I scrub my hands over my face and down my chest, trying to wash off the instinct to manipulate instead of protect.I have to relearn where my authority ends.
Shutting off the water, I step out, reach for a towel, and freeze.
Dove sits cross-legged on the vanity, watching me with unreadable eyes.I was so buried in my thoughts that I didn’t even hear her sneak in.
“Before we dive into the topic of you and me…” Her gaze lowers down my naked body, lingers on my thigh tattoo, pauses on my hardening cock, and skitters back to my gaze.“I want to address my concerns about Wolf.”
“Go ahead.”I wipe the towel across my skin.
“You read his journal and probably know about his last panic attack.”
“I know I triggered a full-blown breakdown that started on the pier and ended in a freezing shower.”
“Okay.”She nods as if checking off a box.“Good.I don’t know if you and Wolf have already… If you’re, uh…”
“If we’re fucking?No.We’ve been taking it slow.Lots of kissing, touching, and coming.”I drop my voice to a purr.“I’ve had him in my mouth.”
“Oh.”A flush reddens her neck.“He enjoys it, then?Being with you?”
“No question.”
“So… That answers that.”She straightens, bracing her hands behind her on the vanity.“He likes men and women.”
“He’s attracted to you and me.That’s all that matters.”
