“Yep.”
“Is your word that powerful?”
He shrugged. “It’s pretty powerful, but I’d also put up everything I own as collateral. Well, and they’d have me. So you’d never have to worry.”
“Oh.” She let out a breath. “Then I guess it’s a good thing that nobody knows what I know.”
“Yes, it is.”
“But what a nightmare if they found out.” Everything he owned, and even Jake himself, would be held hostage to guarantee that she’d keep her mouth shut. She’d always known the stakes were high, but this laid it out for her in detail. “You don’t have to worry, Jake. I will never let you down.”
“I know that.” He gazed at her tenderly as he combed his fingers through her hair.
“Not even under torture. At least I hope not. I’ve never been tortured, so I might crack right away.”
“Fortunately, I can’t imagine why anyone would torture you, so I think we’re okay there. But wow, you do have quite an imagination.”
“So you say, but it took me several days to figure out you were a werewolf.”
“But you did figure it out. I should have realized you would, with the way your brain works.”
She studied him. “You know how in the cop shows it often turns out that the criminal really wants to be caught?”
“I guess. I don’t watch much TV.”
“Me, either, but I’ve picked up on that common thread. Anyway, my point is that you secretly wanted me to find out about you.”
“No.” He frowned. “No, I definitely didn’t.”
“Are you sure? Search your heart, Jake, and tell me you weren’t hoping, even though you didn’t want to admit it to yourself, that I’d break the code.”
He hesitated, a reluctant smile on his lips. “Okay, maybe. I’ll give you a maybe. That’s not easy to confess, but if I’d really wanted to eliminate the temptation of you, I could have moved away from here three years ago, or anytime since then.”
“Exactly.” She took a deep breath. “So.”
“So.”
“You’ll become the Hunter pack alpha.” She forced herself to say that with enthusiasm. She was feeling a little better about all of it. His gentle touch had soothed the turbulent emotions rolling through her.
“That’s the way it looks. And until you mentioned it, I wasn’t aware that I wanted to lead a pack. The thought hadn’t crossed my mind, even though something made me buy that T-shirt. I didn’t analyze why I liked it so much. That insight came from you.” Warmth glowed in his green eyes. “Thank you for that.”
“So it all falls into place.” She was determined that he wouldn’t know that her heart was breaking. “Maybe that was my role, to make you aware of what you were missing in your life. Then when the opportunity came along, which it has, you can take it because you know it’s the right decision.”
He lightly massaged her scalp. “For me. But what about you, Rachel?”
Laying the book on the bedside table, she leaned forward and placed her hands on his broad shoulders. “I come out smelling like a rose. I have a career because your father posed for a picture and you bought the first carving inspired by that picture. I don’t have a single complaint.”
“But that happened years ago.” He cupped her face in his big hands and stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. “Then I charged into your life uninvited and turned it upside down. I feel as if I’m leaving a mess.”
“No, you aren’t. You saved me from getting mauled by a bear. A bear attack could have ended my career, and maybe my life. So there’s another reason for me to be eternally grateful to you.”
“I just . . . want to make sure you’re going to be okay.”
She squeezed his shoulders. “Of course I’ll be okay. Better than okay.” She soldiered on, because he was damn well not going to feel sorry for her. “Your role wasn’t that different, really. You allowed me to see what I was missing in my life.”
“I did?”
“You bet. Thanks to you, I’m planning to find a worthy partner to share my bed. I deserve that.” And didn’t that sound spunky and proactive? Damn straight. “If it takes a while to come up with someone as wonderful as you, then so be it. At least I’m motivated to search him out.”
He was quiet for a moment as his gaze probed hers. Finally he sighed. “Am I allowed to hate that idea?”
Ah, knowing that he’d be jealous felt so good. “Only if I’m allowed to hate the thought of you hooking up with some perfect little werewolf who will give you purebred werewolf children.”
His smile had a touch of sadness. “Fair enough.”
“I don’t suppose you could bite me and turn me into a werewolf?”
He shook his head. “That’s another myth.”
“I figured. Just thought I’d ask.” Her chest felt tight, as if someone had shoved her into a straitjacket. “So it’s decided. You’ll go to Idaho and become the Hunter alpha,” she said again. Maybe repeating it would make it easier to bear.
“Yeah, I think it’s the right thing to do. They need me.”
She recognized the powerful appeal of that. She needed him, too, but she wasn’t about to compete with an entire werewolf pack. “How soon?”
“They don’t want to take any more time than necessary. I told them to give me until tomorrow to decide. But assuming I agree, which I’m planning to, they’d like me to pack up my truck in the morning and drive in tandem with them back to Idaho.”
The suddenness of that shocked her, but she worked hard to make sure he didn’t notice. “What about your cabin?”
“I’ll contact an agent first thing in the morning and sell it furnished.”
She wanted to cry. She’d sat on that sofa, eaten dinner at his patio table, made love in his bed. She couldn’t imagine strangers moving into his place. Knowing he lived across the lake, even before they’d become lovers, had given her life a little extra shine.
That was about to change, and she wasn’t sure she could deal with it. She would, though. If this was what Jake wanted, then she would send him on his way with a cheerful smile and a joyful heart. That was what you did when you loved someone.
Chapter 22
It couldn’t end any other way. Jake had known that from the moment he’d met Rachel three years ago in the Polecat General Store. He’d known it and he’d fought the attraction until finally he couldn’t fight it anymore.
And now they’d come to this—last kisses, last touches, last words murmured in the silky half-light of Alaska’s midnight sun. They undressed each other slowly, peeling back layers of clothing to stroke skin heated by a desire that would leave each of them burning for days, weeks, perhaps the rest of their lives.
But the Hunters’ arrival, right when he was struggling with his feelings for Rachel, had an inevitability about it. They were supposed to come and give him a reason to leave her. But he wasn’t leaving yet, and her long, lithe body beckoned him.
Once all her clothes were gone, she stretched out on the bed and opened her arms. Jake silently accepted her invitation. Gliding over her, he breathed in the intoxicating scent that had beguiled him from that first day. Lying beneath him, touched by the golden light from the bedside lamp, she was more beautiful than he ever could have imagined on that fateful day three years ago.
He’d fantasized about her for three long years, but nothing he’d imagined had been as potent as the woman herself. He knew she would haunt his dreams for a very long time. But his path was set, and it didn’t include her. That was better for both of them.
Still, his heart wept at the thought of leaving her. Leaning down to kiss her eyes, her cheeks, and her lips, he murmured his thanks for all she’d given him. She’d allowed him to love her, and she’d willingly accepted the limits he’d placed on that loving. While he’d had limits, she’d had none.