Trust
Page 10
Taylor put her head back down on his shoulder. “Oh.”
He could tell that something he’d said made her uncomfortable. Venturing a guess, he said, “You’ll be just as safe there as you are here. No one’s going to find you.”
Alder knew what it was like to be hunted. In years past, when humans had invaded the pack’s lands, running and hiding had been the only reality he’d known. He would do everything he could to make sure Taylor never had to live in fear.
“I can protect you,” he said. “I can’t say if living in the wilderness is better than Mexico City, or wherever it was you were going, but I’m going to do everything I can to give you a good life.”
“Alder…” She chewed her lip. “Isn’t this your home? Why would you want to leave it behind?”
He wanted to tell her everything. About the life he envisioned for them and the family he wanted with her, but he could tell she’d been through enough for one night.
“This isn’t what I want anymore,” he told her.
When they had finished bathing, Alder walked her to the cabin. He’d wanted to bring her to the den, but she’d been adamantly opposed to the idea. While he didn’t like leaving her out in the cabin, he knew the area was safe, so he didn’t protest.
She stopped him when they arrived at the porch. “You don’t have to come in. I’m sure you’ve got things to do.”
Alder had a lot to do. He still hadn’t found out what Hale had done to incite the Whiteriver pack. He had half a mind to make arrangements to leave immediately, and if Hale didn’t have a damn good excuse for what had happened, Alder wouldn’t be sticking around to help him clean up the mess.
“I’ll come by and check on you in a few hours,” he told her. “Get some rest. Forget about Hale, okay?”
She nodded. “I’ve honestly already forgotten all about him.”
* * *
Taylor closed the door. Leaning back against it, she sank to the floor and put her head in her hands. The air was musty and the floor was coated in dust, but she didn’t care. All she needed was some alone time to decompress and try to process what was happening in her crazy life.
“Is he gone?”
Taylor was so over being startled that she hardly jumped when Lark stepped out of the darkness, her head low as she peeked out the window.
“What are you doing here?” Taylor groaned, running a hand through her hair.
“Sometimes I sleep here,” Lark said. “I like being surrounded by wood. It reminds me of when I used to live in a tree. Hey, are you okay?”
No, she was not okay, not in the slightest. The man she’d met less than a week ago—the impossibly gorgeous and frustratingly perfect man—wanted to leave his home and his life behind to be with her. Her. The woman who just an hour ago couldn’t even tell him apart from his evil twin! Oh, and there was the fact that she was still wanted for murder by the federal government.
“I’m fine,” Taylor said under her breath.
Lark squatted beside her. “Are you sure? You look a little pale.”
If looks could kill, Taylor would have been responsible for another murder.
“It’s complicated,” she told Lark as she slumped against the door. “So very, very complicated.”
Honesty
What did Hale do? What did Taylor do? What is Alder hiding?
Hale isn’t even remotely interested in Taylor—at least that’s what he keeps telling her. But that doesn’t explain why he seems to be everywhere she goes and why he can’t seem to keep his hands off her.
As Taylor struggles to maintain her new relationship with Alder, Hale threatens to drive a wedge between them. But is it because he wants her gone, or because he wants her for himself?
COMING SEPTEMBER 2014
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