Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 215412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 862(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 862(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
She would be protected here the way the inner circle protects its own, guarded around the clock, and folded into the family.
But she would never be allowed to leave this life.
A marble cage.
That’s precisely why I can’t make it hers.
“This is us.” She pauses at the entrance of a private suite and leans into the retinal scanner.
I need to break into that device and change the security so that only the three of us can enter. But it can wait.
Dove comes first.
The double doors swing open, and I follow her into a massive space with a bedroom and en suite bathroom at one end and a sitting room and kitchenette at the other. Splashes of blue and gold textiles break up the monotony of white marble.
The bed dominates my field of view, wide enough for three bodies without negotiation, dressed in layered linens that look too expensive to touch.
I don’t admire it. I clear it.
My eyes go straight to corners, ceilings, and shadows, looking for places to hide electronics. No visible cameras. No obvious recording devices. Nothing jumps out on a first pass.
The balcony doors open to a citrus grove and the rainforest beyond it.
In the walk-in closet, Wolf’s luggage lines up along the wall, ready to fill shelves and drawers. My single bag sits among the others.
I know Wolf packed an entire closet for me. And for her. Clothes chosen with intention and the assumption of time. Not days. Not weeks.
A while.
Maybe forever.
I cross the suite in long strides, opening doors and testing echoes. The bathroom is outrageous. My largest apartment would’ve fit into one corner of it.
This is more space than I would ever need. More luxury than I could ever give her.
I don’t have a life outside of protecting Dove. I’ve never considered marriage, children, or settling down with someone else. I wouldn’t know how to hold those things without breaking them.
Maybe that’s why no one has ever loved me. Not the way my little bird did all those years ago.
And now there’s Wolf. And the possibility of Dove choosing me again. Maybe this isn’t love by anyone else’s definition, but it feels like it is. It frightens me as much as it thrills me, making my head spin and knocking my balance off center.
“I didn’t request this.” I pause at the foot of the bed, staring at the promise of it. “There were no discussions about sleeping arrangements.”
“I know.” She sits on the corner of the mattress. “Matias told me how it would be.”
“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.”