Page 100 of Tracking Wolfe

I nodded once. And instead of hauling him up by his shirt and knocking his teeth out the way I wanted to, I turned and left.

Outside, the night air was cold and clean after the stuffy heat of the interrogation room. I moved to the rental car and sat in the driver’s seat, staring at the dark street beyond the parking lot.

I felt somewhat better. Wolfe would be furious when I told him I’d gotten involved, but I was a protector, dammit.

By profession. By nature.

Gabe had told me that everyone wanted to be seen by the person they loved.

I knew Wolfe wanted to be seen as competent. Mature. Capable.

But if we were going to have any chance at a future together, he needed to see me, too. He needed to trust that my desire to protect him from hurt and danger didn’t mean I saw him as weak.

I needed him to trust me with his secrets.

And, I realized, I needed to trust him with mine.

Because there were things I’d been holding back, too. From Wolfe. From myself. From Derek and Jude.

My feelings for Wolfe, my homesickness for family… and the knowledge that Wolfe was Fletcher Coe.

I’d wanted Wolfe to come to me about it. To tell me on his own. But the longer I waited to share what I knew, the more it felt like a wedge between us.

So I’d tell him in the morning. Gently. When he was rested and his ankle felt better. When the threat to his safety stopped clawing up my throat and I could breathe again.

And I’d confess about going to see Jake, too, though he’d hate it.

I pulled into the campground and parked in my usual spot. My body was already craving the solid warmth of Wolfe tucked against my chest.

When I slid the door open, part of me worried he wouldn’t be in there. That he’d be missing again. Then I recognized his familiar shape under the duvet and let out a breath.

Wolfe was here. He was safe.

And if I had anything to say about it…

He was mine.

25

WOLFE

I came awake slowly, feeling the low throb in my ankle first. Memories of falling, of being cold and wet and alone, quickly followed.

When I reached back a hand and found Trace’s warm, solid body next to me, I let out a breath. Then I lay there and let my brain spin out in a million directions.

Trace. What would happen when we returned to our regular lives?

My job. What even was my regular life anymore? Did I want to keep working for the foundation? No. I knew at least that much now.

My parents. How the fuck would they react to the news that Trace and I were… well, we were something? Could I see myself sitting them down and calmly explaining that I was Fletcher Coe? No.

It had been two months of living in this van, and I felt like I was no closer to having answers for my life than the day I’d left Legacy.

But I did have a solution for the Jake situation.

As I came more awake, remnants of my dream faded. I’d been on the deck of my grandparents’ house in Legacy, laughing and drinking with my cousins. Gabe had been holding a Nintendo Switch in his hands and explaining how you could hypothetically use one to infiltrate the Indian Parliament.

I wasn’t sure what any of it meant, but I knew my brain had dreamed of Gabe for a reason.