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Rhys lifted a hand and rubbed a thumb along her jaw in a light, tender stroke. “You don’t have to remember,” he said. “It’s in your blood.”
Amaia frowned, feeling conflicted and increasingly confused. “I don’t shift, Rhys. Regardless of whether my dad was a wolf, I definitely am not.” Why was that suddenlydisappointing?
“I know,” Rhys said. “I’m not asking you to make a decision today.” He cupped her jaw in his hand, trapping her gaze with his. “The only thing Iamasking is that you hear me out. I know you weren’t prepared for this. I won’t drag you back with me against your will—”
Amaia sucked in a breath. “You’re leaving?”
“Eventually I’ll have to,” Rhys said, dropping her gaze. “I’m Alpha of the pack, I can’t abandon them.”
Her insides clenched. “You’re Alpha? That means you’re their leader, right?” Her heart hammered in her ears. “There’s no way someone like me would be accepted!” She’d be socially—maybe even physically—destroyed at every opportunity by jealous, distrustful, and judgmental werewolves who didn’t appreciate their leader taking a human as his mate.
Her eyes widened as she processed her panicking thoughts.Where did that come from?Why would she make that sort of assumption? And why did it hurt so much to realize what she thought she’d already known—that Rhys would walk out of her life as easily as he’d walked into it?
Suddenly Amaia was flush against Rhys’s body. His arms folded around her torso, one hand splayed low on her back and the other tucked up at her nape. “Yes, I’m leader of the pack,” he said, his voice deep and reassuring. “And as alpha, I can promise you, no matter your choice, no harm will come to you in Marlow.”
She drew a ragged breath of his scent without lifting her forehead from his shoulder. The conviction in his voice calmed her in a way she couldn’t describe. She gave no conscious thought to wrapping her arms around his torso, only realizing she’d even done so when her fingers pressed into the warm flesh of his back. “I’m so overwhelmed,” she mumbled. “This morning I was bored senseless, feeling like I was drowningand completely alone.” The admission kind of hurt to put into words, but the pain vanished when his embrace tightened. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Now you’re telling me there’s a huge secret to my past, and I’m what, your soulmate? So if I accept that, I should obviously go with you. It’s not like I’ve got a lot going on here, but that still feels like a big ask.”
The hand at her nape slid up to the back of her head, and Rhys bent forward until his breath rushed over her ear. “I know,” he said, speaking quieter. He started to say more but was cut off by the intrusive ringing of her phone. Rhys tensed immediately.
The invasive ringtone snapped Amaia to her senses. She retreated from Rhys’s comforting embrace as she tugged her phone from a pocket, muttering an embarrassed apology as she did so. Was she really entertaining this? They were talking about forsaking her entire life, literally everything she and her mother had built for her. Her mother who had left some very important details about her life out of every single conversation they’d ever had.
What am I supposed to do?She put the phone to her ear without paying much attention to the ID. “Hello?”
“Hello,” said an unfamiliar male voice. “This is Carl from Fryer’s. Is Amaia Reynolds available?”
Her scattered mind struggled to catch up. Fryer’s. The most desperate of all the applications she’d submitted. It seemed laughable they were the first to respond. She cleared her throat awkwardly, ducking her gaze from Rhys’s watchful eyes. “Yes, that’s me.”
“Good afternoon, Ms. Reynolds,” Carl said. “We’ve reviewed your application and if you’re still looking, we’d be happy to schedule an interview. Can you come in on Friday?”
She opened her mouth but hesitated with her response. She’d applied for the position of hostess at the semi-familiar restaurant out of a pure need to start making some money. Evenas she’d submitted the application, she’d sort of hoped they wouldn’t call her back, or at least that she’d be in a position to decline by the time they did. What business did a thirty-six-year-old woman have taking a job so often given out to teenagers and twentysomethings? She needed income, that was what.Except…Her situation was so much more complicated now than she could have imagined.
Carl wanted to know if she could come in for an interview. The truth was she didn’t know. Her grip tightened on the phone. She didn’t dare turn to look back toward Rhys, but she could feel him watching her. What was it she’d just told him? Hadn’t she just confessed how lonely she was?
“Ms. Reynolds?” Carl asked when she was quiet a little too long.
Amaia swallowed hard. This could be the stupidest thing she’d ever done. But life without risk wasn’t exactly exciting, was it? “I’m sorry,” she said. “My situation has actually changed. Please disregard my application.” Her choice clearly surprised him, but she made a point to thank him for the call before disconnecting and tucking her phone away. She drew one more stabilizing breath and faced Rhys again. “Would it be asking too much … to see Marlow, and my dad’s grave, before I make my choice?”
Chapter Six
Rhys had never felt more nervous. After a little over a week of helping Amaia straighten her affairs, they’d finally made it to Idaho. The closer they got to Marlow, the tighter his stomach twisted. He wanted Amaia to set foot in the tucked-away, forested community and fall instantly in love. Marlow was her home, whether she remembered it or not. That meant she was part of the pack, no matter how long she’d been gone. He wanted her to feel that connection from her first breath.
He didn’t know what he’d do if she chose to leave.
He’d spent only eight days in her company, zero nights in her bed, and already she had become his life. She hadn’t yet accepted him as her mate, she hadn’t been raised as she should have, and she didn’t have a shifter’s faith in fate. He understood that. He was willing to work to earn her affection. But in the meantime, everything felt like it was up in the air in a way he’d never experienced. He’d never been in a position to lose so much.
“Is there anything else you need, Alpha?” Thomas asked as he came to stand just within arm’s reach. The older man had dutifully answered Rhys’s call to pick them up from the county airport, but he undoubtedly understood Rhys’s desire to be alone with Amaia. At least while he could.
Rhys glanced toward her, having to suppress a smile at the sight of her already captivated by the view beyond the main floor’s large bay window. “Find Davis and tell him I want the pack gathered at the main hall in an hour. That’ll be easier than just letting everyone trickle over at their leisure.” He’d rather give Amaia more time to settle in, but there would be no avoiding this, and to try would ultimately make it worse. If she was worried about hard feelings or awkward tensions, she needed to make a proper greeting.
Thomas nodded. “Certainly.” He paused, and a smile lifted the edges of his lips. “But if I may … welcome home, Alpha.” He inclined his head before letting himself out, leaving Rhys alone in his family home with his only hope of a future.
Rhys raked a hand through his hair, exhaling what nerves he could, and strode up to her. In her city, in another state, it hadn’t been too difficult to put off thinking about all the potential trials still ahead. He’d made his peace with the fact that Amaia was hybrid. Flesh or fur, two legs or four, none of that made a difference to him. But he would be the first Adler to mate a non-shifter. As far as they knew, he’d be the first of his family to mate anyone with human ancestry. He suspected some of his pack would struggle with accepting Amaia as their Luna. He feared too much pushback would chase Amaia away altogether.
Amaia looked up at him when he settled at her side. “It’s so beautiful here,” she said, smiling. “I know I’ve only been looking through windows so far, but it’s almost like stepping into a storybook the way this village is nestled into the forest.” Her gaze returned to the window as she spoke. “It makes me sad I didn’t get to grow up here.”
Rhys laid a hand on the small of her back. “That’s probably my fault,” he said. At her sound of confusion, he elaborated on Thomas’s prevailing theory. “If I was as insistent on sticking around you as I’ve been told, it’s possible the adults in our lives suspected the bond that would develop between us. I imagine your mother ran thinking she was protecting you from being punished for my affections.” It was the nicest way he could phrase it because the other option was that her mother had run to keep Amaia from discovering and embracing her own destiny. Andthatpossibility infuriated him.
Amaia sighed quietly and leaned into his side. “So you’re saying I’m about to be very unpopular.”
