Chapter 6 #2
I stared at the picture, my throat feeling tight. His hair was dark blonde then, his eyes the same soft brown. There were dark rings under them, and his mouth was tight.
When Rhett first came to us…
“He’s adopted?” I asked, staring across the kitchen to where his back was to us. Bubbles moved around his forearms as he washed dishes.
It felt wrong talking about his past without his permission. Especially when I knew he could probably hear the whole conversation.
Cindy chuckled. “Take a look at those boys. Do they look like brothers?”
“They act like brothers.”
“We are brothers,” Ross said as he passed us, disappearing down a dark hallway at the end of the kitchen.
“We tried for years, but Kenneth and I could never have kids of our own.” She smiled, pointing at another picture. Rhett was bigger in this one, and he was grinning from ear to ear. His arms were wrapped around a tall, skinny boy with a deadly scowl on his face.
That had to be Tyler. The dark hair and brooding expression were the same.
Cindy kept turning pages, telling a story for every photo. Their family photo expanded every few pages, another scared, small boy added to the mix. In the middle of them, Rhett was beaming, his arms wrapped securely around his new brothers—protecting them.
The last picture in the album was one I’d seen hanging on the wall in the living room. Four boys huddled together, taller and broader, but not nearly as filled in as they were now.
Tyler’s mouth was in a straight line—the closest he seemed to come to a smile. Dustin had a boyish grin. Ross had his head inclined slightly, staring up at his brothers like they hung the moon. Then there was Rhett, smile wide, eyes bright.
My chest jolted, and I felt nervous energy fluttering through me.
He was so handsome. So thoughtful. So safe.
I’d never met a man like him before, and I was suddenly stricken with the realization that this would be over in just a few days.
This was the first and only time I would see his family.
Watch him sit quietly and comfortably at the dinner table as he assessed everyone to see that they had everything they needed.
Cindy was watching as I fingered the corner of the page, chewing my lip. Her gaze was penetrating, and I had this feeling like she could see right through me.
“Rhett takes care of everyone else,” she told me softly. “He deserves to have someone take care of him too.”
My response came tumbling out unplanned, like my heart had already decided before my head could get on board. “I’ll take care of him. I promise.”
What the actual hell, Angie? You can’t promise that. He’s going to drop you at the airport in less than a week.
It wasn’t a lie. I would take good care of him. I just didn’t say how long.
Cindy yawned, leaning back in her chair. The lines around her eyes looked deeper, and her skin was pale. “I think it’s time for me to retire. Thanks for visiting with me, Angie. You’re a good girl.”
She opened her arms, and I didn’t hesitate to accept her hug. The strength of her surprised me. When she put her hand at the back of my head, rubbing gently, I had to squeeze my eyes against the burn of tears.
What was it like to have a mother like Cindy? Someone who would love you unconditionally, even if you weren’t family by blood? Someone who would fight for you, not with you?
Cindy released me, calling for Tyler to help her to bed. I stood from the table, coming up to Rhett at the sink. When my hand settled on his back, he sighed.
“Hey,” he murmured, lifting a plate out of the bubbly water on one side of the sink and setting it on the other.
“Hey yourself.”
“Thanks for humoring her. That meant a lot to her.”
“Why don’t you let me finish the dishes? I feel like a mooch.”
“You’re a guest. We’re supposed to wait on you.”
I scooped up a handful of bubbles and flicked them at him. “That’s weird, and I don’t like it.”
Rhett chuckled. “Stop being so antsy. Do you ever just sit still and relax?”
“Relax? Can you define that for me?”
He paused in his cleaning, using his foot to hook my leg and pull me closer. His lips pressed to my forehead, my skin tingling as he said, “Things are about to change for you.”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to interpret the vague sentence, but Rhett had already returned to the dishes, face forward and calm.
I swallowed, feeling much less at ease.
“You can put the lids on those containers and set them in the fridge if you really need something to do.” He gestured to the leftovers on the kitchen island.
Tyler was helping Cindy up from the table. I waved goodnight to her, then got to work clicking on lids. I was almost finished when Dustin appeared from behind the fridge door, startling a squeak out of me.
“Did I scare you?”
“You move so quietly.”
He shrugged. “It’s a wolf thing. I can’t help it.”
My hand was still on my heart, drawing Dustin’s attention. He eyed my tattoos, gaze roving over the moons before it settled onto my neck.
“Mates, huh?” He followed me back to the island, leaning against it. “How come you didn’t let him mark you yet?”
Rhett whirled around. “Don’t ask her that. It’s none of your business.”
“It’s just that fated mates are in short supply. It seems risky to leave her unmarked. I could swoop in and take her for myself.” Dustin grinned, clearly pleased to get a reaction from his otherwise quiet brother.
I froze as he flicked my hair off my shoulder, leaning over me with his teeth bared. This was officially taking the joke too far.
Glass shattered. Rhett was completely rigid as he marched from the sink, eyes glowing. The angles of his face were sharper. A growl sawed from his throat.
This was not cool, collected Rhett from a minute ago, and I had a feeling that a man as controlled as him was dangerous when that control finally snapped.
Dustin put his hands up, stepping away from me. “Hey, c’mon, I was kidding.”
Rhett descended on his brother. Without thinking, I intercepted him, stepping between the two men and dropping my hands on Rhett’s shoulders. He crushed me to his chest, breathing heavily, his eyes never leaving Dustin.
I started walking against him, and he didn’t resist, letting me push him away from his brother. I could feel eyes on the back of my head, but I ignored them, steering Rhett to a sliding glass door. He was shaking so violently he could barely pull it open.
I hissed when my bare feet touched the snow, the cold seizing my lungs. Rhett lifted me off the ground.
Then he was running, black silhouettes of trees flying past us. It was pitch black in the forest, not a glimmer of starlight penetrating the canopy.
My breath puffed around my head. Fear slithered through me as we moved further and further away from the house.
“Rhett? Where are you taking me?”
He stopped abruptly, leaning my back against a tree. My legs were wrapped snugly around his waist, hands clinging to his shoulders.
My heart thundered in my ears, and when his mouth came over that same spot on my neck, my stomach flipped.
Teeth grazed my sensitive skin, and suddenly I couldn’t feel the cold. I was on fire, heat radiating from where he sucked at my neck all the way to the place between my legs, where I could feel him hard through his jeans.
He rolled his hips lightly, sucking and nibbling my neck. I held my breath, trying to resist the pleasure blooming in my core.
If I let this go further, it wouldn’t be a hookup. Another part of our ruse.
It wouldn’t be pretending anymore—not for me.
I didn’t want that. I wanted Rhett so desperately I was trembling, but not like this.
The cold seeped back into me, and Rhett seemed to notice. He eased his mouth from my neck, lips brushing lightly over the bruised skin.
“Now no one can doubt you’re mine.”
Our eyes locked, his blazing gold. It felt real.
It felt real, and I was panicking.
Rhett sighed, his expression tight. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually lose control like that.”
He set me down, my feet dropping deep into the snow. Then he ripped his shirt over his head, placing it on the ground for me to stand on.
A flush of feverish heat burned through me again at the sight of his toned stomach. I didn’t take myself for a girl to swoon over broad shoulders and rock-hard abs, but here I was ready to climb him like a tree.
With those glowing eyes, Rhett’s amiable smile took on a wicked edge. “My wolf needs out. It won’t take long.”
His wolf needed out. He said it casually, like he needed to take his dog for a walk.
Except his dog was a massive predator that lived inside him. Turned into him? I didn’t even know.
“Okay, I’ll just go wait—" I swiveled my head, realizing I couldn’t go wait anywhere unless he brought me back to the house. I had no idea where we were. I could hardly see him in front of me.
He wasn’t so invisible in the dark that I didn’t see his hands working the button on his jeans. Then he was yanking them down, handing them to me like this was the most normal thing in the world.
I gaped, averting my eyes at the last second as his briefs joined the bundle of clothes in my arms.
Rhett fell to his knees, skin shimmering and blurring. His shoulders pinched together, his arms lengthening.
It happened so fast, my mind couldn’t make sense of it.
The wolf before me was a beautiful brown color, the perfect match for Rhett’s hair. His eyes had the same glow, flecks of brown swimming in a pool of molten gold. They burned into me, and the sensation in my chest went crazy.
Or maybe that was my heart, pounding out of my ribs as a wolf twice my size zipped through the snow to pounce on me.