Page 58 of Unwanted

“Mating.”

“That devil.”

Jak laughed, the most open and honest laugh she’d ever heard, and Harper’s stomach flipped. “So what’s a female fox to do? How does she separate the monogamous male foxes from the chronic bachelors?”

Jak shot her a smile, obviously having garnered what monogamous meant and what a chronic bachelor was. “All males have to make a…case for themselves. Why should a female choose him? They do it in different ways. Birds sing or fluff their feathers. Some animals walk fancy or dance around.” He shot her another playful smile. “Males have a hundred ways to beg. But it’s always up to the female to give her signal that she chooses him. Until that moment, he…circles.”

Harper stepped over a rock jutting from the snow. “Not in the human world. There, men take what they want,” she murmured. She hadn’t planned to say that, but she’d been lost in the moment, and it had rolled off her tongue.

Jak gave her a curious look and then stopped, turning toward her. She came up short too. “Do you mean me?”

“Oh, no. Please don’t think that. No. I…” She pulled in a deep breath and then let it out. The forest was silent around her, the trees overhead shutting out the blue of the sky. It felt like a different world, somewhere she could be different too. It felt like a place that would keep her secrets safe. And she found she didn’t want to keep secrets from him. She wanted him to understand her, to know her. “After my parents died, the first house I was placed into was owned by a woman with a teenage son. He would come into my room at night and…touch me.”

Jak stared at her for a moment, his expression growing dark. “Touch you? Like…I touched you?”

Harper nodded, biting at her lips, struggling to keep eye contact. It was not her fault, she knew that, and yet, God, why was there still so much shame?

“But…you were a child.”

Harper bobbed her head again. “Yes. Some people have sicknesses that they carry inside. Sicknesses of their soul. That boy did.”

He studied her intently for another moment, and she could see the wheels of understanding turning in his mind. “Your parents weren’t there. You were alone.”

“Yes,” she breathed. “I mean, it would have been hard under any circumstances, but yes, with no one to turn to”—she lowered her head, shook it—“it was…awful.” The last word died on her lips, and Jak stepped forward, though haltingly. He raised his arms, his expression uncertain before he enfolded her in an embrace, pulling her against his large, solid chest, the chest that held the proof that he himself had bled and hurt so many times. Alone in a way she really had no concept of despite her own feelings of loss and abandonment.

He held her tightly, and she felt the tension seeping from her body, from her soul maybe if that were possible. Being held… When was the last time she’d been simply held close like this? Not in a romantic way, but for the sole purpose of providing solace? By her mother or father, she supposed. And, oh, how long ago that had been. Part of her wanted to weep with the sweetness of it, of the way it felt so necessary, when she hadn’t known how desperately she’d needed it. And the other part of her marveled that this man knew to provide her with it. When had he last been comforted, if he even remembered it? And if he didn’t, was this an instinctive act? The same way he’d figured out—quite adeptly—how to pleasure her body?

She hugged him back, giving him—she hoped—the same thing he was giving her.

After another minute, she pulled back, tilting her head and looking up at him. “Thank you.”

He nodded, releasing her, and she felt the loss of his body heat—the way he’d felt so strong and solid against her—immediately.

“Do you think I can ever be normal?” She turned her head and saw that he was squinting off into the distance, in the direction of Helena Springs. Civilization.

“Of course you can be normal, Jak. You already are normal. It would be an adjustment to live among people, to…adapt to society, but I don’t think it would take you long.”

He looked at her, his expression full of vulnerability. He could school his expression if he wanted to, but lord, when he didn’t attempt to, he was such an open book, each thought skating so transparently across his handsome features. “You believe in me.”

“Yes. I believe in you.”

“I believe in you too.”

She laughed, and he smiled, as though the sound brought him joy. Truly, though, his words made her feel powerful. He had both internal and external scars to contend with, and she did too. But they would both adjust, both overcome, both thrive. In that moment, she believed it with every fiber of her being.

Jak’s smile faded, and she saw worry in his eyes. “I don’t know where to start.”

“I’ll help you.” Her mind spun. He’d need an ID first. She’d bet Agent Gallagher would be able to help with that. He’d need… She cut off her cluttered thoughts. He’d need help, guidance, yes, and she’d have to consider how big a role she should play in that, but in any case, she could point him in the right direction. She had faith that he could take it from there. She’d meant it when she’d said she believed in him. “I’ll help you help yourself. You can do anything once you know where to start.”

That same worry and vulnerability appeared in his expression.

Harper stopped, bending and retrieving a long twig on top of the crust of snow. She formed it into a circle and then gestured for Jak to bend. He did, a look of curiosity on his face, his gaze intent. Their breath mingled, chemistry sizzled the way it simply did whenever they were close that way, and she placed the makeshift crown upon his head. “There,” she said, a slight hitch in her voice. “I, Harper Ward, appoint you King of your Own Destiny from this day forward. May you rule your subject with dignity, kindness, and…patience.”

He stood to his full height and then removed the crown from his head. “And I, Jak, appoint you Queen of your Own Destiny from this day forward. Be good to your subject.” He smiled a bit bashfully, and Harper laughed as he placed the “crown” upon her head.

She took his hand in hers again, and they walked through the snowy forest hand in hand. She had no idea what would be in their future. In his. In hers. But she’d never felt so…embraced. And in that moment, with the white of winter surrounding them, she didn’t feel the cold. Because neither Harper nor Jak was alone to face whatever came next.

Chapter Thirty-Two

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