Page 19 of Her Wolf

“He’s not.”

Confusion swept away her fear, before relief washed over her face like a heavy wave, dragging her eyelids closed. “Mucho gracias, la Flaca.”

“But it didn’t matter how many samples I brought him, he kept asking for more. I don’t know why—I guess…I think he slept with Naomie.”

Cora still had her eyes closed, but shook her head at this. “No.”

“Why else would—?”

“No!” Cora’s eyes flashed open, their burnished gold searing into him. “She would never have—”

“So I brought him Sofia’s hair instead.”

“—done that to…” Cora’s voice trailed away.

He took hold of her hands again, squeezed them.

She shook her head, luminous tears brimming in her eyes. “No,” she murmured, her lips trembling. “Please, I don’t want to know. Don’t tell me—”

“Sofia was Javier’s daughter.”

“Fuck you,” she whispered, tugging at her hands. “I didn’t want to know.”

“There’s more, please, Cora. Hear me out. I can’t keep this from you. Not anymore. You have to—”

“Fuck you!” she screamed, her voice hoarse and cracked. She tried standing again, but he rose too and wrapped his arms around her before she could escape.

The more she shook in his arms, the weaker her struggles became.

“I think he was the one that arranged your kidnapping. You, Naomie’s…Sofia’s…”

There was a mumbled, “Stop,” from Cora, but she pressed her face against his chest, muffling her own protests.

“He’s been planning this for years,” Bailey said, stroking Cora’s hair. “I want you to know, I had no idea. If I’d known—”

She shoved him away, nearly sending him toppling over the ottoman. He grabbed her arm to steady himself, but she tore free and thumped a fist into his chest.

It hardly hurt, but the pain in her eyes threatened to paralyze him.

“I know he planned it,” Cora said, her words struggling through a quivering mouth. She stuck her hand up, palm inward, and shoved her wedding ring in his face. “This was hers. This was my mother’s. He gave it to me, Bailey. This was my engagement ring!”

Silence filtered down, but it was as if the echoes from those raised words still rebounded in the distant corners of the library.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked.

“Because I was trying to forget.” Her mouth hardened into a thin line. “Now that he’s gone, I thought I could. But then you come in here, and you just puke it all up again, all over me, and I don’t know how I’m ever going to—”

Bailey’s radio cut her off with a staticky, “Mike to Bravo, come in.” They both jerked at the unexpected sound, and Cora twisted away from him.

But he caught her, drawing her back and cradling her body against his.

“I had to tell you,” he said, swiping his hands over her face to push her hair from her eyes. “I need you to trust me again, Cora. You know I’d take a bullet for you, don’t you? Fuck it, I already have! But I’ll do it again if I have to.”

She glared up at him, but slowly her resolve bled away.

“I don’t know what…what this thing is,” he went on, his mouth running away from him. “But if it means I get to be close to you? To hold you? To kiss you?” He gave a small shrug. “Then I’m in.” He rubbed his thumbs along her cheekbones. “I’m all in.”

She blinked hard, her lips pursing before she spoke. “I didn’t know about Sofia,” she said quietly, and then looked down. When her eyes returned to him, those bright, wet tears threatened again. “How could my mother—?”

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