Page 70 of Jacob

Alex fell asleep right away in the SUV that was taking them to the airport. Jacob bundled her in the backseat, put his arm around her and settled a blanket on her lap. Though she tried to stay awake to talk over what had just happened, she leaned into Jacob’s broad chest, pulled the blanket up and fell into a deep sleep that was more like a coma.

“Honey, wake up.”

Alex blinked awake, completely disoriented. She was in a vehicle which had just come to a stop. It was evening, the sky pewter-gray, sleet falling sideways.

Where were they? She looked around, and nothing made sense. They weren’t on a road though it was a paved surface that stretched to the horizon cut off by a thick fog.

The only thing she recognized was Jacob. He ran a hand over her hair.

Alex could remember a feeling of danger, a deep menace threatening them. “Are we safe?” she whispered.

“Yes, we are. And soon we’ll be back home.”

Home. Where was home? For the moment, she couldn’t even remember where she lived, could barely remember who she was.

The loud sound of engines started up and a big plane rolled out of the fog toward them, coming to a stop on the driver’s side of the car. Jacob leaned forward to tap the driver on the shoulder. “Thanks.”

The driver turned around and nodded. “Of course, sir.”

He looked exactly like all the other men of Jacob’s company that she’d seen. Fit, competent, unsmiling. The only differences she’d been able to discern had been skin and hair color. Otherwise they were interchangeable.

Jacob opened the car door. Freezing cold air swirled in and Alex shivered. He draped the blanket around her shoulders and hurried her up the steps of the plane. By the time the cold started to penetrate, they were inside the plane and the pilot had pulled the door closed with a hydraulic whump.

The pilot disappeared into the cockpit and Jacob rushed her into the plane’s bedroom. When the door closed behind them, she found herself with her back to the door and his hands spread on either side of her head.

“Fucking hell.” The words came out in a hoarse whisper. His jaw muscles flexed. “Thought I’d lost you.”

Alex leaned forward and rested her forehead on his shoulder. “I thought you had, too. That maniac was going to lock us in the lab behind the air lock. You could never have blasted your way through. Not without killing all of us.”

Jacob shuddered. He leaned forward, placing his head next to hers. She could see his fingers turning white as he held onto the door. “Scared to touch you,” he whispered. “I want to hold you, but I’m scared of hurting you.”

Alex remembered the terror she’d felt in the Colonel’s grip. Remembered how that grip had hurt, how he had wanted to hurt her. She could feel—she could almostsmell—the cruelty, the madness. Jacob would be incapable of that. She’d yearned for Jacob while being held by the Colonel. Yearned for him from the bottom of her heart.

She slipped her arms around his broad torso and hugged. Oh, God, he felt sogood.

“You won’t hurt me,” she whispered back. “You can’t. You love me.”

Jacob stilled, that big body suddenly frozen. She wasn’t offended by his silence. He was letting her words settle in him.

Jacob lifted his head, looked her in the eyes. His eyes were so fascinating. So dark that they looked black and yet there was always a light in them.

“I do,” he said starkly. “I do love you. Haven’t said the words yet.”

She reached her hand up to cup his cheek, the one with the scars. “You didn’t need to.”

“Yes, I did. Because I’ve never said them to anyone, in my life.” Jacob huffed out a breath, nudged her with his shoulder. “You haven’t said the words yet, either.”

“Don’t need to,” she answered.

His eyes lit up. “Yes, you do. You definitely need to say the words. I want to hear them.”

He wanted this, wanted it badly. She could feel it in his body, see it on his face. It occurred to her that perhaps no one had ever saidI love youto him. Her parents had told her they loved her every day of her life. But who would have said that to Jacob? It was possible some woman might have said it, but somehow she doubted that. He didn’t let anyone get close to him.

Except her.

He needed to hear those words from her. And she wanted to say them.

Alex straightened a little, looked him right in the eyes. Into his dark, shining eyes. This was important to him, and therefore important to her. “Jake Simpson, and Jacob Black, both of you. I love you.”

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