Page 18 of Secret Wolf Baby

Reacher shot me a look that very clearly communicated I should keep my mouth shut. Then he turned back to the door and opened it.

Jackson stood in the hall, his hands in his pockets. The slight frown on his lips and the small furrow in his brow gave him gravitas that sent shivers down my spine. I wanted to fall into his arms despite myself, despite the great anger I still had toward him.

“Everything all right?” he asked, his tone making it clear that he already knew the answer was no.

“Of course,” Reacher said. “Audrey’s just so excited that she isn’t able to properly articulate it. I was just trying to help calm her down a bit so she could properly express her enthusiasm.”

Jackson gave me a look that told me he didn’t believe Reacher for a second. “Are you all right?”

“I just told you, she’s fine,” Reacher said impatiently.

“I asked her, not you,” Jackson snapped, a hint of wolf flashing in his gaze. He turned back to look at me, and an old softness returned. He was looking at me the way he did all those years ago. “Are you all right?” he asked.

I couldn’t help myself. I glanced over at Reacher. I didn’t need the withering glare my alpha shot me when he was certain Jackson wasn’t looking to know how I was supposed to answer. Part of me wanted to be honest, to tell him that no, in no way was I all right. But the thought of what Reacher might do to me or Claire if I told the truth made the words lodge in my throat.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“See?” Reacher said. “She’s fine. Just excitable. You know how women can be. I’m sure that once she gets used to everything, she’ll settle down a bit. Right, Audrey?”

“Right,” I said, unable to look at either of them. All I wanted in that moment was to get out of there as quickly as possible. “I have to go pack,” I muttered.

“I can help,” Jackson said.

“I can manage on my own,” I said.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes. And besides, I want to talk to Claire about this alone.”

Jackson looked as though he was about to argue. Reacher didn’t look particularly pleased about me going off on my own, either. Probably figured I was a flight risk and would have someone tailing me the instant I left. But there was no need. I wasn’t going to try and run, not when Claire could get caught in the crossfire.

Before either of them could say anything else, I dipped around them and hurried off down the hall, not looking back.

***

While I waited for Claire to get home, I started packing, throwing all the things I cared about into a suitcase. It didn’t take long for me to realize how little I actually owned and how small a percentage of it I actually cared about. Even after I finished packing Claire’s things, I still had ample time before she would come home.

To pass the time, I baked her favorite cookies: peanut butter and chocolate chip. At the very least, she would have something to enjoy as I told her our entire lives were about to change.

Jackson. I was going to be married to Jackson. I was being sold off to the man who rejected me all those years ago. The irony was so strong that I would have laughed had I not been so overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. On the one hand, I was getting out of here for good. I wouldn’t have to live in fear of Reacher or my father ever again. I was getting what I thought I had always wanted: a way out of this pack for me and my daughter. I should have been ecstatic. I wasn’t going to be under Reacher and Dad’s thumb anymore. On the other hand, I was about to be tethered to the man who had broken my heart. I was going to be trapped in another way by being tethered to another person I hated, and one I could never trust again.

These emotions and thoughts swirled in my head, the tempest refusing to settle as I made the dough, lasting as I rolled it into balls and put them in the oven, lodging themselves in my brain as I pulled them out and waited for them to cool.

By the time the front door opened and I heard Claire’s tiny footsteps hurry into the kitchen, I was no closer to sorting out any of my emotions.

“You made cookies!” Claire exclaimed as she raced into the kitchen. “I could smell them from the yard.” Her face lit upas she caught sight of the cookies cooling on the rack. The smile ebbed as she looked at my face.

“Mom?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Sit down,” I said. “Have a cookie.”

She obeyed, sitting at the table as she ate the still-warm cookie, fresh enough that it fell apart in her hand as she nibbled on it. She stared at me anxiously, waiting for the bad news.

“Something happened,” I said, my leg jittering up and down. How the hell was I supposed to explain to her that I had basically just been sold and we had to move? Let alone that the guy I had just been sold to was her father?

The last part, at least, I could omit. I had no intention of telling Jackson who Claire really was. And Claire had gone this long without knowing her father. I wasn’t going to spring that bit of information on her at the same time as everything else I had to explain.

“We’re… going to be moving,” I finally said.

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