Page 52 of Secret Wolf Baby

“Great job!” he praised, holding out his hand to high-five her. “That was almost perfect. And on your first try, too! That’s amazing. It took me ages to catch my first rabbit. You’re an absolute natural!”

She made a face. “I broke a twig,” she grumbled.

Chuckling, Jackson ruffled her hair. “You’ll get better as time goes on,” he said. “And I’ll show you a few tricks to keep the sound under control. But for your first time, that was amazing. You should be proud of yourself.”

“I guess…” Claire said, trying and failing to sound modest. The triumphant grin on her face gave away how delighted she truly was. I failed to bite back a smile of my own. When had she grown up so fast?

“You know what you’ve gotta do now, don’t you?” Jackson asked, the grin turning almost mischievous. Claire’s brow furrowed, and she shook her head. Smirking, Jackson leaned forward. “You gotta dress it.”

“Ew!” Claire wrinkled her nose. “That’s disgusting.”

“It’s part of hunting,” Jackson explained, his tone so patient and fatherly that you could have believed he had been looking after Claire her whole life, not just the last two weeks. “It’s not too bad. Here, I’ll show you.”

I watched from the side as Jackson went through the process of dressing the rabbit, explaining the basic steps and why they had to do it. Claire listened with rapt attention, her eyes wide and solemn as she nodded along, following Jackson’s orders and asking questions. From how respectfully she looked at him and listened to him, I hadn’t realized how much Clairelooked up to Jackson until now. Sometime in the short span since they had met, he had turned into an idol for her. And all of us spending time together this way, it felt right.

It was almost like…

Like we’re a family, a voice in my head finished for me.

The thought struck me like a lightning bolt, slamming into me so hard that I nearly fell back. Because that really was how it felt, as though we were already a family. Like we had been doing this for years, not months.

And he still doesn’t know the truth about Claire, a nagging voice in my head reminded me.

I closed my eyes. I couldn’t keep it from him, not for much longer. Even if I hadn’t noticed the closeness between the two of them, it was only a matter of time before Jackson came to the conclusion on his own—an infinitely worse situation than me telling him. They were too much alike. Claire looked too much like him and Mira, and their mannerisms were too similar. I was fairly certain he hadn’t realized it yet only because he wasn’t looking for it. But that flimsy barrier wouldn’t last for much longer.

On top of that, he deserved to know. After seeing him with Claire, seeing the way he had helped her over the last few months and fallen into that fatherly role with her… he had put so much work into that relationship, even if he hadn’t been sure how to handle it at first. He had been trying to do right by her—byus—ever since we moved here. I still didn’t trust him, not entirely, not enough to open up to him fully. But despite a part of me telling myself I should continue keeping it a secret, I knew he deserved to know at least this bit.

Even with that certainty, though, a seed of fear planted itself in my stomach and began to bloom. How would he react to the fact that I had kept this from him for so long?

It didn’t matter. Not telling him would be infinitely worse in the long run. Jackson wasn’t an idiot. He would figure it out eventually. And if I wasn’t the one to tell him, things would only go from bad to worse.

No, I needed to tell him. The only question was how, and when.

***

I waited until later that night, after Claire had gone to bed. I doubted it would take long for her to fall asleep, considering all the fun and excitement of the hunt. Still, I waited a good hour after she had gone upstairs to go over to the couch Jackson was lounging on.

The entire rest of the day after the hunt, I’d agonized over whether or not to do this. It had only gotten worse during the last hour, and I had probably flipped back and forth on the answer over a dozen times in that short period. Right now, I was on the “yes, you should tell him before this goes any further” train. So, steeling my nerves and preparing for the worst, knowing full well that he might kick me out after all this was over, I came to stand in front of him.

He glanced up from the book he was reading and raised an eyebrow. “What’s up?” He sat up, putting the book upside down on his thigh to hold his place. “Want to watch a movie or something? I’m at a slow part of the book, so if there’s something you’re interested in—”

“Jackson,” I cut in. Something in the tone of my voice must have set off alarms because he paused, frowning. He studied me for a long moment.

“What is it?” he asked.

Fuck, why were my hands trembling so much? I tucked them into my jacket so he couldn’t see them. I tried to look into his face but couldn’t, so I stared down at his shoes instead.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” I managed to say. But that was as far as I could get.

After a long pause, Jackson asked, “Are you going to tell me what it is?”

I gave out a bizarre, choked laugh. “I’m trying to, trust me,” I said. “It’s just…”

I trailed off again. God, this was even harder than I thought it would be. Panic had gripped my emotions and threatened to overwhelm me. I couldn’t get the words out no matter how hard I tried.

Jackson’s feet appeared in my vision. A moment later, a hand lightly took my chin and tilted my head upward so I was looking into Jackson’s eyes. Slowly, tenderly, he brushed a strand of hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear. Shivers ran through my body from where his fingers had caressed my skin.

“Whatever it is, you can tell me,” he said. “It’s not going to change how I feel about you. I promise.”

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