Page 31

Panting when the best of it was over, Mark loosened his grip on Jennifer, kissing her shoulder. She moaned lightly, shifting in place. Neither of them wanted to move ... he was content to just stay like this with her, forgetting that there was anything else out there for them to worry about.

He couldn't deny how much he loved this woman. He'd waited his whole life for her, and here she was ... all his. He kissed her cheek, her hair, her ear, until she started giggling.

"What's gotten into you?" she said.

"Mmm, just you." He sighed and hugged her closer to him. "I'm sorry about earlier. I know I got all snappy and scary at you, I didn't mean to. I've just been ... stressed."

She stroked the hair on his arm, twining the dark strands between her fingers. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Since Jennifer was a human, he couldn't tell her the whole truth about the goblins, the magic, everything that was going on. But he didn't want to lie to her, and she deserved to know. It was too early to tell her about what he really was, what was out there. He still could tell her more, though. He knew she wanted more.

"I don't know how to explain it," he said, which was the truth. "It has to do with ... with ..."

"Your past?" Jennifer guessed.

"How did you know?"

She shrugged, which moved both of them, since they were entwined. "You've been very careful not to say anything about how you ended up here, alone in a mansion in the woods. A mansion that's impossible to see unless you're looking for it."

"Well, yeah. It does." Mark kissed her ear with a sigh. "The past always comes back to haunt us at some point."

"I'm here for you if you want to talk about it."

He couldn't tell the truth, but he could still give her broad strokes of the story. That way she would know she really did need to keep safe.

"The reason I don't talk much about my past is because, before I came here ... most of it was erased."

Jennifer frowned. "What do you mean erased?"

"My family, we got involved in something we shouldn't have. People came after us as a result. In the end, everyone I knew was killed. I was the only one who survived," Mark said.

He believed he was the only survivor, at least, since if anyone else had lived through the treasure goblin attack, he wanted to believe that they would have found him by now. In all the years since, he never heard anything about any potential members of his old pack still living.

Jennifer's mouth opened and closed, left speechless. Mark brushed his fingers through her hair; he didn't expect her to say anything, just listen.

"Mark ..." she managed after a minute of him thinking.

"Don't worry, it was a long time ago," he sighed. "The point is, the people who came after us, they're still out there. We've been hunting each other this whole time to no luck ... but the last few months, they've been getting closer. Today, I think they might have found out where we are."

She stiffened in his hold. "After all this time, they would send an assassin after you? Why?" When he didn't respond, she added, "it has to do with your fortune, doesn't it?"

He nodded. "They want it, and they will go to great lengths to get it."

She pulled free of his hold, sitting up to look at him. "Then why are we still here? Shouldn't we take it and run, finding somewhere else to hide?"

"I've been hiding for the last decade, Jennifer. I promise you, I'll do everything in my power to keep you safe ... but I'm tired of running." He took her hands in his, squeezing them. "I don't want you to have to live on the run, either."

"But they took your family from you. I don't want them to takeyoufromme."

"They won't. I promise."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Jake and I have a plan ... and itwillwork. I don't want you to have to live on the run, either, so this comes to an end now. Our family will be safe."

Jennifer blinked slowly, and then she leaned into him, smiling brightly. "You want a family?"

"If you do." He touched her cheek. "What matters is, for now, that you are careful."