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“You’d put the people of your town in danger?”

Reggie laughs. “Delgado’s men would stand no chance against the magical community in this town.

We seem quiet and simple because that’s what we choose.

We have the element of surprise here—especially if we can stop the WITSEC handlers from swarming us.

Teri, let’s leave for a month or two. We can go anywhere, love.

But we should go now if you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in the WITSEC program.

We’ll lose all of the people trailing you, bad or good. Then we’ll come back, come home. ”

“Reggie. That’s a nice offer. But it’s a big leap of faith. We don’t... we don’t know how we’d do long-term.”

“Then we’ll start short-term.” His eyes plead with me. “I don’t ask for big favors unless I can repay them, Therese.”

What favor? Me, living with him, under his care and protection, with his studly goodness and his sweet little ways? He’s doing me the favor. The fact that he thinks me saying yes is a gift gives me that powerful goddess feeling again, but I know better than to trust it outside of the bedroom.

The desire to say yes is so strong that I slam it down with the only weapon I’ve got.

“No. Reggie, thank you, but no. I can’t run tonight.

I need to talk to Powell again before I can make any decisions.

” I try to smile with firm sweetness, like a patient parent, but Reggie is no little boy; he’s a grown-ass man.

That’s something else I realize. Matteo was a little boy playing with dangerous, expensive toys and carelessly using anything he wanted—including me.

Reggie gives me a dejected nod. “Just say the word. I’m going to call Jakob.”

“I’ll take a shower. The humidity is killing me.” I disappear, mainly to give him privacy. If he learns anything about my case or Estrada, I know he’ll tell me. I trust him.

You are so stupid, Therese LaFontaine Delgado Gray. I call myself my full name and then some. You’re letting mistakes with a bad man ruin something with a good man, and you both know it!

“HOW ARE YOU HOLDING up, Reginald?”

“Incredible.” I am flying with joy one second, and miserable the next. Incredible is the word. I wouldn’t have believed my life could change so much in a few days.

“You two hit it off?”

“More than that. Jakob... I have a soul. I felt it burst to life, struggle slowly, bloom, then explode into being.”

“I’m so happy for you, Reggie. Mazel Tov! But... Please be careful. I spoke to Ardy today. The FBI detail has asked for local police cooperation, and he’s passed on what they’ve told him, even though he’s not supposed to.”

“Good man,” I say, referring to Ardy Walsh, the Pooka police officer in Pine Ridge, the one paranormal member of the tiny force. He usually helps cover up supernatural disasters and crimes, but now he can be our mole. “What’s the news?”

“Estrada’s closest associates are worried that Delgado will talk to save his own skin.

The problem is that Delgado’s under twenty-four-hour surveillance now that he’s in custody, and it seems Estrada doesn’t have an in at the facility.

.. yet. If he gets one, it won’t surprise me if Matteo becomes very suicidal overnight. ”

“Hell.”

“Precisely.”

I don’t say anything for a moment. This means they’ll be looking for another way to get to Delgado or to keep him from turning state’s evidence. My stomach squirms. I’m sure there’s some leverage somewhere. Delgado’s mother. A sister.

A wife.

An ex-wife, I correct myself silently.

“You there?”

“Thinking. Therese might not want to go through with this now that they’ve got Delgado’s files. But... Say we wanted to relocate.”

“We?”

“She. But I’d help her. You still have friends in Anchorage?”

“One—and he still owes me a few favors.”

Just like Minegold. Too much of a gentleman to call in his marker, but he’d help me.

Suddenly, even though I’d fly to the ends of the earth with Teri, my heart balks at leaving Pine Ridge, the closest thing I have to home and family. The place where I learned to love, where I met my love, where I received my soul, and my soulmate. “Well, uh... Good to know. I’ll keep you posted.”

I wish I could just take Therese and run, grab her, and bundle her into a waiting plane with or without her permission.

But then, I’d be the villain. I don’t want to be the bad guy.

She’s had enough of that. I want to be the man she truly falls in love with, the man who catches her when she lets herself go, lets herself love and trust again.

I want that more than anything, even if it takes a long time. Is that love?

Or just selfishness?

The agent who played the minister at our “wedding” said something about love being patient, love being kind, and love bearing all things. He sounded pretty on point.

I’m still not used to it. I rest my head on my hands, wishing I could fast forward a few weeks and see how all of this turns out.

My insides are unsettled. I have the urge to hide away again, to escape the world that I don’t belong in, to disappear into myself, retreat where nothing can hurt me, back into the impenetrable fortress I was made to be. But for the first time, I have the urge to bring someone with me.