Chapter 14
Chance eventually made it back to the cabin, but it had taken longer than he’d promised. He’d made a stop to pick up some clothes for Isabelle and some sweet treats for her as well. He wanted to pamper her, and if anyone on the face of the planet deserved it right now, it was Isabelle.
Sneaking into the house, he half-expected her to be sleeping. She wasn’t. She was sitting on the couch gazing into the fireplace, not even noticing when he came in. As he carried his bags to the table he watched her, and when he pulled off his boots and she still hadn’t moved, worry started to fill him.
“Belle?”
She kept right on staring at the fire as if in a trance.
“Isabelle!” he said more firmly.
She sucked in a breath and blinked several times before turning to look at him. “You’re…you’re back. That was fast.”
It wasn’t. Worry knitted his brow as he shrugged out of his coat and crossed to her. “How you feeling?”
“F-fine.”
He scented the lie, barely noticeable above the pungent aroma of her tumultuous emotions. She smelled like trauma and…him! Chance gritted his teeth trying to hold back his rage, knowing Isabelle was feeling so many things right now, mostly devastation and pain. He couldn’t blame her for saying she felt fine. She probably didn’t know what she was feeling.
Going back to the table, he grabbed the pills she’d asked for and got her a tall glass of milk before padding slowly back to her. “Here.” He held out the pills and she palmed them, then popped them in her mouth and took the glass from him. She swallowed them down, letting let her eyes close as she inhaled deeply then exhaled ever so slowly.
The scent of her relief blossomed in the air, and Chance hadn’t realized how much he needed to scent a positive emotion from her until that one hit him. Dropping to his knees, he lifted a tentative hand and was going to squeeze her knee, but let his hand hover over her instead.
“You can touch me, Chance. I’m not glass. I won’t shatter.”
Looking up, he found her eyes on him. “I’m just afraid of overloading you. I don’t want to push you too far, Belle. If you need your space right now, I understand.”
His words were meant to be understanding in nature, but when her brows snapped into a frown he grew puzzled.
“Do you want me to go?” Her blunt question drew him up short.
“What? No! Why would you ask that?”
“Because you offered to take me home earlier, and I wondered if it was because this is all too much for you.”
His tone grew firm. “No, Isabelle. This isn’t too much for me. And, if I’m being honest, I doubt I could take you home right now even if you wanted me to.”
She canted her head.
“I need to make sure you’re okay first.”
“So, you saying you think I need space isn’t an excuse for you to push me away?”
His brows shot up. “Push you away? Woman, it’s taking everything in my power to keep from touching you every single second I’m near you. I can barely handle what was done to you, and my animal…” His words faltered and he looked away quickly.
Her expression softened. “Can…can I ask you about that?”
Damn! He knew this was coming. Shoving up off his knee, he paced to the fire. “You were in shock, Isabelle. Probably still are. You were confused.”
“Don’t do that!” she snapped. “Don’t treat me like I don’t know what I saw! Chance, I trust you to keep the secret of what Zeke did to me. And you’re trusting me to keep the secret of what you did to him.”
He turned to face her.
“And I know it was you that ended him.” She heaved a sigh. “So why not trust me with all of it? Let’s trust each other completely.”
“It’s not something we’re supposed to talk about.”
“We’re? There are more of you?” When he didn’t respond, she conceded, “Fine. Don’t talk. Just nod.” He didn’t argue so she continued. “Did I see what I thought I saw?”
He held her gaze for long moment, then he finally dipped his chin once.
“Is that going to be a problem for us? I mean, you’re not going to change on a full moon and try to eat me, are you?”
God, he wanted to say something dirty, but opted for smiling and shaking his head. Full moon!
“Can you control it?”
He nodded again.
“All the time?”
He shook his head. “If I get too mad, too worked up…”
“Like what happened with Zeke?”
He nodded again.
“Good.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “When you’re like that, are you still in there?”
He nodded.
“So, you’d never hurt me when you’re changed?”
“Never.”
She grinned before blinking up at him. “You’re a funny-looking bear.”
He hadn’t expected that, and his booming laugh bounced off the walls of the cabin. The sound of his laugh made her smile. “That’s cuz I’m not a bear.”
Isabelle pursed her lips contemplatively before guessing, “Gigantic gopher?”
He laughed. “Woman, have you ever even seen a gopher?”
Humming, she guessed again. “Massive muskrat?”
“No.” He shook his head with a grin. “What kind of Montana girl are you?”
“Preposterous porcupine? Enormous ermine?”
He narrowed his eyes on her. “Now you’re just messing with me.”
“Yeah,” she beamed. “I am. I know a wolverine when I see one.”
He sobered. Only a mere handful of his most trusted friends knew the truth, and now, so did Isabelle.
Her tone was reverent as she breathed, “He’s beautiful, Chance.”
His response tumbled out before he could stop it. “You’re beautiful.” To cover up his blunder he tacked on quickly, “And wolverines aren’t beautiful. They’re monsters. Made for fighting and killing.” Inside, his wolverine puffed up, and he wasn’t sure if it was because he was pissed about the ‘not beautiful’ comment or if he was crowing at the ‘made for fighting and killing’ part. Crazy bastard!
His attention turned back to Isabelle when she shook her head, staring at him with a strange look in her eyes. He froze as she stood and walked to him, stopping when only a breath of space separated them.
“He is beautiful. He saved me. You both did.” She lowered her head. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you. How am I going to make it up to you for what you and my wolverine had to do?”
His heart constricted at the words, ‘my wolverine’. She was playing with fire making a claim like that, because damn right he was hers, and if she was looking for ways to pay them back, that was easy. His inner beast was demanding that he ask her to stay with them…forever. He couldn’t stop his hand from lifting, keeping the movement slow so she would see it coming and could step back or say no if she wished. He cupped her cheek, gently lifting her face to his. His eyes dipped to her mouth, and he wanted to kiss her so damn bad it hurt. He licked his lips, then dragged his eyes back to hers. “I could keep you safe, Isabelle. I would. I’d do whatever…”
The shrill ringing of his phone broke the magic of the moment, and he wanted to murder whoever was calling, because as he’d spoken Isabelle’s eyes, and her scent, had filled with what he was certain was hope. Now, she jerked her head around to where the phone hung on the wall as the damned thing rang again.
Shit! He had to get it. No one called that phone unless it was about a job, and he had a feeling he knew which job this would be.
Releasing Isabelle, he cursed as she stepped back. He stomped to the phone in a few quick strides. “What?”
He watched Isabelle as he took the call and felt a reciprocal hope flaring to life inside him. This could work. They could work. He responded to the caller where he needed to, and when he hung up the receiver, Isabelle looked at him expectantly.
“Well? Who was it? Are we in trouble?”
He loved that she said ‘we’ like they were in this together. And oh, they most definitely were.
“No.” He shook his head, crossing to where he’d shucked his boots near the door. “No trouble, Belle.” He bent and pulled on his boots before standing straight and grabbing his coat. “Seems there’s a predator on the loose near a diner Big Sandy. It apparently attacked and killed a man. They need me to hunt.”
It’s what he’d told her would happen, what he knew would happen. This was going to be the end of it. He was going to report that he’d killed the man eater, and then they’d be free and clear. Free and clear to start fresh…together.