Page 23 of Rehabilitated

“I love waking up next to you.” His voice grows softer. “I love hearing you laugh.” He cups my cheek. “I love watching you smile.”

My breath catches.

“I love taking care of you.” He smiles. “I love you, Ever.”

I choke on a sob. The words steal every thought from my mind.

Love.

No one’s ever said that to me before. Not once.

“I—” My voice breaks. “I love you too.”

His entire face lights up. “Yeah?”

I nod. “So much.”

He kisses me before I can say anything else. His lips are warm and familiar now. Comforting.

Home.

When we pull apart, he rests his forehead against mine for another long moment.

“We’ll figure this out,” he promises.

“We should make a plan.”

His Alpha instincts immediately kick in. “I already started.”

“You did?”

He nods. “The pack knows they’re looking for you. They won’t tell anyone where you are. I trust them.”

“If you trust them, so do I. But if something happens…”

His jaw tightens. “We’ll be ready.”

My bear rumbles in agreement. We’ll fight.

“It’s going to take some time to get used to hearing her.”

“You will,” Russo says as he kisses my forehead and threads his fingers through mine. “Now, come on. We should eat.”

I let him lead me inside, and when he pulls out a chair for me, I don’t argue with him. Instead, I smile at him.

“Frozen pizza okay?”

“It sounds perfect.”

He slides the pizza into the oven before filling two glasses with water. Then he sits across from me.

“All right.” He folds his arms on the table. “Let’s talk about an emergency plan.”

I nod, waiting for him to start.

“First, no one in town is going to tell anyone a thing about you. A notice has gone out to alert me or one of the Alphas if anyone comes looking for you, Ever. We’ll know they’re in town before they can get close to you or our home.”

My heart swells, knowing I have so many people on my side looking out for me.