The Tracker's Secret: Sunderverse (Mate Tracker Book 2) by Ingrid Seymour (the gingerbread man read aloud .txt) 📗

he would haul me over the desk to pull me into his arms, but instead, he took a deep breath and stretched to his full height.

“I don’t know why I broke the promise I made you, and I can’t bring myself to break the one I made to my father.”

I rose to my feet, too, wanting desperately to reach for him, realizing, for the first time, how hard this was for him. Once more, I almost told him that I could be the one to help him fulfill his promise, but again, fear of the unknown stopped me.

“I would never ask you to break that promise,” I said. “I shouldn’t make things harder. I’m sorry.”

He smiled sadly, his chiseled lips tipped to one side, making me ache for a kiss. “I will always love you, Antonietta Sunder,” he said, sending my heart into a frenzy. “Please, be careful.” With that, he turned and walked out of the office.

Chapter 20

JAKE AND I HAD NEVER said the “L” word.

Never.

And he’d just dropped that bomb on me and left.

I collapsed on my chair, staring blankly ahead, my heart slamming against my chest so hard that I could hear it with my new, enhanced ears.

I will always love you, Antonietta Sunder.

The words flashed inside my mind in huge block letters.

Jake loves me.

I wasn’t alone in this feeling. It wasn’t only attraction and passion and instinct. It was more.

More than ever, I wanted to tell him the truth, this secret that should’ve never been a secret. And yet, despite knowing how he felt about me, I was still scared. My need for answers grew more desperate. If I could understand how my life would change, what it would mean to fully embrace being a werewolf with Jake by my side, then I might be able to tell him everything.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow I would ask Eric everything I needed to know. He would tell me because I wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Rosalina appeared at the door. “What did he want?”

I shook myself out of my thoughts. “Uh,” I held up one finger, quickly pulled out my phone, and started the music app in case Jake was trying to eavesdrop. “He wanted to apologize about the other day at the party,” I said as Freddy Mercury belted “We are the champions.”

“You mean for getting you all hot and bothered?”

I narrowed my eyes at her.

She laughed and sat in the chair Jake had just vacated. “You guys didn’t eat much, huh?” She gestured toward the burgers and fries we’d barely touched.

I sprang to my feet and began picking up all the wasted food, wrapping the torn paper bag all around it. I threw it all in the garbage can and pushed it away from the desk. Later, I would take it outside and throw it in the dumpster. The smell of food wafting from under my desk always bothered me, plus I didn’t want to accidentally leave it overnight to rot. Ew!

I sat back down, wringing my hands. “He said... he said ‘I love you.’”

Rosalina’s mouth dropped open. “Holy crap, Triple T.”

“I know.”

“So did you tell him you’re a... you know. Does that mean you guys...?”

I shook my head and spoke in a whisper. “I need to know more before I take that leap. He still wants to keep the promise he made to his father, and I’m not sure I’m ready to become a puppy factory.” I heaved a sigh. “I can tell it’s hard for him. I hadn’t really seen that before. Maybe I didn’t want to admit it.”

“God, what a heart job!”

“Huh?”

“You know, like when you say ‘what a mind job’ but in this case, it’s a ‘heart’ instead.”

“O-kay.”

“Never mind. It sounded cool in my head.”

Trying to forget about the “heart job” and all the other “jobs” that sprung to mind too, I changed topics and told her what I’d learned about rhabo. She listened with rapt attention, her green eyes getting wider and wider with every new bit of information, and they almost popped out when I shared what I’d learned about Damien.

“Maybe you should cancel your date,” I said tentatively.

“Like you’re going to cancel yours with Eric?”

“Touché.”

“I, at least, have to give him the benefit of the doubt. I like Damien, Toni.” She bit her lower lip, looking embarrassed and worried by the admission.

“Of course you do, what is there not to like?”

“Right?” She pondered for a moment, then asked, “Do you believe he created the drug?”

An idea occurred to me, but immediately I felt like a jerk for coming up with it.

“What?” she asked, noticing my change in expression.

“Nothing.”

“I know it’s not nothing.”

“It’s just a stupid idea.”

“Spit it out.”

I wiggled in my chair. “What if Damien did create rhabo? And what if he has an antidote? Maybe you could find out.”

“You mean spy on him?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “I told you it was a stupid idea.”

“Maybe it isn’t,” she said, though not without a hint of dread in her tone.

“I know I should call Aaron and Josh, but what if Damien knows a way to make Josh better? What if we can save him, and they can be together and be happy?”

She half-smiled. “It would be great. It really would.” She paused, then added, “I’ll do it. I’ll keep my eyes open.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded.

“Okay,” I said, cracking my fingers as if that would help me build some courage. “Then I’ll ask Eric more questions, see what else he knows. If he’s involved, like Jake thinks, he might have all the answers we need. And even if he isn’t, he certainly knows more than you and me.”

Rosalina tapped her crimson-tipped fingernails against my desk, thinking. Finally, she said, “I’m failing.”

“Failing?”

“Yeah, you asked me to keep you on a straight path, out of crazy schemes like this, and instead, I just joined your bandwagon. I hope you realize that.”

I winced. “You’re right. Oh, God. Have I corrupted you?”

“We’re screwed.”

“Pretty much.”

Chapter 21

LATER THAT AFTERNOON,