My heart’s pounding. I’m guessing there’s more money in there, based on Bo’s excitement to show me. “What’s in there?” I bounce on the balls of my feet like a child. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been excited about anything. Not since my dad went to jail. But everything’s cracked open now. The old Sloane has been busted apart in so many ways, and it hurt like hell, but now there’s space. Space for the new me to emerge. Whoever she may be.
Bo shows me what he found. A couple more paintings and a box full of gold bars. More than two dozen of them. My breath tumbles out of me in a hysterical laugh. “So that’s like...one and a half million dollars?”
“Yeah. Looks like your college is paid for, after all.”
I cover my mouth with my hand. “Oh my God.” My mind spins.
But my dad was a crook. He cheated people out of their money. Dammit—I can’t keep it.
Bo bumps me with his hip. “You can fucking keep it,” he says like he reads minds. “Some of his money had to be legit. At the very least, you should’ve gotten his life insurance policy, considering his suicide probably wasn’t actually suicide.”
“Well, I can sure think about it,” I say. “What do we do with it now?”
Bo grins. “I have no idea. You might have to steal us a car to get home because I took a one-way flight here and have no wheels. Or maybe we could cash one of those in and buy you a car. Yeah—let’s do that.”
I throw myself at him again because it’s all so fantastical and fun. The possibilities are wide open. He holds me close, and I press my cheek to his chest, listening to the steady sound of his heartbeat.
“Bo? You’re not going to wipe my memories are you?”
His grip tightens on me. “Fuck, no. You’re mine. I’ll mark you if I have to prove it to them. No one’s fucking taking you from me again.”
I have no idea what that means, but I trust Bo.
If he says something, it’s real.
He’s keeping me.
It’s such a strange, foreign feeling. All my life I’ve felt like an imposition. Apologized for my existence.
But now I’ve been claimed.
Bo wants me. He’s keeping me.
And as much as I pushed him away, as terrified as I was to let anyone under my defenses, I can’t resist him any more. Ever again.
Because he’s mine, too.
My wolf boy. My hero. My knight.
Epilogue
Bo
The crowd in the parking lot after the game parts for me and the other alpha-holes. We just trounced Cave Hills, and I’m looking for Sloane. I saw her in the stands earlier, watching me, but I haven’t touched her in days. Not since we got back from Michigan, and I hunger for her like a starved man.
“Hey Bo,” Austin says. “You riding with me to the mesa?”
“Um, no, I’m good.” I don’t think I’m going to the mesa. I haven’t even introduced Sloane to the animals of Wolf Ridge High. And I’m not sure I’m ready. Because if anyone’s a dick to her—and there’s a good chance they could be, considering she’s from Cave Hills—I will fucking kill them. I also haven’t told my buddies she knows what we are. That’s a problem that still needs to be dealt with, although the alpha found out Bailey, Cole’s girlfriend knows, and she hasn’t been wiped. Of course she lives in Wolf Ridge, and her mom works at the brewery. Maybe they figure since she’s part of the community, it’s okay. Or maybe they’ll wipe her when she graduates—I don’t know.
Austin’s little brother, Abe, steps closer, staring in the direction of the group of girls that includes Bailey. “I’m coming with you.”
Austin scoffs. “The fuck you are.” The mesa hangout is for the in-crowd. The senior alpha-holes and whoever else we determine deserves to be in our presence. And it’s not usually underclassmen, even if they do play varsity.
I’m guessing Abe’s sudden, bold interest is related to the other sophomore who’s been hanging with our group because she came as a package deal with Bailey—the runt, Rayne. The shifter who can’t shift.
Huh.
Wouldn’t have expected that one. Nobody’s paid that girl any interest since—ever. Funny how a newcomer can change someone’s status overnight.
“Who are you looking for? Gone in Sixty Seconds?” Cole asks, noting my distraction.
“Shut up. Don’t call her that.”
“Is she here?” He follows my line of sight when the shock of recognition ripple through me. She’s impossible to miss—her beautiful head stands above the rest of the Cave Hills crowd.
“Catch you guys later.” I veer off in her direction.
I catch her waiting at her wheels. She bought a convertible BMW because the girl does have a penchant for a sweet ride. We traded a guy for a bar of gold in a private Craigslist sale and drove back to Arizona with the top down and the radio blasting.