Page 148 of Only the Hunter

“That I wasted a lot of years.”

I press my lips together against a smile. “We were different people.”

“I wasn’t, though.” He glances down at me. “That’s the thing. I wanted you when I had no business wanting you and I just…” He exhales. “Decided it was better to want you from a distance than deal with what it meant up close.”

“Very logical.”

“It was a terrible plan.”

“It really was.”

His mouth curves. Just slightly—the ghost of that rare full smile that still catches me off guard when it surfaces. His hand stills on my shoulder, then resumes.

“I meant what I said earlier,” he says. “About telling you everything. About not making decisions for you.”

“I know you did.”

“I’m going to have to work at it.” He says it without apology but also without defensiveness—just the flat, honest acknowledgment of a man who knows his own patterns. “I’ve spent a long time thinking protecting people means controlling the variables. It’s going to take time to rewire that.”

I tilt my head to look up at him. “I know.”

“The longer we’re together, the closer we get, it’s gonna be that much harder. I saw what my mother went through when she lost my dad. I just don’t want you to be surprised when I⁠—”

“Gabe.” I put a hand on his chest, over his heart. “I’m not asking you to be someone else. I’m asking you to ask me first. That’s all. Let me be a part of the discussion.”

He looks at my hand on his chest. Then covers it with his.

“I can do that,” he says. “I meant what I said earlier—I love you. And that feeling, it’s not going anywhere. I honestly don't know what I would do if⁠—”

I silence him with two fingers, then a press of my lips. “Me, too. If dreams are any indication, I’ve always wanted to end up here, but I didn’t really believe…” I blink that back because this isn’t the time for self-doubt. “I promise I’ll work at this, at us, because you’re important to me.” And that’s something I’ve never said to anyone, because it’s something I’ve never felt before.

Outside, the rain keeps on. The lamp casts its small, warm circle. His hand covers mine and stays there, and for the first time in longer than I can remember, I don’t feel the particular tension of being alone with something too big to carry.

It doesn’t feel like surrender.

It feels like choosing a future.

Chapter 29

Gabe

The first thing I do when Evie says, “I think I know how to make them move,” is shake my head.

Not because I’ve heard the plan.

Because I know her.

She’s calm. Determined. And she’s tired of waiting.

We’re in the hotel conference room where Jake and Hudson are staying—lights dimmed, blinds half-drawn. Hudson’s laptop hums at the center of the table and Quinn’s image appears on the screen. Noah leans back in his chair like he’s relaxed, but I can see the coiled readiness in his shoulders. Hudson stands near the window, arms crossed.

Evie doesn’t look at any of them. She wanted this meeting to discuss next steps. We’ve reviewed the evidence we don’t have, the leads that won’t survive in a courtroom.

She looks at me.

“I want to bait them.”

For a second, it’s just the two of us in the room. Beneath the table, my hands ball into fists.