“I don’t want to go to the station,” she whispered, reaching out to him.
Rollo walked towards her and knelt beside her in the bed. “What do you want, Zoe?”
She ran her hand up his muscled arm. “All I want is you.”
12
Rollo melted like butter under Zoe’s gentle touch. He crept into the bed and held her in his arms under the warm patchwork quilt. Her body was limp with exhaustion, and he pulled her closer as her head lolled against his chest.
“I’m so tired, Rollo,” she said. “I can’t fight anymore. I can’t run. I just want to be close to you this one time before you take me in. Can we do that, just once?”
“Of course,” he cooed into her ear. “Sleep now, kitty.”
He held her in his arms as they drifted off into a peaceful sleep. He could feel her letting go, no longer resisting him. For the first time he felt as if he could trust her not to run away. The feeling of her body close to his, after everything they’d been through, was irresistible. But sleep beckoned his tired body too. They’d been awake all night, fighting each other. Finally, they could rest.
When they woke up later that afternoon, he pulled on his clothes and busied himself making coffee from the stash he kept up in his cabin. When Zoe emerged from the bed and pulled on her own clothes, she gratefully accepted a cup of the black brew and sat at the little table warming her hands. She took a sip and smiled as he sat down across from her.
“Are you ready to tell me about Dimitri Ivanov?” Rollo said.
He needed to know that he could trust her. They had to go back to the station soon. Before he took her in, he wanted to know that they were on the same page. He needed to know everything she knew, now, so he knew what to do going forward.
His intention was to keep Zoe from serving any jail time, catch Ivanov, and put him away for good. If Zoe could connect Ivanov to the jewel heist, Rollo could arrest him while he was on Fate Mountain. He didn’t want to waste any more time.
“I guess I’m ready,” Zoe said. “Whatever happens, happens.”
“Let’s start at the beginning,” Rollo said. “When did you first meet Ivanov?”
“It was three years ago in the South of France. I was at the beach resort with some friends and he was there. We started dancing and one thing led to another. For a long time, I was just part of his entourage. That lasted for about a year. Then when he realized I was a shifter, he started asking me to do heists for him. At first it was small things, someone’s handkerchief at a party. Or someone’s wallet at a restaurant. He was grooming me.
“Then he started involving me in smuggling valuables across international borders. My shifter status gives me diplomatic immunity in many countries, and he used that to his advantage. During one of my missions, I knew I was being tailed by security. If they’d caught me, they would have found the jewels, so I dropped them in the garbage container. When security did catch up to me, they took me in for questioning. No one never found the jewels. They must have been taken out with the trash.”
“I’m sure Ivanov didn’t like that very much.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“When did you throw away the jewels?”
“That was about a year ago. Ever since, Dima has been holding it over me. It’s like a dark cloud over my soul. He relentlessly tortures me with the reminder of how much I owe him.
“The jewels I lost were worth a million dollars. What I took from Caitlin Somerset was of the approximate value. I hoped that it would be enough to repay my debt and free me from him once and for all.
“This last year has been the worst of my life, until I came to Fate Mountain to prepare for the heist. I came to town to study how to get into Caitlin Somerset’s Louis the Fifteenth chest. Enrolling in the Bright Institute just gave me a perfect cover.
“Dima had stopped giving me money for expenses a long time ago. So I came here and waited until Caitlin brought her jewels to her Oregon estate where she keeps that chest. Dima found out about all this at an auction eight months ago. It really was a perfect cover. I never expected to find the love and friendship I found here.”
“You want to stay on Fate Mountain?”
“Of course I do.”
“And you’ve found love here?”
“Yes. I’ve found love here, silly bear.”
He looked into her eyes, wishing things could have been different.
“I’ve found love here too, darlin’. Love I want to show you with every bit of me.”
“Rollo,” she breathed.
He stood from the table and picked her up, lifting her up to wrap her legs around his waist. She clung to him, pressing her lips to his mouth. She’d told him everything about Dimitri Ivanov. But more importantly, she’d told him she loved him.