Trigger

21

“How did you get into the military?” she asked, smiling easily as she let him finish with the salve. “Was it a family thing?”

He paused and looked away as she put on the gloves. The question was innocent enough, but it turned in his heart like a blade.

“I was an orphan,” he said. His voice came out a low growl.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

“No, don’t be,” he said, looking into her eyes. “It’s okay. I never even knew what had happened to my parents. I grew up in a really shitty little orphanage, and I got out of there as soon as I could.”

He shrugged. “Fighting was just slightly better than being in the home.”

Stormy shuffled across the floor, snuggling against him and wrapping an arm around his waist.

“That’s so awful,” she whispered. “I felt like my parents didn’t love me, but at least I had a home. Trigg, I’m so sorry.”

He wrapped an arm around her, letting her close warmth comfort him. They fit together beautifully, their bodies in perfect harmony.

He did not want to tell her that he hadn’t actually joined the military … He had gone after profit. He’d had it made for a while there. Until he was locked in the Supermax, that is.

She looked up at him. Her eyes were wide and innocent. He smiled down at her.

No, she can’t ever know.

“You know Cannon, though?” she asked. “I guess you must have been on some of the same missions.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, not elaborating. He knew of Cannon and Bolt. After both shifters met with the general and never returned, rumor flew about what had happened to them. One story was that they had been released to work on some mystery military mission. She thought he was a military hero. He tried to swallow a lump in his throat but found he couldn’t. Lying to her was hard, but telling the truth was impossible.

“I’m so glad I met you,” she said, wrapping her arm around him even more tightly. “There really are good guys in the world. I just had to have faith.”

She looked up at him again. Her wide, deep eyes were almost as enchanting as her full, red lips. Again, he felt the overpowering desire to kiss her, but now his guilt stood in the way.

“I don’t know what to say,” he said truthfully. “The circumstances aren’t great.”

She laughed, hugging him. “I know. So much of this sucks. But you’re a hero. A man of action. I couldn’t have met you anywhere else.”

He tried again to swallow the lump and failed. His chest hurt.

I’m a criminal! I’m one of the worst! Stormy, run from me. I don’t deserve you.

He couldn’t say it. He wanted to, he wanted to warn her, to let her make her own choice. He couldn’t, though. He needed her too badly.

I can’t tell her about Supermax. I definitely can’t tell her about the bratva … That I worked for the same men who were going to kill her.

His heart pounded just a bit faster. He wanted to trust in her, to trust in love, but he knew how the world worked.

If she finds out who I really am … She’ll run. She’ll leave me.

This was unacceptable. He couldn’t let her go running off into the wilderness to escape from him and possibly get hurt or killed. He couldn’t let her put herself in danger. The mafia would almost certainly come for her again. There were also creeps like the woodsman about.

All of this was falling short of his one true purpose.

I’ll never let her go. I can’t. I’ve never needed anything like I need her.

He wrapped an arm around her and pressed her tightly to his side. She looked up with that trusting smile, and his lies cut him through his heart again.

She can’t know. She can’t ever know any of it.

He couldn’t stand to see that trust in her eyes turn to fear.

She’ll never know.

Trigg looked into the flames, the battle inside himself ten times more vicious than any he had ever fought with his fists.

TRIGG

It was early when Trigg woke up from his slumber. The sun poured through the curtains like water through a stream. Trigg stood and pushed them aside, greeting the sight of a mesh of orange and blazing red. It took him aback, pausing his heart at the moment.

He thought about Stormy, how strange and abrupt her appearance in his life was. He knew immediately by her scent that she was his fated mate, but what would she think of him once she found out who he was?

The concept broke his heart in ways it had never been broken before.

Trigg took the initiative to cook them breakfast that morning with the few bits of eggs and bread that were left. He let Stormy sleep a bit, knowing he was still feeling too weak to continue their expedition.

His slow recovery frustrated him and also gave him a bit of concern. But he chose to ignore that as he made breakfast, imagining the satisfied look on her face.

Once he finished the eggs, he heard her shuffling around in the bathroom. He slid the eggs onto a plate and buttered the bread. Trigg placed it on the kitchen table and waited for her, leaning against the counter.

Stormy walked around the corner, his long coat wrapped around her. She smiled at him widely, pulling the collar up to her face.

“Well, would you look at that,” she said brightly.

Trigg crossed his arms with a beaming grin.

“Here is the breakfast portion of your bed and breakfast deal, miss,” he said.

Stormy stepped forward and pulled out the chair to sit. It appeared to Trigg that she had hesitated to come toward him, perhaps, wanting to embrace.

He pulled out the chair next to her and sat. There was a slight chill seeping through the door, and he realized he hadn’t lit the fire yet.

“One moment, miss,” he remarked, getting up from the table.

Stormy laughed, then began cutting up her eggs. Trigg threw wood into the fireplace and lit a match, slowly bringing it to life. It didn’t take too long to start roaring behind them, and Stormy moaned in delight.

“Mmm,” she said. “That is lovely, Trigg.”

“Are you referring to the fire or the meal, miss?” He returned to the table, watching her smile down at her eggs.

“I need you to be specific for my review,” he continued.