“If you could just see how a real pride feels—”
“Landon, you aren’t listening. It has nothing to do with the pride. I would hate the Garden of Eden if I thought I had to stay there forever.”
He stopped pacing, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Does this have anything to do with Tyler?”
Zoe’s face heated. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
This wasn’t about some guy. Though if she was honest with herself, Tyler was part of the reason she’d stayed as long as she had. There was something addicting about him, even when he’d been driving her crazy. She’d been enjoying the game, in a way.
“I don’t know what’s going on between you, but he might have something to say about you leaving.”
“Tyler Minor doesn’t get a say in my life,” she bit out, hating the fact that the words felt like a lie.
Chapter Seven
Tyler crouched in front of the bony, shivering teen who looked like he was one harsh word away from pissing himself. “Relax, Cory. You aren’t going to be punished,” Tyler assured him, reining in all his impatience and trying to remember what life was like at fifteen. Of course, his life at fifteen probably didn’t bear a strong resemblance to Cory Berg’s. He’d been taking care of four younger siblings, not sneaking off into town to climb a tree into a human girl’s bedroom. “We just need to know what you saw and heard in town.”
“I just went to Hailey’s and came straight back. I swear.” Cory’s teeth began to chatter, even though it had to be pushing ninety in his parents’ bungalow.
The kid was going to give himself a heart attack.
“Anything you remember can be helpful,” Tyler said, gently gripping the boy’s shoulder in what he hoped was a comfortingly paternal way. It had been a while since he’d grilled a teenager—Michael and Ava were in their twenties and beyond the need for a firm hand. Hopefully he hadn’t lost his touch.
Cory shook his head, a quick, jerky movement. “I didn’t see anybody. Honest.”
“Nothing was different? Any change, no matter how small, could be significant.”
“No. I mean, Hailey seemed more, you know, into me.” His eyes flicked to his parents hovering on the opposite side of the room, and his face flushed a deep red. “But I never told her a thing about the pride. I know better, Tyler. I swear, man.”
“Did she give you any idea why she was suddenly more into you?”
“Dude, I don’t know. I mean, I’m not a total idiot. I know Hailey Winters is out of my league, but when the head cheerleader asks you out, you say yes, you know? I didn’t want to screw things up with her just because we’d been yanked out of school and restricted to the pride land. And she never asked about the pride or coming out to the ranch until last night. I thought maybe she, like, really liked me.”
“And last night?”
“I guess it was weird, looking back now. She said something about how cool she thought it was that I lived on a federally funded secret research facility or something. I thought she was fishing so I, uh, distracted her. You know?” His eyes flicked to his parents again and Tyler would have grinned if the situation hadn’t been so serious. Little Cory got some action.
“You didn’t ask where she’d heard that?”
“No, I thought she was guessing—but yeah, I mean I guess she seemed pretty certain.”
A federally funded research facility. It was a convenient lie—accounting for their heightened security and secrecy. And if that was the story going through the high school, it would explain the recent increase in teenage trespass attempts.
Unfortunately they had no idea how widespread that belief was in town because their only source had been too focused on getting to second base.
“Thanks, Cory. If you think of anything else, let me know.”
“You really aren’t going to kick my ass for sneaking out?”
Tyler glanced over at Cory’s parents. His father gave a slight nod. They had disciplinary action covered. “I’m not on ass-kicking duty tonight. Maybe tomorrow.”
Tyler let himself out of the Berg bungalow and loped down the path to Landon and Ava’s place. It would have been faster to call in the information, but cell phones and radio frequencies were too vulnerable to eavesdropping, so their use was restricted on the ranch.
Tyler mounted the Alpha’s steps, checking his watch. Almost midnight, but Landon hadn’t taken the Alpha position because he wanted a lot of quiet, undisturbed nights.
Twenty minutes later, Tyler slipped out of the Alpha’s house, the weight of the day descending on him. His eyes were half closed already as he trudged through the darkened compound on autopilot. It wasn’t until he was dragging his feet up the steps that he lifted his head and realized where instinct had taken him.
He stood on Zoe’s porch, listening to the cicadas and the hum of his own midnight insanity urging him inside.
The lights were off in her house, all the windows dark. He knew he should walk away. Let her sleep, but he needed to see her, just for a minute. Then he’d be able to rest.
Tyler knocked softly, telling himself if she didn’t hear that, he would walk away.
He’d been holding Zoe at arm’s length for months. He tried to keep her from becoming important to him. The lines in his life were carefully drawn—family on one side, everyone else on the other. One mattered, one didn’t. His philosophy was simple—do anything for family, everyone else is on their own.
Zoe fell very clearly into the everyone else category. But on some instinctive level, a level ruled by the lion in him more than the man, he had already begun treating her like she belonged to him. Like she was part of his pride within a pride.
All this time, he’d been dreading adding another yoke of obligation to his neck, but without any conscious decision on his part, Zoe was already there. The man could fight it, but the lion knew. The animal side of him wasn’t as practiced in denial. The inevitable had happened months ago, maybe even the first day they met, but the human piece—the piece that hated change and didn’t trust easily—that part had taken a lot longer to cop to the reality.
Something had shifted today. The last of his denial falling away until he was forced to face the truth. She meant something to him. He just didn’t want to think too hard about what that might be.
Tyler raised his fist to knock again when the door opened.
Zoe stood in the doorway, wearing only a faded T-shirt that fell to her hips. Suddenly the heavy feeling lifted and Tyler was wide awake. His gaze raked her from her bare toes to the golden curls tumbling around her shoulders. Arousal stirred to life.
She blinked blearily up at him, shoving a lock of hair out of her eyes. “Tyler?”
His heart stuttered. Zoe wasn’t only something. Right now, she was everything. “Can I come in?”
She swung the door wider and he slipped past her into the room.
Zoe had gone to bed alone, feeling lost in the expanse of her empty bed. She’d always liked having her own space before, but tonight her cabin felt like a cavern.
She’d expected to feel a sense of freedom when she told Landon about her plans to leave. Now she could slip off whenever she wanted, as soon as the pride was secure. She’d thought it would feel like a cage springing open, but tonight she felt even more penned than ever.
Ever since leaving Landon’s, she hadn’t been able to think for all the restless energy running under her skin. She should have been exhausted. It was after midnight and her day hadn’t exactly been uneventful, but Zoe hadn’t even been able to contemplate sleep.