“You aren’t a nomad anymore, Zoe. Your actions affect all of us.”
“So do yours, dumbass! You’re the Alpha. You can’t afford to be a reactionary dipshit, jumping at shadows and imagining the boogeyman around every corner.”
Startled silence hung in the room.
Zoe had made a point never to publicly defy Landon in the year since he’d been made Alpha. The last thing he needed was his own sister undermining his authority while he was trying to find his feet as the leader. But today the only people there to hear her little rebellion were his wife and Tyler, one of his staunchest supporters. She had no doubt where Tyler’s loyalty would fall in this fight. Not that she wanted his loyalty.
“Watch yourself.” Landon swelled with an air of command, but Zoe didn’t play at subservience.
A year of obedience and biting her tongue in public hadn’t sat well. It wasn’t in her nature to keep quiet. It had only been a matter of time before she bucked his authority and asserted her independence. No time like the present. And it certainly didn’t hurt that she was still riding the hormone high of three mind-bending orgasms. She felt invincible.
Zoe bared her teeth, feeling her fangs sharpen with the tingling pinch of a partial shift.
“We don’t know what’s going on in town,” she growled. “We don’t know whether we need to be getting ready to fight or run. We can’t do damage control if we don’t know what the damage is. And no one is telling you to get your head out of your ass because you’re the fucking Alpha, and we’ve all been raised since birth to either fall in line with every damn thing the Alpha says or fight it out to take control from him, and no one wants to depose you because in all ways other than this you’ve actually been really good at this. Where’s your head, Landon? I know you aren’t this big an idiot, so why are you acting like one?” Zoe was leaning across the table as she challenged Landon. She twisted, turning her rant on Ava. “And why are you letting him? Aren’t you supposed to be the voice of reason around here?”
“I— Caution seemed—” Ava broke off, blushing so guiltily Zoe knew instantly it was Little Miss Diplomacy who had suggested the ostrich approach to begin with. And of course Landon had gone along with it. Idiot men, getting led around by their dicks.
“Leave her out of this,” Landon snarled, rising from his chair to loom over her, hackles high and teeth bared.
Zoe reined in her own reckless snarl, not stupid enough to tweak her brother’s protectiveness toward his mate. “Landon, use your brain, I’m not going to touch Ava. I just want you to wake up.”
“I am awake, but I refuse to jeopardize our home by poking a hornets’ nest.”
“You don’t know it’s a hornets’ nest! You could be making everyone stir crazy and paranoid for nothing.”
“I’d rather take that chance than risk the pride—”
“She’s right.”
Tyler’s voice, low and filled with calm certainty, cut across their shouts. He stood, literally at her back. Even knowing he was there, she was still startled to feel his hand grip her shoulder.
Her hackles rose under his palm.
This was his definition of no strings? This was how he kept things under the radar? By interfering? By butting his nose in and playing the big man like she wasn’t even capable of fighting her own battles?
“Tyler?” Ava’s gaze lingered on the hand that felt like an anvil on her shoulder.
Landon took a step closer, a growl rumbling up in his throat as he faced Tyler over Zoe’s head. “Are you challenging my authority?”
“Landon,” Ava said, rising to her feet, her naturally husky voice calm and soothing, ready to diffuse the situation.
But Zoe was closer and she didn’t do calm. She surged up to stand between Tyler and Landon—as much to shake off Tyler’s lead-weight hand as anything. She knocked her brother back a step with a jab. “Get a grip, Landon. No one’s challenging anyone.” She turned, shoving Tyler back with a hand to his chest. “Are you?”
Warning and something more dangerous gleamed in Zoe’s amber eyes as she stared him down. Though she had no goddamn excuse for being so pissed at him. He had taken her side. Trust Zoe to take offense at that.
Tyler had been on edge since they arrived at the Alpha’s bungalow. He felt like a live wire, stripped of all his usual