Serengeti Sunrise - By Vivi Andrews Page 0,20

they want, we don’t know what they can and can’t do.”

Zoe sighed. “So I guess the ban on going into town holds?”

“Alone? Hell yes.”

She cringed, but being trapped at the ranch didn’t sound like the same punishment it had this morning. Tyler had changed that. She didn’t want to think about what else he might have the power to change in her.

They went over the trip into town in minute detail and discussed possible strategies for learning what the townspeople thought was going on and who might have told them. Around the second hour, Shana declared herself bored with it all and left. Shortly after that, Kane and Ava slipped out, speaking quietly. Leaving Zoe alone with her brother.

Her brother who looked like he’d been through the wars. He raked a hand through hair streaked with the thousand different blonds and browns of a lion’s mane, worry lines that hadn’t been there a year ago creasing his familiar face.

“We could go,” Zoe said, the words slipping out of her mouth before she realized she’d thought them. “If we took off tonight—”

“Zoe.” Landon’s voice was harsh. The disappointment in his expression shamed her.

It was instinct, the urge to run with Landon when things went bad. For so many years he had been the only one she relied on—and she’d been the same for him.

Growing up depending on one another for sanity in the Florida pride, then leaving the pride as teenagers to live as nomads for years—that kind of bond was unshakeable. And it was the only reason Zoe had stuck around Three Rocks as long as she had.

Landon loved the community he’d found here, but Zoe’d never been the hearth-and-home type. She’d been fantasizing about the freedom of the road since the day they got here. But Landon had needed her, so she’d stayed. Did he really need her now? She wasn’t the only one he relied on anymore. He had a whole pride now. She wasn’t his home anymore. Ava was. Fifty lion-shifters young and old had taken up pieces of his heart that used to belong to only her.

It was stupid to be jealous of a community, but for all their solitary lifestyle, Zoe had never felt alone until she came here, where she was surrounded by people.

She turned away from the disapproval on her brother’s face, staring out the window into the black night.

She heard movement behind her, then Landon spoke from just over her shoulder. “I thought when you left today that this was it. That maybe you…”

“That I wasn’t coming back?” She’d thought of it. Too many times to count.

“You could have talked to me before stealing a jeep and breaking the rules.”

Zoe shrugged. “Easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission.”

They’d modified that saying growing up. Zoe knew he would be remembering the same words she was. Better to take your licks afterwards than get smacked for even thinking of it. At least then you get to enjoy what you’re being punished for.

Life hadn’t been fair then. Landon had reacted by becoming fixated on justice. Mr. Nobility and Equality. Zoe’s response had been more self-serving. You took care of yourself because you couldn’t count on anyone else. Except Landon. She’d always been able to count on him. Before they came here. Three Rocks had changed everything.

“You could be happy here,” Landon said softly. “If you let yourself be. This is a good place. It’s different.”

“It’s exactly the same as all the others. The only difference is you’re in charge. And how long will that last? Until someone younger and stronger walks up and kills you for the right to be Alpha? Or maybe until scientists raid the place and turn us all into lab rats?”

“I won’t let that happen.”

Some things even you can’t stop, big brother.

She lowered her eyes, studying the old claw marks scarring the hardwood floor. “I can’t stay here, Landon. I never planned on settling here, you know that.”

“Right now…”

“I’ll stay for now. Until things are stable again. I won’t leave you when you need me.”

His hand closed on her shoulder, tugging her away from the window and into a hug. “I’ll always need you, Zo.”

She smiled and pulled away. “No, you won’t. The pride follows you now. You’ve got this. We always said you were born to be Alpha. You were going to change the world one pride at a time. And you’ve started something here, even if it’s still rough and there are still bumps. You’re going to be great