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