Serengeti Sunrise

Chapter Eleven

“Ben and Andy worked for the Organization for like six months, but they weren’t being given any responsibility, see? So they decided to go it alone. They’d heard about Dr. Busey getting kicked out of the Organization for trying to, you know, breed the weres in captivity, which went against the Organization’s, erm, mission statement, I guess? So they went to find Dr. Busey and get some hands-on experience. When I met them, they’d all been together for a couple months, hunting weres. Dr. B was definitely the boss, but he let Ben and Andy have, like, responsibility, right? They were more like equals. I mean, Ben barely even got in trouble with Dr. B for telling me about the weres. I almost knew already. I’d read a lot of werewolf books, right? And I told him I really wanted to see one up close, see? So Ben convinced Dr. B to let me come along as a research assistant. That was when we heard about this town.”

“So the Organization doesn’t know about this pride?” Landon’s sharp question cut across Candice’s rambling recital.

She sat on a chair in the mess hall, her hands wrapped around a cup of cocoa, surrounded by the pride’s war council. They hadn’t needed to torture anything out of her, though Zoe thought they might need to apply thumbscrews to get the girl to shut up about how cool it was to be around “weres”.

“I don’t think so. I mean, Dr. B was always saying how the Organization had their heads up their you-know-whats cuz they were ignoring all the signs of were activity south of the Rockies. He says they were dumb to fixate on the wolves. Said,” Candice corrected after a moment, her eyes flicking sideways to Zoe before scuttling back to gaze worshipfully at Landon.

So the pride was safe. For now. As safe as they’d ever been. And more informed than they’d ever been.

Zoe shoved away from the wall she’d been propping up and slipped out the side door, restlessness driving her feet. She was halfway up the path to the infirmary before she realized where she’d been headed. Tyler was up there, getting patched up by the pride doc. He’d insisted Zoe be looked at first, idiot man, and after a nutrient shot and eating her weight in red meat, she was fine and dandy. While he still had a hole in him.

Zoe rubbed a hand against the pressure in her chest, turning and walking down the path away from the infirmary.

The jumbo-sized camping backpack that had traveled with her across the country was dusty when she pulled it out of her closet. Zoe brushed off the thick fabric and unzipped it, flopping it open on her bed. Packing wouldn’t take long. She didn’t have much she wanted to keep. Travel light. That was her motto. Easier to run that way.

When a soft tap came at her door, Zoe flinched, her hands freezing in the act of stuffing her rain poncho into a side pouch. She half-expected Tyler, though it was early yet for him to be released from medical. Her other instinct was Landon, but he must still be interrogating the prisoner.

She didn’t want to see anyone else. She didn’t particularly want to see those two either. She just wanted to go. And she didn’t want to think about or talk about why.

The knock came again, accompanied by “Zoe?” in Ava’s distinctive husky rasp.

“Shit,” Zoe muttered. Ava would look at her with those big, eerily ice-grey eyes, all wounded and shit that Zoe hadn’t planned on saying goodbye. Guilt rose up like bile and Zoe swallowed it down. One thing she wasn’t was a coward. “Come in.”

Ava opened the door just enough to slip her slight frame inside and shut it behind her, leaning back against the wood. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Zoe didn’t stop packing—a silent reminder to them both that she wouldn’t be talked out of going.

“I didn’t expect to find you packing,” Ava said softly. “Not after the way you came back.”

Zoe didn’t need the reminder of their dramatic return. She’d been dipping in and out of consciousness, but even she knew what it must have looked like. Tyler driving through the gates in the truck with the researchers’ trailer hitched to the back, kicking open the door and carrying Zoe to the infirmary, even though his shoulder was bleeding through the makeshift bandage Candice had rigged for him. The message had been clear to everyone who saw it—Tyler had saved her, saved them all. But instead of sending her swooning into his oh-so-heroic arms, Zoe couldn’t face him. She had to get out of here.

“Pride’s safe now,” she said shortly. “You have Candice and all the files those nutjobs collected on us. Landon doesn’t need me anymore.”

“Landon was pretty upset when the two of you vanished like that. We all were.”

“Tyler’s popular.”

“You are popular, Zoe. Sticking around for a few days to reassure your brother wouldn’t kill you. But I don’t think Landon is the only one who’s going to protest your departure,” Ava commented. “Zoe, I haven’t interfered in the past—”

“Then don’t start now.”

Ava ignored her. “I always figured whatever was between you and my brother was your business, but—”

“This isn’t about Tyler,” Zoe interrupted sharply. The words were only half a lie. It wasn’t entirely about Tyler. A lot of it was about her. Who she was when she was with him.

“At least talk to him before you go,” Ava urged. “He deserves that courtesy, don’t you think?”

“Tyler doesn’t want a mate any more than I do,” Zoe said harshly. “He’ll understand.”

Ava grimaced. “Maybe you’re right. He probably will. God, if two more commitment-phobic people ever existed on this earth…” She sighed, turning to go, but stopped to deliver one last blow to Zoe’s willpower. “If you guys weren’t so busy trying to prove how independent you are, you might just find that you’re perfect for each other. If you would just let yourself be.”

Zoe waited until the door clicked shut behind Ava to slump down onto the bed. Ava was right. Tyler was perfect, but more than that. He was perfect for her.

But perfect didn’t change anything. Zoe grabbed her toiletry bag, zipping it up and shoving it into her pack.

Tyler trotted down the steps of the infirmary, ignoring the doc’s order that he take it easy. One thought drove all others right out of his brain. He needed to find Zoe. Now. He hadn’t seen her since the doc had taken her out of his arms, and his heart wouldn’t slide down from the place it had lodged in his throat until he could see with his own eyes that the reports that she was good as new were true.

He needed to touch her, to feel the texture of her skin beneath his fingertips so he could breathe again.

The path to Zoe’s bungalow felt a million miles long, like it had been stretched since the last time he walked it. He moved faster, half-jogging and then running. His shoulder ached like the devil, little jabs of hot pain spearing into him with each jolting footfall, but he didn’t slow. Mara was coming up the path, but stepped out of the way as she saw him coming, a knowing smile quirking her lips.

He didn’t care who saw him. Didn’t care who gave him that smug must be newly mated look. He just ran.

The door was open when he got to her bungalow. The room was usually so bare it took him a moment to realize it had been stripped even further. The only item that was Zoe’s left inside was the cowboy hat someone must have collected from the perimeter where they’d been taken. It sat lonely and abandoned on the bed.

She was gone.

Tyler didn’t waste time searching her place. He scented the air and took off after her. He’d be able to track her more easily in lion form, where his sense of smell was sharper, but he wasn’t quite panicked enough to rip his stitches by shifting form. Yet.

Rounding the corner of his garage, he saw her. She stood at the door where he’d pinned her only days ago, a piece of paper in hand, her backpack resting against her ankle. His heart eased its panicked seizing at the sight of her. But his voice was gruff with the aftereffects of fear and anger when he spoke.

“A note?” he growled. “You weren’t even going to wait until I was released from the infirmary?”

Zoe spun toward him, her eyes widening in a way he would have thought was pleasure to see him and something like relief—if not for the fact that she was clearly leaving him. “Tyler.”

“Going somewhere?”

Her expression hardened, firming with resolve. “Yes. I have to go.”

“You don’t have to. No one wants you to leave, Zoe.”

“I want to.” She made a face, turning away from him then turning back before he could take a step toward her. “I don’t like who this is making me,” she said, waving between them to indicate the this. “If I leave, at least I’ll be me again.”

Tyler felt his expression softening, even as his chest ached with remorse. This was his fault. He’d failed her. “I’m sorry about what happened in the trailer,” he said, fighting to keep his voice low and steady. “I shouldn’t have let you be put in that position. You shouldn’t have to feel guilty for killing that man.”

Zoe’s snort cut him off. “God, Tyler, that isn’t it. You think I feel bad for killing that bastard? He was trying to shoot us. Put us down like animals. I’d kill him again in a heartbeat—and I’m sorry if I’m a little too bloodthirsty for you, but I figured you of all people would understand why I had to do it.”

“Of course, I—Zoe—if not that, why are you…?”

Her shoulders sagged. “I was the damsel in distress,” she muttered toward her feet. “I expected you to save me. Yeah, I got over it and kicked some ass, but there was this moment when I just waited for you. I can’t be that person, Tyler. I don’t like that part of me. The part that wanted to just sit back and let you rescue me. It feels too much like I’m losing who I am, if I become that girl.” She looked up, meeting his eyes for the first time during her speech. “I can’t be with you.”

“It isn’t weakness to rely on someone else, Zoe,” he said, approaching her, needing to touch her, feeling that if he could just get his hands on her, she wouldn’t be able to slip out of his life like smoke on the wind. “I’ve spent my entire life protecting everyone around me, doing it all myself, being the rock. You were the first person I depended on. I wouldn’t have let you watch my back if you were weak.” Close enough to touch her now, he gently brushed a hand across her jaw, cupping it. “I wouldn’t love you if you weren’t a warrior.”

She started to speak, but he could see on her face it was going to be denial, so he spoke over her, willing her to believe him. “I thought we made a pretty good team. You kept me from getting myself shot a second time. Turns out having someone to watch your back isn’t such a bad thing. So who’s gonna do that if you leave me?”

“I know you, Tyler. I don’t want to be another obligation, another person for you to protect.”

“You won’t be,” he vowed. “It isn’t easy for me to let you put yourself at risk, but I don’t ever want to hurt you or hold you back. I’m going to fuck up sometimes. I’m going to try to protect you, no matter what, but I’ll try to listen when you tell me I’m being a complete dipshit. And those obligations…” Tyler shook his head, trying to find the right words, unused to pouring his heart out. He swallowed thickly and tried again, not caring if the words were pretty as long as they were true. “My siblings are my life.”

“And you deserve a life of your own—”

“No, let me finish. My life wouldn’t be anything without my obligations. Without Ava and Michael and Caleb and Kane. They make it… They give my days reason and happiness. And you…my life would be empty without you, Zoe. I need you. I love you. Could you please say something and stop looking at me like that?”

Her lips quirked in a small smile, but he couldn’t celebrate yet. The smile was too sad. “I don’t want to stay here and raise a bunch of cubs.”

“I don’t want that either. Maybe kids. Someday down the road. But I want to leave Three Rocks too. Just you and me.”

She was already shaking her head. “You know you won’t abandon your siblings, Tyler. It isn’t in you to walk away from your responsibilities.”

“They’re grown now. And I won’t be abandoning anyone. Landon will need an ambassador to go to the other prides and packs, warn them about the Organization, make a plan for the future. Hell, maybe even talk about coming out to the humans.” He grinned. “I seem to remember someone thought that was a good idea.”

Zoe’s expressive face had stilled, a thoughtful light kindling in her eyes. “Ambassador?”

Tyler brushed his thumb over the fullness of her lower lip, marking his place. “We need to band together, all the shifters, if we’re going to have any chance of survival, but not all the prides are going to come easily. A trusted, persuasive emissary to travel around the world, acting on behalf of our families and our people… It would have to be a pair. So there’s always someone there to watch out for you…”

Tyler bent and pressed a soft kiss onto Zoe’s lips.

“It’s okay to rely on me, Zoe. I will always be here for you.” He kissed her again, longer this time, lingering in the warmth of her mouth. “It’s okay to need me,” he whispered against her lips. “I need you right back.” He kissed her a third time, deep and drugging, putting everything he felt, everything he hoped for into each caress. “It’s okay to love me…”

“I do.”

He dared put his arms around her. “Just don’t leave me.”

“I can’t. I won’t,” she promised, tugging him down for another kiss, fiercer and more passionate than the last. That single vow lit a fuse in his soul, sending him up like a firecracker exploding in the sky. When she finally pulled back, they were both breathless, clinging to one another to stay upright. They stood in front of the garage, in full view of anyone who cared to walk by, but Tyler couldn’t care less.

Zoe was his. Finally, irrevocably, perfectly his.

About damn time.