by Vivi Andrews
Tyler’s hands stilled on the engine components. “Why do you ask?”
Because that was the moment I started falling in love with you.
She shook her head, in denial of the thought. This wasn’t love. She wouldn’t let it be. She hadn’t needed a hero then, but having him step in with his armor shining had linked them somehow.
“I have a theory about why you didn’t,” she said. “Landon’s always had big sweeping ideas of changing the whole world, but you strike me as more focused. Ava… Michael… You only fight personal battles. I think Leonus was betting on you not lifting a finger for a stranger, but for some reason that wasn’t a good bet.” Zoe wet her lips, unaccountably nervous. “I guess I was just wondering if that reason had anything to do with me.”
She was able to ask only because he wasn’t looking at her. When he raised his eyes to hers, the words turned to sawdust in her mouth.
“Doesn’t that make me less noble? If I wasn’t doing it for the justice of it, but only to get laid?” Tyler slowly advanced on her, and Zoe found her feet retreating without any direction from her brain.
“But you didn’t get laid. If you were only doing it so I’d feel indebted to you, why didn’t you ever come to collect?”
“Isn’t that what I did last night?”
“You waited over a year to claim your prize? I don’t think so.” Her back bumped against an SUV with the side paneling shredded by some lion’s claws.
Tyler kept advancing until his chest brushed hers, using his superior height to loom over her in that way that never failed to make her internal organs melt like butter.
“Why, Tyler?”
He bowed his head and buried his nose in her hair, inhaling deeply next to her ear and then whispering the words into it. “I didn’t want you to get hurt.” He rested his hands on the SUV on either side of her so his forearms brushed the sides of her waist. “I’ve had this compulsion to protect you since the second you walked through that gate.”
“I don’t need you to protect me.”
“I need to. You belong to me, Zoe. And you drive me mad when you put yourself at risk. I thought I could control it. I thought if I didn’t give in to it that I would stop wanting to claim you, but it never worked.”
Her breathing accelerated, fueled by the mix of arousal and panic his words inspired. “I don’t want a protector.”
“Tough,” he growled against her ear, his body leaning into hers until she could feel his strength pressing her back into the door panel. “We don’t always get what we want. I wanted to be free of my obligations and leave here for good, but I stopped thinking that way the second I realized you were mine to protect.”
“You can’t have it both ways,” she said, her argument slightly less effective due to the breathy gasps that were all she could manage with his hands sneaking under her shirt to her braless breasts beneath. “You can’t be both the big, strong protector and the no-strings lover. It doesn’t work that way.”
He lifted her, guiding her legs around his hips and pinning her hard against the SUV. “We both know no strings was never an option.”
His mouth slammed down on hers, driving any protest she might have made out of her mind. He consumed her with the kiss. He shrugged out of his coveralls, and Zoe lowered her legs long enough to help the stiff cloth drop to his ankles. As he kicked it off, she quickly stripped out of her own jeans and T-shirt. Then he fell back on her in a hungry frenzy. His hands were filthy with engine grease, but Zoe didn’t care. She wanted them on her everywhere, smearing tracks of dark grease across her skin.
Tyler was forceful, commanding. He spun her away from the side door and bent her over the table he’d been working at earlier, her ass raised like a gift. He nudged her feet wider and stroked a calloused hand over the curve of her buttocks as Zoe gripped the table for balance. She felt his thick cock probing at her entrance, impossibly hot like all the heat in his body was being redirected there, and then he plunged inside and she screamed raggedly as sensation ratcheted to an unbearable pitch, her cries echoing hollowly in the garage bay.
He drove into her again and again, hard enough that the heavy table began scraping across the floor with each pounding thrust. Zoe held on tight, aware of nothing but the knot of pleasure building in her blood. Tyler reached around and found the heart of the knot, rotating a single finger on her clit. The knot unraveled like a slingshot, flinging her into the stratosphere as her climax shook her body, and Tyler rammed into her one last time, holding tight and deep as he came hard inside her.
As she floated back to her body, Zoe concentrated on the sound of their uneven breathing. Everything else was too big, too much to contemplate.
Whatever this thing was between them, it had just gotten a hell of a lot more complicated.
Chapter Nine
Zoe snuck into the back of the mess hall, hoping to go unnoticed at Landon’s mandatory defense summit. Flying under the radar wasn’t something she had much experience with, but she’d been practicing it diligently for the last forty-eight hours. Ever since Tyler tossed no-strings out the window.
She’d fled the garage, throwing some lame excuse she couldn’t even remember over her shoulder. Tyler hadn’t stopped her, either smart enough to know she needed space or cocky enough to be certain she was coming back.
The world felt like it was squeezing in around her like a vacuum pack, sucking all the oxygen out of her lungs. She’d needed some breathing room. Some time to evaluate. Just a few minutes when her hormones weren’t running on overdrive and insisting she absolutely must stay with that walking aphrodisiac of a lion. She couldn’t think when she was with him.
Unfortunately, after two days apart from him, she was no closer to knowing what she wanted.
She’d avoided Landon, Ava, the entire Minor family, but especially Tyler. She knew what he wanted—what they all wanted. For her to decide she really did want to settle down.
Settle. The word tasted like rust on her tongue. If she stayed here, she’d be close to Landon and Ava. She’d have Tyler, and probably a few cubs and an extra thirty pounds of baby weight she couldn’t shed.
She’d be domesticated. A house cat.
The thought made her physically ill, so much so she’d actually considered going to the pride doc and asking him to give her a pregnancy test even though she couldn’t be pregnant without going into her heat cycle. Wouldn’t that be just her luck? If Tyler knocked her up, there’d be no denying him.
She didn’t want her claws pulled. She could handle it for a little while—being surrounded by people you cared for wasn’t exactly torture—but eventually the wanderlust that was so deeply embedded in her soul would start pressing against her heart again, begging for an outlet. Independence. Freedom. Adventure. Would her soul just wither and die without them? Could she be a house cat? And on the other side, could she even make herself leave Tyler?
He already felt like the cornerstone to the foundation of her happiness, like it would all crumble without him. But was he too grounded? He might profess to want to leave the pride and see the world, but he would never be able to leave his family. His siblings meant too much to him. And knowing what she now did about his father, she knew he would never let himself be the kind of man who abandoned those he loved. Tyler was even more caged than she was here at Three Rocks. But if she put herself in that cage with him, would they soothe one another or rip each other to pieces?
Zoe shuffled along the back of the room filled with every able-bodied adult in the pride. She didn’t need to scan the room for Tyler. She spotted him right away, leaning against the base of the stage they never used. Landon stood on it now, Ava at his side, the Minor siblings and their mates arrayed at his feet. Zoe felt a twinge of guilt that she wasn’t up there with them, presenting a united front, but that would only reinforce the illusion that she was part of this pride, and she wasn’t. Not really. Not yet, a small voice whispered in her mind.
The mess hall was crowded. Meals were co
mmunal but rarely attended by all pride members simultaneously. Full-pride gatherings, like the ritual hunts, usually took place in the amphitheatre on the edge of the compound. Holding the meeting here was doubtless an attempt to keep the cubs from listening in, but Zoe would bet there was a cluster of small, furry ears pressed to the walls outside, trying to pick out stray words through the timbers. Curiosity was a feline trait, after all.
Landon raised his hands above his head, and the rumble of conversation in the hall instantly quieted. Zoe realized she was holding her breath and forced herself to let it out. Whatever they’d discovered in the last couple days, it couldn’t be good, judging by the grim set of her brother’s jaw.
Guilt jabbed again. She should have been with them. She should have been on the front lines, investigating and planning, but instead she’d been hiding. Taking care of herself first, like a true nomad outside a pride. So why did she feel like she’d done something wrong?
Landon cleared his throat and tipped his head back in his master-orator mode, projecting the charisma that made him a natural leader. “Since the incident at the Bar Nothing, a trio arrived in town, claiming to be government research scientists investigating the geological properties of this land. Two men and one woman, young by all accounts, they have been telling the town that we are operating under a similar government research grant, but that our funding is set to expire soon and they will be taking over the ranch when it does.”
Sounds of unease momentarily rose, cutting Landon off until he raised his hands again for quiet.
“We haven’t been able to determine yet where these so-called geologists are staying, though it is somewhere outside of town, and we have no way of knowing if there are more than just the three who’ve been seen by the townspeople. We don’t know what they know about us. This could be nothing more than a misunderstanding. At this point, until we know more, our best strategy is to be always on guard defensively. Patrols will be doubled and run in pairs who will be in constant radio contact with the central security team. We’ll be working to upgrade the sensors at the perimeter as quickly as possible, as well as beefing up security around the cubs. In the meantime, stay close to the compound, try to avoid going anywhere alone and report anything suspicious, no matter how insignificant it may seem.”
Ava slipped her hand into Landon’s, and the anxious tension in his shoulders seemed somehow to shift into a sense of power and strength.
“With luck we’ll be able to face our enemy directly soon.” A predatory growl rose through the room. Landon bared his teeth, nodding as if satisfied by the bloodthirsty response. “We will win this hunt. Until then, come up and get your new security assignments.”
Zoe wrapped her arms around her stomach as the shifters in the room stood and shuffled toward the pride leaders to collect their new duty rosters. There was a sense of solidarity as the pride banded together to face the common enemy. Zoe knew she should feel motivated and a swell of camaraderie with her fellow lions, but all she felt was the intense urge to leave.
Lions rarely hunted alone, but Zoe wanted nothing more than to leave the group behind and go hunting, to test the sharpness of her claws against the flesh of those who threatened them.
The line to get assignments would take a while to clear out. Zoe slipped out the side door, striding quickly away from the building. She would talk to Landon later about whatever he wanted her to do. Now the lioness stirred restlessly within her, scratching to be let out. Zoe stretched her stride, loping down the path toward her place.
“Running away?”
The deep voice behind her brought her up short. Zoe paused, unfamiliar indecision slithering through her. Turn and face him? Or run like hell?
“It’s a lot for me to adjust to too,” Tyler said, closer this time.
Zoe turned. “It?”
Damn, he looked good. The sight of him so close was a salve to an ache she hadn’t known she had. Tall and strong, a golden god gazing down at her with an expression of such possession it should have had her sprinting in the opposite direction, but all she wanted to do was throw herself against him.
“Taking a mate,” he said. “It’s a big adjustment for both of us.”
Her breath left her in a whoosh. “Who said I was taking a mate?” Presumptuous bastard.
“Zoe.”
“Tyler,” she mimicked, a growl sneaking into her voice. “Before you grab a shotgun and start wedding planning, maybe you should check to see if the bride is willing.”
“This isn’t exactly how I pictured my life going either,” he said, the words sharp.
“Oh, well done. That’s the way to convince me we should get married. Bitch about how I’m screwing up your life plan. Bonus.”
“That wasn’t what I meant and you know it. We’re both stuck in this, so we might as well—”
“I’m not stuck in anything, Tyler Minor. So you can just cram your make the best of it speech up your ass, okay, sweetie?”
“Dammit, Zoe! What did I do to get you so pissed at me? I thought we were good and then you bolt on me with no fucking explanation and avoid me for days. What did I fucking do?”
You wanted me. Zoe knew it was messed up, but him wanting her had scared the shit out of her. She was allowed to pin all her emotion on him when he was running hard in the opposite direction, but she hadn’t been prepared for his about-face. When he wanted her, when it was real and she had to choose between a real life with him here and the life she knew on her own, suddenly everything she felt was bigger and scarier than she could handle.
But she couldn’t tell him that.
“You didn’t do anything. What do you want?”
His jaw locked and his hands fisted at his sides, but he lowered his eyes, visibly restraining himself from the urge to dominate her. Zoe was more impressed than she cared to admit by the effort.
“Landon wants you to take a look at the perimeter security. You know more about that techno-spy shit than anyone else on the ranch. I’m supposed to escort you.”
“Babysit me, you mean. I can do it myself. I’ll be on pride land the entire time.”
“You’ll be on the border and everyone is using the buddy system, so stop whining and get any gear you need. We’re going as soon as you’re ready.”
Zoe stiffened, itching for a fight, wanting to take out all of her frustration and confusion on someone. “Is that an order?”
Tyler stepped forward until he was looming over her, but he didn’t touch her, just saturated the air around her with the weight of his presence. “Zoe,” he growled low. “We can play all the dominance games you want later, but right now you have a job to do for the pride, so get your ass moving and fucking do it.”
If she’d needed it spelled out for her that his family would always come first to him, Tyler had just done that. Pride first—even if his definition of pride was narrower than Landon’s. Zoe didn’t want to be another person he protected and bossed around. It wasn’t in her.
Suddenly the picket fence looked more like bars. He would keep her safe, even if it meant building a cage around her with his own two hands. The two of them chafing against their restriction together she might have been able to handle. Tyler as her jailer would be unbearable.
“I’ll get my things,” Zoe said, her voice soft and expressionless.
Tyler rocked back on his heels, a flicker of satisfaction at the victory showing on his face. Zoe didn’t bother telling him he’d lost something bigger than this argument. He’d lost her.
“Three more and we’re done.”
The truck rumbled over the cattle guard fifteen feet from the outer perimeter. Zoe sat in the passenger seat with a laptop open on her legs, ignoring him with a businesslike concentration that was starting to make him crazy.
For days he’d tried to give her space, even as his lion fought against the restriction, urging him to prove to her he was strong enough to be her mate the only way the animal in him recognized—through dominance. He’d nearly ripped La
ndon’s head off for no good reason, just because he was another male in Zoe’s life and Tyler couldn’t stand the idea of anyone else having a claim on her. His human side refused to be ruled by his instincts. He knew Zoe would be as resistant to the idea of spending forever with him as he initially had been, but she didn’t have decades of bending to Fate’s will to prepare her as he did.
Strangely, the more time he’d given her, the more certain he’d become that he didn’t need any more. The more she’d resisted, the faster he’d adjusted. He would never find anyone else who suited him the way Zoe did. It was her or no one, and now that he’d been with her, no one wasn’t an option anymore.
But her rigid silence in the passenger seat couldn’t be classified as encouraging.
They’d been replacing and updating the electronic monitors at the perimeter for the last four hours, and other than instructions, she hadn’t said more than two words to him.
With only three more points to work, he realized he was running out of time when she’d be forced to be in his presence. He’d already wasted hours he could have been pleading his case. Whatever the hell his case was.
Tyler cleared his throat as he pulled up next to a fencepost that concealed motion sensors and a tiny infrared camera. “Zoe—”
She was out of the truck, the door slamming on her name. Tyler scrambled out after her and circled the bed. He scanned the horizon for threats automatically, even as he tried to figure out some way to convince her being his mate wouldn’t be too horrible.
His lion insisted he dominate her. His human side urged him to reason with her. But on one thing the man and lion were in perfect accord. Zoe was his. Which made his priorities clear. Keep her safe, no matter what.
