A brisk meow was his only warning. Buffy appeared on his lap. He hadn’t noticed the cat approach. Zach glanced at Spike. “Some guard dog you are.”
Spike lay in the grass and panted at him. Unrepentant.
Buffy headbutted him, then sat down across his thighs. She stared at him with blue, eerily familiar, eyes.
“I don’t need your help,” he told the cat. Or Cara. He wasn’t sure which. But of their own free will, his hands started stroking the soft fur. Buffy purred, leaning into them.
He had big hands. Capable, he’d always thought, even with the one crooked finger from the dairy cow who’d tried to kick him. He’d dodged it. Mostly.
A farm boy at heart, he loved the simple life. This stuff had him way out of his comfort zone. There were horses out there who needed him. Who would never have a happy life unless he used his ability to reach them.
Perhaps it wasn’t his gut that insisted Jessie and he should be together. It was his heart.
Hearts were fickle things. They convinced the head and the gut that they were in the right. Some of the worst decisions in history had stemmed from the heart. Because hearts were good at lying. Even to themselves.
His mother had always said that if something was meant to be, it would be. And heaven or hell wouldn’t be able to stop it. He squeezed his eyes shut. He and Jessie had no chance. Zach wasn’t even in the race. It all came down to Kade. Or Braden. What he wanted was no longer the point. It never had been. The damned Sabre was right. The important thing was that Jessie be saved from Braden.
Zach couldn’t help her. If the blood didn’t work, mating a Sabre might be her only option.
She wasn’t likely to do that if she thought she was developing something with Zach. And if Zach fought for her now, she might refuse to do what she needed to do. And end up in the claws of a twisted bastard.
Buffy was purring. The vibration ran through him, soothing him as effectively as Cara’s touch.
The important thing here was Jessie. Kade was a pain in the ass. But the Were was honest as they came. Arrogant, but brave. He was a good man. He would treat her right.
If that was Jessie’s only choice, Zach had to get out of the way. And open the door.
26
Jessie and Laura slept for five hours beneath Cara’s watchful energy. Five glorious, dreamless hours.
Jessie awoke to the smells and sounds of cooking. More than one chef, by the amount of banging and clanging. Supper was in progress.
She descended to the kitchen to find chaos.
On careful analysis of the opened cans, she concluded they were making chili. Kitani’s tablet was propped up on the counter with a recipe. Debris covered every surface. All four stove elements had pots bubbling away.
“Wow, that’s one helluva lot of chili,” she commented.
Kitani grinned at her. “Wereallylike chili.”
Zach came in the back door and froze in shock at the sight.
He came to the same conclusion as Jessie. “Chili?”
“You have twenty minutes until it’s ready,” Kitani said briskly. “I suggest a shower. You stink.”
Zach didn’t seem to know how to take that. His shoulders slumped and he scratched fingers through the stubble along his jaw. He must be tired as hell. Jessie had managed some sleep while he’d been out doing chores.
“Hey, stink is a relative term,” Jessie joked.
He looked at her, and she flinched. His eyes, usually so full of life, were glazed over. Empty. The connection between them, so strong since they’d linked—it was as if it had never existed. She felt nothing from him. Like he was totally locked down.
“Man, Zach. You need sleep,” she offered, her heart in her throat. “You look like hell.”
He sketched her a smile that never came close to his eyes. “Yeah. I’m tired.” Then he walked past her and up the stairs.
She watched him go, her stomach twisting. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. A meow came from the region of her feet. Buffy the cat had trailed in after him. The cat blinked up at her.
