Vivi Andrews - Serengeti Sunrise

And he needed her to give up. He couldn’t take much more temptation from Zoe King.

He didn’t need another rock tying him to the ranch. He’d played Atlas too long to want to shoulder any more responsibilities. And Zoe would be a massive weight on his life if he let her in.

You didn’t jilt the Alpha’s sister. Especially when the Alpha was married to your own sister. If Zoe got her hooks into him, Tyler would stay here, trapped on the ranch. Forever.

Shit, if Zoe got her hooks in him, he might not even mind the life sentence.

“Tyler?” Her voice was a throaty rasp that did nothing for his calm.

He realized his knuckles had gone white from his grip on the steering wheel and forced them to loosen as he drove the truck through the main gates and toward the garage.

The ranch had gone through several incarnations before it had ended up as the headquarters for the largest shape-shifter pride in West Texas. Since its first life as a summer bible camp, it had undergone substantial changes, but the clusters of cabins surrounding the communal dining hall had suited the lions perfectly. Another previous owner had added the requisite outbuildings and fencing to turn it into a cattle ranch—though the Three Rocks pride owned just enough cattle to provide their own game on the traditional semi-annual hunts.

With the addition of their own schoolhouse, medical clinic, his garage and a massive greenhouse, they’d done what they could to become their own community, independent of the outside world. Everyone contributed in the pride. Many of their members had telecommuted or worked in town to bring in additional cash, but most of those with jobs in town had lost them in the last month.

In spite of the unwritten rule that everyone work for the good of the pride, the pace of life was slower here. Like their feline cousins, the lion-shifters were sensualists who valued their indulgences and relaxation with a European appreciation. They felt safe enough to reveal their true natures here—in spite of the concerns about the town.

This afternoon was no exception, perfect for a hammock and a cold beer. Shifters basked in the sun in both lion form and human.

And Tyler didn’t see any of it. Zoe consumed every one of his senses as he threaded the tow truck along the service road that twisted through the maintenance buildings, toward his garage.

The cab had begun to feel like a cage. His lion chafed at the restriction, pressing against the inside of his skin.

God, the scent of her. It was killing him. How could she tease him to a frenzy with just a brush of her leg and the heady intoxication of her scent?

“Are you in heat?” His voice lashed across the cab, whip-crack sharp.

The unmated pride females were tucked away during their heat for a damn good reason. The scent of them made the males crazed with lust. It was chemical, uncontrollable. A biological imperative for a sexual marathon. He was hard to the point of pain, but it wasn’t his fault. She had to be in heat. There was no other explanation.

Zoe made a small choked sound in her throat. It was her uncharacteristic lack of a response that lured his eyes from the road. Her constantly changing expression had stilled, her body tense and motionless. “You can’t tell the difference,” she whispered, almost to herself.

Too late Tyler realized what he’d just disclosed if she wasn’t in heat. Shit . He’d just admitted she drove him wild. He might as well have told her he wanted to fuck her until she couldn’t stand. Which, God help him, he did.

A year of denying himself. A year of unrelenting sacrifice. A year of keeping his damn hands to himself to convince her he didn’t want her and he’d just ruined it in one fell swoop.

Give her an inch and she’ll take your whole life. He felt like he was trying to put the sand back into a shattered hourglass—like every grain was a piece of his freedom he’d never get back.

“The way you’re acting. It’s like you’re in heat,” he said in a fast, desperate attempt to repair the damage.

One of Zoe’s brows slid up toward her hairline. “What gave me away? Was it the striptease while you were hooking the car to the tow hitch or my attempts to give you a blowjob while you drove?”

His jean tightened like a vise in Pavlovian response as her lips formed the words blowjob and striptease . Tyler winced, drowning in lust and a sensation that wasn’t unlike blind panic. His brain was short-circuiting, but he just needed to focus on the task at hand. Turn Zoe over to her brother. End of story.

His judgment was in shreds. He couldn’t be alone with her right now.

And he sure as hell couldn’t tell her he’d gone hard from just the scent of her and her knee bumping his thigh. It had happened only because he’d been living like a goddamn monk for the last few months, and he’d be damned before he defended himself to her. Zoe might be able to talk circles around him, but he could control the silence.

He’d built a stable environment for his siblings growing up, even when things were shitty and chaotic in the pride, and he did it by always keeping a level head. Always rising above attempts to bait him, always pushing down his own desires for the good of his family. Restraint, control, sacrifice. He’d lived those words until they’d become who he was.

What was it about Zoe that threatened all that?

He spun the wheel, pulling the truck around behind his garage and slamming it into park.

“Tyler—”

“The Alpha’s expecting us.” He cut her off, killing the engine and jerking the key free of the ignition. He was out of the car and halfway to the back door of the garage before the truck’s engine stopped wheezing and rattling.

Tyler didn’t wait to see if she was following. He didn’t need to. Zoe wouldn’t give up so easily. She didn’t know how.

Zoe King, gorgeous and unstoppable. His own personal silver bullet.

Bastard . Tyler was six feet away, the cab still shuddering from the slam of the door, when all of Zoe’s year-long frustration crashed over her like a wave.

No way. He was not walking away from her. Not this time.

Zoe had wanted Tyler from the first second she’d laid eyes on him and when she wanted something, she went after it with everything she had. So there was no reason why she shouldn’t have him by now.

The entire drive back to the ranch she’d been tempted to crawl into his lap. The urge to break through his reserve and stir up the banked heat beneath taunted her. When he’d asked if she was in heat, it had spun her world like a top. It was all the proof she needed. Tyler Minor wanted her. Unequivocal, no two ways about it, sweet, hot lust .

And she’d hesitated. For a nanosecond there in the cab, for the first time in her life, nervous uncertainty had spiraled through her chest. And he just left. When the creaking slam of the car door jolted her, the uncertainty flashed into hurt and quickly twisted into its cousin, anger.

This wasn’t over. He didn’t get to just pretend nothing had happened. Not today.

Zoe launched herself out of the truck. “Tyler!” His only response was the clang of the heavy metal door to the garage slamming behind him after he ducked inside. “ Dammit .” She stalked after him. Cutting through the garage was the fastest way to the main part of the compound, but they weren’t finished here yet and she was going to make sure he knew it.

She ran to the door, jerked it open and surged through, carried on a tide of indignant frustration.

“Tyler!” Her shout echoed in the garage bay along with the ringing clang of the heavy door banging shut behind her. “Stop running and face me, you coward!”