Tropical Lion's Legacy (Shifting Sands Resort 9)

They found Neal’s cage next; it was little more than a few black bars striking up through concrete, and some crumbling steps.

“I tore the lock off the door when I was finally free,” Neal said thoughtfully, crouching at what must have been a doorway once. “I gave it to Gizelle. I wonder if she still has it.”

He spoke mechanically, like it was something distant and half-forgotten, but when Mary knelt and put her arms around him, he hunched over as if he still felt pain.

Alice retreated swiftly, knowing she was unwelcome in the moment of comfort. Amber and Tony had already returned to the arboretum, and Amber was sitting on an unbroken portion of bench while Tony made her drink water and fussed about her health.

Alice wandered to the back of the zoo, over the scar of the wall, to the shaggy lawn that overlooked the sea. They were so high here that the waves were barely wrinkles below them, and the noise of surf was a distant hum. A road, half-washed out, led steeply down to a long dock and a half-moon of beach.

There were burned bars and chunks of rubble even here, as if they had been thrown from the zoo in a fiery explosion. Alice tested one of the dark concrete slabs with her hand, expecting the black to rub off on her like fresh soot, and was surprised when it came away clean. She sat on it, pulled her knees up against her chest, and wished she weren’t thinking of Graham.

He might not say much, she thought, but his solid presence beside her would have been comforting.

She glanced back at the zoo, where Mary and Neal were sitting together in the bones of his cage. He had his arms wrapped around her, and she was murmuring in his ear as she held him.

She could have that, it suddenly occurred to Alice.

She could have that unwavering support, that true bond, that unflinching comfort.

Graham loved her.

It was more than his blurted first words, it was more than the way he had rushed to protect her from Gizelle’s mate. It was the way he gazed at her when he couldn’t help it. It was the trust he cautiously extended her, like he was afraid of being pushed away... with good reason considering her insistence that there was nothing between them but animal nee

d.

She could have the same security and partnership that Mary and Amber had found, that same happiness.

All she had to do was accept that she loved him in return.

Chapter 20

“We’ve got him,” Jenny said triumphantly, pulling her phone from her ear. “We’ve got Grant Lyons!”

Graham, who had been planning to sneak straight past the kitchen and go to bed hungry rather than face the smirks and pity and questions that the rest of the staff would have, froze in the doorway.

He wished, not for the first time, that he’d fought harder to get the servants quarters that Breck had claimed when they first moved into The Den. At the time, Breck had needed the private entrance much more than Graham did.

Now, every eye from the living room and kitchen was on Jenny—and because Graham was right behind her, his entrance was at the edge of the spotlight.

“I’ve got a contact who has Lyons’ current name and location, and he’s agreed to sell it to us. I’m wiring him the money right now.” Jenny had her phone in her hands and was clearly starting the transaction.

The rest of the staff murmured in excitement and interest.

“I wonder if this is what Tony feels like doing spy work,” Jenny said gleefully. “I can hear the James Bond theme in my head.”

“Stop.”

Graham’s voice surprised even him, and if he had been at the edge of a metaphorical spotlight before, he was now in the blinding center of it. Breck and Darla were standing at the sink still holding the dishes they had been washing and drying together. Saina and Bastian were sitting at the kitchen bar, Travis leaning at the end of it. Wrench and Lydia were in the living room sitting together on the couch near Laura, and Tex had been closing the windows. Someone had muted the television at Jenny’s exclamation.

“He’s not, you know, a shining example of morality,” Jenny said apologetically, looking at Graham. “But I understand he’s good for his word. I got his information from a guy Tony knows, so it should be pretty safe.”

Graham laughed humorlessly. “Johnny Ace is good for his word... unless someone else is willing to pay more.”

Jenny blinked at him. “How did you know his name?” she asked slowly. “I only got this information this afternoon.”

Graham looked around the room.

These were his friends.