Page 53 of Searching for Valor

As they turned to leave, Rhiannon glanced back at Zak. “Keep an eye on him tonight? I know he won’t answer if I call, butmaybe you could swing by the cabin, make sure he’s...” She trailed off, unable to finish the thought.

“I’ll check on him,” Zak promised. “Go get some rest. We’ll regroup in the morning and figure out our next steps.

After Pierce and Rhiannon left, Zak sank behind his desk and dragged his hands through his hair.

They had gone about it the wrong way. He saw that now and kicked himself for not realizing it before the damage was already done.

The door opened, and every roiling emotion in him settled. He didn’t need to look up to know who it was. There was only one person on the planet who had that effect on him.

Or, no, two.

He smiled as a furry head with large radar-dish ears settled on his thigh. He stroked a hand over Ranger’s ears and looked up at Anna, watching her cross the distance between them. Without a word, she settled onto his lap and wrapped her arms around him. It was precisely what he needed, and he held her tight, burying his face against her soft breasts and breathing her scent deep into his lungs.

She combed her hand through his hair, and for a long time, they just sat there, holding each other.

“Are you okay?” she asked at last, pulling back slightly to meet his gaze.

He exhaled a hard breath to loosen the knot in his throat. “I fucked up.”

“We all do occasionally.”

“Yeah, but… I should’ve known better. Rylan reacted exactly like I would’ve. If Dr. Firestone had approached me the same way we did him today, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

He knew that with absolute certainty. At the time, he hadn’t wanted to live anymore. He’d already attempted to kill himself once before he’d been assigned community service at RedwoodCoast Rescue and mandatory counseling with the Paws for Vets group. He’d attempted it again shortly after.

“I know,” Anna said softly, her voice raw. She cleared her throat and cupped his face in her hands. “What saved you?”

He hated thinking about that part of his life. It was over and he never wanted to revisit it.

“Bella did. I saw her face and realized I couldn’t force her to live the rest of her life with the knowledge she’d killed a man. Even if it was an accident and he wanted to die.”

“No, I’m not talking about that time. The second time. When you were alone and drunk with the gun. What saved you?”

He had his gun in hand and was trying to grab the box of bullets from the back corner of the wall safe when he heard scratching at the door. Ranger worked the latch and let himself in and at the sight of him, Zak broke. He dropped the gun, grabbed the dog, and cried…

He looked down at Ranger’s big ears and those yellow eyes and remembered how the dog had whimpered and licked the tears from his face that night, refusing to leave his side. Even when Zak had yelled at him, thrown things, tried to get the dog to just go, Ranger had stayed. Steadfast and loyal, even to a miserable bastard who didn’t deserve it.

“Ranger saved me,” Zak admitted thickly. “He wouldn’t let me be alone that night, no matter what I did. He just kept coming back, kept pushing his head under my hand until I finally… until I let him in. And that allowed me to let you in. And the girls. And the team.“ He looked at his wife. “Rylan needs a dog.”

Anna’s smile was brilliant. “I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to get there.”

He picked her up and stood, then set her back down in the chair and kissed her, quick and hard. “I know just the one.”

He was almost to the door when she called, “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

He glanced back. “What?”

“Ranger was only part of the equation.”

He froze. “Shit. You were the other part.”

She nodded. “He needs an Anna, too.”

“Well, he can’t have you. I don’t share.”

Anna laughed, a husky sound that never failed to stir Zak’s blood. “I wasn’t offering myself up, you goof. I’m just saying that Rylan needs more than a dog. He needs a person, too. Someone who can be there for him, anchor him, the way I did for you.”

She was right, of course. Anna usually was about these things. A dog would help, but Rylan needed human connection, too. “Who?” He knew his wife well enough to know she already had someone in mind.

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