Page 72 of Homecoming

“I know who Rosie is. But my question is why? Why are you here? Is this to do with me?”

“Honestly, Kat, I told you, it’s just an amazing coincidence. You want the real truth… Okay. Well, after what happened in Mexico—my mission fuck-up—and then the whole Bosnia incident, I got kicked from my intelligence role with the CIA. I’ve had to start over and so decided to come back her andandget away from things for a while. I’ve always wanted to set up my own private security firm and nightclubs… well, they seemed the best way to go about that. But it’s hard and to get an ‘in’, you need to know the owners. Most of them won’t trust a newcomer, so you have to put in the groundwork and work on earning their trust. Noah being off for all that time, I struck lucky. I proved myself to Rhys and eventually he trusted me enough to head up the security. Noah, tell her—tell her you know me and that Rhys trusts me too.”

“But Rhys doesn’tknowyou. He doesn’t know what happened out there in Bosnia and—”

“Kat, I was there for you. When all that went down, I had your six and you know it. You could trust me then and you can trust me now.”

“You have precisely thirty seconds to get in that car and drive away before I shoot the pair of you. Do you understand me?” With that, she disappears inside the house and from the drawer of the hall table, she pulls a loaded handgun.

“Kat!” Noah gasps in shocked horror. “What in the name of the mountain bears are you doing? Please, put that gun down.” He looks fraughtandplacing Evelyn on the floor, he shoos the small gray pup inside. “Kat, please… what in mother’s mountain are you doing?”

Kat’s not listening to the ranger and from the porch steps, she fires one shot from the pistol into the air and starts to count. “Twenty-five…twenty-four…”

“Fuck!” Donovan gasps. “Tyler... get in the car! Man, she’s lost it, she’sfuckin’crazy.”

“Twenty… I’m still counting.” Kat continues to stare at Tyler.

He doesn't move as he focuses the glare of his deep blue eyes. “Kat, please just let me just talk to you.”

“Fifteen…” Kat aims the weapon and points in his direction.

“Tyler… will you just get in thefuckin’car? You do know she’s serious?” Donovan screams anxiously from thedriver'sseat.

“No. No, she won’t shoot me.” Tyler steps forward. “She can’t.” He stares, looking Kat directly in the eyes.

“What the fuck?” she snarls. “You need to go or trust me, Iwillshoot you. Ten… Nine…eight—”

“But you can’t do it.”

“Kat!” Noah rushes forward and positions his large body in front of her. “Please. Please put the gun down. Are you crazy? Kat, you can’t just shoot a man on the doorstep.”

“I can if I think my pups are in danger. Now get out of the fucking way, Noah.” Kat turns her focused attention back on Tyler, “It was you… I can smell it now. It was you in the forest. You’ve been watching me. I chased you away, and you disappeared. What the hell do you want?”

“Kat, it’s not what you think, but you are right...You did chase me away. Please, just let me explain. When I came to see Rosie, she was worried about how the rest of the pack alphas would take to her seeing an outsider and so I would park along the highway and cut through the forest. And yeah, I did see you a few times. I was trying to avoid you, not to hide. But you’re also right, I did know you were hereandI did watch you few times. I couldn’t help it.”

“What… because we kissed that one time? In that moment and you now think that meant I want something with you? Now you’re stalking me? I don’t want you, and that kiss meant nothing. It was weird and fueled by adrenaline just after everything that had happened—it was an energy release, that’s all. I lost my head for a moment. Now I said get the hell out of here!”

“Kat, I don’t want you like that—I have Rosie and it’s not like that.”

“Really? You don’t want me and yet you turn up here out of the blue. What? Am I supposed to buy this wholecoincidencething? Because I don’t. I don’t buy it. Nowget the fuck out!” she screams.

“Kat, please… Please, think about what you’re doing here.” Noah remains steadfast in front of her. “Don’t go and do something stupid. You’ll put your whole career in danger if you do this and they won’t take you back if they think you are losing it. I’m begging you not to do this. Tyler… Tyler, you should listen to your friend and go. Whatever is going on, I’ll sort it out, but really you should go now.”

“Alright… alright,” Tyler holds his hands up in submission. “I’m going to go. But Kat, please, I just want to talk to you. I have so much I need to explain about Bosnia and… Okay, I’mgoingbut when you're ready to listen, you know where to find me. Noah, I’ll see you soon.”

“Get thefuckoff my property!” Kat takes a deep breath and raises the pistol in both hands.

“Tyler, get in thefrickin' car, man.” Donovan screams again through the open window as he revs the engine.

“Kat, we will talk. I know we will.” Tyler stares one last time before he finally gets in the car.

Kat continues with the gun focused on him until the vehicle is far down the driveway.

“Kat, what in the moonshine of hell was that all about? And since when do you keep a loaded gun in the hallway dresser? Are you totally pine-nuts? What if one of the pups—God forbid Lukas—got hold of it, what then?”

“He wouldn’t. He didn’t know it was there.”

“Well, he didn’t know your vibrator was under the mattress, but he found that easily enough. Kat, have you gone absolutely insane?”

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