Page 104 of Marked By the Pack
“I have my ways.”
I put my hand on my hip. “Did you pick the lock?” Otto had told me he wanted to do that last night.
“Um…maybe. But what I just installed on your door makes that impossible now. And I made myself a key so I don’t have to try to pick it again.” He lifted up his key chain, pulled off a key, and tossed it at me. “Full disclosure, I made several copies. For all of us.”
I opened my mouth and closed it again. “How long have you been here?”
“A few hours. Here, look.” He walked over to me and showed me the display on his phone. He was logged in to some security feed with angles of my whole downstairs, front door, back door, and the sides of my house. “Pretty cool, huh? I just need to do upstairs.”
“Do I really need a security system? This is…a lot.”
“I had a little trouble sleeping last night. I know you trust Callum, but…I don’t. It makes me uneasy knowing that he comes and goes.”
I’d had trouble sleeping last night too. But not because of Callum. Maybe I would have felt a little better knowing Ace was looking out for me though. As long as he didn’t…shift into a werecat.
“I’ll give you all the login info once I’ve finished installation,” he said. “Oh, and there’s already coffee brewing for you.”
“You made me coffee?Andyou installed a whole security system before I even woke up?”
He smiled. “Yeah. I want to keep you safe.”
It wasn’t just his words that made me smile. It was the way that he’d said it. “And why exactly do you want to keep me safe?”
Otto had said that each of the guys would ask me out in their own way. Installing a high tech security system wasn’t what I was imagining. But I really did appreciate it. This town was a little unpredictable.
“Why do you think?” Ace asked.
“Because you like me?” I smiled up at him. I was pretty sure I was blushing.
“That. And I protect what’s mine, Zoey.” He reached out, cupping the side of my face in his rough palm.
“I’m yours, huh?”
He stepped forward, making me step back. My butt hit the wall behind me. And he caged me in. “You’re definitely mine,” he said against my lips.
Chapter 27
Wednesday
Emma
“And what exactly is your sudden interest in all this?” Callum asked as he pulled a key out of his desk drawer.
“Zoey, actually. She’s a history buff and she’s starting to rub off on me.”Eh.Not really. But these relics were old and Zoey was technically interested in them. And I was definitely interested if one of them was a certain coin that happened to have an Anubis head on it.
“Is she really? Huh, I didn’t realize. Did you want to ask her to come take a look too?”
“Maybe a different day.” I wanted to spend time alone with him. I’d spent all day at the house painting by myself. And he’d spent all day with Kebe. After our talk, I really should have been fine with him showing Kebe houses. But it was odd that Callum hadn’t mentioned a single thing about his day with Kebe ever since I arrived.
“Well, you can invite Zoey over anytime too.” He walked around his desk. “As long as she leaves her boys at home.”
“Callum.” Maybe that’s why his day with Kebe hadn’t come up yet. Because I’d spent the whole time filling him in about Zoey having four boyfriends. And probably soon to be five.
“What? I don’t want them in my house.”
“Zoey’s my best friend. Which meansweneed to be friends with who she’s dating.”
“No.”
