“What are you wearing?” Willow asked, looking up and down at Zoe’s makeshift outfit.
“Long story,” Zoe grumbled.
Fashion was the last thing on her mind right now. Willow already had a pitcher of fresh lemonade out on the counter next to her laptop with a word processor open on the screen. Willow glanced at her current novel and shut the laptop, then smiled back at Zoe.
“That’s a steamy part,” Willow said, blushing as she poured the lemonade. “Speaking of steamy parts. I heard that you and Rollo are mated!”
“Who told you that?”
“Well, Rollo told Damien and Damien told Corey. And Corey told me.”
“People in this town, seriously. How does Damien even know Corey?”
“They’re part of the same tech circles online. Corey has been sharing a lot of proprietary information with Damien lately. He’s a bit of an apprentice. Like you and Angus. How is that going, anyway?”
“It was going great until Rollo kidnapped me.”
“He what?” Willow said, choking on her lemonade.
“I guess that part didn’t make it into the gossip circle of Fate Mountain.”
“What gossip?” Corey asked, walking into the kitchen.
He picked up his glass of lemonade and took a sip. Zoe resisted the urge to roll her eyes. No matter how much her brother had done for her over the years, she always felt like a failure around him. She didn’t even want him to know about her and Rollo yet, especially under these conditions.
“Zoe said Rollo kidnapped her.”
“Does this have to do with the trouble you’re in?”
“Rollo thought he was protecting me.”
“Why are you in danger, Zoe? What did you do?”
Zoe looked away, taking her lemonade with her. It was fresh and sweet with a touch of mint from one of Willow’s planter boxes. But she all she tasted was bitterness.
She walked out onto the patio, not wanting to stop at the top of the stairs. She gritted her teeth and kept walking down the length of the deck until she came to a porch swing where she sat down and started singing with her glass in her hand.
Corey followed her out there with Willow not far behind him. Willow looked worried. Corey just looked irritated.
“What?” Zoe said, looking up at her brother.
“Is this why you came to Fate Mountain?” Corey asked.
“No, Corey. I came to Fate Mountain because I missed you so much.”
“I’m so glad you came here, Zoe,” Willow said, sitting on the padded rattan chair beside the swing, lemonade in hand. “It’s been wonderful getting to know you. Aren’t you glad she’s here, Corey?”
“Of course I am. I’m just concerned about her. And quite frankly, I’m concerned that she’s brought danger to our school.”
“Corey, that’s a terrible thing to say.”
“No, it’s fine,” Zoe said, putting down her glass on the rattan coffee table as she rose. “I’m used to it.”
She brushed passed her brother and started toward the stairs leading into the front yard.
“Where are you going?” Corey said behind her as Zoe trotted down the stairs.
“Back to my dorm,” she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.
Corey always seemed to reduce her to an angry, rebellious child. She was so over this. Coming to Fate Mountain to be around her brother was the biggest mistake of her life. Now she was mated to Rollo and could never get away.
She was trapped.
But she didn’t intend to remain that way. She hurried down the walkway through the front lawn.
“Rollo wants you to stay here,” Corey said.
“Then he can come stop me,” Zoe said without turning.
She heard Corey growl and Willow placate him, but she didn’t stop to look back. She made her way down the driveway that looped around to the road that led up to the institute.
She’d told Corey the truth. She was going to her dorm room. But she didn’t intend to stay there. She hurried through the front door of the dormitory section of the institute and made her way to her room. She pressed the keypad to unlock the door and walked inside.
She sighed and sat down on her bed, pulling out a key that was taped under her nightstand. She then pulled a black case out from under her bed. She slipped the small key in the lock and opened the lid of the case.
Inside of the case, she found her 9mm glock and several clips of bullets. Pulling everything out, she tossed the clips in a backpack. She was still wearing the ridiculous t-shirt from Rollo’s closet and desperately needed to change.
She pulled on a pair of jeans, a tank top and a pair of hiking boots. When she was dressed, she slid her gun into the waistband of her jeans and hurried back out of the dormitory with the backpack slung over her shoulders.
Out in the parking lot, she found one of the institute’s vans. She didn’t have keys for it, but she knew how to hotwire a car. That wasn’t even something Dima taught her. Zoe had known how to do that since eleventh grade.