Page 49

“You’re still recovering.”

“I’m also capable of sitting in a canoe.”

He gives a low, unhappy alpha rumble.

Pepper’s scent stays soft, no longer heavy with heat, but rosemary sharpens through the peppermint and vanilla when she is determined. She reaches across the table and takes his hand. “I’ll tell you if I’m tired. I’ll drink the water. I’ll stay in the boat unless we all agree otherwise.”

Theo studies her face. “No digging.”

“I hadn’t planned to dig.”

“No climbing.”

“Well, then I guess you can give me a piggyback ride if I need to reach anything high.”

Pepper smiles, then looks at the email open on her phone. “My leave is approved through Friday. Summer school ends then, so I’m officially free until preplanning next month.”

She says it lightly, but I hear the space beneath the words.

A whole month. A month of mornings, investigations, naps, grits, and Pepper’s socks appearing in rooms that never had any reason to hold them before.

Hope rises too quickly. I bury it beneath coffee.

Her phone vibrates. A message from Honey appears across the screen.

Your mom’s package is shipping today. I’m picking it up tomorrow. She packed enough supplies to care for a small omega convention. We’re all coming by soon if Theo’s gate allows visitors.

Pepper’s whole face softens. “She made the orange socks happen.”

Theo glances at the pair already on her feet. “More socks?”

“These are my emergency oranges. Those are sentimental oranges.”

He accepts the answer without argument. That may be love already.

Pepper collects her notebook, phone, sample envelopes, gloves, and a small compass. Theo takes the field bag before she can lift it.

“I can carry one bag,” she says.

“You’re carrying the notebook.”

“That weighs eleven ounces.”

“Good. Perfect size for you.”

She looks at me. “You see how he is?”

“I have survived years of it.”

Theo gives me a look that warms through the bond.

The dock is silver with morning dew. Cool air still clings to the spring before July begins its daily attempt to boil the county.

Pepper pauses at the edge of the dock and looks over the canoe. The damp mark in her notebook pointed this way. So did the stone.

Theo steadies the canoe while Pepper steps in. She sits in the middle, notebook balanced on her knees. I take the front bench. Theo pushes us away from the dock and climbs in behind her.

The first pull of the paddle sends us into moving water.