Alaskan Hideout. Sarah Varland

      * * *

      Tyler and Noah spent the next hour canvassing the grounds of the lodge, looking for any sign of their perpetrator, but so far they’d come up with nothing, not the man himself, nor any evidence of where he’d been.

      “He had to have left a trail and if we can find where he was shooting from, we might find evidence,” Noah had explained to Tyler, though he’d known as much. Earlier this year he’d gone through the entire police academy class in Sitka. Noah had been asking him to for years, and when he’d seen how difficult it had been for the Moose Haven Police Department to work a major case firsthand, as shorthanded as they were this summer when it had involved his sister Summer, he’d finally decided to go through with it. He’d just returned a couple of weeks ago. The class couldn’t have been more timely, apparently.

      “We need Kate.” Tyler finally said what he guessed they both were thinking. They were both trained, tracking had been part of the curriculum at the academy, but Kate had a gift like no one he’d ever seen and could read the signs in the woods better than most people could read a book.

      Noah nodded. “You go inside, stay with Summer, Emma and Luke.”

      Tyler swallowed hard. He hadn’t had much time with the boy yet. Everything had been so crazy. Or was that an excuse? Was it really because he was still having trouble adjusting to the fact that he was a dad?

      He walked into the lodge, a place more familiar to him than any on earth, taking the stairs to his family’s bedrooms with heavy steps. They were up there, waiting for him. Blowing out a breath, he raked a hand through his hair. What was Emma expecting from him? After everything that had happened between the two of them, he’d dedicated his life to playing by the rules. He’d been a good son, a good brother, had come home after his parents had announced their retirement to South Carolina, had remained after they’d died. He’d given up his plans for the future to do the right thing.

      How on earth was he supposed to proceed now?

      Questions unanswered, he turned the knob and pushed open the heavy wooden door, thankful that the lodge was so well built and solid. He didn’t know that it technically provided any more security if someone was desperate to get to Emma, but he appreciated the feeling that it did anyway.

      She met his eyes as soon as he walked in. He swallowed hard, unable to deny that something flickered in his chest when she looked at him. She’d been the only girl—woman, really—he’d ever loved. The only one to break his heart. He’d tried to date a few women from Moose Haven since he’d been back, mostly to keep his family quiet about his personal life or lack thereof, but nothing had lasted more than a date. None of them was Emma.

      He offered her a small smile and she looked away.

      He hated this. Hated the fact that there were no women like her but that she wasn’t who he’d thought she was, either.

      The woman he was in love with was college-aged Emma, a figment from the past. A woman who’d been confident, sure of herself, with just enough vulnerability to make it difficult to get close to her but not so much that it had been impossible. She’d been Tyler’s opposite in many ways. He’d always been on the serious side, quick to honor his commitments and to fulfill his duties and Emma was...joy and laughter. She’d had good character, too, had followed through with things she’d committed to. It wasn’t that she was careless. She was just somehow lighter than he was.

      But maybe people like Emma could do that. The biggest rule Tyler had ever broken had ended up with both their hearts shattered, their relationship ended forever and a little boy who didn’t know his dad.

      Tyler swallowed hard. He could really use some time outside, maybe at the archery range. There was just something cathartic about the feeling of a bow in his hands, his hand tight around the grip, the tautness of the bowstring in his fingers as he drew it back. You couldn’t shoot a bow angry. Not well. You had to calm your breathing, slow down. Focus.

      He’d spent hours with that bow in the weeks after college graduation.

      “Everything okay?” Summer asked him.

      Tyler had no idea how to answer but decided to go with the easiest reference to what was going on right now with the shooting situation. “Seems to be. As okay as it can be.” He shrugged. “We couldn’t find anything. That’s why we sent Kate out.”

      “Kate?” Emma’s eyebrows raised.

      “She’s the best tracker I’ve ever met.” Tyler moved farther into the room, eyed the iPad. “What are you watching, buddy?” he asked Luke, deciding maybe talking to the boy directly was the best move at this point. He couldn’t seem to do anything right where Luke’s mom was concerned, no matter how much some part of him wished he was able to.

      “The Incredibles.” He looked up from the screen, at Tyler. There was something so surreal about gazing into eyes that looked just like his own.

      “That’s a good one. It’s a family of superheroes, right?” He and Emma had seen it together.

      “Yep. They’ve all got special powers. I can run fast like that, almost as fast.” And just that quick he was up off the bed, iPad forgotten. “Want to see?”

      “It’s nighttime, Luke.” Emma’s voice was tired. He looked at her quickly, then glanced away before she noticed.

      “Maybe another time.”

      “Because of the danger?”

      This time Tyler swung his gaze to Emma intentionally and waited to see what she would say. Had she told Luke about everything that was happening?

      “Yes, baby.”

      “I’m not a baby,” Luke protested, but climbed back onto the bed, over Emma and snuggled in next to her.

      Wow. The way he loved her, trusted her.

      Tyler hadn’t spent much time around kids. There were some at his church, but he figured they were sort of the responsibility of their parents and maybe the single women who seemed to love holding babies. And, of course, families stayed at the lodge. But he was so busy with the job now, working to make the lodge more profitable, that he often didn’t have time to stop and watch people the way he had when he’d worked here during the summers for his parents.

      Moose Haven Lodge in its heyday, when his parents were here, had never had money troubles. At least, not that Tyler knew of. His parents had the kinds of magnetic personalities that made guests return time and again. People had felt welcomed in a way that Tyler hadn’t been able to replicate, no matter how many things he felt like he was doing right.

      A small problem in the midst of Emma’s life being in danger, but it was in the back of his mind anyway.

      He wanted to talk to her, to ask her to come with him out of this room, away from the curious eyes of his sister. He didn’t blame Summer for having questions, too. He’d been wrong to not share his own past, his own pain with his sister.

      He should apologize to her. But not now, it wasn’t the time. Right now he needed to finish that conversation with Emma. He had to clear the air. It hurt the way she hadn’t told him, the way she looked away from him, trusted every single member of his family more than she did him. Tyler hadn’t done anything to deserve that. Not that he could think of. He’d loved her at one time. Had always tried to show it.

      And she’d left. With his unborn son a secret.

      The door eased open. Tyler tensed, hand on his weapon, which was still holstered. It was Kate.

      “Noah wants you outside, Tyler.”

      “You found it?”

      She raised her eyebrows. “Did you doubt that I would?”

      “Of course not.” Tyler took a last look at Emma. At Luke.

      And then he walked out the door, shutting it behind him.