Honey and Buck both froze.
“Of course she will,” a different girl’s voice whispered, low enough that Honey couldn’t tell who it was. “They’re kissing, aren’t they?”
Buck’s mouth moved against hers, shaping silent swearwords. Honey pressed her own lips together, caught between mortification and rising giggles.
“I can’t hear anything.” This new whisper sounded worried. “Are yousurethey’re kissing?”
“They’re not kissing,” said a knowing voice, this time from the boys’ tent. “They’redoing it.”
“ARCHIE!”
Buck pulled away, lifting his voice in a deafening roar. “I’m hearing a lot of volunteers for the dawn chorus!”
Guilty silence.
Honey shook with suppressed laughter. She tugged Buck down so she could murmur in his ear, “I think we should talk about this later.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” His lips brushed down her ear in a slow, deliberate caress. “I’m coming back with you. Say yes, Honey.”
And under the rightness of his touch, all she could do was whisper back, “Yes.”
* * *
They trekked back into camp the next day at noon. To Honey’s slight surprise, Leonie intercepted them as they crossed the central square.
“Hi, kids,” the head counselor greeted the campers. “Did you have a good campout?”
“I didn’t go to sleep all night!” Archie told her proudly, punctuating the statement with a huge yawn.
“Someof uswantedto go to sleep,” Ignatius muttered, glaring at the bear shifter.
Leonie grinned, ruffling Archie’s already mussed hair. “Well, you don’t have any activities scheduled this afternoon, so you can take a nap if you want.Afteryou’ve all taken showers. Buck, can you take the kids over to the cabins? I need to borrow Honey for a minute.”
Honey tensed, a stab of alarm twisting her gut. Was there something a little forced about Leonie’s smile?
Buck drew closer to her, like a bodyguard sensing a threat. “What’s this about, Leonie?”
“Oh, everything’s fine,” Leonie said, a touch too quickly. “Honey’s just needed over at the office for a quick chat. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”
Honey felt as though a trapdoor had opened under her feet.
Zephyr knows.
She’d grown too complacent. Let herself forget she was an interloper here, an outsider. And now she’d been discovered.
“Go to your cabins,” Buck said to the kids, and something in his tone had them all trotting off instantly, without so much as a peep of argument. “Honey, I’ll come too.”
“No,” Leonie said, a touch of steel entering her own voice. “Go supervise your campers, Buck. Don’t worry. I’ll bring Honey back to you, safe and sound.”
Buck’s jaw set, and Honey could see that he was about to square up to the head counselor. She put a hasty hand on his arm, feeling the tension in his bunched muscles.
“It’s okay,” she murmured. “Take care of the kids.”
Whatever happens, she didn’t need to say. He would know what she meant.
Buck held her gaze for a long moment, then jerked his head in a nod. “I’ll be waiting.”
Honey followed Leonie toward the office, her mind racing. Try as she might, she couldn’t think what might have given her away. She hadn’t even seen any of the other staff recently, what with the overnight camping trip. Had Zephyr somehow been gathering evidence in her absence? She hadn’t taken her wallet or phone with her into the woods, but she didn’t see how either of those could be incriminating. It wasn’t like her driving license said HUMAN on it.
