Operation Alpha. Justine Davis

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      He started toward the sound. Ria followed. Of course. He’d just have to trust that if it was a threat, he and Cutter could handle it. Which wouldn’t even be a question if it was only him. But Ria threw everything off balance.

      In more ways than one.

      He shoved the thought out of his mind as he rounded the corner of the building. Trusting Cutter, he didn’t take unusual care, but he was alert and ready just the same.

      The scene that greeted them was anything but threatening.

      Cutter was lolling in front of someone seated on the ground. The dog was clearly reveling in enthusiastic petting and scratching. His tail was wagging energetically. There was definitely no threat here.

      “Dylan,” Ria breathed, so close Liam could feel the brush of it against his ear. He wondered if the shiver that went through him was visible to her, even as he confirmed the teenager’s identity from the photos he’d seen.

      “He’s smiling,” Ria said, sounding pleasantly surprised. “I hadn’t realized how long it’s been since I’ve seen him smile.”

      “Step one accomplished, then,” he said quietly. And she smiled at him, as if her annoyance at him had been erased by a simple smile from a troubled boy. Which told him even more about her.

      Dylan looked up then, still smiling at the dog. But when he saw them, the smile froze and then vanished as the boy went still. Too still.

      “Here we go,” Liam muttered and started forward.

      “Gently,” Ria suggested, right behind him.

      He gave her a sideways look but quickly returned his focus to Dylan Oakley. “Hey,” he called out as they got closer, “sorry. He sort of wandered. Hope he’s not bothering you.”

      Dylan seemed to relax a little. “No, he’s not. He’s great.”

      “He’s a good, smart dog.”

      “His name’s Cutter?” the boy asked, indicating the tag on his collar.

      Cutter woofed. Liam grinned. “He likes to answer that one himself.”

      “Cool.” For a moment the smile came back. And Liam noted it didn’t vanish again when Dylan shifted his gaze to Ria. So there was trust here, just not enough.

      “Ms. Connelly,” Dylan said with a nod.

      “Hi, Dylan. This is my friend Liam. Liam Burnett. And you’ve already met his dog.”

      As if on cue, Cutter leaned in and gave the boy a swipe with his tongue. Dylan’s smile widened. It was holding. Which made Liam hopeful.

      “What are you doing here on a sunny Sunday afternoon?”

      The boy looked instantly wary. “I forgot a book,” he said, gesturing at the backpack beside him. It was larger than most he’d seen schoolkids carrying and Liam wondered if it was because Cove textbooks were bigger or if maybe Dylan had more in there than most. Ready to run was the phrase that popped into his mind, and he filed it away as a possibility.

      “No e-reader?” Liam asked lightly. “Save your back?”

      The boy seemed to relax slightly. “They believe in dead-tree versions.”

      “The learning process is different,” Ria said. “Especially note taking. Running it through the brain and out through writing seems to make it stick better.”

      Dylan didn’t dispute her, Liam noticed. The boy merely shrugged.

      “Speaking of learning,” she said, “Liam’s going to be holding some workshops here the next couple of weeks, after classes.”

      He supposed that was a good way to put it. Better than teaching, which might put him in a don’t-talk-to category in the boy’s mind. She’d clearly realized that.

      “Workshops?” He shifted his gaze to Liam. “You’re a teacher?”

      Liam laughed. “Boy, would my old man laugh his butt off to hear that. No, I’m just a guy who knows some stuff.”

      He thought he saw something flicker in the boy’s eyes when he mentioned his father, but it vanished so quickly he couldn’t be sure. “What stuff?”

      He was about to just say “martial arts” when Ria touched his arm. He wasn’t sure what she meant—or why it sent another shiver through him—but he let her take the lead. She knew the kid, after all.

      “A few students have shown an interest in learning about martial arts. Liam’s going to be helping them choose which one they might like best.”

      He saw what she’d done. If he’d answered as he’d been going to, it might have had Dylan thinking this was aimed specifically at him. Which it was. But she’d diluted it, said there were others, so now he couldn’t be sure. But that didn’t stop Dylan from regarding Liam suspiciously.

      “You some kind of expert?”

      Liam shook his head. “Like I said, just a guy who knows some stuff and has put it into use now and then. Enough about most of the disciplines to show the differences.”

      “So you don’t, like, have your own dojo, or whatever it is?”

      “No. I’m nowhere near that level. What I’ve got is a crazy combination of a lot of different styles.”

      Dylan considered that. “You mean like MMA?”

      Liam laughed. “Only in that I use what works for me. I’m not into fighting for fighting’s sake. I’m into staying alive and undamaged.”

      He was sure of what he saw in the boy’s eyes then. And it made his jaw tighten. Because it was pure, unadulterated hope.

       Chapter 7

      Ria wondered if Liam had seen it, that look in Dylan’s eyes. Was he that perceptive? He’d certainly taken her cue easily enough. Which said something, that he didn’t feel he had to lead every step of the conversation. Of course, given the electric snap that had nearly singed her fingers when she’d touched him, she’d learned something about herself, too. She apparently had a weakness for cute, former bad-boy Texans who still had a hint of a drawl.

      But now she needed to focus on Dylan. That look had convinced her more than anything that Emily had been right. And oddly, so did Cutter’s reaction, which was to lean into the boy as if putting himself between Dylan and the world. Yes, he needed help. But he’d reacted so strongly to the words staying alive and undamaged that her entire assessment shifted. It didn’t seem to her now that Dylan was worried about the inner threat, the kind that led to self-harm or worse, but an exterior one. Was he in some other kind of trouble?

      “You should come by.” Liam’s tone hit just the right casual note. “Meet up in the gym lobby. I’m not into public embarrassment, either, so after I explain the plan, we’ll talk one at a time, go through some things.”

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