Groaning, Zoey looked at Graham. “Please tell me she didn’t just say that.”

“Which part is your rafters?” Graham asked curiously, earning himself a swat of Zoey’s hand.

“Are you mad we wrecked your gala?” Zoey cringed. “I’m really sorry. Haleigh just really gets under my skin.”

“Oh, that? That was nothing. A party isn’t a party unless someone calls a lawyer.” Lana didn’t seem bothered at all. With a dismissive flap of her hand, she moved to the wet bar in the corner of the suite and poured herself a drink. “Graham, I’m glad you’re here. You two left tonight before I could start the program.”

Graham’s sharp eyes missed nothing. “I’ve never seen you drink brandy,” he noted.

“It’s an easy swallow when I have some difficult news to share.” Taking a sip, she hummed in appreciation, then turned her eyes to Graham and Zoey. “Graham, you might want to sit down for this.”

Folding his arms across his chest, his brow furrowed. “You’re not giving me warm fuzzies here, L.”

The ring of his cell phone interrupted whatever Lana was about to say. Graham glanced at it, then frowned deeper, holding up a finger. “Sorry, ladies, I need to take this. What’s up, Jonah?”

Standing at his side, Zoey could hear the officer’s voice on the other end. “I’ve got some bad news, Graham. I’m real sorry to be the one making this call.”

Zoey watched the blood drain from Graham’s face, his fist balling at his side.

“Who is it?” he asked quietly.

“That moose that’s always hanging around your place charged some tourists tonight. Someone got hurt.”

The tension in him didn’t ease, but he did inhale a tight breath. “Start with that next time, man. I thought it was Mom or Dad. Did he kill anyone?”

“No, but they’re airlifting the husband to Anchorage. He hurt the guy pretty bad. Easton’s tracking the moose, and you know that only takes so long. We need to relocate him, but we thought…well…you might want to say goodbye.”

Graham hung up, turning to them, clearly shaken. “Zoey, I’m sorry. I need to go. L, can you catch me up on your big news later?”

“Of course, Graham.” Lana dipped her head in understanding. “It can wait.”

Halfway to the door, Graham stopped. Turning, he gazed down at Zoey then reached for her hand, wrapping his fingers tightly around hers. “I’m sorry this is how our night is ending.”

“Me too.” Zoey said quietly, “Do you want me to come with you?”

Exhaling a hard breath, he nodded.

“Yeah. That would be nice.”

* * *

The Tourist Trap still had people gathered in the parking lot—a fire engine and various trucks from volunteer emergency responders and Jonah’s police cruiser. Another squad car with two state troopers was parked near the building, and their flashing lights reflected off the diner’s windows.

Graham pulled up as close as he could get, setting the truck in park.

“You might want to stay here,” he said in a tight voice. “Sometimes the aftermath of these kinds of things are rough to see.”

Jumping out of the truck, Graham strode right into the middle of the fray as if unfazed. But since his hands had clenched the steering wheel white-knuckled the entire drive down from the resort, Zoey didn’t heed his warning, following at a distance. Jonah met him, a hard look on the trooper’s face. Glancing at Zoey, Jonah turned back to Graham.

“There wasn’t any damage to your place, but we’re going to be here awhile. Easton called, and he’s tracked the bull just north of Rick’s home. We’ve got a transport ready, but they need to tranq him before he gets somewhere more heavily wooded.”

Graham nodded tightly. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

Disappearing for a moment into his diner, Graham came back out with a paper take-out bag in his hand. When they got back in the vehicle, Graham was furious.

“This shit right here is why I’m so over this place,” he snarled. Nearly crushing the paper bag in his hand, he thrust it her way to hold. “There was no need for any of this.”

As the scent of freshly baked bread wafted from the bag, Zoey’s heart hurt for everyone. The poor people who’d been hurt, the poor animal who had just wanted to be left alone. And for Graham, who was driving twice the speed limit up narrow mountain roads, just for the chance to say goodbye.

A text came through, and Graham tilted his phone to Zoey, unable to take his eyes from the road.

“It’s Easton,” she read for him. “He says they darted Ulysses in the clearing behind Rick’s back pasture.”

Without warning, he pulled off on the side of the road and got out. “We’re almost there. It’s faster to cut through here.”

Trusting Graham knew where he was going, she followed him through the trees on a lightly worn footpath, struggling to keep up in her heels. Even with Graham’s hand on her arm, Zoey kept tripping in the underbrush until she finally took them off. Sore feet would be better than a broken ankle.

Lights in the distance told her they were close, and Graham broke into a jog, leaving Zoey to follow at his heels.

Easton stood over a massive, furry brown body, his tranquilizer rifle in hand. At his side, a grim-faced Rick and a second man in a Fish and Game uniform were spreading something out on the ground.

“What is that?” Zoey asked quietly.

“A sling to transport him. You can’t just stick a wild bull moose in a trailer. Especially not in a place as heavily wooded as this. You have to airlift them somewhere else.”

The second man stood, then walked over to Graham. “Sorry to see you under these circumstances, Graham.”

They shook hands, Graham’s voice quiet. “Yeah, me too.”

“Too bad it had to end up this way. Shame someone got hurt.”

Graham nodded tightly. “Zoey, this is Officer Marcus Garcia. He’s the one who gets called when stuff like this happens.”

“Too many calls from Moose Springs.” Officer Garcia shook his head. “I might as well get a satellite station put in there.”

Shaking hands with the young Fish and Game warden, Zoey murmured a greeting and stepped back, trying to stay out of everyone’s way. Between them, Graham, Rick, and Officer Garcia finished rigging the sling that would take Ulysses away. Easton remained where he was next to Ulysses, tranquilizer rifle at the ready.

“Ash should be here soon. We have to move him before he wakes.” Easton rested his palm gently on Ulysses’s shoulder. “Took a ton of bricks to drop him. He’s a tough one.”

Graham cleared his throat. “Yeah. Big weirdo wasn’t a wuss, were you?”

Kneeling next to the big, furry head, Graham rubbed the moose’s massive nose. The animal was heavily sedated, but he moved a little when Graham touched him, huffing a breath against Graham’s hands.

She wanted to touch him too, but this wasn’t the time. Not when Graham sounded wrecked at having to say goodbye.

“We had a good run, didn’t we, buddy?”

Ulysses huffed louder, his foot twitching.

“It’s wearing off already.” Easton waved them back, then brought his rifle to his shoulder. The resultant crack of gunfire made Zoey jerk almost as much as Ulysses did, a large dart sticking from his shoulder. When her ears stopped ringing, she could hear helicopter blades chopping through the air, coming closer.

“He’s a tough one, isn’t he?” Garcia murmured. “How many have you put in him?”

“One more than I should have.” Easton grunted. “We need to get him on the sling.”

“Just one second.” Graham looked around. “I need to…dammit, I forgot the bread in the car.”

“I still have it.” Zoey handed Graham the bag. Giving her a desperately grateful look, he broke off a small piece, setting it next to Ulysses’s nostrils.

“Here you go, big guy. I know it’s your thing, you perv.” His voice caught. “It’s gonna suck. Losing your home is going to suck real bad, but it’s better than the alternatives. Ears and eyes up, okay? I want to have lots of your pervy calves giving this town hell one day. Got it?” Leaning over, Graham rested his forehead against the moose’s own. “Keep breathing, buddy.”

Rising to his feet, Graham’s voice hardened. “Let’s get him into the sling.”

What followed broke her heart. It took all five of them to get Ulysses onto the sling, taking hold of his legs and rolling him onto his back, trying not to get caught beneath his heavy body as momentum caused him to land heavily on his other side. His neck twisted at a painful angle when his antlers caught on the ground, making Graham curse as he helped straighten Ulysses’s head.

Officer Garcia took some pictures, making a verbal recording as he did so of the scene and the people there. Then the helicopter above them lowered to just above the treetops, running a cable down to them. Easton and Garcia hooked up the sling, then stepped back. Head and massive antlers hanging limp, Ulysses’s body was raised into the air, then flown off into the distance.

The whole thing was awful, and Zoey couldn’t imagine how terrifying it would be for him when he woke up, somewhere completely new.

“Can’t we go with him? Make sure he’s okay?”

Garcia shook his head. “No. My partner and another Fish and Game warden are already en route to where they’re unhooking him. If they waited until we got there, he would wake up.”

“How far is she taking him?”

“To the base of that big mountain north of here,” Garcia said. “Mount Veil. Too far for him to come back and hurt anyone else. If he survives.”

Wordlessly, Graham rose and walked away. Not sure what to do, Zoey followed, staying quiet as they backtracked to their truck. Graham drove them to the diner, which was blessedly empty of onlookers. Leaving all but a single light off, Graham went straight to the liquor shelf. She’d never seen him drink anything harder than beer, but Graham poured himself a shot of whiskey and downed it. Then he poured himself a second and threw that back too.