“Me neither. Okay if I join you?”
For a traitorous instant, Colby’s heart leapt. He wanted nothing more than that. But then he realized the risk Tristan was running just by being here, after Bryce had ordered him out earlier. “Won’t you get in trouble?”
In fact, he was surprised no one had arrived yet, with the light. The horses were definitely awake. He could hear movements, little snuffles and snorts, and that slow, rhythmic chewing started up again as if at least one of them had decided a midnight snack was in order.
“Technically, I haven’t been told I can’t be here,” Tristan said, and dumped the comforter on the straw bale, where it slowly unspooled.
Colby was beginning to think that this pack was very different from Cale’s, but even so, disobeyinganyalpha was a seriously bad move. “I doubt Urban will see it that way.”
Tristan turned and closed the door behind him. “Let me worry about that,” he said as he swung back. “Also, that comforter’s damn heavy and I think I strained something dragging it over here, sopleasedon’t make me take it back.”
Colby knew he should protest, should send Tristan away, but he wasn’t that strong.
“God only knows what Karl’s going to think, seeing me lugging my bedding around the yard at this time of night. I mean, not that I saw him out there, but he’s there, watching, I just know it. Oh, hey—you didn’t have your muffins. Don’t you like them?”
Truth to tell, Colby had forgotten about them. He’d eaten the food that Urban had brought him, but that was all.
“I like them fine,” he said, feeling his way. He wasn’t sure if he was in trouble for not eating them. It didn’tsoundas if he were, but then, Nico hadn’t always let him know upfront. And Tristan had gone to the trouble of bringing them to him. “I think I forgot. Sorry.”
Something showed on Tristan’s face, something that looked strangely like guilt, which made no sense.
“I’ll get you some fresh ones tomorrow. Believe me, once you’ve tasted Jason’s baking, you’ll never want to eat anything else ever again.”
Tomorrow. Hollowness filled his chest at the word. He wasn’t at all sure he had one.
But then Tristan smiled, gentle and bright and utterly Tristan.
Colby couldn’t help it. A tiny answering smile tugged at his own mouth. It wasn’t much, but it was more than he’d had in a long time.
TRISTAN
He’d meant to go see Colby after Matt was done with him, but stopped to grab a hoodie against the evening chill and put his phone on charge. Bryce had retrieved both his miraculously undamaged phone and car from the diner’s lot.
Then he figured he should check his email, just in case any of his professors had written about the classes he’d missed. Somehow, lying on his bed, phone in hand, he fell asleep.
He woke from uneasy dreams to a silent house. It was after midnight, and he hadn’t seen Colby since they’d kissed. Not even once. The thought of Colby sitting out there alone, uncertain of his fate, hit a little too close to home.
He was sure, now that Colby had been here longer and Matt had started to get to know him, that Matt’s decision wouldn’t be the one he’d feared, but he might still send him away from the ranch, away from Tristan.
It wasn’t even a conscious choice on his part. He dragged the comforter off his bed, so he had something warm to sleep under—possibly beside Colby, he thought, and it thrilled through him, heady and exciting. Then, he headed out to the barn.
He didn’t know what happened next. Would Colby want to kiss him again? God, he hoped so. Hesohoped. But even if he didn’t, Tristan wanted the comfort of his presence. There was something about being with Colby that made him feel right, deep inside.
He didn’t think Colby would send him away again. But if he did—if this whole thing was just hope on Tristan’s part—well, he’d have to find a way to explain to Karl why he was wandering around in the dead of night with a comforter in his arms.
Too much to hope that Karl wouldn’t notice. Tristan had no idea where Karl was right now as he crossed the yard, but he knew he’d be watching. And honestly? That was a comfort because, for the first time, the familiar yard felt ominous, as if each shadow cast by the red moon was harboring a threat.
When he got to the barn, Colbywaspleased to see him, giving that small, shy smile that Tristan had only seen a couple of times but to which he was hopelessly addicted. The one that changed his face and made him look alive.
More than anything, Tristan wanted to pull him into another hug and keep him there, but Bryce’s warning rang in his head, stark, uncomfortable, and important. Colby had never had a choice in his old pack. If Bryce hadn’t said anything, Tristan might not have realized just how easy it would be to assume Colby’s consent.
And then Tristan had really put his foot in his mouth. A simple question about muffins had sounded like an accusation, and Colby had looked scared that he’d done something wrong. Searching for a way to change the subject, he glanced around the stall, and his heart plummeted as he noted the only bedding in sight was his comforter.
“They didn’t give you blankets?” It spilled out of him in hurt and incomprehension. This wasn’t the pack he knew. This wasn’t Matt, and it sure as hell wasn’tBryce, always so compassionate and thoughtful. Did it mean they really didn’t trust Colby, and Tristan was fooling himself over Colby’s fate?
“I could always shift,” Colby pointed out, and what the hell was going on, thatColbywas defending Tristan’s pack to him?
“Yeah, I guess,” Tristan said, and the tightness that had clutched his chest eased. Of course. He hadn’t thought things through. But he didn’t want to spend the night with Colby shifted.He wanted to talk to him, maybe to have Colby’s arms around him again.
