And had heactuallytalked about Jason’s cupcakes in the same breath as fate and devotion? He wanted to bury his head in the blankets and never come back out.
“I don’t—”
“Tristan—”
They both spoke at the same time and fell silent, waiting for the other to continue.
“Please,” Tristan said, when it became clear Colby was letting him speak. “I want to know what you were going to say.”
Colby’s fingers tightened briefly around his. “I feel right when you’re with me.”
That sentence felt like it changed the world.
“I’m glad,” Tristan said softly.
And then he stopped breathing, because Colby shifted closer, until their shoulders touched.
It was an amazing feeling to know Colby trusted him that much. He didn’t dare move, scarcely dared breathe.
“I don’t know what my life’s meant to look like anymore,” Colby murmured. “But what about you? What do you want yours to be?”
Before yesterday, Tristan would have had no problem answering that. He’d had everything mapped out. He wanted to become an engineer and design things. It was what he’d dreamed about since he was a tiny pup. But if he had to leave the pack…
He didn’t know what that meant for finishing college. For anything. Grief welled up at the thought of losing his pack—everyone he loved—and he sniffed it back, hard. That was a worst-case scenario. It wouldn’t come to that. Surely, if he told Matt they were mates, Matt would look at Colby differently. After all, he’d let Riley stay, despite everything he’d done.
“Tristan?”
Colby’s voice was soft, questioning.
Tristan breathed out slowly. Right. Colby could probably hear every stutter in his pulse. He made himself relax, one breath at a time.Tomorrow’s problem. Tonight was for Colby.
So he wove the story of his imagined life as a successful engineer, told him how satisfying it was when the numbers worked, the thrill of solving something no one else could crack.
Colby lay there and listened. He didn’t just let Tristan talk—hewantedto hear it. He asked thoughtful questions. And not once did he seem faintly amused, the way Bryce sometimes was, or politely indulgent, like Matt. He was actually interested.
After a while, Colby shifted slightly and said, quiet but steady, “When you fix something, when it finally runs again, it’s like the world makes sense, just for a second.”
Tristan turned his head toward him in the dark. “Yeah,” he said, warmth curling through him. “Exactly like that.”
It struck him then that rebuilding a motorbike from scratch wasn’t so different from what he wanted to do. Putting things together and making them work.
Of course they were similar. They were mates.
He batted that thought away before it got too sticky. Christian and Dave were mates, and there weren’t two more different people in the entire world. But this was how it worked for him and Colby.
As he talked, Colby’s warmth soaked through his skin, and his breath slowed to match Tristan’s. They lay together in the dark, and Tristan felt a kind of peace he hadn’t known he’d been missing.
He couldn’t wait to tell them all. To tell Bryce.
He’d found his mate.
Chapter Sixteen
TRISTAN
He woke up drowsy, warm, andincrediblyaware of Colby pressed against him.
His nose was basically in Colby’s hair. His hand was definitely on Colby’s waist. Possibly his hip.Okay,cool,we’re fine, he thought wildly.This is fine.I’m calm.My cock’s about to dig its way out of my jeans,but we’re good.
