Colby stirred and turned slightly, until their faces were inches apart. That soft, vulnerable look from the night before was still in his eyes, but now mixed with something that stole Tristan’s breath. Colby hesitated, just for a second, and then leaned in, close enough that their breaths were intermingled. Their lips met in a soft, careful kiss. Then another, a little longer. Still closed-mouthed, still gentle. But full of promise.
When Tristan pulled back, he felt dazed. “Morning,” he whispered. “Top five wake-ups of all time. Easy.”
Colby huffed a laugh, soft and real. He didn’t say anything, but his hand came up to rest lightly on Tristan’s wrist.
So Tristan leaned in again, and this time, Colby’s lips parted under his. Tristan licked in, quick and gentle. He’d intended just to check if Colby really wanted that, but his gut swooped wildly as their tongues slid briefly together, and then heat burned insistently low in his gut, pressure building at the base of his spine until he was almost shaking with it.
God, no one he’d made out with before had gotten him going likethis.And he thought he should pull away before Colby felt just how hard he was, except it was Colby this time, his hand on Tristan’s jaw, who drew him in close.
Their kiss became hot and messy and so fucking dirty. Now he wasn’t scared of Tristan, it was clear Colbywantedhim. Though it was more than just desire. It was need, yes, but something deeper too, like this matteredto Colby, the way it did to Tristan.
With Colby’s tongue teasing in and out of his mouth, a promise of yet more, it was all Tristan could do not to roll on top of him, to press his body against Colby’s, feel his warm, firm muscles—and maybe it wasn’t just his muscles that were hard, judging by the way Colby was breathing unevenly. But he had just enough sense left to know he shouldn’t push things too far.
He forced himself to pull back, though he ducked back in a couple of times to plant more closed-mouthed kisses on Colby’s lips. And when he drew back far enough to see Colby’s eyes, they were shining, a smile in them that was somehow made even stronger by the fact his pupils were larger than usual.
“Someone might come,” Tristan said to explain why he’d drawn away, then snorted with laughter. “You know what I mean!”
Colby was grinning at him, and Tristan had never seen him smile that widely.
“How old are you?” Tristan asked curiously. When he’d first seen Colby, he’d thought he was thirty, maybe a bit older, but looking at him now, without that strain in his face…
“Twenty-four.” Colby looked a little confused by what had prompted the question. “You?”
“Nearly twenty-one,” Tristan said swiftly. Because eight months away counted as nearly, and there was no way he wanted Colby thinking he was a kid. “That’s basically a hundred and five in shifter years, so I’m ancient. Totally mature. I mean, if you ignore my cupcake addiction, inability to do my own laundry, and the urge to quote obscure horror movies. I’m practically sage-like, in fact.”
Colby laughed, the first time Tristan had heard it. And it was a sound he wanted to hear for the rest of his life. “Not sure sages talk quite so much,” he said, before his face froze and his eyes widened in fear. Like he’d said something wrong.
Tristan pounced on it, desperate to wipe that look from his face. “You don’t know the half of it. Ask literally anyone in the pack about me, and ‘motormouth’ is probably the first word they’d use.”
Colby’s shoulders eased a little.
“Not that Iintendto talk your ear off,” Tristan added quickly. “But full disclosure, I definitely sleep-talk. I think maybe because I can’t get everything out I want to when I’m awake? It’s a theory, anyway. And once, when I was fifteen, I woke up reciting pi.”
Colby blinked at him.
“I was at six decimal places,” Tristan said solemnly. “It was a proud moment for science. And a prouder one for Bryce, who’d been helping me study for my math quiz.”
Colby’s mouth curved into another real smile, and Tristan was overjoyed that he’d felt safe enough to joke with him. And that he seemed to have forgotten there was a bit of an age gap. Because thething was, it didn’t feel like one. Maybe because they were mates, but it just didn’t. They wererighttogether.
He nuzzled against Colby’s shoulder, trying to tune out the sound of stomps and whuffles from hungry horses waiting for breakfast.
COLBY
The first thing Colby had been aware of was warmth. The scent of Tristan, the shape of him pressed close. Hismate.
That word still echoed inside him, too big to hold. Too dangerous to believe. He knew what it meant—at least, what it wassupposedto mean. Fate, love, and a tether that was never meant to feel like a chain.
But Nico had poisoned that word, dangling it in front of him like a prize he could earn, or lose. And even though Colby had never truly believed him, the rot had taken hold somewhere deep. Some part of him still didn’t trust this to be real.
And yet, his body didn’t lie. The pull he felt toward Tristan didn’t come from desperation or fear but something truer. And he now realized he’d felt it from the first instant he’d seen Tristan.
They’d moved during the night. At some point, Colby had tucked in closer. Tristan’s arm had been slung over his waist, heavy but protective, not possessive. And Colby didn’t even know how he could tell the difference, just that he could.
It should have made him tense. But instead, he lay still and let it happen, wrapped in a kind of stunned quiet, like his body was waiting for his mind to catch up.
And then Tristan had woken up, and they’d kissed. He hadn’t meant to kiss him again. But waking up with Tristan’s warmth all around him had felt so good, so right, that the need for connection had torn down his defenses.
He wanted Tristan. He did. His bodycertainlydid. But the thought of being naked with someone, being that vulnerable, made his chest tighten. He was relieved they hadn’t gone any further.
