* * *
That evening, on patrol, something in the air shifted.
Colby lifted his head, nose twitching. It wasn’t as definite as a scent. It was way more nebulous, more of an awareness.Something…
Karl came to a halt ahead of him, ears pricked, body coiled. They stood still for a long minute, testing the breeze. No strange smells, only the usual sounds of local prey, moving through the trees.
Eventually Karl gave a low huff and turned back, but Colby saw tension in his body that hadn’t been there before.
Back at the house, Karl paused in the shadows by the porch and said, “I’ll brief Matt. Could’ve been nothing. Could’ve been someone watching.”
Colby nodded once, jaw tight. “Yeah.”
He’d let himself forget that Nico—that he might be out there. And now, it was like someone was tugging on a thread inside him, one that he couldn’t find a way to cut.
* **
On the fourth day of Tristan being back at school, Jason stopped by where he was hammering a brace into the ground. Colby was grateful for the work. It let him focus on something other than shadows and who might be lurking in them.
“Looks like you know what you’re doing around this stuff,” Jason said, somewhat vaguely. “You work construction too, like Christian?”
Colby paused to wipe the sweat off—the sun was damn hot for the time of year. “Not construction, but yeah, did a lot of this sort of thing in the Army. If it broke, we were the ones patching it up.”
Jason nodded, looking somewhere in the vicinity of Colby’s borrowed tool belt rather than his face. “That’s good. Useful.” He shifted awkwardly, like he wasn’t sure what to say next, then gave a short nod. “Well. Nice job, anyway.”
He walked off briskly, as if he was embarrassed.
Maybe Jason didn’t know how to talk to him, but he’dtried. And that was what mattered.
Chapter Thirty-four
COLBY
The house was quiet. Not just nighttime quiet—settledquiet. Nothing lurking outside the window, no dreams waiting in the dark. Just the steady, familiar sound of Tristan’s heartbeat under Colby’s ear.
He’d been lying like that for a while now, not because he couldn’t sleep, but because he didn’t want to. Not yet. Not until he asked Tristan.
His heart was beating too fast—not from fear exactly, but it had been a long time since he’d chosen this. Since he’d wanted it, not to please someone else, but because he missed the way it used to feel. Because he wanted it back. And he needed to ask when he wasn’t so turned on he might say yes to anything. Both of them needed to be thinking straight, to know what they were getting into.
Part of him still wasn’t sure he could go through with it. But he wanted to.
“You awake?” he asked, his voice oddly loud in the quiet.
“Am now,” Tristan said with a soft huff of laughter. “Why?”
Colby hesitated. His mouth was dry. “I’d like to try something, if you’re okay with that.”
Tristan moved under him, already more alert. “I’m listening.”
“I want you to touch me.” He paused. “There.” Paused again as he realized how unclear he’d been and how clear he needed to be. “I mean—I want you to finger me.”
Tristan was silent a few moments, but it didn’t sound like the wrong kind of silence. It was the kind that meant Tristan was giving him space, one with which Colby was becoming increasingly familiar.
“You’re sure?” Tristan asked quietly at last.
Colby nodded, even though his pulse was racing. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it the last few days. I want to remember what it’s like when it’s… When it’s just want. Justyou.”
He drew in an unsteady breath. “I want it to be mine again.”
