Yes, Ryland was going to live there with him.No, Arslan wasn’t going to make him aware of that fact in front of all the other members of the pride.Arslan wouldn’t have been surprised if Ryland had needed a little time to get used to the idea, but Ryland smiled slightly and dropped his gaze, as if he already understood how things were to be arranged, or maybe, as if he hoped that would be the case.
As the evening went on, Arslan continued to listen to the rather tentative conversations Ryland had with the other lions.They seemed rather curious about the first human to join their pride.However, they also seemed completely unsure what they were supposed to do with him now that he was effectively one of them, and yet at the same time very much not one of them at all.
Arslan was more acutely aware than ever that none of them had that much experience of humans outside of the traditional sacrifices.They stared more than they spoke.It was almost as if they had never seen a human before.No one laid a paw on him.A little bubble of clear air existed all the way around Ryland’s body that none of the other lions dared venture into.
Once they provided evidence that they’d learned their lesson and had been properly forgiven for their behaviour that night, Arslan knew he would have to nudge them in the direction of being able to have real conversations with Ryland, but he quite liked the physical gap between Ryland and the rest of the world.
Ryland was his.The smile crept back to his lips.
Arslan had been under the impression that all the younger lions were staring at Ryland, studying this newcomer in their midst, but Arslan gradually realised that at least one set of eyes was resting on him.Kefir politely looked down when Arslan caught his eye, but he didn’t rush to share what was on his mind.
When Arslan finally gave in to temptation to shepherd them all into their clothes and out of his house an hour later, he stopped the youngest member of his pride by the door.
“He makes you happy,” Kefir observed.
“Yes.”
Kefir nodded in something like acceptance.“Then, I’m glad he came back.”
Arslan ruffled his hair and closed the door firmly behind him and all the others.When he went back to the library, Ryland was still sitting in front of the fire where he had left him.Arslan stopped in the doorway and looked him over.
The fire crackled and sent a flurry of sparks up the chimney.The light from the blaze shone onto Ryland’s face as he stared into the hearth.Closing his eyes for a moment, Ryland took a deep breath and let it out very slowly.When he looked across towards the door, he saw Arslan and smiled.
Closing them in the room together, Arslan walked across to the fireside.
Ryland got to his feet.“You trusted me on my own, sir?”he suggested with cautious pleasure.
“No.I was between you and the front door the entire time.You’ll have a lot to prove before you’re left completely to your own devices.”Arslan stroked Ryland’s hair to gentle his words, but Ryland took the correction better than he expected.Perhaps he even took it much like one of the better-behaved cubs who had joined his pride would if they were in his place.
“I live here now, don’t I, sir?”Ryland said after a while.
“Yes.”
Ryland nodded his acceptance of that too.“I’ll have to give notice on my room.”
Arslan slid his fingers through Ryland’s hair again.It wasn’t quite the same texture as a lion’s mane.The softer, finer texture was addictive.
“If I start packing my things tomorrow then—”
Ryland seemed to lose his trail of thought as Arslan guided him to tilt his head back and brushed their lips together.
“Pack your things as slowly as you like, and give whatever notice you should.But, when you go to sleep each night, it will be in my bed—in our bed.”That wasn’t negotiable.He’d already waited far too long to have Ryland laying close to him all through the night.He might not have been exactly sure what allowances and indulgences his mate would need in order to find a contented place within his pride, but anything that took him out of his Arslan’s bed on all but the very rarest of occasions wasn’t going to be part of that.
Ryland nodded.“Now, sir?”he suggested.
Arslan brushed their lips together again.Ryland was his mate.It was official, but he knew it would feel even more certain once more than mere words passed between them.Waiting for privacy had been torment enough, now he could barely convince himself to take the necessary time to leave the fireside and make their way upstairs.
Ryland in front of the fireplace was a beautiful sight.Arslan’s memory of the time they had spent there had been one of the very few things that had kept him even slightly sane while his mate had been missing.Still, no matter how much he longed to lay him down on the rug and destroy all doubt of who he belonged to, Arslan needed to see him in his bed, too.And it was that instinct that won out in the end.
Turning away from Ryland, Arslan headed towards the door.
Ryland didn’t need to be ordered, or even invited, to join him.He was at his side before any words could leave Arslan’s lips.He shivered as the colder air in the hallway surrounded him, but he made no complaint.
Arslan made a mental note to see to it that the whole house would be heated to human temperatures, but at least the master bedroom was already somewhere where a human would be comfortable, heated as it was by the warmth from the fire in the meeting room directly below.
As Arslan closed the bedroom door behind them, Ryland hesitated for the first time.Arslan stepped up behind him and kissed his neck.“It’s your room, too, pet.Don’t act like a visitor.”
Ryland turned around within Arslan’s arms.He reached out and settled his hands on Arslan’s skin, but he still seemed more hesitant there than he had been downstairs.Arslan ran his palms over Ryland’s back, encouraging him to lean into his body and relax, but Ryland remained tense.
