Kefir turned back to Ellery, his eyes full of confusion.“I…” He looked down for a moment.“May I know what I did last time that you disliked?”
He was such a serious little thing.Ellery reached out and stroked his fingers through the boy’s hair, not quite able to keep his hands to himself.“What makes you think I disliked anything at all?”
“Your concerns for how you were treated…”
“Were about how other lions might treat the men who come here—not you.”
Kefir smiled again, still a little uncertain, but perhaps more optimistic in his confusion now.
A commotion on the other side of the room seemed to herald a break from the scene.
Food was brought in.Huge quantities of meat were retrieved from the laden tables and eaten.Other lions took their turns with the sacrifice, who still seemed to be having the time of his life.Arslan spoke to each of the lions in his pride.And, through it all, while Ellery alternated his time between speaking quietly to Kefir and observing the other shifters, the little lion’s attention never once wavered from him.
Even when the other lions started to be herded from the room and the sacrifice was taken out to the car, Kefir stayed exactly where he was, curled into a ball on the seat next to Ellery, torso still half hidden behind his pulled up legs.
Luther and Blaine were the last to leave, loud and as ill-disciplined as ever, and apparently not too happy with being thrown out while Ellery was still in the building.
“Are they always such brats?”Ellery asked, forgetting for a moment that he was trying to be polite about the boy’s family.
“They’re showing off for you,” Kefir observed shyly.
Ellery raised an eyebrow.“For me?”
“Because Marrick knows you from the clubs.”
Before Ellery could make it clear that he’d barely exchanged more than half a dozen words with Marrick in his life, Arslan walked back into the room, Ryland in his habitual place at his side.
Ellery had done his duty.He’d seen how the subs were treated.He’d played nicely, minded his manners and showed all possible respect for the lions’ traditions for the entire evening.No one could reasonably expect him to put off taking Kefir back to his own house a moment longer.
Ellery turned toward them.“Kefir and—”
“Kefir will be staying here with us for the next few weeks,” Arslan cut in.
Chapter Four
Kefir managed to drag his gaze away from Ellery for a moment.He looked across the room to Arslan.He knew the leader of his pride well enough to know when he had made a decision he had no intention of going back on it.Kefir would be staying with Arslan and Ryland for the next few weeks.
Ellery didn’t seem to have such a good understanding of what Arslan’s tones of voice meant yet.He stood up and seemed about to say something, but Arslan spoke again before he had a chance.
“Our traditions are very clear.The matter is not open for negotiation at this time.However, if Kefir were to wish to invite you to stay here with him, that would be his choice.”
Ellery turned to face Kefir.
Kefir stared helplessly up at him, unable to think of the right words, but Ellery seemed to see the question in his eyes anyway.He turned back to Arslan and nodded his acceptance of the silent invitation.
“You’ll stay?”Kefir managed to check, his voice rough with hope.
“Yes.”Ellery nodded, but he didn’t actually look away from Arslan for a moment.There seemed to be some silent relay of messages passing between the men that Kefir didn’t understand.He looked to Ryland, wondering if perhaps, someone needed to be the kind of man that both Ellery and Arslan were, in order to fathom it out.But Ryland was watching it all with a slight smile, as if he knew what was going on, too, and was enjoying seeing it pan out before him.
Finally, Arslan turned toward Kefir.“You can use the blue room.You know the way.”
Kefir obediently led Ellery out of the meeting room.Picking up their clothes on the way past the dining room, they were soon upstairs, nudging open the door into the guest room nearest to Arslan and Ryland’s own bedroom.
As the door clicked closed behind them, the atmosphere seemed to change.Setting his clothes in a neat little pile on the top of the dresser, Kefir turned to face Ellery, already past all his previous experience with humans and eager to see what might happen next.
Ellery dropped his clothing on a chair and sat on the bed facing Kefir.
“How much do you really know about humans?”
