So Koa was right. Shedidfear I’d force that to happen. I’d been blind. And I needed to listen to my little brother more often.
“Smile, or I’m making this our holiday card,” Zane taunted, still snapping photos.
My reflexive scowl sent Seri into fresh peals of laughter, a sound I would protect with my last breath.
As I lay there rubbing Brumous’ notched ear, I noted three irrefutable facts:
Recovering dire wolf pups require precisely an hour of rest after playing.
Unpredictability isn’t so bad, if it’s properly planned for.
On very rare occasions, security has to take a backseat to trust.
Brumous laid on me, a weighted blanket of teeth and smelly fur. His heart rate synchronized with mine, steady and strong, and I found it oddly comforting. Like tactical gear, but warmer. Maybe tomorrow I’d weigh him again and begin a chart.
No. Aspreadsheet.
After all, preparation wasn’t the enemy. Fear was. And for the first time since Seri had brought Brumous into our lives, the tight knot of panic in my chest began to dissolve. Not completely. I wasn’t capable of such abandonment, but enough to breathe.
Enough to trust.
#
Seri
Sprawled across the cool grass, I stretched my arms over my head and exhaled slowly. None of us seemed in any hurry to move, content to simply exist in the peaceful aftermath of what could have been something much worse.
Zane lay on his back behind me, one arm flung over his face to shield himself from the ‘fang-rotted sun, bane of redheads everywhere.’ Casimir sat cross-legged to my right, those long, elegant fingers of his absently toying with a blade of grass, and Koa stretched out on my other side. Brummy had finally decided that Casimir would live and had lumbered off of him, collapsing into a furry heap nearby. His tail twitched occasionally in his sleep, chasing dream rabbits.
Eighteen days free. Long enough for my calluses to have faded, but not nearly long enough to stop marveling at the luxury of relaxing my guard. Days of stolen desserts before dinner and sheets that smelled like a midnight garden. Of learning that Zane snored if he slept on his left side and Koa stashed cookieseverywhereand Casimir never skipped dawn workouts.
Of course, I still had a lot to learn about my husbands, but there was one question in particular I’d beenburningto ask for days now. Feeling the time was right to try, I shifted onto my elbow, studying each of them in turn.
“Can I…” I started, then hesitated. Was this weird? Probably. But after seeing a flash of Casimir’s earlier with the hawk, my curiosity had only grown. “Can I see your fangs?”
Three pairs of eyes swiveled to me with varying degrees of surprise.
“I mean, I’ve seen glimpses,” I clarified, heat creeping up my neck. “When you’re in predator mode or when instinct takes over. But never long enough toseethem.”
Something about that part of them, the part that marked them as predators, fascinated me. And after today, after that moment of fear when the hawk had swooped down, I needed this. Needed them to see and know I wasn’t afraid of that side of them.
“You want the PG version or the funhouse mirror special?” Koa grinned, his eyes lighting with boyish excitement that made him seem younger.
Then his canines descended with a softsnick, lethal and gleaming and so casual it stole my breath. They gleamed in the light, longer and sharper than human teeth could ever be, with a slight curve that reminded me they weren’t for show. A hunter’s tools, designed for one real purpose.
“Want to test how sharp they are?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows.
“Donotstick your fingers in his mouth,” Casimir warned. “Or anywhere near his fangs.”
I tilted my head, unable to resist the opening he’d just handed me.
“Oh? You’d rather I stick them inyours?”
The tips of his ears turned that delightful shade of pink that never failed to make my breath catch. It was unfair how adorable a battle-hardened monster hunter could be when flustered.
“Come on, Simmy,” I coaxed, turning my full attention to him. “Let me see yours, too.”
He hesitated, glancing at me sidelong like I was asking him to strip naked in the town square. For all his strength and confidence, there was a core of reserve in him, a part of his mind that calculated every single thing he showed anyone, including me.
