Matt caught his gaze across the table, and half-raised an eyebrow in unspoken question. Karl gave a small nod. Everything was fine. Except for the fact he had fucking cats roaming his territory.
At least none of them had shown up for breakfast. Matt had invited the cats to join them for meals, or to help themselves outside of meal times if that suited their duties better, but it seemed as if they were avoiding the house. Which Karl couldn’t be mad about because he itched just at the thought of cats here in the heart of the pack, upsetting their peace. Luna wasn’t quite so bad, probably because she was schooled in diplomacy enough to hide the worst parts of her cat nature.
He sighed and pushed his chair back. Time to get out there and find out what those cats had been up to overnight. Especially Leon, who’d understood way more of Karl than he was comfortable with. Karl would make damn sure he stayed at a distance and didn’t have a chance to read him again.
LEON
Leon scanned the clearing with a practiced eye, searching for reasons why a trail might have led here but not beyond. The place was quiet, without a wolf in sight. Ava had mentioned this trail, identifying it as worn by the pack, and Leon had walked it for himself—in boots rather than paws because he was upwind of some horses—to see why it was there. And why it led nowhere else.
He’d come up blank, but it didn’t feel significant or particularly out of place. Maybe one of the pack simply liked getting away from the rest of them and sitting on the outcrop of rock in the middle of the clearing.
That was the first thing off his list to double-check. The cats had flagged a few things on their overnight patrol, and he also wanted to verify visibility from the barn with the sun at a different angle, making sure no field of approach had been left unaccounted for. Typical that the sun had decided not to cooperate, instead turning invisible behind heavy clouds.
He refreshed the patrol logs again, thumb tapping restlessly against his phone as he looked for… he didn’t even know. Gaps. Mistakes. Complacency. There was always something. The trick was not to miss it in the noise of the all-clears.
He made his way back along the trail to the yard. Coffee scents drifted from the open kitchen window, underscored by the musk and spice that all of the wolves smelled of. Even their non-shifter wasn’t free of the scent of the pack. It blanketed everything here, but his cat was growing used to it, no longer arching its back each time he drew a breath.
As the house came into his sightline, a movement on the porch stopped him short. Tristan was snuggled up on the swing seat with another wolf, like he didn’t have a care in the world. Like he wasn’t supposed to be guarding the queen of the cats. Or his own Argent packmate, for that matter.
The new wolf was dark-blond and muscular, and Leon swiftly identified his scent as one of the two wolves who’d been patrolling when the cats had arrived. To be so snuggly with Tristan, it had to be Colby.
Tristan’s feet were pulled up under him, and he was leaning against Colby’s side while Colby had a mug in one hand and his other arm loosely around Tristan’s waist, thumb rubbing idly against the edge of his hoodie. Neither of them was watching their surroundings. Neither of them eventwitchedwhen Leon approached.
Unbelievable.Colby had just come off patrol. He should have been debriefing, not cuddled up like a damn house pet, making goo-goo eyes at his mate while Luna—and Jesse—were inside with a minimal security detail.
Tristan tipped his head back and laughed at something Colby said, low and amused, and entirely unconcerned. The sound set Leon’s teeth on edge. They were sorelaxed. So sure of the world.As if danger would knock politely on the door and schedule an appointment. As if the worst thing they had to worry about was whether breakfast included pancakes.
Leon changed course before either of them saw him. He didn’t trust what might come out of his mouth if he got closer. Instead, he walked toward the barn, pacing the line of the corral fence and forcing his hands to unclench.
He knew what this was, what was tightening his jaw and knotting low in his chest. It wasn’t just irritation. It was envy.Colby and Tristan had something soft, something safe, something that let them sit curled into each other like it was no big deal. Something Leon had never had and probably never would.
Because the last time he stopped looking over his shoulder, everything changed. That was when he was told to get in the car, his bag already packed. That was when the world he thought he belonged to turned its back, and when he learned that trust was a weakness.
He tucked his hair behind his ear and smoothed it, the sleek length comforting. Let the wolves believe what they wanted. Let them mistake softness for strength. He wouldn’t.
He turned his mind back to why he was here, and once he was satisfied with the sightlines from the barn, he started toward the ridge Karl had taken him to the previous day. There’d seemed to be a gap in last night’s coverage by the wolf patrols, and he wanted to check it himself before the morning slipped any further.
And later, if the wolves were still more interested in cuddling on porch swings than defending their territory?
Well. He’d need to teach them to heel, like good little doggies.
Chapter Six
KARL
Karl stood just outside the back door, cradling a coffee he didn’t really want. He’d debriefed Colby and Tom, briefed Christian and Dave, and he’d watched Leon slinking around their property. Tight shirt and tighter jeans, moving with a cat’s grace and not giving away by sign or gesture what he was thinking—he was frustrating as hell. Karl wanted to grab hold of him, and shake him out of his imperturbability. Just get him to react like a normal person, not like a—acat.
Leon had checked in with Karl—and that annoyed him even more, that he couldn’t legitimately find fault with the damn cat—and let him know his plans for the morning, the places he’d be inspecting. Not that Karl needed that information to track him.
He was still glaring at Leon’s lean figure, prowling around the barn, when the back door opened behind him.
“Karl. You got a minute?” Matt asked.
Karl turned. “Sure.”
Matt led the way to the den, where Luna stood at the window. She gave a brief smile, and he nodded in return. She hadn’t shown up for breakfast with the pack, and even now, although polite, she was self-contained and remote. Just like her damn brother.
“We won’t keep you long,” Matt said, gesturing for him to take a seat as he sat in his usual chair. Karl remained standing, needing to be ready to respond to any threat. “We’re contingency planning, worst case stuff, and want to run a few scenarios.”
