“Tristan.” Karl put his hand on his shoulder, rigid beneath his touch. This kind of meandering was different from his usual stream of consciousness. Something had shaken him up. Badly. “Tell me.”
Tristan sighed, then met Karl’s gaze, shame in his eyes. “Leon jumped on top of me, from out of a tree.”
Karl’s vision whited out around the edges and his wolf’s snarl melded with his until he was vibrating with it.
“But I don’t knowwhy,” Tristan continued. “He didn’t hurt me or anything. He just growled, and let me go.”
Thirty minutes.He’d trusted Leon for thirty goddamn minutes.
“I’d gone for a run to clear my head because my assignment wasn’t coming together,” Tristan said, quieter now. “I didn’t do anything wrong, I swear.”
Karl exhaled, slow and deep, and it physically hurt to keep his calm. He stood there, trying not to shake with the force of his restraint.
Leon had waited until Karl wasn’t watching. That was the worst part. The absolute worst part. Because it meant Karl had been right—his presence had been the only thing holding the cat back.
“You okay?” he asked at last.
Tristan nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”
“Get some coffee,” Karl said, squeezing his shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”
Tristan hesitated. “You’re not gonna kill him, right?”
Karl gave a smile that wasn’t a smile. “Not straight away. I’m going to talk to Matt.”
Everything in him was urging him to give in to instinct, to hunt Leon and make him pay for what he’d done. But that wasn’t the job right now. The alliance with the cats was too important—Matt needed to handle this.
His wolf snarled low and deep inside as he marched toward Matt’s den, fury seething under his skin, bootheels striking the floorboards so hard God only knew how they didn’t leave dents. He slammed the door open.
“That fucking cat has got to go,” he flung at his alpha, not caring about Luna’s presence. “Because if I even see him right now, I won’t be able to stop myself.”
Matt slowly stood up from behind the desk, the power in him evident. “Griffin,” he warned, his tone one that none of his pack would disregard.
But heknewKarl, knew that something extreme must have happened to get him so riled, and he didn’t pursue Karl’s lack of respect. “What’s happened? Which cat?”
“Leon jumped on top of Tristan,” Karl spat.
Luna made a slight sound, and Karl broke off from where he was holding Matt’s narrowed gaze to look at her.
“What were the circumstances?” she asked.
“Nothing to excusethat. Tristan was minding his own business,” Karl snarled. “Onourterritory, and your damn brother attacked him.”
Luna nodded. “I’ll talk to Leon. If he’s overstepped, I apologize.”
“If?” Karl would have said more, much more, about some cat attacking the youngest pack member, but Matt spoke first. Although he was speaking to Luna, his tone made it clear there was no room for Karl to make further comment.
“Thank you,” he said. It sounded less like gratitude and more like a recognition that she had done the bare minimum.
“Karl,” he said, and Karl knew he was dismissed.
He stalked out of the room, retaining just enough sense to close the door softly behind him rather than slam it. He wanted so badly to go find that fucking cat, but he couldn’t because it was in Matt’s hands now, and Karl had a job to do. The job was here, in the kitchen, where a young wolf who’d been attacked once before now needed to feel safe.
Tristan was sitting at the table, devouring the remains of Jason’s key lime pie as if nothing had ever happened. Safe, and smiling again. Something inside Karl unclenched fractionally. God, if Leon had re-traumatized Tristan after what had happened to him before, being attacked where he felt safe…
If he’d done that, Karl would take him apart, no matter what Matt said. But as it was, Tristan seemed to have regained his usual cheerfulness along with his appetite.
That was more than Karl had. Not that he was naturally cheerful, exactly, but he was never usually on a hair trigger like this. He knew exactly what the problem was—his past had come visiting a few weeks back in the form of Jax, raking up memories Karl thought he’d left far behind him. And when the news first broke about Jesse, networks that hadn’t landed an interview with Matt and Jesse had their choppers overflying the ranch.
