Karl paused, and Leon took advantage of the moment. “If we’re going anywhere today, no shifting. You know what can happen when bones don’t line up right.”
Shifting with broken bones was a crapshoot, and he didn’t want Karl ending up with a broken rib impaling his liver. Karl’s tiny, annoyed grunt suggested he had at least conceded that point.
But God, it was exhausting trying to make the wolf see sense. Even Luna would be struggling… It hit him then, perhaps he’d been going about this wrong. Perhaps he should use her approach, tact and diplomacy. Well, he could try.
“I’m not saying we can’t leave,” he said, slowly, carefully, “but maybe we wait another couple of hours. Let the painkillers kick in, see if you can—”
“We don’t have time.”
Leon breathed out. Calm, stay calm. “Of course we do. The ranch isn’t going anywhere, my cats and your pack have it locked down tight.” Even if he’d prefer to be there himself to make absolutely sure. “If your leg’s as bad as it looks and we push this too fast—”
Karl shook his head, already sitting up straighter. “It’s not the ranch I’m worried about.”
Leon stilled. A threat hehadn’tconsidered? He hated that thought.
Karl’s gaze slid toward the pup. “If this little guy’s pack is out there, they’ll be searching. And if they come across us heading away with him, not knowing who we are—”
Leon let out a low breath. “You think they’ll attack?”
“We don’t know what they’ll do, and that’s the problem.” Karl moved uneasily, clearly trying not to wince. “If they think we’re taking him, it’s a risk. If we search now and find them, we can return him ourselves. Control the situation.”
“Control the situation?” Leon didn’t even try to keep the edge out of his voice. “You’ve got one good leg and busted ribs. Should we maybe, I don’t know,notwaltz into a potentially hostile pack’s territory while you’re only held together with stubbornness and scowling?”
Karl’s jaw tightened. “We’re not waltzing anywhere. We search along the river a couple of miles. Then if we can’t find them, we go home.”
Leon folded his arms. “And what if Matt needs to knowyesterdaythat there are unknown shifters in the area? That’s the kind of threat assessment you’re usually first to yell about.”
Karl hesitated. “Just two hours searching. That’s not going to make a difference to security at the ranch, but this pack could have moved on by the time we get back to the ranch and send searchers out.”
Leon stared at him. “You think it’s that important?”
“No,” Karl said softly. “I think it’sright.”
That stopped Leon cold. This wasn’t just duty for Karl. This was personal.
It wasn’t hard to guess why. Karl, raised pack, had been shaped by that obligation and loyalty. A lost pup was a call to family which he couldn’t ignore.
Leon would never understand wolves and their pack thing, not on an emotional level. His threat assessment had arrived at a different answer, but it was clear Karl was going to do this, even if Leon headed back to the ranch right now.
The one angle Karl hadn’t considered—the one doubt Leon didn’t think he could voice out loud—was, what if the pack didn’t want the pup back? That would be unthinkable to most, but Leon had lived it.
Leon scrubbed a hand over his face. “Fine. Two hours. But if you so much as stumble, I’m dragging your ass back myself.”
Karl didn’t argue and concentrated on climbing to his feet. His mouth was tight with pain, and Leon looked away, giving him the illusion of privacy as he retrieved the long, straight stick he’d found earlier, passing it over without a word.
Karl tested his weight against the stick. Or maybe he was leaning on it because he couldn’t hold himself upright. The pup was whining around Karl’s trainers—he’d at least thought that far ahead and put them on earlier. Which was how this had all started, when Leon realized what that stubborn wolf intended to do.
Leon got the pup by the scruff and held it out to Karl. It snuggled straight into the crook of his arm, like it could think of no place better to be.
Leon watched the two of them, broken wolf and lost pup. He hadn’t signed up to care, but something about this made his chest ache, and he hated that even more.
“You better keep a good hold on it,” he said. “Because I’m not dragging either of you out of the river again.”
Karl gave him a withering look. “You say the sweetest things.”
Despite himself, Leon grinned and flipped his hair over his shoulder. “I know. That’s why you can’t do without me. Oneof the many reasons.”
He expected a scoff or a snort. Something dismissive, anyway. But Karl just looked at him for a moment too long, then turned away to run his gaze over the gear that Leon had packed away.
