Karl let his gaze shift to Leon, standing behind Luna.
Up close, he was exactly what Karl had expected—self-contained, with that smug air every cat seemed born with. Tall and lean, all clean lines and grace. His clothes were black and tight, tactical but unnecessarily chic, like utility had become a fashion statement. His hair—long, dark, and annoyingly shiny—looked like it belonged in a shampoo ad. High cheekbones emphasizedgolden-amber eyes that didn’t just see but assessed, cataloged, and judged. Nothing about him said casual. Neither the stance, nor the way he tilted his head like he was already measuring Karl for weaknesses.
The cat held himself like he didn’t just belong in a fight, butpreferredit. Silent, calculating, and lethal. It was the kind of attitude Karl usually respected. But not here and not now, when he was going to have to let cats intrude, throwing everything he was holding together off balance.
Leon returned his gaze and raised an eyebrow—notquitechallenging, but enough to let Karl know he wasn’t impressed.
Matt rose to his feet, and with a slight inclination of his head, got Karl to walk over to the grill with him. Helping himself to more ribs, he offered Karl some, but Karl refused. Couldn’t eat when he was wound this tight.
“You don’t have to like it, but you do have to cooperate with them,” Matt reminded him. They’d already had this discussion—for the cats to be happy their leader was safe, they’d need to be allowed to roam the pack’s territory. Matt was just making sure Karl would actuallyallowit, because Karl hadn’t been able to stand down these last few weeks. Letting go of his control of the pack’s space, even a tiny bit, was going to be so fucking hard.
“You didn’t tell me they were going to stay,” he bit out.
“It makes sense. We don’t know how much time we have to plan and spread the word among shifters. We need to be efficient.”
Karl glanced back at the cats, checking they weren’t doing something they shouldn’t. He was mildly surprised to find none of them had pushed anything off the edge of the table. Yet.
“You really think there’re going to be problems with non-shifters?” he asked.
“I think it unlikely, given the reception Jesse’s gotten so far,” Matt said. “But we need to be prepared in case things change.”
Contingency planning was something Karl was all too familiar with. Expect the worst, plan for it, then plan for worse again. And again.
LEON
Leon watched Karl Griffin walk away with his alpha, his shoulders tight as he moved almost silently. He had no way of proving it, short of asking—which he wasnevergoing to do—but he was certain that prickling feel down his spine earlier had been Karl watching him.
Everything about the man was containment. Not only discipline but control, as if every part of him had been locked down with military precision, and anything that didn’t serve a purpose had been discarded long ago.
Except his hair told a different story. Dark brown, it fell in loose waves just past his shoulders, and Leon didn’t yet know enough to judge whether that was vanity or indifference. Karl’s eyes were similarly dark brown, steady and watchful, framed by lashes thicker than they had any right to be. Not that Leon had strong feelings about lashes. Obviously.
Luna loved black-and-white movies, and there was something about Karl that reminded him of those old Hollywood stars. Not just in his bone structure, which wasmadefor a black-and-white movie or photograph, but in the way every move was purposeful, without even a suggestion of fidgeting. He was capable both of passing unnoticed and of commanding the attention of every person in a room.
Leon blinked slightly. He had nothing to base that on, nothing other than afeeling.Which might also be connected to the way Karl’s jeans hugged his thighs in a way that left little to the imagination. Ugh,fine.He was gorgeous.
Too bad he was a wolf. Too bad he wasthiswolf—territorial, prickly, deeply unimpressed, and from the way he’d been looking at Leon, almost certainly resenting his entire existence.
“Bit dramatic, Catman, standing around like you’re single-handedly guarding Fort Knox,” Bryce said, sliding up beside Leon with another glass of that offensively purple soda. “Want a cold one?”
Leon accepted it, mostly to get rid of Bryce. He’d left his previous glass—empty—on the porch.
“Y’know, we’ve been doing this a while. Youcanstand down,” Bryce said. “Whatever it is about Karl that’s gotten your fur on end, he’s more competent than anyone I’ve known.”
And maybethatwas what had gotten Leon’s fur on end. He was always the one who knew where everyone was, who identified where every threat could come from. Yet he hadn’t managed to spot Karl until he melted out from the trees and into the yard, deciding to let himself be seen. He was used to being the one watching from the shadows, and he didn’t like what it meant that Karl had seen him first.
“You sure you don’t want some of Jason’s ribs?” Bryce persisted. Friendly, yet he was studying Leon carefully, like he was trying to get to the bottom of him. “Your sister said they’re the best she’s ever tasted.”
Sothatwas why he was so curious about Leon. Knowing that Luna was his sister, he must be wondering about Leon’s status. Or perhaps he was more interested in why he and Luna looked nothing alike, except for that one way they both tilted their heads when considering something. She was blonde and short, whereas he was neither of those things. There was no way these damn wolves wereevergoing to find out the reason for that.
“Your parents have any more kids? Cause other thanLily, I’m struggling to come up with more four-letter names starting with L.”
Didn’t this damn wolfevershut up?
Leon took another look around through narrowed eyes. The other cats were keeping a careful eye on their surroundings, so it was safe for him to get away from this damn annoying wolf who reminded him of nothing so much as a golden retriever in a tactical vest.
“I’m going to eat,” Leon said, an attempt at civility for Luna’s sake before he headed over to the grill and the food laid out there. He didn’t stalk. But it might have been close.
Matt was handling tongs with practiced ease, adding more skewers to the grill. He greeted Leon with a brief smile and a nod, like this sort of mixing between cats and wolves happened every day.
