He stood beside the bed, careful to keep himself contained, not to touch even by accident as his heart pounded. How to ask? How to lay himself open that far? If Karl said no, this would be the final rejection. This, of all of them, would be the one to kill him. He knew that to the depths of his soul.
“You want this?” Karl’s voice was rough, an edge to it Leon didn’t understand. Then he breathed out sharply, sounding annoyed. “Me, I mean. You want me?”
Leon didn’t intend to, but he folded down onto his knees next to the bed, looking into Karl’s eyes. Those brown eyes that saw everything were shielded, as if Karl were braced for Leon to say no, maybe even to laugh at him.
He reached out a hand, wondering why it was so unsteady, and traced a line along Karl’s forearm, drinking in the sensation of warm skin, the way Karl shivered slightly beneath his touch.
“Yeah,” he said simply. “I do.”
Such small words for something that changedeverything.Karl closed his eyes for a moment, but it didn’t feel like he was blocking Leon out—it was more like he was just as overwhelmed in that moment as Leon felt. Because for the first time in too many years, everything feltright.
He stayed perfectly still, heart thudding, afraid to break whatever this was, as Karl opened his eyes again, instantly seeking him out. And then Karl lifted his hand and reached up to tuck a strand of Leon’s hair behind his ear.
Leon’s breath caught, sharp and sudden. The gesture was probably meant to be—well, tender wasn’t a word he ever thought he’d use in connection with Karl, but maybe he’d been wrong. The thing was, Karl couldn’t possibly know how intimate that touch was for a cat.
Intimate, and something more. Leon’s heart thudded, and heat rose up his throat, spreading across his cheeks. It wasn’t overwhelming, not yet, but it waspresent, that awareness of Karl, of closeness, of skin and scent and the need rising inside him.
He steadied his breathing, telling himself they could explore the heat between them later, and had to trust they’d have a later. But Karl’s fingers were tracing the shell of his ear, and if he kept doing that…
“That’s really not a good idea right now,” he said, aiming for smooth and in control. What came out was low and rough, all breath andwant.
Karl blinked. “What, the—” He paused. “Oh.” And, to Leon’s relief and disappointment, moved his hand to cover Leon’s.
Leon gave a small, helpless laugh, and then—without fully thinking it through—he moved, sliding onto the bed beside Karl. Under a happiness so intense that every nerve ending buzzed, a tendril of guilt writhed. He’d hurt Karl, and he hadn’t evennoticed. Karl had swallowed it down, like he’d swallowed everything else, and Leon had been blind to it.
But Karl had forgiven him. Beating himself up over it would only get in the way of this. And this—Karl—was so much more than Leon had ever hoped for. He’d known there was probably a mate out there for him, but he’d never known how he was supposed to trust another cat, not after everything that had gone before. But it seemed fate—or Bastet, or whoever was responsible for all this—had gotten it all worked out.
He didn’t know how it would work, what his pride would say, what they’d think of Karl, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was whathethought of Karl. His pride had long since lost the right to have any say over his life. They’d had more than enough already.
They were quiet for a long moment. Then Karl turned his head, just a little, just enough to see him. His voice was low. “Can I kiss you?”
Leon closed the small distance between them and their lips met.
It was nothing like the last time. No heat, no edge of frustration or challenge. Just soft, clinging, and quiet—the first hello of a lifetime of them.
When they broke apart, Leon rested his forehead against Karl’s shoulder, and breathed.
Chapter Twenty-eight
KARL
The room was gray, pre-dawn light filtering through the cracks in the shutters. The chill in the air made the warmth pressed against his side even more welcome. Leon’s breathing was soft, his hand curled loosely on Karl’s chest.
Karl was wider awake than he should have been given his need to sleep and heal. The ache in his leg throbbed in time with his heartbeat, but it was duller now. He lay still, unwilling to disturb the quiet. He wasn’t used to waking up with company, and never with comfort. Leon was still asleep, his hair a tangle across the pillow, one foot kicked out from under the blankets. He looked younger and softer, and Karl still couldn’t quite believe that the man he’d written off as smug and aggravating now caused an entirely different response in him.
The door creaked, cold air rolling in. Leon’s eyes snapped open instantly, and he tensed as he looked toward the door. Realizing itwas Ruth, he relaxed once more and turned back toward Karl with a smile.
It wasn’t a smirk, and it didn’t have a barb behind it. It was a sleepy, genuine smile, warm and soft, like the kind saved for someone he was glad to wake up next to. Karl had never had that before, and he didn’t know what to do with it.
So he didn’t do anything at all except smile back at Leon. He hadn’t meant to, but he couldn’t help it. And he definitely wasn’t thinking about what Leon’s smile did to his eyes and cheekbones, and how badly he wanted to touch him, just to trail his fingers down that cheek, map every inch of Leon’s body, learn everything there was to know about him. Toknowhim, body and soul.
“When you two have quite finished,” Ruth said dryly, “I have a wound to dress and not all day to wait.”
Leon grinned, all charm and mischief as he sat up and rolled off the bed, stretching gracefully. “Of course, Ruth. Whatever you say, Ruth.”
She was sorting through her meager hoard of medical supplies, readying for Karl’s regular torture session. “Open the window, will you?” she said to Leon. She’d left the door ajar, presumably wanting to air the room.
He leaned over the bed to open the shutters, letting more cold, fresh air in. And then he leaned closer still and kissed Karl again, warm and distracting. Karl reached up to tuck his hair behind his ear, and Leon shivered, his eyes suddenly dark. “If you keep doing that, I’m not going to be responsible for my actions,” he warned, his voice low and throaty, before stepping back to make space for Ruth.
