Karl stared at the ceiling. Then snorted. Then, helplessly, started to laugh.
LEON
The door clicked shut behind Jo, Karl’s laughter still echoing softly. Leon stood for a moment where he was, facing the door, one hand braced against it. Not because he was angry or annoyed—though hewas, a little, at that woman’s undisguised interest in Karl—but because if he looked at Karl again too soon, he was going to do something unwise. Like crawl back into bed and kiss that ridiculous, heroic face until they’d both forgotten everything else.
Instead, he crossed to the table and picked up his comb, running it through his hair with practiced precision. Down from scalp to tip. Pause. Repeat. He let the dark fall of it shield his face, curtaining him off the rest of the room.
At last he had privacy, and time to think. He needed to wrap his head around the fact that this morning he’d woken up curled next to Karl, warm and wanted. And Karl had smiled at him.
Smiled. Not grimaced or scowled like he was trying to incinerate Leon with his eyes. A sleepy, real smile that had tugged something loose inside Leon.
It was an objective fact that Karl was attractive. But like that, softened by sleep, with none of the tension or emotional armor he wore when awake? That was on another level, one Leon didn’t have words for. Especially as that open, warm face, which had been so impassive when they met, was nowhis.
He combed again, more slowly. Knowing they were mates should have been enough to chase away all the old shadows. It should have made him feel secure, safe in the knowledge that he’d finally found what every cat dreamed of—the one person for them. Even if he was a wolf—and that certainlywasn’twhat every cat dreamed of. Nightmare, more like, but that was only because they hadn’t metKarl.
But it still twisted deep in his gut, a flicker ofwhat if. What if Karl changed his mind? What if he regretted it? What if it all went wrong?
He and the feeling were old acquaintances, with the familiar ache of rejection held at bay by sheer force of will. Because if hisparentshad thrown him out, whowouldn’t?
Leon stilled his hand and breathed out slowly. No. Not this time. He wouldn’t let that wound drive him. Wouldn’t sabotage this just to beat Karl to the punch. Karl wasn’t going anywhere, not if last night meant even half what he thought it had.
He turned to find Karl watching him from the bed. Not smiling now, but with something steady in his eyes.
“Breakfast?” Leon asked, gesturing toward the bowls of gray, gelatinous stuff that Ruth had brought with her.
Karl made a face. “Define breakfast.”
“Technically edible,” Leon said, picking up a bowl and spoon and taking it to Karl. “Maybe.”
Karl looked at the bowl like it had personally insulted him.
Leon smirked. “If you die from this, I want it on the record that it wasn’t me.”
“Noted,” Karl said dryly.
Leon hesitated, then sat beside him. “Want me to…?”
Karl took the spoon with the suspicion of a growl under his breath. “I can feed myself.”
The determination with which he forced the mess down made something inside Leon soft and warm. He didn’t know what to do with that feeling, so he said the only thing that came to mind.
“You want to use my comb?” he asked, casual as anything.
Karl blinked. “What?”
He gestured to the table. “My comb. I mean, you don’t have to. Just, it’s right there if your hair’s annoying you. Or you want to look presentable when Michael shows up to kill us.”
Karl blinked again. “You’d let me use your comb?”
Leon crossed his arms. “Don’t make it into something.”
Truth was, part of him already regretted the offer. Not because he didn’t mean it, but because Karl might recognize the offer for what it was—so far past Leon’s usual boundaries they weren’t even in the rearview.
“You’d let me use yoursacred comb?” Karl asked. “The one you’ve treated like a holy relic since Ruth passed it over?”
Leon had to hide his wince. Damn it. Karldidsee it. Worse, he wassmilingabout it. Not cruel or unkind, but fond. Amused in a way that made Leon feel ten times more exposed.
“I’ll take it back,” he said, a little too quickly.
