That wasn’t the only gift Matt had offered. Karl didn’t need permission to leave—he gave Matt his loyalty freely, not out of fear—but he had it anyway. Matt had given him something rarer, too. Hisblessing. And from Matt, that meant more than he could say.
They sat for a moment longer, before Matt added, “Leon has a place here too, if he wants it.”
Karl had never expected that. He searched Matt’s face and found only truth.
“I can’t say I know him,” Matt admitted, “and I know things didn’t exactly start well. But Luna trusts him, and after everything he did for you…” He shook his head, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “He’s welcome here, if he wants. As part of the pack or outside it—whichever he prefers.”
A sense of wonder and possibility unfurled in Karl at those words. He had no idea yet what Leon would want, but this offer was everything.
The world was opening up again for him, after so many years. For now, he sat back in his chair, took another slow sip of whiskey with his alpha, and let the peace of the moment settle over him.
LEON
They ended up on the bench under the big tree in the yard, a pocket of autumn sunlight filtering through the branches to blunt the chill in the air. Leon cataloged the scene automatically—open sightlines, no shadows deep enough to hide in, Ava and Joaquim keeping a steady perimeter.
Luna scarcely waited for him to sit before asking, “So?”
He took a breath. “I’ve found him, Luna. My mate.”
She stared at him for a heartbeat, searching his face like she was making sure that he hadn’t done somethingspectacularlyimpulsive. Evidently, whatever she saw convinced her because she flung her arms around him, hugging hard enough to make his ribs think about creaking. When she finally let go, her eyes were damp.
“I’m so glad,” she said, just in case he hadn’t quite gotten the message. “It’s past time something good happened for you.”
His throat ached suddenly, but he tried for lightness. “Even though he’s a wolf?”
“Well, it wouldn’t be you if there wasn’t a wrinkle somewhere, would it?” she said. “No, I like what I’ve seen, Matt thinks a lot of him, and you obviously do, so I’m willing to overlook my new brother-in-law’s lupine shortcomings.” Her mouth quirked, but then she was all business again. “What are you going to do now?”
And that was the question.
“I don’t know. I need to talk to him.” His voice came out tighter than he intended. “It feels impossible we’ve found each other only to be split up by logistics.” Maybe they could make a long-distance thing work. Luna traveled so much for her role that he’d have reasons to pass through Colorado fairly frequently.
“You remember that talk we never finished?” She took his hand, turning it palm-up, studying the lines there as if they might tell his future.
“You’ll have to narrow it down,” he said, because there’d been a lot of conversations they’d started and never finished.
“About finding what you want to do with your life.” She still wasn’t looking at him, which was unusual enough to make him wary. “I think I know why you look after me, and Bastet knows you’re good at it, but you hate the politics and the travel. Maybe it’s time to find your own way. Find something you love.”
She looked at him, and her eyes were damp but sure. “It won’t change anything between us. You’ll always be my pain-in-the-ass little brother.”
It hurt, being told she didn’t need him. Hurt so badly, when he’d done everything to be what she needed, to take care of her. He couldn’t look at her, studying the dirt between his feet with eyes that kept blinking because otherwise…
“I love you.” She curved her hand around his and squeezed. “But so does that wolf. And the thing is, I think you’ve spent your whole life putting yourself last.”
He glanced up, frowning, because she was way off base. If he had a fault—which he didn’t—it definitely wasn’t putting others before himself.
“Don’t try to argue with me,” she told him. “I’m not talking about the preening or the clubs. That’s its own thing. I mean the things that matter. You always make yourself the trade-off.”
Leon smirked. “You make me sound so noble.” It was the kind of line that would usually pivot him to safer ground.
Except she didn’t look away, didn’t let him dodge. And then—God—it hit. A sudden tightness clamped across his chest, each breath a fight. She wasn’t wrong. He’d built his whole life around her because he thought that was whathe needed—to make himself indispensable so he’d never be abandoned again. It had never made him happy.
She wasn’t rejecting him. She was trying to give him something. Freedom, if he’d take it.
“I’ll think about it,” he said, his voice raw. He knew Antoni could step into his shoes almost instantly, without a ripple in Luna’s security. Which meant he’d done his job, and done it well.
And then, suddenly, he felt different. Like he was standing at the edge of something vast and frightening, and knowing he’d be disappointed if he stepped back.
“For the record,” she added, her tone light but her eyes sharp, “I know there’s something you’re not telling me about your time with Michael’s pack. Iwillfind out.”
