KARL
The bed was warm when he woke, the pillow beside him still indented with the weight of Leon’s head.
Karl rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling for a moment, listening to the hush around him. He figured he hadn’t been asleep long, but long enough for Leon to vanish like morning mist. Not many people could have managed to avoid waking him. Maybe no one else, in fact. Said something about how he trusted Leon, that he’d slept so deeply.
Karl dragged a hand through his hair and sat up slowly, tugging on the sweater and jeans that had ended up on the floor. He padded barefoot to the window and looked out over the yard, familiar and quiet. The evening air carried the faint sound of voices as Christian and Dave settled the horses for the night, the even fainter sound of Jesse swearing at the chickens, and two very self-satisfied goats meandering over to the house. That probably meant Tristan and Colby were on the porch.
He watched the goats for a while, because it never boded well when they looked that pleased with themselves. And then, like a weight being lifted off his shoulders, he realized—it wasn’t his problem to solve. Or, at least, not his problem alone. He’d been gone for days, and the pack was still safe, nothing broken and everything running as smoothly as it ever did.
He wasn’t sure where it had come from, that proposal to start a security business with Leon. He’d been thinking about being away from here, about Leon no longer working as Luna’s bodyguard, and wondering what the hell the two of them would do. Leon had the skills to break into almost anywhere, and Karl could write threat assessments in his sleep. There had to be something there, he’d thought, and the answer had presented itself.
God knew, he could watch Leon slink past security systems all day long. He’d follow in his wake, designing solutions for the weaknesses Leon had exploited. He knew that Leon would do it all with a sense of superiority that would make it look as if the systems he broke had been designed by a wayward toddler. He huffed a laugh, suddenly wishing he could have seen Leon’s first meeting with Michael. No wonder he’d believed Leon was a prince.
He pulled on his socks and boots. He didn’t know exactly what their life would be, but he knew he wanted it to be the two of them together. It might not always be easy—he figured there’d be times when the quirks of cats and wolves rubbed up against each other in unexpected ways, for both of them. And he’d miss this pack like an ache in his heart, the rest of his days.
But if he didn’t go with Leon, his heart would be torn apart, so… yeah. Lesser of two evils. And it wasn’t like they couldn’t come back and visit. Though that was never the same, not really. Maybe it would be worse, staying in touch, but not being part of it. Hanging in on the pack’s WhatsApp and seeing references to events and people he didn’t know about. The new jokes that would need to be explained to him.
So yeah, he’d miss it here, but there wasn’t a flicker of doubt in him about his decision. He’d be building a life with someone who didn’t need his protection but who had chosen his presence anyway. And while he didn’t know how that life would look, he was looking forward to finding out.
LEON
He found them sprawled together in the very last bit of sun, and thoroughly unrepentant about it. A pile of long limbs, idly flicking tails, and languid eyes, reclining like spoiled housecats.
Antoni shifted as Leon approached, reluctance in his every movement. Ava and Joaquim followed suit.
“You smell like wolf,” Antoni said.
“Really?” Leon drawled. “Must be something in the air.”
Ava stretched like a dancer as she reinhabited her human body. “You look like someone who just got thoroughly debauched.”
Leon offered a slow smile. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”
Joaquim sat up and rolled his shoulders. “We figured. You disappeared long enough.” He sounded more approving than irritated, which for Joaquim was practically a love letter.
“I wanted to talk to you.” Leon crouched beside them, suddenly unsure how to begin. “Things are changing. Not just for me, but for all of us.”
Ava yawned. Performative, because her eyes were alert and a little concerned at what Leon was about to say. “We noticed. The wolves aren’t entirely terrible. Still weird, but less growly.”
Leon took a deep breath. Once he said it, it would be true. “I’m not going back with Luna and the rest of you.”
That got them all looking at him intently.
He shrugged, because he didn’t know what else to do under that level of scrutiny. “I’m standing down as Luna’s security head.”
“Why?” Joaquim was bristling, ready to take on whoever had forced Leon’s departure.
“Because…” Bastet help him, how could he possibly say it? And then he thought of Karl and, in an instant, what he was about to say changed from a slightly shameful confession to wanting to announce it to the whole damn world.
“Because Karl’s my mate, and I want to be with him.”
He didn’t think he’d ever seen cats so stunned before.
“But he’s awolf,” Antoni said at last. “And you’re a cat.”
“He’s notthatwolfish,” Leon said. “And he’s Karl.”
Shit. That was more than he’d meant to show them. Seemed as if he hadn’t quite gotten his defenses back in place after being with Karl.
