But inside this room, they finally let themselves be still.
Chapter 15 - Melvin
The next morning, Melvin and Jasmine sat on the steps outside her building with coffee, the way they always did when he was home. Neither of them suggested it. Neither of them needed to. The city worked its way toward morning around them.
Melvin had slipped out not long after waking, leaving Mac asleep in the hotel room with the curtains half-drawn against the early light and a note propped beside the lamp, written in Melvin’s careful, deliberate hand.
Went to see Jasmine. Back soon.
He had stood there a moment after setting it down, watching Mac sleep with that steady calm that came when he finally let himself rest, then eased the door closed and stepped out into the morning.
The air still held a trace of night-coolness that wouldn’t last once the sun climbed. Melvin sat with his forearms on his knees, the cupwarming his hands, letting the silence stretch. Jasmine had learned long ago that if she waited, he’d tell her what mattered.
“You’re somewhere else,” she said at last.
He watched the steam drift from his cup. “Thinking.”
“You do that?”
He smiled faintly. “Don’t get excited. It’s a glitch.”
She leaned back against the railing, studying him like she was putting pieces together.
“This about him?”
Melvin nodded.
She tipped her head, considering. “Tall, serious, Army type with the boots and the look like he doesn’t waste words?”
He couldn’t help smiling a little wider. “That obvious?”
“Very. You’ve always had a type.”
Then, softer, “I already like him.”
“You haven’t even met him.”
“I don’t need to.” She shrugged. “You told me he was coming and it was like watching something in you settle all at once. I’ve never seen that happen before. You or the panther.”
Melvin shook his head slightly.
“Yeah,” he said. “Pretty sure the panther decided he belonged to us about five minutes in.”
Melvin stared out toward the street. She wasn’t wrong. The moment he’d known Mac was on his way, something inside him had gone quiet. The constant edge he carried eased into something cleaner.
“He’s different,” Melvin said, and the words still felt too small.
“Yeah, I figured that part out,” Jasmine said. “Most people don’t cross an ocean on last-minute leave unless there’s something real on the other end.”
He laughed under his breath, surprised by how easy it felt.
They sat for a bit, the silence comfortable while the street filled in around them with movement and noise. When Jasmine spoke again, curiosity threaded her voice. “So he’s really a wolf.”
Melvin turned his head toward her. “You make it sound strange.”
“We turn into panthers,” she said. “Strange isn’t the problem. I just never thought my brother would end up with a wolf.”
A slow grin spread across her face. “That’s actually kind of amazing.”
