“Then I stay anyway.” Leo met Theo’s sideways glance. “I’m not with her because my lion recognizes her as a mate. I’m with her because I want to be. The claiming would formalize what already exists, but its absence doesn’t change my commitment.”
They walked in silence for several more paces. Leo could feel Theo’s assessment—the older Alpha weighing his words, measuring his sincerity against some internal standard.
“Avine needed time too.” Theo’s voice was quiet. “The waiting nearly drove me mad. But it wasn’t my choice.” He stopped, turning to face Leo directly. “The fact that you understand that—that you’re giving Junie the same respect—it matters. To me, to Avine, to everyone who cares about that woman.”
“She’s worth waiting for.”
“She is.” Theo extended his hand. “Welcome to Haven Shores, Castellan. Officially.”
Leo shook it. The grip was firm—the acceptance of equals. “Thank you.”
“Now go back to her.” Theo’s eyes glinted with amusement. “She’s probably already planning how to interrogate you about every word spoken tonight.”
THIRTY-THREE
LEO
Leo was halfway to the brewery’s front door when Beck intercepted him.
The wolf materialized from the shadows of the warehouse, two fresh beers in hand. He offered one without preamble.
“Peace offering?” Leo asked, accepting the bottle.
“Acknowledgment.” Beck fell into step beside him. “I’ve been an ass to you since you arrived. Not outwardly—I’m too charming for that—but internally. You probably noticed anyway.”
“You’re not subtle when you’re brooding.”
Beck laughed, genuine and surprised. “No. Theo’s always telling me that.” He took a long drink, then stared at the amber liquid. “I’ve known Junie for years. Watched her build walls so thick, you’d need a battering ram to breach them. I thought maybe I could be the one to…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “But my wolf never… it wasn’t…”
“Mate recognition.”
“Yeah.” Beck met Leo’s eyes. “I didn’t understand the difference until I saw how your lion responds to her. The wayyou track her movements even when you’re pretending not to. That’s not attraction. That’s entirely different.”
Leo considered his words carefully. “My feelings for her aren’t about the lion’s recognition alone. I’m choosing to pursue her. Choosing to stay.”
“I know.” Beck’s voice was rough with acceptance. “That’s why I’m making peace. You’re not following instinct. You’re actually in this.”
“I am.”
Beck raised his bottle. “To choices, then. And to the people who make them worth making.”
Leo clinked his glass against Beck’s. “To choices.”
They drank in the quiet of the harbor, two men who might have been rivals finding understanding instead.
Junie wasawake when he returned.
Not in bed, where he’d expected. She was curled on the window seat of his room at the Siren’s Rest, wrapped in one of his shirts—nothing underneath—with Glimmer coiled in her lap. The snake’s scales were a content amber, none of the hostile purple from their earlier encounters.
“You’re back.” Junie uncurled as he entered, padding across the floor in bare feet. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, her legs bare beneath the hem of his shirt. “How was the meeting? Did anyone get punched?”
“Disappointingly civil.” Leo caught her waist as she reached him, pulling her close. She molded against him—soft curves meeting hard angles, her presence chasing away the night’s chill. “We have a plan. A trap. Victor should move within two weeks.”
“And then?”
“And then we end this.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, letting his fingers linger on the curve of her jaw. “How was your evening?”
“Boring without you.” Her arms wound around his neck, her body pressing against his in a way that sent heat pooling low in his gut. “Glimmer and I played cards. She cheats.”
