"What for?" I asked, though I had an inkling.
"No matter what, Nolan is your mate, and I should've never prohibited you from inviting him to live here."
"It's—"
The headmaster shook his head before I could assure him it was okay.
"This is your home, Zamir. I've always wanted all of you to feel at home here, to feel like you belong. You should be able to share your home with your mate."
I blinked. Did that mean...
"If you wish to live with Nolan, you can. I'm sorry I tried to stop you before."
"Are you sure? I don't want to cause you pain," I said, and I meant it. The headmaster had saved my life. He was more like a father to me than the one who'd raised me.
"I'm sure. What happened between Nolan and me, it's in the past. I also know that what I'd believed all these years isn't true. If Nolan is your mate, he's not the kind of man I thought he was, and I have no reason to have a problem with him."
I blinked at the roundabout compliment, then nodded.
"Nolan and I... we're going camping with some of his friends this weekend, but after that, maybe..."
The headmaster nodded with a strained smile, though the strain was more from exhaustion than because he was still reluctant about Nolan.
Feeling like I was doing something wrong, I took a moment to scan him. So many emotions.
Pain and worry and something that looked an awful lot like heartbreak tangled in a mess of colors over his heart. A healthy dose of confusion and frustration gathered in his gut, and I wished I could do something to relieve some of these.
"Keoni's okay," I said, and the dark red of heartache grew bigger, then returned to its original size, as if it was a heart on its own, beating every time the origin of that emotion was mentioned. The headmaster's heartbreak was because of Keoni? Because of what he'd said? Or whatever he'd whispered in his ear?
Fuck, I was too curious for my own good, and this was none of my business.
The headmaster nodded, and I waited for a beat, but when he didn't say anything, I let it go.
"I should go," I murmured, and he nodded, his eyes flickering with a thousand different thoughts.
As I walked to Nolan's place, my thoughts kept circling around the headmaster and Keoni. They'd always been close, though unlike me, Keoni had never seen the headmaster as a father figure. He never called him by his title either, preferring to use his name. They were friends, and yet right now they weren't much of anything.
I hoped they would make up soon.
Maybe things would be better after we came back from our trip.
Nolan was already there when I got to his place, and one glance at his smiling face pushed away all my worries about the headmaster and Keoni as I threw myself into his arms.
"I missed you," I murmured into his neck, and he squeezed me to him.
"I missed you too."
Muffin and Clip barked, as if letting us know they'd missed us too, and I smiled.
The Sanctuary was my home, but so was this man, these animals.
After this weekend, I could finally have them all in one place.
Nolan
"What about your father?" I asked, and Zamir snuggled into my side.
After dinner, packing for our camping trip tomorrow, and a tumble in the sheets that made me see stars, we'd climbed back into bed after cleaning our shared release off our abdomens, though the scent of sex was still thick in the air.
