Page 52 of Beasts of Mine

Luca made the mistake of laughing. By the time we reached home, I was seriously considering making both of them sleep outside.

Tomorrow, my packmates would finally meet Evie.

I was beginning to suspect introducing her to two additional leopards would be the easy part.

CHAPTER EIGHT

TAVIAN

Malek had told me to stay hidden.

I was hidden.

Mostly.

Your shoulder is visible, Malek told me from beneath the exposed roots across the clearing, his golden-brown eyes fixed directly on the fern concealing most of my body while the tip of one ear angled backward in irritation.

I glanced down at the shoulder in question. A narrow strip of golden fur showed between two broad leaves, hardly enough to matter as far as I was concerned.

Then stop looking at my shoulder, I told Malek, shifting farther behind the fern until one of the leaves bent against my side and dumped a collection of cold water droplets across my coat. A quiet huff came from somewhere to my left.

Your tail is moving too, Luca told me from beneath the darker shade near the creek, where his coat blended so well with the broken patches of sunlight that even I had to concentrate to make out the shape of him. I looked behind me and discovered that my tail was, in fact, moving. I stopped it immediately.

Better? I asked Luca, settling my chin onto my front paws while trying to keep the rest of my body unnaturally still.

Not particularly, Luca replied, opening one green-gold eye long enough to glance toward me before closing it again. I shifted my back leg, and a dry twig snapped beneath my paw. Across the clearing, Malek's ears flattened.

If you cannot remain still for five minutes, go home, Malek warned me, lifting his head from his paws while the muscles along his shoulders tightened beneath his spotted coat.

I've been still for at least ten, I told Malek, offended enough to straighten before remembering that apparently moving any part of my body was now forbidden.

Three, Luca corrected me, his calm voice drifting from the shade while water slipped quietly around the stones beside him.

I stared toward him.

Whose side are you on? I asked Luca, flexing my claws into the damp earth because that was apparently the only movement neither of them planned to criticize.

Mine, Luca told me, sounding perfectly content with his answer as he shifted one paw beneath his chin.

Pack loyalty was clearly dead. I was preparing to explain that to both of them when a scent moved through the trees, and every complaint disappeared from my mind at once.

My head lifted before I thought about doing it.

Omega.

Not the faint trace I'd been catching on Malek for nearly a week. Not her scent tangled through his coat with rainwater, forest, and whatever else he'd brought home after an afternoon at the creek.

Her.

I breathed in again, letting the humid air move over my tongue and nose. The blocker was easy to identify, a medicinal layer laid over everything else, but it didn't erase what sat beneath it. Warm skin, field soap, damp cotton, crushed vegetation, and the softer sweetness of an Omega reached me as she came closer.

So that was Evie. I looked toward Luca and found his head raised too, his green-gold eyes open and fixed on the trail. Then I looked toward Malek.

The bastard hadn't moved.

Of course he hadn't. He already knew exactly what she smelled like. He'd apparently been enjoying it every afternoon while Luca and I were expected to demonstrate maturity and pretend we weren't curious.

The sound of boots reached us several seconds later. Malek's ears turned toward the trail. That was his only obvious reaction, but I'd known him too long to miss everything else. His body had been relaxed before. Now there was a quiet readiness to him, as though some part of him had been waiting for that exact rhythm of footsteps.