21. Chapter Twenty-Two
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
EVIE
I used what remained of the evening light before dinner, taking my camera back toward the upper stream while Luca stayed far enough behind that his presence didn’t interfere with the wildlife.
The change beneath the canopy happened quickly as the sun dropped.
Shadows stretched across the water, frogs began calling from the thick vegetation along the banks, and the brighter greens of the afternoon deepened through my viewfinder until entire sections of forest looked different from the ones I had photographed only a few hours earlier.
A pair of tanagers gave me several usable frames before disappearing into the darker canopy, and something larger moved through the vegetation across the stream without ever giving me a clear enough look to identify it.
I waited anyway, crouched near the base of an enormous tree while mosquitoes found every patch of exposed skin they could reach, but whatever had moved through the undergrowth apparently had no interest in becoming part of my assignment.
By the time I finally lowered the camera, the light had fallen far enough that I would have needed to push the ISO higher than I wanted for anything moving beneath the trees.
I checked the last few frames, marked the location in my notes, and packed the camera away while frogs and insects grew steadily louder around us.
The dusk coverage alone made Mara’s overnight suggestion worth it.
Dinner happened after dark.
Luca cooked while I sat at the long table cleaning one of my lenses, the small light above us throwing a warm glow across the scarred wood and the stone wall behind him.
Luca moved between the counter, stove, and shelves without rushing, adding herbs to the pot without measuring them before tasting the broth and adjusting something with a small pinch from one of the labeled jars.
I had nearly finished cleaning the front element of my lens when he carried a bowl to the table and set it in front of me, then leaned down and blew some of the steam away from the surface.
I looked from the bowl to him.
“You do realize I can feed myself.” I told Luca as he calmly took the chair across from me, apparently seeing nothing unusual about testing the temperature of my dinner first.
“I know.” Luca answered as he settled into his seat with his own bowl. “You also realize people are allowed to cook for you.”
“That sounds suspiciously reasonable.” I told Luca as I picked up my spoon, breathing in the smell of meat, vegetables, and herbs rising with the steam.
“I practice.” Luca replied as he lifted his own spoon, a small smile appearing before he started eating.
The meal was simple—rice, vegetables, meat, broth rich with herbs—but it tasted better than it had any right to after a full day outside.
Luca didn’t fill the silence just because it was there, either.
We talked when something came up, mostly about the temple and the photographs I had taken that afternoon.
There were stretches when the only sounds inside the room were our spoons against the bowls and whatever was calling beyond the shutters.
It should have felt strange. I was eating dinner inside the hidden home of three leopard shifters after agreeing to spend the night there because one of them had calmly listed every reason his home was better than my leaking field shelter.
Instead, it felt almost annoyingly comfortable.
By the time we finished, the temple had gone quieter around us. The small lights inside cast warm pools across the old stone while darkness pressed against the windows, and Luca gathered the bowls before I could reach for mine.
“I can help.” I told Luca as I pushed my chair back.
“You can.” Luca agreed while stacking my bowl over his. “You can also finish checking your camera before you forget you left it open.”
I turned toward the table. My cleaning cloth was still beside the lens cap.
“That was one time.” I told Luca as I reached for it.
“It was five minutes ago.” Luca replied as he carried the dishes toward the counter.
“That still counts as one time.” I informed Luca, hearing his quiet laugh behind me as I finished with the lens.
Later, I carried my overnight bag into the sleeping room and started pulling out what I needed: toothbrush, clean shirt, sleep shorts, medical pouch, and a small toiletry bag.
My camera was already secured inside the waterproof storage box Luca had prepared, with two batteries charging at the worktable in the next room.
The shirt Malek had given me was tucked near the bottom of my bag.
I pulled it out without thinking.
The cedar-and-rain scent had faded over the last couple of days, especially after I had already spent nights sleeping with the shirt tucked beside my pillow at the station, but enough of Malek remained that I brought the fabric closer for a second before laying it near the pillow.
The green seed Tavian had given me came out with my sleep clothes.
Apparently that had become essential overnight equipment too, because instead of putting it back in the bag, I set it beside Malek’s shirt. Then I remembered the tiny shell was still inside the mesh compartment of my camera bag in the other room.
I actually went back for it.
By the time I returned, Luca was standing near the doorway with a folded blanket over one arm. He stopped just inside the room, and his eyes moved briefly over the sleeping platform before returning to me.
“What?” I asked Luca, catching the look even though he tried to hide it.
“Nothing.” Luca answered far too calmly as he redirected his attention toward the blanket in his hands.
I followed where he had been looking. Malek’s shirt lay near the pillow.
Tavian’s seed and shell sat beside it, and my own clean shirt had somehow ended up folded beneath the corner of Malek’s.
I had also pulled one pillow closer and shifted another toward the wall because the gap between them had bothered me.
Nothing about that arrangement seemed particularly strange.
Which probably meant it was.
“What?” I repeated to Luca as I planted one hand against my hip and waited for whatever he clearly wasn’t saying.
“It will be cold later.” Luca replied as he held up the blanket. “This one’s softer.”
“Okay.” I answered Luca as I accepted it, and sandalwood and fresh herbs immediately surrounded me when the fabric settled across my arms.
Of course it smelled like him.
I put the blanket on the sleeping platform, looked at it for less than a second, then moved it closer to the pillow. One edge hung over the side, so I folded that underneath because leaving it like that bothered me for some reason.
When I turned again, Luca had become extremely interested in the wall.
“You are thinking something.” I accused Luca, pointing toward him from across the platform.
“I’m usually thinking something.” Luca answered as he sat on the edge of the mattress and started untying his boots, somehow maintaining a perfectly straight face.
“You did that thing where you deliberately looked somewhere else.” I told Luca as I folded my arms.
“I looked at the wall.” Luca replied as he loosened one boot and glanced toward the stone beside him.
“Exactly.” I answered Luca, narrowing my eyes.
“It’s a nice wall.” Luca informed me as he inspected the old stone with exaggerated seriousness.
“You are terrible at lying.” I told Luca, unable to keep the amusement from my voice when his fingers paused briefly on the second bootlace.
“I’m not lying.” Luca answered as he removed the boot and set it neatly beside the first. “The wall is structurally sound.”
I stared at him until he finally smiled.
“You’re impossible too.” I muttered to Luca as I sat on the opposite side of the platform and started removing my own boots.
“Different kind.” Luca replied, looking far too pleased with himself.
That, unfortunately, was true.
After washing up and changing, I returned wearing a loose shirt and sleep shorts.
Luca had changed too, trading his heavier field clothes for a softer shirt and lightweight pants, and his hair had come loose from the tie at his neck.
It rested against his shoulders now, slightly wavy from the humidity.
He didn’t ask which sleeping space I wanted.
He simply waited. I looked at the other platforms, then at the one where I had already arranged half my belongings without admitting I was arranging anything.
“This one.” I told Luca, gesturing toward the obvious choice.
“Okay.” Luca answered, and nothing in his voice suggested it had ever been his decision to make. We lay down with enough space between us that I could have rolled twice before reaching him.
That lasted maybe five minutes.
Luca’s purr started so softly I felt it before I consciously heard it.
I was lying on my side facing him, my head resting against the pillow while his blanket covered both of us from the waist down.
Malek’s shirt remained tucked close behind my back, and Tavian’s ridiculous little seed and shell sat safely on the low shelf after I decided keeping loose objects in bed was probably a terrible idea.
The room was dark except for one dim battery lantern near the doorway. Insects hummed outside the shutters, water dripped somewhere deeper in the temple, and the old stone held onto the cooler night air.
Luca’s purr was almost nothing like the others. Tavian’s was loud enough that pretending not to notice it was impossible, while Malek’s carried a deeper vibration I could feel through most of his chest. Luca’s was softer, a low, steady sound traveling through the mattress between us.
My muscles relaxed before I meant them to, and without consciously deciding to, I moved closer.
Luca noticed but said nothing, which made it easier to close another few inches until my forehead rested near his chest. Only then did one arm settle loosely around my waist, his hand resting against my back without pulling me any closer than I had already chosen to be.