Chapter 39 #2
Not with the teasing flick of tongue that turned Karl’s bones to water and his brain to mush. This kiss was different. Open and steady, like Leon had stopped circling, stopped calculating, and chosen.
Karl cupped the back of his neck and kissed him back with everything he had, slow and sure and utterly ruined by how much he wanted this—wanted him.
And when Leon leaned in just a little more, fingertips curling into Karl’s sweater like an anchor, Karl’s chest tightened with something too big for words.
“When you two’ve quite finished, some of us want to get to supper.”
Leon didn’t flinch. Just tilted his head slightly to one side, the barest acknowledgement of Christian’s voice, and muttered against Karl’s mouth, “Are they always this uncultured?”
Karl huffed a quiet laugh, not shifting his gaze from Leon’s face. “You get used to it, sadly.”
There was a muffled oof—Dave’s elbow in Christian’s ribs, probably—followed by, “What Christian means is, sorry to interrupt. We’ll just—go somewhere else for a while.”
“You can. I want my supper,” Christian said.
Karl turned slightly, keeping his arm casually around Leon’s waist. Christian and Dave were standing a few feet away with matching grins and no shame.
“Don’t be weird about it,” Christian added.
Leon’s voice was a purr. “Darling, if I was being weird, you’d know.”
Dave coughed into his fist. “Supper’s ready. We wanted to get there before Jesse eats everything.”
“We’ll be in soon,” Karl said, deliberately mild as he stepped sideways. There’d been plenty of room for them to pass without interrupting him and Leon—they just hadn’t been able to resist making a point.
Dave moved past them, still grinning, while Christian hung back just long enough to raise his eyebrows suggestively at Karl. Leon raised one elegant brow in return, unimpressed, and Christian took that as his cue to move on.
Karl waited until the back door banged closed behind them, then looked at Leon. “Still sure?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m not sure I’ll survive all this oversharing, but yeah. I’m sure.”
Karl pressed a kiss to his temple. “Mingling’s not compulsory. Anytime you need space, you take it. God knows, I sometimes do.”
Inside, the kitchen was warm, bright, and very full. Someone had dragged the picnic table in from the yard and jammed it onto the end of the kitchen table, creating one long stretch of seating.
Karl took a swift headcount, relaxing when he saw the entire pack was already gathered. All save Matt. No cats, other than Leon, but the fact Riley was pushing a glass of juice at Leon told him how much the pack had adjusted to having cats in their midst.
Before Karl could take his own glass, he was yanked into Bryce’s hold. “God damn, don’t do that to us,” Bryce said, breath warm against Karl’s neck. “You’re supposed to be the indestructible one.”
Karl stiffened because he didn’t do this. They were his pack, but he’d never been a hugger. Well, not since he was eleven. He couldn’t remember before that. Maybe his parents had used to hug him, before the accident.
But as Bryce showed no sign of letting go, he found he was relaxing into his hold, into the warm, familiar scent of Bryce and pack. He fought so hard to protect it, but had he ever really allowed himself to enjoy it?
When Bryce finally let go of him, his hands lingered a moment on soft brown wool.
“Nice sweater,” he said, his eyes full of laughter.
Karl couldn’t deny it, not after seeing how Leon had responded to it. He’d be wearing the damn thing a lot more now, apparently.
It wasn’t only Bryce crowding him. The rest of the pack all seemed to need something from him—his opinion, a shoulder bump, a moment of closeness. God only knew what Matt had said about his injuries for them to be like this.
He kept an eye on Leon, and relaxed when he saw that he wasn’t trying to fight his way through the wolves mobbing Karl—sensible choice, as well as being very cat. Instead, he and Tom were deep in conversation.
Then the back door opened, and the other cats came in. Karl frowned. “Who’s out—”
“Matt called everyone in for supper,” Colby said. “Just this once. A kind of marker of how things’ll be from now on, he said. The sensors will go off if there’s anyone out there.”
It wouldn’t have been Karl’s choice—it felt a little too risky to him—yet he couldn’t regret it either. Not with Matt and Luna coming into the kitchen, meaning everyone was here. Everyone was safe.
He caught Leon’s gaze, and he couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips as Leon raised a quizzical eyebrow at him.
Leon had been cornered by Tristan, and that eyebrow raise…
Whereas before, it would’ve been full of sardonic judgment, it now had a hint of fondness as Tristan plunged into one of his complicated stories.
Leon would probably swish his tail in annoyance if he realized how much softness he’d just let show, not only to Karl, but in the way he was listening to Tristan.
And watching Leon with his pack… Karl drew a long, deep breath, and for once, there was no weight on his shoulders. His pack was safe, Leon was here. They were both, finally, home.