Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
LEON
Leon had assumed the wolves en masse would be territorial, loud, and overbearing. They were definitely talkative and boisterous, a tangle of voices and casual touches. But it didn’t feel exhausting and too much, the way he’d thought it would.
Part of him didn’t like it, and yet, if he were brutally honest, another part of him yearned for it.
It wasn’t just pack—it was family. He’d loved Grandpa, but it had been just the two of them, for so long.
This was something more, and he wanted it.
With Karl sitting beside him, his large hand resting on Leon’s thigh.
Not even sexually, except for how every damn touch from that wolf lit up his nerves.
The wolves still wanted Karl‘s attention, were still reassuring themselves he was back with them, was safe. And Leon understood for the first time what he’d have been taking Karl away from if they’d left together.
It wouldn’t only be Karl who’d be hurt by leaving them.
Not like Leon, who only had Luna. He loved her with every bone in his body, deep and abiding, but she was all he had.
Not all, he reminded himself, as Antoni passed him a dish of vegetables.
He hadn’t seen what else he had, not until he was giving it up.
Antoni had risked life and limb to offer him the vegetables, fending off Jesse’s determined assault.
Earlier, Ava had bumped her head against his shoulder, and Joaquim had been ready to wage war on anyone who’d made Leon resign.
They’d all been there. He’d just never looked hard enough.
He thought Matt must have issued instructions when he’d briefed the pack, because the wolves didn’t ask a single question about the Argents.
Although Tristan glanced over at them both frequently, eyes bright and full of curiosity, he held his tongue on the subject.
Probably, they were respecting Jesse’s feelings.
Once Jesse had met with his old pack, it would be open season for questions, he suspected, and promptly decided to climb a tree at that point.
He liked Tristan, but that was a lot of enthusiasm and inquisitiveness to cope with.
He wondered how Colby, quiet as he was, handled it, until he saw the way the two of them leaned into each other without even noticing.
Even while talking to other people, they stayed in one another’s orbit.
Because it was part of who Tristan was, Colby probably loved it.
Wolves were weird. Just as well Karl was an honorary cat.
Tom was asking Karl about the trail they’d followed, the topography of the land, and the location of their caches.
Apparently, he hadn’t been a pack member long enough to know that area well.
It surprised Leon, because Tom was part of the pack’s dynamic in a way that suggested he’d been here a while.
His questions were sensible, efficient, and insightful enough to tell Leon why Karl liked him.
Leon kept watching him a while, saw how he easily adjusted his tone to the flow of the room, and the softness in his face whenever he looked at Bryce.
Yeah, he’d be an easy person to be around.
Hell, if he and Colby were as good as Karl said, maybe they could bring them in to help on some contracts in due course. And then he snorted. Not only had he decided somehow that he and Karl were going into the security business, but he’d already expanded their firm.
Bryce’s voice broke into his thoughts. He was leaning across the table, offering Leon a basket of rolls. “You got a favorite carb? Or are you more of a champagne-and-caviar man?”
“I’m an equal-opportunity hedonist,” Leon replied, taking two. “But I’ll admit, you people do food distressingly well.”
“Oh, Jason’s our secret weapon,” Bryce said, jerking a thumb toward the wolf in question, whose cheeks turned slightly pink but who smiled at Leon.
And he realized—Bryce was… annoying. But that’d been a way to bring him into the conversation, to welcome him. And he couldn’t fault that kind of generosity.
The chatter swelled again, loud and chaotic but never unpleasant. Luna was laughing as she responded to Tristan’s questions.
“If you’re elected,” he asked her, “how are you a queen?”
The room hushed suddenly. It seemed Tristan wasn’t the only one who wanted to know.
Luna gave a mysterious little smile, the one that had driven Leon to distraction his entire life. “Because we’re cats.”
The laughter that broke out after that wasn’t fair to Tristan, but it was good-natured, and he didn’t seem to care, grinning as widely as anyone.
“Leon.” He looked up to find Joaquim leaning behind Dave’s back, trying to get his attention. “Get Karl to show you the tech they’ve got. It’s impressive—I’d like to compare notes once you’ve taken a look.”
He nodded, and Joaquim returned his attention to the plate in front of him. Of course Karl would show him, now he was going to be living here, so he didn’t know what that had been about.
And then he realized—Joaquim had used Karl’s name. He’d accepted that Leon was staying, that Karl was his mate. And yet, he’d also made it clear in his understated way that Leon was still one of them. Still a cat, still one of Luna’s guard.
“The tech can wait,” Karl said, leaning in close, his voice low in Leon’s ear. “I have other plans for you tonight.”
The shiver that ran down Leon’s spine at the promise in that voice… that was something he’d never get used to. And yeah, that was a problem he was happy to have.
KARL
After supper, they’d ended up out on the porch.
Leon had draped himself across the swing seat in that loose-limbed, feline way of his—as if any surface was lucky to hold him—while Karl had his leg propped on an overturned crate, and a bottle of cold beer in his hand.
The night air was cooling fast, and someone inside had put on music low enough that only the rhythm carried.
It was peaceful. A kind of peace and completeness Karl couldn’t remember feeling before.
Eventually, Leon stood, stretching with easy grace. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s head to your place before someone ropes us into a fireside singalong and s’mores.” He shuddered. “Tell me you don’t actually do that?”
“Pack fireside night with singing and s’mores is compulsory to welcome a new member,” Karl said, hauling himself upright. “Dave leads the singing. A joy you have in store.”
Leon’s second shudder looked a little more sincere. Maybe he’d heard about Dave’s singing.
They headed into the kitchen to ditch their empty bottles.
“Oh, hey,” Jason said, looking up from the kitchen table, where he and Riley were camped out with a laptop and two coffees. “Riley’s going to be pulling an all-nighter for a deadline, so I’m going to keep him company and work on some new recipes.”
“Okay,” Karl said slowly, not sure why he needed to know this.
“It’s going to take me all night. I have an early shift at the diner, and I’ll drop Riley off at Mr. Garrity’s on the way, so we’re going to be gone from the bunkhouse.”
Oh. Oh, God. He could see Leon fighting to control his twitching lips, and Riley’s despairing yet deeply fond shake of his head. And because something about Jason always brought out in Karl the same thing Charlie did, Karl smiled at him.
“Thanks for telling me, but we’re going to be in my bunkhouse,” he said. “You might have a cat or two napping in the spare room in yours.”
As Jason was still processing that, he led the way out of the back door before Leon lost it.
“The subtlety of wolves never ceases to amaze me,” Leon said as they walked together across the yard. What would have been a disdainful comment only days ago now held affectionate resignation and warmth.
“He means well.” And he did, more than Leon probably realized. Jason understood what it was like to bring a mate who was a complete outsider into the pack. Riley had struggled at first, and Jason wanted Leon to know up front he was welcome. Tristan would likely be the same.
Speaking of whom… Tristan and Colby were under the big tree in the yard, kissing like the world was ending. Presumably they were still celebrating the news. Though with those two, it could just have been because it was Tuesday.
Karl slowed a step, thinking about how much had changed since Jesse’s arrival. For a while, it had felt like none of it was for the better. Everything they’d built here had been turned upside down.
Yet here, at the end of it all, it felt somehow inevitable. It had been worth every minute of the stress and the worry and the danger, if it meant he had Leon here with him. And he’d bet the same was true for every other member of the pack.
Not that he’d ever tell Jesse that. He’d either be insufferable or get weirdly awkward about it.
A warm nudge at his side brought him back. Leon, looking at him with heat in his eyes and a wicked little smile.
“You’re dawdling, wolf,” he said. “And I have things I want to do to you.”
That smile should’ve been illegal. Karl followed, helpless.
LEON
The bunkhouse felt hushed and still when they stepped inside, and this time, he took a moment to look around, to take it in. It was neat and practical, as he’d expect from Karl. Definitely too spartan for Leon’s taste.
A shelf of well-thumbed books caught his eye, as did something else—or rather, the absence of something else. Hell, he was going to need to get a wardrobe because Karl, incomprehensibly, didn’t have one.
Leon didn’t say anything as he moved past Karl, folding down onto the bed and stretching out in satisfaction, as if the place already belonged to him. It did. Karl had made it so.
“You coming?” he asked lazily, running his hand idly down his front.
There was a pause. Then Karl’s quiet laugh, which he needed to hear more and more often. “Oh, I am definitely coming.”
Leon fixed him with a reproachful look. “That,” he said, deeply pained, “was appalling. You should be ashamed.”
Karl didn’t look ashamed in the slightest. “Not even a little.”
The moment stretched, and Leon’s heart did something strange in his chest as he looked into Karl’s eyes.
Something warm and almost squishy. Then Karl eased down onto the bed and kissed him—not fierce, but quiet and tender.
Right up until he tucked Leon’s hair behind his ear, and Leon arched up into the sensation, every nerve ending on fire.
Later—much later, when the lights were out and their limbs were tangled under the sheets, the steady rhythm of Karl’s breathing the only sound—Leon stayed awake, letting it wash over him.
Peace. That was what this was.
Not perfection. He still wasn’t entirely sure how being part of a pack was going to work.
He’d probably need to escape to Denver once a month or risk clawing someone.
He was almost certainly going to introduce Karl to the concept of a flannel-free wardrobe.
And at some point, he would absolutely climb a tree to avoid a wolf who wanted to talk.
But this was the first time in his life he’d had all the pieces. Love, security, and a mate who looked at him like he was something extraordinary, even when Leon knew he was impulsive, sharp-tongued, and too pleased with himself for his own good.
And he had a family now, even if they were wolves and a non-shifter who was almost a wolf. Karl’s pack felt like something he’d been waiting for without ever believing it could be his. A place to belong. A home.
He turned his head and rubbed his cheek lightly against Karl’s shoulder, marking him.
Then he closed his eyes and let himself rest.