Chapter Twelve
Butch
“Hi.”
The soft voice set my heart pounding.
I turned to see Leonidis smiling at me. I hauled him into my arms and he hugged me hard. My mate wrapped his arms around me and held me so hard I coughed. His grip eased a fraction.
“Sorry.”
I leaned into him. We both stank of soot and sweat, but I didn’t care. It was more important to have him in my arms. “It’s okay. I needed that, needed you.”
It was well into the following day, and I still hadn’t left the scene of the pride house. Over his shoulder, I wasn’t surprised to see Apollo, Glass, and Tim talking to Maximus. Tim had his mate in his arms and I swear he was giving Maximus a scolding for not coming to find him. At least he wasn’t singing it.
“What are you doing here?” I scolded, easing back to stare into Leonidis’s beautiful eyes.
“I came to find my mate as he didn’t join me.” I could hear the reproach in his voice.
“Sorry.” I slumped against him, letting him take my weight. “It’s been a long night. I didn’t want to leave the scene until I had some answers on how the fire started.”
“Do you have any?” he asked.
“Chief Sutton thinks the arsonist came in via the back door and started the fire in the kitchen.”
“There are scratch marks around the lock,” Sutton added.
I felt Leonidis stiffen. Not interested, remember?
I heard the grunt in my head. My mate clearly wasn’t going to be convinced.
Give me time, he pleaded.
Just remember, I’m a faithful kinda stalk.
Sutton had that resigned look as if he were well aware of the internal conversation. “Leonidis, you and Butch will have to come around one evening so I can introduce you to my mate.”
Leonidis hesitated, and I nudged him. He was going to have to get over his jealousy. “That would be good,” he managed, completely insincerely.
Then Tim bounced over, reaching up to kiss Sutton’s cheek. “Hey. How’s Arrow?”
Sutton beamed at him. “Almost ready to have the babies. Doc Picker’s been wonderful. You have to keep him.”
I felt Leonidis relax at the proud father’s news.
See? I teased.
You could’ve told me.
Maybe next time you’ll trust me, I said mildly.
Another grunt. He wasn’t going to admit to anything. I smirked at him and held him close. He’d learn.
Tim’s eyes lit up at the news. “You and Arrow will have to join us. We could start a creche. Did you know Apollo is pregnant?” He leaned forward. “I swear Drew is too. He’s gone that funny shade of green.”
“Morning sickness is hard on the omegas,” Sutton agreed.
I felt a momentary sadness that Leonidis and I would never have children because we were both alphas. Feeling the same sadness from him, I pressed a kiss to his temple. “We’ll have a lot of baby pridelings to take care of.”
“We’ll be the best uncles ever,” he agreed, forcing a smile on his face.
I caught Tim’s speculative look as he surveyed us.
“You should really talk to—”
Before he could finish the sentence, Maximus came over. “Chief, Livingstone wants to talk to you.”
Sutton jogged over to one of the firefighters, leaving me with the three lions, Apollo having joined us and Tim.
Time to get down to hard facts.
I looked at the four of them. “Do you think this was Amell or one of his pride?”
“Amell,” Maximus growled. “I can smell him.”
The other two lions nodded.
“He’s like a stink you can’t wash off.” Leonidis shivered.
I tugged him closer, hoping he could feel me and inhale me to replace the horrid memories.
“We have to find him,” I said. “We can’t carry on like this, waiting for another attack.”
“You could set a trap,” Leonidis suggested.
I gave him a wary look. “What do you mean?”
Leonidis shrugged. “We know what he wants. Set me as bait.”
“No,” I barked out, the breath knocked out of me at the suggestion. “Never.”
“It’s not really your decision,” he said.
I took a step away from him so I could look at him properly. “We’re fated mates. Any decision we make, we do it together.”
Tim coughed, and I scowled at him. He held out his hands. “Leonidis has a point, just as Crimson did. You can’t run away, and we need to catch him before he hurts us or our babies.”
“You’re not putting my mate in danger.”
“We’re not full mates yet,” Leonidis said, “so this is my decision.”
Now Tim shook his head.
Maximus huffed. “Make up your mind, Tim. Are they mates or not?”
Tim rolled his eyes. “Just because they haven’t played stalk the lion, doesn’t mean they aren’t fated mates. One,”—he counted on his fingers—“they received a love heart. Two, they have a link. Three—”
“We get the point,” Leonidis snapped, looking flushed.
Tim tilted his head to stare at him. “Do you? Because from where I’m standing, you two are trying to make decisions for each other, not together. This one is big. You have to talk to each other.”
We all fell silent, Leonidis and I not looking at each other.
Maximus reeled Tim into his side. “You’re a wonderful omega mate.”
Tim beamed up at him. “I could sing them into submission.”
Leonidis groaned. “No, no, no.”
Maximus raised an eyebrow. “You heard my mate. Talk or he will sing.”
They left us alone then, Maximus tugging Tim away despite his protest, the two of us still not meeting each other’s gaze.
I held out my hand. “Leo.”
To my relief, he took my hand and smiled at me. “You heard him. We need to talk, or he will karaoke us to death.”
Oi! I’m a great singer.
I pushed Tim out of our link. “Let’s go back to our place for a couple of hours.”
“Our place?” Leonidis blushed.
“My home is your home.”
I took him via my deputy and told him I was taking a couple of hour's break.
He gave the two of us a knowing look, but he said nothing. That was good because I sensed Leonidis’s frustration and readiness to bop someone on the nose if they said the wrong thing.
I drove us to my—our—home and shut the door on the world, leaving the two of us together. We kicked off our shoes, then I held out my hand. “Let me take you to bed?”