Chapter 12 #5
“What? She asked,” Menace replied to Gentleman, spreading one hand as though his contribution had been entirely reasonable.
I rubbed both hands over my face because their conversation sounded exactly like the ones they'd been having for days.
Different voices, different bodies, same irritating people.
Then another painfully obvious thought occurred to me.
They had names.
“You have an actual name,” I told Menace, letting my hands fall as I focused on him.
“Tavian. My name is Tavian,” Menace told me, touching one hand lightly to his chest as some of his usual energy returned. I studied him, trying to connect Tavian to the amber-eyed leopard who had stolen my belongings, brought me flowers, and apparently developed opinions about camera equipment.
“Tavian,” I repeated to him, testing the unfamiliar name against someone I already knew surprisingly well.
“That's me,” Tavian replied, a small smile returning now that the conversation had moved somewhere safer.
“You let me call you Menace,” I told Tavian, waiting for at least a little embarrassment.
“I like Menace,” Tavian admitted, grinning openly as he shifted his weight onto one leg.
“Of course you do,” I muttered to Tavian, unsurprised enough that I almost smiled before turning toward Gentleman. He seemed to know exactly what was coming.
“My name is Luca,” Gentleman told me, inclining his head slightly as several loose strands of dark hair fell near his cheek.
“Luca. That actually fits you,” I told him, trying the name against the calmer leopard who had led me to streams, wildlife, and now apparently ancient ruins.
“What does that mean?” Luca asked me, his eyebrows drawing together with genuine confusion.
“I have no idea,” I told Luca, and Tavian laughed before I could come up with anything better. It was the first time I'd heard Tavian laugh as a man rather than interpreting some leopard sound through the blessing, and the warmth of it caught me off guard.
So did the face attached to it.
Tavian was attractive. Very. His amber eyes were even more expressive in a human face, and the restless, teasing energy I'd found entertaining in leopard form was considerably harder to ignore when paired with that crooked smile and easy confidence.
I looked away and immediately discovered Luca wasn't any safer.
The calm presence I'd always felt around him hadn't changed, but being able to see every small reaction made it more noticeable.
Even now, he kept enough distance not to crowd me while paying close attention to how I was handling all of this.
Then my gaze landed on Cat.
That was worse.
Much worse.
“This is deeply inconvenient,” I muttered to myself, closing my eyes briefly as heat crept into my face for an entirely different reason.
“What is?” Tavian asked me, leaning forward slightly as curiosity lit his face.
“Nothing,” I told Tavian far too quickly, opening my eyes to discover that he'd noticed exactly where I'd been looking.
His grin widened.
Great.
The first rush of shock had eased enough that something stranger could settle beneath it.
I knew these men. Not everything about them, obviously, but enough that their human faces didn't feel entirely unfamiliar.
Tavian's amusement was the same as Menace's.
Luca still gave me room without being asked.
Cat remained quiet and steady, watching without pressing closer.
They looked different, but they didn't feel like strangers.
“I need a minute,” I told the three men, lowering myself onto a section of fallen stone because I needed something solid beneath me as I tried to sort through everything.
Tavian opened his mouth.
“Not one word,” I warned Tavian, pointing at him before he could speak as innocence immediately settled across his face. Tavian closed his mouth again, though the effort required was obvious. Luca glanced away, but I caught the small curve near his mouth.
“You too,” I told Luca, narrowing my eyes at him as he turned back toward me. Luca didn’t say anything, lifting both hands slightly as amusement softened his features.
“Not a word,” I told Luca, watching his smile grow before he wisely decided not to argue. Cat remained silent several yards away, his arms loose at his sides as he watched the exchange without attempting to join it.
Smart man.
I rested my elbows against my knees and stared at the damp leaves gathered between the ancient stones, trying to make sense of the last several days.
Leopard shifters existed. Three of them had spent days following me through the rainforest, sleeping around my camp, helping with my work, arguing with me, bringing me gifts, and listening to far more of my personal life than I ever would have knowingly shared with three strange men.
That should have been more than enough to process.
Unfortunately, now that I knew they were men, I was also painfully aware that all three of them were attractive.
When I finally lifted my head, three pairs of familiar eyes were watching me.
Different bodies, same men I'd somehow gotten attached to before I'd even known what they were.
And I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do with them now.