Chapter 16 #2
The trail narrowed as we moved northeast, the more familiar route gradually giving way to something closer to repeated animal passage than a maintained path.
Ferns crowded around my knees in places, vines crossed overhead between trunks thick with moss, and the sound of running water appeared and disappeared depending on the slope.
Sometimes I could hear it clearly over the insects; a few minutes later, the vegetation swallowed the sound again.
We had been walking for nearly an hour before we arrived.
The narrow stream wound through a shallow dip in the forest where insects gathered above the water and low branches offered easy hunting perches for birds.
I found a usable spot behind a fallen trunk and spent almost thirty minutes crouched there while a jacamar repeatedly returned to the same exposed branch.
The first attempts were useless. Another branch crossed directly over its breast each time it landed, and whenever I moved enough to improve my angle, it disappeared again.
On the fourth return, the bird landed two feet higher, its green feathers standing cleanly against the darker vegetation behind it.
I got the shot, then another when it launched after an insect, and by the time it disappeared deeper into the canopy, my knees were beginning to ache from crouching but the images on the display made the discomfort worth it.
“Worth it?” Luca asked from several yards behind me, one arm resting across a bent knee while he waited for me to finish rather than crowding closer.
“Very.” I checked the sharpest image again before angling the screen toward Luca, pleased with how cleanly the bird stood out against the blurred leaves.
“Better than yesterday’s fox?” Luca asked as he crouched beside me only after I turned the camera toward him, leaving enough space that his knee didn’t bump the equipment bag near my feet.
“Different. The fox had better light, but I worked harder for this one.” I moved between the two photographs while answering Luca, checking the detail around the jacamar’s eye before returning to the wider frame.
“So you like this one more.” Tavian leaned in from behind Luca with an annoyingly pleased smile, sounding entirely too confident for someone who had watched me work in human form for approximately one afternoon.
“That is not always how it works.” I glanced back at Tavian, catching the satisfaction on his face when he realized he might have guessed correctly.
“Usually?” Tavian crouched behind Luca and balanced easily on the balls of his feet, waiting with open curiosity for me to admit it.
“Annoyingly often.” I conceded to Tavian before shutting off the display to save the battery, earning another satisfied grin from him.
Malek remained farther out, close enough to hear us while still keeping track of whatever moved beyond the stream.
When I stood and brushed damp leaves from one knee, he brought his attention back to me.
I took a drink of water, capped the bottle, and decided there was no point putting the conversation off any longer.
“So, what exactly do you three want from me?” I asked as I slid the bottle back into my bag, my fingers lingering against the fabric when three very different reactions happened almost at once. Tavian stopped moving. Luca straightened beside me, and Malek turned fully away from the trees.
“I thought we were fairly clear yesterday.” Tavian rose to his feet, his usual teasing fading when he realized I was serious.
“You said you were interested in me. Interested can mean a lot of things.” I hooked my thumbs beneath my backpack straps, giving myself something to do with my hands while I looked between the three of them.
“We want to court you.” Tavian answered without dancing around it, his amber eyes holding mine while his usual restless energy disappeared.
“Court me.” I repeated Tavian’s words, letting them settle while I tried to match the familiar human term with whatever it meant to three leopard shifters.
“Yes.” Tavian confirmed with a small nod, remaining unusually still as he waited for whatever I asked next.
“What does that mean to you?” I asked all three men, moving my gaze between them. “Humans still use the word, but I’m guessing there’s more involved here than dating and arguing over who pays for dinner.”
“It can involve dinner.” Luca rested one hand against the fallen trunk beside me, a hint of amusement entering his voice without taking away from the conversation. “But yes, there’s more to it.”
“Of course there is. What kind of things?” I asked Luca as something small rustled through the leaves overhead, distracting me for only a second before it vanished deeper into the canopy.
“Food can be one.” Luca nodded toward the small pack Tavian had brought, keeping the explanation simple. “Bringing someone something to eat is a way of saying you want to provide for them.”
I slowly turned toward Tavian. His mouth curved.
“No.” I pointed at Tavian before he could enjoy my realization too much, already seeing several days’ worth of fruit differently.
“I was going to let you figure it out.” Tavian spread his hands and rocked back slightly on his heels, failing spectacularly to hide how pleased he was with himself.
“You brought me fruit almost every day.” I reminded Tavian, staring at him while several previous afternoons rearranged themselves in my head.
“I brought you good fruit.” Tavian corrected me with a slight lift of his chin, apparently deciding the quality of his offerings was the part that deserved defending.
“That is not helping your case.” I told Tavian before looking back at Luca. “What else?”
“Gifts.” Luca nodded toward the pocket where I had just put Tavian’s feather, his tone gentling slightly. “Something small can simply mean we saw it and thought of you.”
I glanced down at my camera bag. That one was harder to make fun of, especially after seeing how ridiculously pleased Tavian had been when I kept the feather.
“Escorting someone can be part of it too, and so can helping with something important to the person you’re courting.” Luca gestured loosely toward my equipment as he continued. “It’s not about thinking they can’t handle it themselves. You just want to make something easier when you can.”
My camera gear. Carrying supplies. Things they had repaired or quietly moved before I needed to ask. Their habit of staying nearby when I camped alone. The pieces were connecting much faster now, and several days of apparently random leopard behavior suddenly looked considerably less random.
“Sleeping nearby can mean something too.” Malek spoke from a few feet away, his low voice drawing my gaze toward him. “Trust. Protection. Sometimes simply wanting to be close.”
“You slept outside my camp every night.” I reminded Malek, thinking about how often I had woken to find his spotted body somewhere beyond the shelter.
“I wanted to be there.” Malek answered without a trace of embarrassment, the simple honesty affecting me more than a longer explanation probably would have. I rubbed my thumb against the edge of my camera strap while trying to reorganize several days of leopard behavior into human intentions.
“What about grooming?” I asked Luca as I touched the end of my braid, remembering more than one incident involving my hair.
“That tends to be more affectionate.” Luca tucked a loose strand of his own hair behind one ear while considering the best way to explain it. “How intimate it is depends on who’s doing it and where the relationship is.”
My eyes slid toward Tavian. He immediately knew why.
“I smelled your hair. I didn’t groom you.” Tavian defended himself before I could say anything, pointing between us as though the distinction should clear his name completely.
“You were unusually interested in my hair for a leopard.” I reminded Tavian while pulling my braid over the opposite shoulder.
“You smelled good.” Tavian shrugged, apparently deciding honesty was easier than defending himself any further. Luca turned his face aside, but not quickly enough to hide his smile.
“Anything else I should know before I find out I’ve accidentally participated in an entire shifter relationship?” I asked Luca, only half joking now as I settled my camera strap more comfortably against my shoulder.
“No, because you haven’t.” Luca’s amusement disappeared immediately, and he straightened when he caught the concern beneath my joke. “A gesture has meaning because of what we intend when we offer it. Accepting the gesture isn’t the same thing as accepting a relationship.”
I glanced toward the pocket holding Tavian’s feather.
“So all the fruit, gifts, following me around, sleeping near the camp…” I let the unfinished sentence hang while looking between them, trying to decide exactly how much of the last several days had looked different from their side.
“Were things we wanted to do for you.” Luca finished gently, giving me time to absorb the distinction. “You accepting them meant you accepted fruit, gifts, help, and company. Nothing more.”
“Eating something I bring you doesn’t accidentally make you mine.” Tavian added from beside us, the humor leaving him long enough to make sure I understood he wasn’t joking about that part.
“Good, because that would make grocery shopping extremely dangerous.” I told Tavian as some of the tension eased from my stomach. Tavian laughed, and the sound broke the seriousness just enough that the conversation stopped feeling like I was negotiating a contract beside a stream.
“Courtship is different because you know what we’re asking now.” Malek stepped a little closer but stopped well outside my space, his eyes steady on mine. “If you agree, then we can offer those things knowing you understand the intention behind them.”
“And I can still say no to any of them.” I said it as a statement rather than a question, watching Malek carefully while the water moved over rocks beside us.