22. Chapter Twenty-Three
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
LUCA
I watched Evie until the forest took her from sight.
She looked back once before the first bend in the trail, lifting one hand briefly in my direction while the camera bag bounced against her hip, then the vegetation closed behind her.
I could hear her boots for another few seconds, steady over damp earth and fallen leaves, before birds, insects, and running water swallowed the sound completely.
I stayed beside the old wall longer than I needed to.
Evie knew the route. She had a radio clipped at her belt, a locator inside her pack, supplies for problems Mara hopefully never had to deal with, and nearly nine years of experience moving through places far less familiar to her than this forest had become.
None of that stopped the persistent urge to follow.
I wanted to know exactly when she reached the station, check the trail ahead of her myself, and see her walk onto station grounds unharmed, even though doing exactly that would probably irritate her.
Wanting something wasn't the same as needing to act on it, though, and being an Alpha didn't excuse forgetting the difference.
I rested one hand against the weathered stone and listened until even my hearing couldn't separate Evie's movement from everything else around me.
Leaves shifted high above the courtyard, insects droned beneath the canopy, and something small moved through the undergrowth near the stream.
Her honey-and-jasmine scent still marked the path where she'd gone, faint enough that another human would never notice it but easy for me to follow if I allowed myself.
She had gone because she had work waiting for her and a return time Mara expected her to keep, but she'd also looked me in the eyes before leaving and told me she would come back. For now, I could live with that.
When I returned to the living section, her scent seemed to follow me inside.
Honey, jasmine, and warm vanilla lingered through every room she'd used, muted by her blockers but still easy for me to separate from the temple's familiar smells of old stone, dried herbs, wood, and damp greenery.
It remained on the chair where she'd eaten breakfast, along the edge of the worktable where she'd leaned while checking batteries, and strongest of all in the sleeping room.
I stopped in the doorway and breathed in.
To anyone else, the room probably looked like someone had slept badly and forgotten to straighten the blankets afterward.
Evie had packed her clothes before leaving, Malek's shirt was gone with her, and Tavian's green seed and little shell had returned to her camera bag, so there wasn't much left that would have told a human what had happened there.
My nose told a very different story.
Cedar remained where Malek's shirt had rested against the bedding.
The faintest trace of Tavian's citrus and spice lingered where she'd kept the things he'd given her, while my own sandalwood and herbs covered the blanket still twisted across the mattress.
Evie's scent ran through all of it, settling into the fabric and mixing with ours instead of remaining separate, and my purr started before I consciously decided whether I wanted it to.
Evie had already been intimate with Malek and Tavian before last night.
I'd smelled both men on her when she arrived, layered with her own scent in ways another shifter couldn't possibly miss, and nothing about it had made me want either one removed.
Then she'd chosen me for the night, and waking with my own scent worked thoroughly into hers hadn't changed that.
Finding traces of all three of us mixed through the place where she'd slept felt better than finding only me would have, and what surprised me most was how strongly that settled something inside me.
We had been a three-Alpha pack for years.
If Evie eventually chose us, none of us expected her to choose one man and tolerate the others around the edges.
There had never been a question of competing for separate places with her, but knowing that in theory was different from standing in a room that smelled like the beginning of it.
My gaze settled on the pillow she'd pushed toward the wall. Its edge had folded awkwardly against the smaller blanket during the night, and I stepped forward automatically, reaching to straighten it before my hand stopped halfway there.
Evie had put it there, which meant the awkward angle was none of my concern.
I lowered my arm and looked around the room again.
Providing was easy. Food could be made, water filtered, and a roof repaired before rain reached anything important.
If something could make the person I cared about safer or more comfortable, my first instinct was usually to handle it before they ever had to ask.
Even now, I could think of several things that might make her next stay easier—another blanket, somewhere dry for her boots, water close enough to reach from the bed, and better storage for whatever she didn't want exposed to the humidity.
None of that required me to move the pillow she'd chosen herself.
I backed away from the sleeping platform and left everything exactly as Evie had arranged it. The nest wasn't mine to finish, but that didn't mean I couldn't make sure there were things available if she wanted them later.
Movement sounded from the northern passage while I was finishing the breakfast dishes.
Paws struck stone first, followed by the quieter scrape of claws retracting as Tavian entered the courtyard in leopard form, his belly and legs darkened by wet vegetation.
His amber eyes found me almost immediately, but instead of continuing toward the living rooms, he stopped and lifted his nose twice, scenting the air more carefully the second time.
I knew the exact moment he identified Evie's scent on me because his ears came forward and his tail gave one quick movement behind him. The amusement in his eyes appeared before he shifted, and I already regretted being where he could find me.
“You could get completely under the roof before doing that.” I told Tavian as I turned toward the clothing cabinet, opening it while bone and muscle changed behind me before pulling out a pair of pants and tossing them over my shoulder without looking.
“I was under the roof.” Tavian argued from behind me as fabric rustled, his voice carrying the offended confidence he usually reserved for arguments he had almost no chance of winning.
“Half of you was under the roof.” I corrected Tavian while retrieving a shirt and throwing that in his direction too, hearing the irritated sound he made as he caught it.
“The important half.” Tavian replied once his head emerged through the neck of the shirt, tugging the fabric down his torso with a grin that made it obvious he considered the matter settled.
I turned once he was dressed and found his hair damp, messy, and somehow already sticking in several directions despite the fact he'd only had human hair again for less than a minute.
A streak of mud marked one forearm, moisture still gleamed along the side of his neck, and his nostrils flared again as he looked me over before that familiar grin spread wider.
“You smell like Evie.” Tavian announced as he walked farther inside, his amber eyes moving over me from head to toe without even pretending to be subtle while citrus and spice brightened around him with amusement.
“I know.” I answered Tavian as I leaned one shoulder against the cabinet, refusing to give him anything more even though another purr threatened at the reminder.
“You smell a lot like Evie.” Tavian continued, his grin widening when I failed to react the way he wanted.
“I know.” I repeated to Tavian, folding my arms while he stared at me as though enough persistence might eventually make details fall out of my mouth.
“How was—” Tavian began as he leaned a little closer, curiosity finally beating whatever patience he'd been attempting.
“No.” I cut Tavian off before he finished, lifting one hand and earning an exaggerated look of innocence that wouldn't have convinced anyone who had met him for more than five minutes.
“I was going to ask how the overnight went.” Tavian defended himself as he pressed one hand dramatically against his chest, his expression suggesting I'd accused him of something considerably worse.
“It went well.” I answered Tavian, deciding a basic summary was safer than letting him invent his own. “She finished the work she wanted, stayed here, went back to the upper stream this morning, checked in with Mara, ate breakfast, and left for the station.”
Tavian waited after I finished, one eyebrow slowly climbing while he expected the rest, but I stared back at him and gave him nothing.
“You left something out.” Tavian accused me, folding his arms across his chest while the crooked smile on his face made it obvious he thought he'd caught me hiding critical information.
“I left many things out.” I told Tavian as I closed the cabinet, unable to completely hide my amusement when his eyes sharpened.
“Interesting things?” Tavian asked, rocking back slightly on his heels as his smile widened again.
“Things that aren't your business.” I answered Tavian, giving him a pointed look before moving toward the long table. Tavian laughed rather than looking remotely offended and followed me with the restless energy that always seemed to return the moment he was human.
Another set of footsteps reached the courtyard before he could begin a second interrogation.
Malek entered in human form, his boots streaked with mud and the shoulders of his dark shirt damp from the morning.
Several strands of black hair had fallen loose across his forehead, and his expression carried the alertness he usually brought back from a long boundary check.