Page 161 of Beasts of Mine

“Tavian said six had to mean six.” Luca added as he rested one hand briefly against the railing.

“He remembered.” I told Luca, unable to stop the smile that appeared.

“He made sure we all knew.” Luca replied as he glanced back toward the terrace. “We’ll figure out more than one place around here where you can get a reliable signal.”

“That would actually be useful.” I admitted to Luca, because that kind of help made my existing system easier instead of replacing it.

“I can do useful.” Luca answered, looking entirely too pleased with himself as we headed toward the living rooms. The last of the daylight had started fading beyond the courtyard walls, leaving the repaired rooms warmer and brighter than the forest gathering around them. Somewhere deeper in the temple, one of the small lights had already been switched on, and the smell of whatever Luca had planned for dinner drifted faintly through the open doorway.

For the first time since I had arrived in the rainforest, darkness was settling over the trees and I wasn’t calculating how long it would take me to reach the station before it became difficult to see the trail.

I wasn’t going back tonight.

I was staying here.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

EVIE

I used what remained of the evening light before dinner, taking my camera back toward the upper stream while Luca stayed far enough behind that his presence didn’t interfere with the wildlife. The change beneath the canopy happened quickly as the sun dropped. Shadows stretched across the water, frogs began calling from the thick vegetation along the banks, and the brighter greens of the afternoon deepened through my viewfinder until entire sections of forest looked different from the ones I had photographed only a few hours earlier.

A pair of tanagers gave me several usable frames before disappearing into the darker canopy, and something larger moved through the vegetation across the stream without ever giving me a clear enough look to identify it. I waited anyway, crouched near the base of an enormous tree while mosquitoes found every patch of exposed skin they could reach, but whatever had moved through the undergrowth apparently had no interest in becoming part of my assignment.

By the time I finally lowered the camera, the light had fallen far enough that I would have needed to push the ISO higher than I wanted for anything moving beneath the trees. I checked the last few frames, marked the location in my notes, and packed the camera away while frogs and insects grew steadily louder around us.

The dusk coverage alone made Mara’s overnight suggestion worth it.

Dinner happened after dark.

Luca cooked while I sat at the long table cleaning one of my lenses, the small light above us throwing a warm glow across the scarred wood and the stone wall behind him. Luca moved between the counter, stove, and shelves without rushing, adding herbs to the pot without measuring them before tasting the broth and adjusting something with a small pinch from one of the labeled jars. I had nearly finished cleaning the front element of my lens when he carried a bowl to the table and set it in front of me, then leaned down and blew some of the steam away from the surface.

I looked from the bowl to him.

“You do realize I can feed myself.” I told Luca as he calmly took the chair across from me, apparently seeing nothing unusual about testing the temperature of my dinner first.

“I know.” Luca answered as he settled into his seat with his own bowl. “You also realize people are allowed to cook for you.”

“That sounds suspiciously reasonable.” I told Luca as I picked up my spoon, breathing in the smell of meat, vegetables, and herbs rising with the steam.

“I practice.” Luca replied as he lifted his own spoon, a small smile appearing before he started eating. The meal was simple—rice, vegetables, meat, broth rich with herbs—but it tasted better than it had any right to after a full day outside. Luca didn’t fill the silence just because it was there, either. We talked when something came up, mostly about the temple and the photographs I had taken that afternoon. There were stretches when the only sounds inside the room were our spoons against the bowls and whatever was calling beyond the shutters.

It should have felt strange. I was eating dinner inside the hidden home of three leopard shifters after agreeing to spend the night there because one of them had calmly listed every reason his home was better than my leaking field shelter.

Instead, it felt almost annoyingly comfortable.

By the time we finished, the temple had gone quieter around us. The small lights inside cast warm pools across the old stone while darkness pressed against the windows, and Luca gathered the bowls before I could reach for mine.

“I can help.” I told Luca as I pushed my chair back.

“You can.” Luca agreed while stacking my bowl over his. “You can also finish checking your camera before you forget you left it open.”

I turned toward the table. My cleaning cloth was still beside the lens cap.

“That was one time.” I told Luca as I reached for it.

“It was five minutes ago.” Luca replied as he carried the dishes toward the counter.

“That still counts as one time.” I informed Luca, hearing his quiet laugh behind me as I finished with the lens.