Page 200 of Beasts of Mine

Tavian studied the screen for several seconds, his amber eyes following the details I checked instead of pretending he already understood.

“That one?” Tavian asked as he pointed beside the camera rather than touching the display.

“Maybe.” I answered Tavian as I zoomed farther into the eye and checked the focus. “Ask me again after I've stared at it on a real monitor until I hate everything about it.”

“I've noticed that part of the process.” Tavian replied as a small smile appeared, but he didn't turn the conversation into another joke. He stood when Luca came back with water and food, leaving me space to work while staying close enough that citrus leaves and spice remained easy to pick out beneath the smell of damp equipment.

That was becoming normal too.

So was leaving things behind deliberately.

A few days later, I changed out of a sweat-damp shirt before bed, reached automatically for the spare one in my drawer, and realized I'd replaced the last shirt I'd used there without thinking about it. I had carried a clean one from the station because I knew I'd need another eventually.

I put it inside without the panic or internal argument that would've come with the decision a few weeks ago. It was simply something I wanted available the next time I slept here.

Early in that stretch, a few days after the terrace collapsed beneath me, Malek and I followed the upper-stream trail after an early photography session. The previous night's rain had left the stones near the water slick, and the stream ran faster and browner than usual around exposed roots and moss-darkened rock. My boots were already damp from a shallow crossing farther downstream, and I was choosing my footing while keeping one hand around the camera resting against my chest.

“Left side.” Malek warned from behind me in his normal voice, his attention dropping toward the stones near my next step while his hands remained at his sides. I shifted my boot left and watched the darker stone I'd nearly chosen wobble beneath the water when the current pushed against it.

“Good catch.” I told Malek as I stepped onto the flatter stone and glanced back at him, immediately noticing that he hadn't moved any closer.

“That one's loose.” Malek explained as he followed me across, placing his own foot on the same stable section I'd used without making anything more of the situation.

There was no Voice and no hand suddenly locking around my waist. He hadn't turned one frightening afternoon into an excuse to hover every time I walked near water or uneven ground. Malek had given me a normal warning, I'd changed my step because I chose to, and we kept moving while the stream rushed beside us and a bird called repeatedly from somewhere higher in the canopy. I thought about the difference for the rest of the hike because there was nothing else to discuss. He'd listened, and he'd shown me that instead of making me hear another promise.

The courtship continued too.

Luca's was quiet enough that I sometimes only recognized it after the fact. He replaced a cracked seal on one of my dry boxes after showing me the damage and asking whether I wanted him to do it, added padding to a strap that had started rubbing my shoulder raw, and somehow kept food appearing around the time I realized I'd forgotten to eat. When he noticed one of my battery cables beginning to split near the connector, he set it beside my hand rather than replacing it without asking.

“This one's going.” Luca told me as he bent the damaged section carefully between two fingers, exposing the beginning of a crack in the outer coating.

“I have a spare at the station.” I answered Luca as I took the cable from him and checked the damage myself, already deciding it wasn't worth risking another charge cycle.

“Want me to put this one aside so you don't grab it by mistake?” Luca asked as he kept his hand open beside the table, leaving even the obvious solution for me to approve.

“Please.” I told Luca as I handed it back, appreciating that he'd learned the difference between helping me and simply deciding something for me.

Malek continued joining me on routes, grooming my hair when we settled for the night, and scenting me whenever I leaned toward him or otherwise made the invitation clear. Sometimes he walked beside me for an hour without saying much, but he listened when I talked about the work, remembered which species I was looking for, and had stopped asking whether every difficult route was necessary once he'd understood that difficult didn't automatically mean reckless.

Tavian still brought food, accompanied me where it made sense, touched me whenever I welcomed it, and presented me with small things he apparently considered valuable enough that I should own them.

One afternoon, he stopped beside the worktable with one hand closed around something. Afternoon light reached through the open shutters behind him, catching warm reddish tones in his nearly black hair, and there was a smear of dirt along one forearm that suggested he'd been somewhere off the main path.

“I was saving this for you.” Tavian told me as he opened his palm and revealed a smooth dark stone, the usual easy confidence in his face giving way to something more uncertain while he waited for me to take it. I took the stone and turned it over between my fingers. One surface had been worn almost perfectly smooth, while a faint lighter line crossed one edge. It was cool from his palm at first, then warmed quickly beneath my thumb.

“Saving it from what?” I asked Tavian as I rubbed my thumb across the polished side and looked back at him.

“Bad timing.” Tavian answered as he shifted his weight and glanced briefly toward my shelf. Luca was checking the zipper on one of my camera cases at the far end of the table, his long hair tied loosely away from his face.

“He's been carrying it around for weeks.” Luca informed me without looking up from the case, his tone entirely matter-of-fact while Tavian turned toward him.

“You didn't need to tell her that.” Tavian told Luca as his mouth flattened, though there was more embarrassment than irritation in his voice.

“Weeks?” I asked Tavian as I closed my fingers around the stone and gave him my full attention.

“I found it before you really started putting your things here.” Tavian admitted as he rubbed his thumb along the side of his palm where the stone had been. “Luca told me not to put it on your shelf myself.”

“He was right.” I told Tavian as I glanced toward the shelf and then back at him.