Page 48 of Beasts of Mine

“He does expect that sometimes,” Luca told Tavian, retightening the tie at the nape of his hair while one corner of his mouth lifted.

“I do not,” I told Luca, replacing the water beneath the ledge before leaning back against the cool stone.

Both men looked at me. I chose not to continue that argument.

“Her name is Evelyn Halden. Evie,” I told my packmates, and whatever teasing remained in their faces eased enough for me to continue.

Luca repeated the shortened name under his breath before his eyes returned to mine.

“Evie,” Luca said, watching me with quiet interest as though that detail had confirmed something.

“Yes,” I told Luca, already knowing what he'd noticed. Tavian caught it a second later.

“You know her nickname,” Tavian told me, rubbing one hand along his jaw while another grin threatened to appear. “And she calls you Cat. This relationship seems very balanced.”

“She's twenty-eight, a wildlife photographer, and she's been doing it professionally for almost nine years,” I told Tavian, ignoring the comment while I folded my arms. “She's at the research station temporarily for an assignment.”

“Unbonded?” Luca asked me, leaning one shoulder against the stone as his focus shifted toward the information itself.

“Yes. She's on blockers too,” I told Luca, watching recognition pass between both men.

“That part we'd worked out,” Tavian said, his voice losing some of its humor as he remembered the traces he'd been smelling for days. “They're strong. I can barely separate her natural scent from whatever you carry back.”

“They're meant for human noses,” I explained to Tavian, glancing toward the spring. “Ours are harder to fool.”

Luca's mouth twitched.

“Especially when she spends half the night sleeping against you,” Luca remarked, delivering the observation so calmly that Tavian's head snapped toward him.

“She slept with you?” Tavian asked me, pushing away from the rock so quickly that leaves shifted beneath his bare feet.

“Beside me,” I corrected Tavian, fixing him with a stare while his eyebrows climbed.

“That's what I meant,” Tavian replied, lifting both hands even though his grin made the lie obvious.

“It wasn't,” I told Tavian, while Luca's quiet laugh disappeared beneath the sound of the spring.

“She chose to stay beside you?” Luca asked me, the humor fading from his face as he shifted his attention back toward me.

“There was a storm. Going back would've been unsafe, so she stayed beneath the roots,” I explained to Luca, remembering Evie's body gradually relaxing beside mine while rain hammered through the canopy outside our shelter.

“With what she believes is a wild leopard,” Luca said, rubbing his thumb over one of the old scars crossing his palm.

“She trusts you,” Tavian said, his voice losing the teasing edge for once as he watched me.

“Yes, she does,” I told Tavian, unable to keep some of the satisfaction from my answer. Luca studied me for another moment.

“How much does she know?” Luca asked me, straightening away from the stone as his thoughts moved toward the obvious problem.

“Almost nothing about us. She thinks I'm an ordinary leopard,” I told Luca before reconsidering the description. “An ordinary leopard she can talk to because, apparently, she can understand animals.”

Tavian stared at me.

“She can what?” Tavian asked, taking a step forward as disbelief spread across his face.

“She understands animals. All of them, as far as I can tell,” I repeated to Tavian while Luca's brow furrowed.

“Why?” Tavian asked me, glancing toward Luca as though he might have somehow learned the answer while standing there.