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Which meant he wanted to talk to me alone.

"I'll be right back, okay?" I murmured to Typhon, finally releasing him. "Get some sleep if you can. You've had a rough night."

He nuzzled into my hand just before I pulled it away, then carefully laid his head on his crossed legs. It would be difficult for him to find any rest with so many freshly irritated wounds on him, though.

Romulus, who'd stayed by our side on the deck the entire night, stood and stretched when I got to my feet. He butted his head against my hip until I petted him and stuck close to me when I followed Lain through the house. He stopped long enough to scrub his hands in my kitchen sink, but he didn't say a word until we were down by his car, with the small cabin and several feet of driveway between us and Typhon.

"I don't feel right leaving you here alone with him," he confessed, his low voice barely more than a whisper.

"I've been alone with him for a while now and I'm fine." I'd suspected this was what he'd wanted to talk to me about.

"Yeah, but that was before I knew I should be worried about you. Now that I know, I'm going to wonder if he'll snap and eat you or something."

"Lain…" I sighed, trying to gather my thoughts. The last thing I wanted to do was upset my best (and only) friend, and confrontation had never been my thing, but in this case, I knew I needed to stay strong. If I didn't hold my ground, I'd lose Typhon, and while any normal person would probably be thrilled to not have some terrifying, inhuman creature sleeping on their deck… I didn't want him to go.

Maybe it was the trauma talking, or the desperate loneliness that I kept locked away inside me, but what we had felt special. I adored Romulus and all the animals in my care, but this was different. Typhon had human-like intelligence, and even though he couldn't speak, we could still communicate. He listened when I spoke and actually seemed to give a damn about what I had to say.

I knew Lain cared, and I told him almost everything, but in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but keep reminding myself that while he was my best friend, he was also my employee. He'd saved my life and seen me at rock bottom, but there were still things I couldn't tell him. He was still young and full of a joyful optimism that I'd lost a long time ago, and I would never forgive myself if I took that away from him.

With Typhon, though, he'd clearly seen the worst of the world and he'd survived. Wherever he came from, whatever had happened to him, he'd pushed through it and still let himself trust me, for whatever strange reason he had. The fierce protectiveness he'd shown for me and the intense way he listened went straight to my head. I didn't want to lose that.

"Quinn, are you sure we shouldn't tell someone?"

Lain's question brought me back to the present, and I immediately shook my head. "No one would understand. Besides, he told me he's running from something. How can we be sure it's not something here in town?"

"I think we'd know if it was something in Lowery's Crossing," Lain pointed out. "It's a small town. I'm just worried that once he's recovered, he'll start hunting or something and someone will see him. What will we do then?"

"I'll cross that bridge once I get to it. Right now, he can barely even walk. I'll take care of him as long as it takes, and then I'll figure it out from there."

I'd need to come up with some kind of shelter for him. He really was too big to fit inside my tiny cabin, and I didn't want to risk scaring the kittens. I needed to get a more permanent shelter for Hash Brown anyway, so maybe I could figure out how to get a small stable here for him and convert the carport into something for Typhon? I never used it, anyway, and it'd already been serving as a makeshift shelter for almost a month, so it shouldn't be too difficult to finish it out and⁠—

"Quinn!"

I jerked, realizing belatedly that Lain had said my name a few times while I'd been lost in thought, crafting plans to make Typhon feel more at home.

"Sorry," I winced. "I'm just tired. What were you saying?" Telling him what was really on my mind would probably lead to my best friend thinking I was losing it.

He stared at me for a moment, obviously not believing me, but at least he didn't call me on the lie. "I said that whatever he is and whatever he's running from, it feels like too much for one person to handle alone. I might know a few people who could help."

"No." I shook my head. "Until I know what happened to him, I don't trust anyone but you. You promised not to tell anyone, remember? You swore."

Lain frowned, his eyes going distant for a moment before he sighed. "I didn't, didn't I? I very specifically gave you my word that I wouldn't breathe a word about Typhon to anyone without your permission. You didn't leave any wiggle room there, did you?" He gave me a wry smile.

"No one can know, Lain. Not yet."

He wrinkled his nose, but in the end, he just closed the distance between us and gave me a tight hug.

"I won't tell," he whispered. "Just promise me you'll be careful and take care of yourself. If anything strange happens or he starts acting differently, call me. If I have to promise not to tell, you have to swear you'll let me know if anything changes. I don't care what it is, even if you think it's nothing."

"I promise, Lain." I owed him that. If our roles were reversed, I'd be just as scared to leave Lain alone with a strange monster that was clearly a predator. "I'll call you if anything changes or if anything weird happens."

He squeezed me tight one more time and when he stepped back, the teasing smile that was his trademark was back in place. "If it's not an emergency, you can text it. I know how you are about phone calls."

I couldn't help but laugh. "I knew I picked the right best friend."

"You're not allowed to get me all sentimental, especially not after midnight." He glanced back toward my house again, but just shook his head once and pulled out his keys. "I expect an update tomorrow when I get to work."

"Absolutely. And I'll make sure he doesn't move around and undo your hard work."