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“Umm, tea sounds great. I would love some tea.”

“All right, we’ll have a sit. There are blankets in the little press right there, if you want one. If you get chilly, because you know, fall.” Rory disappeared into the house, leaving the door open.

And Fen went to sit, opening the little box outside, grabbing a warm, plaid blanket to put over his lap. The bench was steady, comfortable, and he was already beginning to relax.

From here, he could watch the pack, see how people moved, flowed from task to task.

The kids were running and playing outside the mostly spent garden. Hiding in the grasses. Gathering up nuts and berries and leftover stalks. Stones. It was sweet.

There were wolves sweeping and knitting, cleaning out the community garden for the winter and chatting, all while watching the cubs.

He took another breath, then another. It was ridiculous, because Rory would never hurt him, but—But he just had no idea what to do.

“Here’s your tea.” Rory’s voice was so soft and gentle, stroking over his soul like a balm. “It’s all right, don’t stress it.”

“What?” Had it shown? Had he hurt his mate’s feelings? He didn’t want that. Not at all.

“You’ve had a lot of changes really, really fast. You’ve been hurt. You don’t know me from Job. It’s all right to be nervous.” Rory paused, lips pursing. “I mean, I don’t know you either. You could eat me.”

Fen stared at Rory for a second, utterly shocked. Then that weird tension popped like a pin in a balloon, the chuckles bubbling out of him.

Rory’s smile just grew, and Fen was reminded of the Cheshire Cat. “Uh-huh. Big teeth. Chomp.”

“Sweetheart, if I was going to eat you, don’t you think I would have done it when I was a wolf and hurting? Hungry.”

“Maybe you hadn’t thought of it yet. Maybe you were just so overtaken by my beauty…”

Fen looked Rory over. Hewasbeautiful—shaggy and redheaded. Not tall and lean, but short and stocky, strong, with a ready smile, and the brightest, greenest eyes. His mate was stunning. “Okay, maybe that was it.”

“I know, right? I amgorgeous.” Rory pointed to the bench. “Can I come and sit? There’s room for two, but I don’t want to crowd you.”

“You belong here next to me.” Fen wanted to be clear about that part.

“All right.” Rory came and sat, and Fen finally took his tea. He half expected them to be in precious china teacups, but no. The mugs were heavy, thick pottery, painted in wild colors. They made him smile. “I like your pottery.”

“Me too. I’m way less likely to break it. I can be a little bit like a bull in a china shop.”

“You? Never!” He wasn’t even being sarcastic. Rory seemed somehow delicate to him, in the oddest way.

“Oh please. Me. Always.” Rory’s laugh rang out. “I want the children to be able to come in—fuzzy or not—and not worry about knocking things over or accidents or toothmarks.”

“That’s perfectly reasonable.” Fen took another deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For losing it like that.”

“Instinct. No one wants to be caught in a new place alone. I understand.”

“Yes. I—Times have been hard a lot recently.” He trusted Rory, he did. But his wolf brain said danger.

“So, we’ll leave the door open. We’ll breathe and drink tea. We’ll be fine.” As if it was just that simple.

“Okay. Thank you, mate. It’s not you. Never you.” It was being banished. Living hardscrabble. Having the family split, leaving, dying. Getting shot.

“I’m not worried.” Rory chuckled softly. “I’m sorry that you lost your people. Was…did something happen? I mean—” He rolled his eyes at himself. “Of course something happened, and if you don’t want to talk about it, if it’s too much, then you should just not talk about it, right? Not until you’re ready because I don’t want you to feel like you have to talk about things if you don’t want to talk about things—” Rory stopped. “Am I babbling?”

“You might be babbling.” It made him smile, though. How could it not? There was an honest care that Rory just offered him freely.