Chris’s eyes went wide. “Ty? Is that you?”
“Yeah, I was on the ship with James,” Tyson said, swallowing loudly. “He was talking about how things went better than we’d hoped and the Chris guy was cool and then he said your last name—I had to check if it was you.”
“Thank fuck you’re alive,” Chris whispered. “I thought the worst.”
“Who is this guy?” one of his people asked.
“My best friend,” Chris answered, giving Tyson a look others couldn’t see, sort of an apology, also firm like it wasn’t an insult, but they had to be careful.
“We were stationed together for a while,” Tyson agreed. “Saw some shit and—you know the bond and how it goes.” He cleared his throat and glanced around. “I know no one comes in, but can you come out? I vouched for you with Inez, so she said maybe—”
“Maybe I’d bump you up to an acquaintance without the peaceful neighbor trial,” I cut in. “If Tyson vouches for you we can see, but I’m not just blabbing it all through a fence so people can play telephone and get it wrong. That never goes well and normally I get shot at. Or stabbed. Once, it got me hit over the head and I woke up in handcuffs.”
“Yeah, I can come out,” he agreed after several moments.
“It’s night,” someone argued.
“We’ll be right here.” Chris shot a few of them a look to shut it. “They have a damn chopper and we’re in trouble. It’s a risk I’ll take for the community.”
“What is that noise?” someone else called out.
“The semi Inez promised you,” James answered. I’d assumed that was what it was, but I was glad he took the lead. “We did some culling after we talked and they were bringing it over.”
“Wait, they’re armed,” a different guy objected.
“It’s night and we’re not stupid,” I drawled. “We’ve got other things to amuse us besides whatever crazy you’re thinking, I promise.”
“Amen to that,” James snickered. “And you got gelato I heard. You didn’t share?”
I shrugged. “You didn’t come with. We were all over after dinner.” I shut my mouth. It would have taken three hours with the chopper to get there from the castle, but they didn’t know that was where we’d been.
Wow, playing human was harder than when I’d been human with a quirky gift that started electronics. That hadn’t been what was going on, but I thought it had. The semi’s lights appeared in the distance as Chris came out of the last gate, his people locking it behind him. He went right for Tyson, giving him a huge hug that kept it to tight friends who were relieved they weren’t dead.
But it hurt me that they had to.
We moved over by the chopper, but people could still see from different angles, so they were careful.
“I thought you were dead,” Tyson rasped, moving his hand to Chris’s thigh when they sat down.
“Me too,” Chris replied, sounding just as emotional. “I mourned you, Ty. I didn’t know what your assignment was after we both switched, and then we kept hearing carrier groups were taken out—I had no hope at all.”
“Me neither. We heard Texas was pretty much nuclear ash, and I knew you were here for a bit, but then everything went radio silent and I… I’m so glad you’re alive.”
Chris bobbed his head and cleared his throat. “You look good.”
“You too.”
“Yeah, but I look older,” Chris chuckled. “You don’t.”
“No, I don’t,” Tyson muttered, glancing up as the semi slowed near us. “Is that not okay?”
He frowned at Tyson, reaching over and cuffing his head. “I never cared you were, um, different.” He shot me a glance and did a double take when I was smiling. “You too?”
“We’re not friends yet,” I answered, making it clear the answer was what he thought, but I wasn’t going to say it. “Tyson means the world to me and he vouches for you, but six years is a long time for someone to change. You have people to protect and so do I.”
Chris pulled his hand off Tyson’s thigh. “Yeah, six years. It is a long time.”
“We’re not together,” Tyson promised, understanding the change. “She—”
“It’s complicated but we’re not romantic,” I answered, giving Tyson a warning look. “Remember what you promised.”
“I know, I wasn’t going to say what you think,” he assured me. “I’m one of her captains, basically, and I help protect the settlement.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s fine to say,” I agreed. “And I woves you.” I searched Chris’s eyes, seeing only relief Tyson was alive. “So do you know, like know?”
“I know he always hid during the full moon or tried to have someone cover for him if he had some task that day,” Chris answered carefully. “I know he makes interesting noises at certain times.”
“Oh I bet he does,” I teased them. “And he does that cute huff thing in his sleep.”
“Not romantic?” Chris grumbled, glancing between us again.
“Um, no, it’s not, I promise,” I whispered, getting annoyed at myself for letting that slip. “I went through something bad and I was scared to be alone. Or they were scared to leave me alone. There were some puppy piles of snuggles.”
“So you are a werewolf,” Chris muttered, bobbing his head. “I thought so.”
“No, he’s a gorgeous and amazing lion shifter,” I corrected, nodding when Chris gave me wide eyes. “His lion is breathtaking.”
Chris snorted, scrubbing his hand over his head. “That explains the purring.”
“No, you’re just that good,” Tyson threw right back, giving Chris a flirty look. Nice.
“We have a problem,” Vitor said as he joined us, wincing when I yelped. “I apologize. I’m trying.”
“I know, but thousands of years of habit aren’t broken in a day
