Page 23 of Tempest

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask what they were for, but he held it back. They weren’t actually friends. No matter how much his eagle liked the way Cash smelled or looked or took care of him. It didn’t change the fact that as soon as Alpha Amato said the word, Cash would be taking him to the edge of the territory and sending him on his way.

Like a stray dog nobody wanted.

“You need something?” Cash asked, scratching at the stubble on his face.

He started to say no. He didn’tneedanything, but there was something he wanted.

Desperately.

“I can’t sleep,” he whispered, rubbing his toes on the floor as he averted his eyes.

Cash didn’t say anything for a long moment. The silence twisted up Ore’s insides, and he waited to be told to go back to his own bed.

“What do you need?” Cash said again. There wasn’t a trace of anger or frustration in his voice. He was rock steady as he continued to wait for Ore’s response, seemingly unfazed at being woken up in the middle of the night.

He was waiting for Ore to tell him exactly what was going on so he could fix it.

At least… that’s what Ore hoped.

“Can I stay with you, please?” He chanced a glance up and found Cash studying him carefully, a small frown between his brows. Ore held his breath.

“I suppose,” he said slowly and pushed to his feet. He wasn’t wearing anything; not a stitch of clothing covered his body, and even though Ore knew it was completely natural, that shifters didn’t get embarrassed by their bodies, heat flooded his cheeks, and he turned his face away.

But not before he’d seen the very large size of…allof Cash.

“I’ll grab the cot.”

“Oh no,” Ore said quickly. “You don’t have to do that. I can just…” He glanced around the room, holding back a grimace. “I can just sleep on the floor.”

Cash sighed and rubbed at his face again. “You don’t need to sleep on the floor.”

“Well, I don’t want to make you sleep on a cot.”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Cash insisted.

“This is silly,” Ore said, taking a half step back. “I’ll just go back upstairs.”

“Stop.” Cash’s voice rumbled across the dark space, cascading down Ore’s spine. “Get in the damn bed.”

Ore nibbled on his lip for half of a second and then darted across the room and burrowed beneath the still-warm covers.Pops’s scent was strongest in the room, but when he pushed his face into the pillow Cash had been using, he found that lavender-and-leather scent. He sucked it in deep, filling his lungs as much as he could before he could stop himself.

Cash cleared his throat next to the bed. “Scoot over.”

Ore’s pulse tripped as he made room on the king-sized bed. He was swimming in it by himself. Settling on the other side, he ran his eyes over the tall, broad form of Cash and shivered in excitement.

He tried to tamp it down, knowing it didn’t really mean anything. Cash probably just wanted to go back to sleep, and this was the fastest way to accomplish that. It didn’t matter. Ore already felt safer than he had since he’d woken up. As soon as Cash eased onto the mattress and tugged the covers up to his waist, most of the tension that had built up in his neck and shoulders as Ore had fretted upstairs for hours began to melt away.

He sighed happily.

“Go to sleep,” Cash grumbled, turning on his side to face away from Ore.

Ore stared at that mile-wide back, his eyes tracing the black edges of the tattoos there. How he could be so beautiful and fearsome at the same time Ore didn’t know, but he had a feeling he would stay awake all night looking at the big cat if he wasn’t careful.

He waited until Cash’s breaths evened out and he was pretty sure he was asleep, then scooted forward an inch at a time. It took forever to close the foot of space between them, but finally, he was almost close enough to touch his nose to the skin between Cash’s shoulder blades. He could feel the heat radiating off his larger body, creating a cozy little nest under the soft covers.

The rest of the tension oozed out of his body, and his eyes started to get heavy. So much better than lying upstairs all alone.In the dark and quiet, he felt safe. It didn’t matter that Cash had given him his back. He’d take whatever he could get.

Would he have said no if Cash had offered to wrap him up in his thick, muscly arms?

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