Page 42 of Tempest

Anything and everything the cubs wanted or needed, Cash gave them.

Saint, the Enforcer Cash was close friends with, had shown up not long after them, the big tiger shifting and jumping in almost as quickly as Cash had. The kids played with him too, but not as much as they did Cash. They were obsessed with the black panther as he cut through the water like an overprotective shark. Even while he was in his shifted form, Ore could tell this was the happiest Cash had been in the nearly ten days he’d known him. It wasn’t that he’d been unhappy with Ore—especially the last few days as they’d seemed to naturally gravitate toward one another—but this was different.

As much as Cash enjoyed being an Enforcer,thiswas what called to his soul.

An aching longing began to grow inside Ore, one that had been there before, but the shape was growing, building in strength. Becoming something undeniable and breathtaking.

He didn’t just want Cash—he wantedthis. This life where they played with the cubs every week and then went home to their cozy little A-frame cabin. Where they got to snuggle on the big, comfy couch and read or watch movies. Where they shared meals with Pops, spent every night wrapped in each other’s scents and arms, and patrolled the territory together—Cash on the ground, Ore in the air—protecting the pack that they both belonged to and loved.

“Those are some deep thoughts,” a familiar voice said from just behind him, startling Ore so much he jolted, spinning around.

“You scared the shit out of me,” he told Robbie, laughing, as he shoved at his arm.

Robbie laughed too, completely unapologetic. He had bright pink swim briefs on and a light blue button-up that only had a couple of the buttons done, showing off his golden skin perfectly.

Eyeing him, Ore raised his brows. “Is this for anyone here?”

“Hardly.” Robbie pulled a face. “I can’t help that I look good in everything.”

Ore snorted, but he had to agree. Robbie was a knockout, even without the violet eyes that were arresting in their beauty. The jerk had the personality to go with it too. Open and curious, kind and sassy. The kind of person who could make friends easily, no matter where they were.

Taking a step back so they were shoulder to shoulder, Ore turned back to the water to keep an eye on Cash and the cubs. “Is there someonenothere that you wish was?” Ore asked lightly.

They had talked a few times since the bookstore, twice on the phone, and then once he’d come out to Cash’s house and had lunch with him while Cash ran into town. He knew that if Robbie didn’t want to answer, he wouldn’t.

Instead of laughing off the question like Ore assumed his friend would, Robbie sighed. It was long and dramatic—which was totally on-brand for him—but it still wasn’t what he’d been expecting.

“The people I want to impress are not here, no.”

“People?” Ore asked delicately, keeping his eyes on the water so Robbie didn’t see his surprised face.

“It’s so dumb,” Robbie moaned, and Ore could see his hands flying in front of him out of the corner of his eye. “I keep telling myself to just get over them, that nothing will ever happen, but it’s like every time I’m around either one of them, my body erupts in goose bumps, and butterflies start going crazy in my stomach, and I can feel my pulse pounding in my throat.”

Ore turned to him, eyes wide. “That sounds pretty serious. Why couldn’t it ever work out? You’re amazing, gorgeous, and funny.”

Robbie sighed again, less dramatically, his eyes dropping to the ground in front of him as he kicked at some of the longer pieces of grass that grew where they stood, farther away from the beach. “Because they’ll never see me as anything more than my dad’s kid, someone needing protection but not worth being protective of.” Robbie glanced up at him. “That probably doesn’t make any sense.”

“No, I get it,” Ore said, shooting a look toward the water, a sad smile growing on his face at the way Cash play growled at the cubs. “Cash is so protective of the pack that sometimes I wonder if the way he acts toward me is more than that or if it’s just because I’m here it’s being extended to me, you know?”

Robbie huffed. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. That’s not little-bird-needs-protecting eyes that he’s giving you. It’s one hundred percent ‘I’m going to protect that little bird with my life and then lick him from head to toe.’”

Ore gasped and then started giggling, slapping a hand over his mouth. Robbie cracked a wide grin, looking more like his normal self than he had a minute ago.

“I can’t believe you just said that. The cubs could have heard you.”

Robbie rolled his eyes. “Those cubs have heard worse. The downside of having enhanced senses as a child, I’m sure.”

“Maybe,” Ore said. He looked out at Cash once more. “And maybe you’re right. I do… Well… I want to drop a stone for him.”

“I’m sorry, you what? Is that like lay an egg thing or what?” He narrowed his eyes. “It’s not a… bathroom thing, right?”

“Oh my goddess.” Ore snorted he laughed so hard and slapped a hand at Robbie. “No! It’s a bird shifter thing, golden eagles especially.”

Sobering, he pulled a stone out of his pocket that he’d snagged earlier, the blue flecks having caught his gaze since they reminded him so much of Cash’s eyes.

“Dropping a stone is a mating ritual, I guess, a holdover from our animal sides,” he said softly, running his thumb over the smooth surface. “You pick a special stone, and then you fly way up high before dropping it.”

“Why do you drop it?” Robbie asked, confused.

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