Lynx Northern Shifters 3

come to terms with the idea that he wanted the visitor to stay for more than a couple of days. So, late in the morning, he pushed away from the fire.
He forced himself to speak, though only one word came out. “Okay.”
Trey raised his large, handsome head to look at him, and for a moment Jonah was trapped by that intense blue gaze and forgot what he was going to say.
“Um. I’m going to get some wood.” Unwilling to explain he was looking for materials to make a cot, he walked off into the cave and eyed the pile of wood. What had been slated for firewood could be converted to something else. It hadn’t all been chopped into smaller pieces, so he could construct a makeshift bed.
He was a rough woodworker, but Jonah knew how to make joints. He didn’t say anything, just spent the day with axe and saw and a few nails to ensure the thing stayed together. Canvas, he still had from his brother’s cot. He’d been careful to keep that in case it came in useful. Wood was in plentiful supply out here but not much else was.
It felt a bit odd using the canvas again, but right. Craig had hated being Jonah’s brother at times, but he’d loved Jonah and would have liked Jonah to have some company after three long years. He thought. Jonah let out a sigh that caused Trey’s regard to come to rest on him, his wolf’s brow furrowed with question, and all Jonah said was “Almost done.”
After he completed tacking the canvas to the frame, he sat back on his haunches and gazed with some satisfaction. It had been fun to have such a task to do after so many formless days in the winter. He glanced over to where Trey had lain to see his reaction. But he was gone.
Jonah had been so caught up in the work that he hadn’t noticed Trey leave, and the wolf could move silently. Pushing up from his crouch, Jonah felt disappointment. For once, after finishing a project, he could announce it to someone who would understand. Not that it was the best cot ever made. Maybe Trey was unimpressed by his roughshod work. At that thought, Jonah felt his face heat up.
He bent down to clean up the mess he’d made and when he was done, Trey strode into the room, catching Jonah unawares. He gaped, the shock no less for it being the third time Trey had shifted from wolf to human.
He was a big man, they both were, but Trey had the edge on height, breadth and muscle, which all made Jonah uneasy. His chest felt tight with emotion, and he turned to put away the last of the tools.
“So what’s this?” Trey asked.
Jonah took his time to face Trey, who at least was standing now. Presumably he thought Jonah could cope with Trey at his full height. And he could, the tightness in his chest was easing or changing or something.
Trey no longer gazed at Jonah who managed to close his mouth. Instead he examined the cot and the expression on the man’s face was…admiring? He turned back to Jonah and smiled. Trey hadn’t fully smiled before, only hinted at such an expression, or made a restrained effort to curve his mouth. This was different and Jonah was surprised at how it changed Trey’s face, made him approachable. So though Jonah felt completely tongue-tied, he managed to say, “I made it.”
He rubbed the back of his neck as he realized he’d stated the obvious.
“For me?”
“If you want,” he said diffidently. There wasn’t anyone else he could have made it for.
“That was thoughtful of you. Thank you.” With that Trey stepped over and clapped him on the back, not hard at all, and Jonah still jerked under that brief contact. Immediately Trey withdrew his arm, stepped away.
“I-I thought it would be better than the floor.” Shit, he was stuttering and he hadn’t stuttered since Aaron. Something about big men, even when Jonah was one.
“It will be.” Trey seemed genuinely excited by what Jonah had made, and he picked up the sleeping bag he’d used that one night. As he spread it out, he said, “I couldn’t face sleeping on the rug again as human, so I was going to shift tomorrow. But after I saw what you’d done, I decided not to wait. Where’d you learn woodworking?”
“My mom.”
“Yeah?”
“She taught us all, including herself, when she decided we should live, um, away from civilization.”
“Makes sense.”
Jonah jerked a nod. It was hard to talk period, but talking about his mother and brother was the worst. And yet he added, “She was practical, in her way. Only…”
Trey waited, cocking his head. “Only