Lynx Northern Shifters 3

lighting up the usually dim house, that time in the morning when the angle of the sun’s rays struck the skylight just right.
And there it came, for the first time since they’d been reunited, a faint whiff of arousal—Jonah’s. Unlike four years ago when Jonah hadn’t realized Trey could scent his attraction, this time Jonah did and that realization promptly doused the spark that had flared. Jonah’s eyes narrowed and despite his reddening face, he said flatly, “Forget it.”
Trey stared while Jonah sheered his gaze away, pulled on his winter gear and went outside. He was back in a few minutes, so he hadn’t decided to go for a long walk, just take a leak. And by the time Jonah sat by the fire to eat the breakfast Trey had made, the arousal or at least what Trey could sense of it, was completely gone. He supposed the attraction had snuck up on Jonah unawares, as he was waking. Still it was reassuring to know something lingered from their affair. It gave Trey hope.
“How are the textbooks?” Trey had been dead set on bringing Jonah something he would value, and his reward had been watching a rapt Jonah pore through the texts.
“Thank you for buying them for me.” A careful expression of appreciation, but not what Trey wanted.
“I’m not asking for a thank-you. I’m asking how you find them. If they’re at the right level for you.”
“The algebra is too easy. The calculus is good.” Suspicion lit Jonah’s eyes for reasons beyond Trey’s understanding. “Why?”
“I’ll bring second-year algebra next time.”
“When are you leaving?” The question was pitched to be casual, but didn’t quite hit the mark. Unfortunately Trey was unable to tell if Jonah looked forward to his departure or resented it. Maybe it was both.
“No immediate plans. I’ll check in with them in a month.”
“A month ?”
Trey turned to face Jonah who was closer than he usually got. His gaze apparently unnerved the lynx, because he shrank back.
Shit. Maybe not less jumpy. Trey faced the fire and sighed. “I spent a month with you last time.”
“That’s true. Each visit is a month long. I should have realized that.”
He didn’t want to leave at all. Trey simply wanted to stay. He was tired of being responsible for others, he was tired of killing others, no matter how deranged or violent these individuals had become. Too old for the job, he supposed. Something in him was weakening. There was no future in the job, only bleakness.
He grimly held on to the hope that another month together with Jonah would build some trust between them, build a future, now that Jonah was stronger physically, now that Jonah was human for at least half the time.
But he couldn’t share these thoughts. Jonah wouldn’t appreciate it. Trey stuck with a simple statement. “I’d rather stay longer than a month.”
“I’m sure.”
“Jonah.”
He stood, waved a hand between them. “Sorry. Don’t mind me.”
“I do mind you. I think about you all the time.”
“Don’t. You should really leave, you know?”
Trey wanted to point out that Jonah hadn’t told him to, hadn’t insisted he go, but he wasn’t ready to bring that to a head. “His name was Ira.”
“Huh?”
“The boy I helped rescue. Ira. Seven years old. Very cute kid.” Trey knew Jonah had been affected by the story, perhaps because of the brothers angle.
“I’m glad he’s safe now.”
“Pretty much. My brother has disappeared. Ira won’t be so safe if Gabriel comes back. That’s why I like to check in.”
Jonah sat down again, slanting a hard look at Trey. “Bring your brother here. I’ll kill him.”
Never . “He’s strong and he’s vicious. I wouldn’t chance it.”
“Once I decide I’m going to kill someone, I do it.” Jonah’s mouth quirked. “As you’ve observed.”
Trey nodded, treading carefully, because until now Jonah had refused to speak of any of this. “Horton?”
As he fiddled with his spoon, Jonah’s eyes brightened with something like hate, then he jerked the spoon back and forth between them. “He claimed he was going to tell me about you, where you were. Instead he drugged me, believing I was a werewolf. When he realized I wasn’t, he told me he wanted your blood. At which point I decided to kill him. But I wanted to see you first, warn you.”
Trey was finding it hard to breathe. “You waited for me.”
His eyes were vivid, alive, angry. “I waited too long for you, in different places and for different reasons. But yes, I