Lynx Northern Shifters 3

pointed out as if Jonah were doubting him in some way.
“Yes.”
“So.” Trey gestured towards the books he’d placed on Jonah’s cot. “Going to take a look?”
Gawd, this bashfulness was pathetic and annoying, and a week’s absence and proffered textbooks the cause of it. Jonah grabbed for a book, hoping its content would distract him enough not to feel so… Well, just not to feel.
He’d missed Trey. That was the problem.
Big problem. If he began to depend on Trey again, he wasn’t sure he could deal with never knowing when Trey would be here, and when he’d be gone for years. Jonah didn’t have much in the way of resources. There wasn’t exactly anyone else he could depend on. Just things—house, food, books.
He looked down and picked up the gift to run his hands over the cover and the spine. Opening the text, he pressed his face against the pages, breathing in the awful yet special new-book smell. Until Trey had started bringing these presents, Jonah had only had musty old-book smells to enjoy. He’d never been able to afford to spend money on extras when his food-supply money was limited and his income zilch.
He flipped to the beginning, reading the title page, copyright page, dedication. Without taking his gaze off the book, he said, “Thank you.”
“I want you to be happy.”
Last month, Jonah would have sneered or rolled his eyes or something to belittle such a statement. Today the words made him feel warm inside and his face heated up a little. Trey was standing close, close enough to lay a hand on Jonah’s shoulder. The idea made him twitchy and yet…it wasn’t entirely unappealing.
That was a first.
He turned the page, deciding to look at the book and no longer think about Trey.
“I’m going to wash, if that’s okay. I’m drenched in sweat.” Trey’s gaze was upon him and Jonah made it a point not to look up.
“Sure.”
“Is it too easy again?”
“Huh?” Nothing seemed easy right now.
“The text. Is it too easy, like the other two?”
Oh. “Well, I don’t know, I’ve barely looked at it.” Jonah glanced up in exasperation, only to find Trey completely stripped down. “You haven’t gotten the water yet.”
Trey grinned. “Don’t worry.”
Jonah stared, baffled by Trey’s good mood. Then watched as he picked up the two pails used for this purpose and dashed out, buck naked, to fill them with snow.
Returning in less than two minutes, he said, “See? I didn’t freeze.”
But he gathered back by the fire, poked it, fed it, and Jonah had to rip his gaze away from the curve of Trey’s buttocks, the slope of his shoulder. He’d forgotten how beautiful he found Trey’s body to be. Or maybe forgotten was the wrong word, because earlier he had seen Trey naked and had felt next to nothing.
Something was waking up inside him, and while the idea of loving Trey again filled him with dread, he couldn’t entirely regret the rebirth of these feelings, and the lifting of the deadening emotion that he’d carried with him for months and months.
“So?” Trey jerked his head towards Jonah. “Why aren’t you reading?”
Jonah stared, feeling a little doomed, and Trey’s expression shifted from inquiring to solemn, mirroring Jonah’s own.
“I know it will be okay, Jonah.”
He could have played dumb but it wasn’t in him. “I don’t know that.”
Trey looked torn and Jonah could guess he was debating with himself whether to approach Jonah or not.
Not . At least not yet . Jonah returned to the book, flipped the page, began reading. Determined to think about anything but Trey, and Trey went back to washing. Jonah relaxed at that and it didn’t actually take long to become engrossed in the math.
However, the awareness didn’t leave him over the next few days. It reminded him of that first time he’d met Trey and had gradually become aware of the wolf’s body, the way he moved, the way he smelled. Jonah had been convinced he’d never be drawn to Trey again. He had miscalculated entirely. Yes, he was angry that months had turned into four years, that part of his time of waiting and thinking endlessly about Trey had been spent in Horton’s cell.
But it had become difficult to continue to hate Trey for it. Not when he kept coming back offering gifts, not when he went out to make sure his kin, including seven-year-old boys, were safe.
Not when he was here.
That counted for more than Jonah had ever realized. For clearly the anger was draining away the longer Trey stayed with