“Okay.” Damn, he wanted to take care of his mate, but Hudson wasn’t making it easy on him. “Let me know if you need something.”
Hudson nodded. “I just wanted to talk about Bas.”
“Yes, Bas is a margay.” Technically that wasn’t a lie.Hewas a margay in shifted form.
“Margays are endangered and not native to our area,” Hudson pointed out.
“That’s correct,” Bastian agreed. “You seem to know a lot about margays. Do you have experience with wild cats?”
“No,” Hudson said. “I googled it.”
“Wow, that was really smart. And such a nice thing. I understand that you’ve been worried about Bas.” Bastian needed to find something to say that would reassure Hudson that hewasn’t this terrible person that didn’t care about his cat. It would be a hell of a lot easier if Bastian could just confess the truth.
“Thank you.” Hudson’s cheeks pinked again. “I’m a firefighter. I just felt like I should make sure that Bas is being properly cared for.”
“I can assure you that Bas is well cared for,” Bastian replied.
“And you have permission to have him here?” Hudson pushed.
“I do.” Bastian could get paperwork put together if necessary. They’d done it before for other packs when it had been necessary. Sometimes humans paid just a little too much attention to them.
“Good.” Hudson seemed relieved. “And he’s seen a vet? Gotten shots or whatever he needs?”
Well fuck, Hudson really wasn’t going to let this go. “Yes, everything is in order. Do you have any pets?” Maybe a change of topic would work?
“No,” Hudson said with a frown. “That doesn’t mean that I don’t know that animals have needs.”
“That’s not what I meant at all!” Bas assured his mate. He gently placed his hand on Hudson’s knee. “I was just thinking that you would make a wonderful cat dad.” That seemed like a title that Hudson would like. And Bas could see many nights of them cuddling close as Hudson petted him.
“How nice of you!” Hudson moved closer. “I never considered having a pet before since my brother and I worked too much when we lived in the city, but now that we’ve moved here, I’m thinking of changing that.”
“As a firefighter you work in shifts, correct?” Bas inquired. He wanted to know everything about his mate.
“Yes, two days at the firehouse then three days off,” Bas said. “But I live with my brother. He’s a police officer and he either works days or nights, so he’s home more. And from my research, cats are pretty self-sufficient.”
“They are.” Not that Bas wanted Hudson to have another cat but him.
“I think we could make it work,” Hudson told him. “I need to talk to my brother.”-Suddenly Hudson shook his head. “Sorry, I’m getting distracted. I wanted to discuss Bas’s habit of climbing trees in the park. I’m not sure that’s safe for him.”
This was the issue. How could Bastian reassure his mate without lying. Bastian didn’t want to say anything that would be a lie and he would have to confess later about.
He hummed to buy himself some time.
What did other cat dads do to keep their pets safe? Really, this was ridiculous. Bastian wanted to just confess everything to his mate, so this wasn’t an issue further. He couldn’t do that though. Bastian needed more time to figure out how to introduce Hudson to the paranormal world.
“Bas is a natural climber. It would be impossible to keep him from following his instincts. It would be cruel, in fact,” Bastian offered. He would promise to keep Bas away from the park but since that was the best place to watch over Hudson, that would not be happening.
“I get that,” Hudson said. “I just worry about him.”
What a sweetheart! “Bas is safe. I can only give you my word about that.”
“Does he at least have a tracker?” Hudson asked.
Bastian could track himself. “Yes.”
“Good.” Hudson rose.
Bas scrambled up. “Are you leaving?”
