Page 171 of Beasts of Mine

“She nested?” Tavian repeated, much quieter now as his hand slowly lowered.

“She didn't realize how much she'd done until this morning.” I explained to Tavian, remembering Evie looking around the bedding as understanding reached her one piece at a time.

“What did she use?” Malek asked, a low purr already threatening beneath his voice while his attention remained fixed on me.

“Your shirt.” I answered Malek, watching his purr start immediately, deep enough that the vibration carried through the quiet room while the tension around his mouth loosened.

“My blanket, some of her clothes, the pillows.” I continued before looking toward Tavian. “Your green seed and the shell were in there too.”

“My things were in her nest?” Tavian asked, staring at me while every trace of his usual performance disappeared and something much softer replaced it.

“Yes.” I answered Tavian, watching his eyes flick briefly toward the sleeping-room hallway. “Both of them.”

“She took the shirt with her?” Malek asked, the satisfaction thickening his cedar scent enough that the answer almost seemed unnecessary.

“Yes.” I answered Malek, watching his shoulders relax another fraction.

“And my things?” Tavian asked, pointing briefly toward himself as impatience appeared now that Malek had gotten an answer about his belongings.

“She put them back in the protected pocket of her camera bag.” I answered Tavian, and the change in him was immediate. His eyes closed for a moment, and when he breathed in slowly, some of the restless energy left his body.

“She is keeping them safe.” Tavian murmured mostly to himself, his voice softer than I usually heard it and lacking every trace of teasing.

“Do not say that to her like you've won something.” Malek warned Tavian, turning toward him with a serious expression even though the purr still vibrating beneath his words weakened the effect considerably.

“I didn't win anything.” Tavian replied as he opened his eyes, his mouth already beginning to curve again now that he'd recovered. “She kept them because they're excellent gifts.”

“You gave her a seed.” I reminded Tavian, leaning one hip against the table while I waited for the inevitable defense.

“It was a very good seed.” Tavian told me with complete seriousness, lifting his chin as though quality seed selection required considerably more skill than either Malek or I appreciated. I laughed before I could stop myself, and the corner of Malek's mouth moved too.

“You agree with me.” Tavian accused Malek immediately, pointing toward him with renewed triumph.

“I think you're very pleased with yourself.” Malek answered Tavian as he reached for the fruit bowl, the faint movement at the corner of his mouth making the attempt to redirect him considerably less convincing.

“That wasn't the question.” Tavian told Malek, leaning toward him as though he intended to keep going until he got the answer he wanted.

Malek ignored him and took a piece of fruit instead, which worked better than arguing. I poured water while the other two ate, and for several minutes the morning returned to a rhythm I'd known long before Evie arrived. Tavian stole fruit from Malek's side of the bowl, Malek moved it farther away without looking at him, and Tavian simply reached from another angle and stole a second piece. I had seen variations of the same thing for years, through quiet stretches when very little changed beyond the weather, the animals moving through the territory, and whatever repairs the sanctuary needed.

Evie hadn't changed the pack into something unfamiliar. She had changed what we were beginning to imagine it could include.

“Anything north?” I asked Malek as I handed him a cup of water, noticing the mud drying along one boot and a fresh tear near the bottom of his pants where vegetation had caught the fabric.

“No new snares.” Malek answered as he accepted the cup, the last of the softness leaving his expression. “Nothing fresh enough to follow.”

“We checked farther east on the way back.” Tavian added as he set the stolen fruit down, his own amusement disappearing with the subject. “Nothing there either.”

Two snares had appeared where they shouldn't have, and whoever placed them had left nothing recent enough for us to follow. There wasn't any sign that the problem was growing, but none of us had forgotten what one of those wires had already done to Malek.

“We keep checking.” Malek said, his jaw tightening briefly as he looked toward the forest beyond the courtyard, the short answer making it obvious he had no intention of doing anything else.

“Yes.” I agreed with Malek before my attention moved toward the radio charging against the wall.

Evie's check-in from the night before returned to me: six exactly, followed by her morning update before she left. Her work had systems built around the possibility that something might go wrong. Other humans knew where she expected to be, what general route she had taken, and when not hearing from her became a reason to worry.

Our sanctuary survived in part because outsiders had difficulty finding it, while Evie's safety depended on being reachable. Those two things were going to have to work together somehow.

“I want to check the radio from the sleeping room.” I told Malek and Tavian as I pushed away from the table and reached for one of the handsets resting in its charger.