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"Okay, putting the horse before the cart there, Quinn," I muttered under my breath. "One day at a time."

Squaring my shoulders and burying those daydreams as best I could, I headed back inside to check on Typhon.

"Is everything okay?" he asked the moment he saw me. He hadn't moved from the couch, but he was still too pale for my liking. I put the bag from Lelo on the small table by the front door, then came inside and joined him on the couch. What I saw made me roll my eyes.

"I see they wasted no time taking advantage of you."

Typhon looked down at his lap and smiled, the image so similar to my silly fantasies that it made my heart clench. "I think they missed us."

All four kittens were curled in a pile on Typhon's lap. Athos and Aramis were both asleep, tangled up together. Porthos was on his back, paws splayed, while D'Artagnan squirmed through the kitten pile, trying to find the perfect sleeping position. He finally found it, his head resting on Typhon's thigh and his body draped over Athos and Aramis.

"If you need to move or they get too close to your injuries, we can move them," I offered, settling down beside Typhon on the couch. Rom, who'd been sitting by Typhon's feet, immediately jumped up beside me, lying down and resting his big head on my knee. He'd been spending most of his time with Lain this past week, following him to the salon and back to the house to care for the animals here. He'd spent every night with us at Lelo's, though, curled up at the foot of Typhon's bed. Despite numerous offers to use the guest room, I'd slept on a pallet on the floor, refusing to leave his side.

"They're too small to do any damage," Typhon murmured, voice low so he wouldn't disturb them. "Besides, I missed them too."

Just like that, I melted. I had no defense against this man. How could I, when he sat there stroking a kitten and telling me he'd missed them?

"Do you need anything?" I asked, pretending my voice didn't catch a little when I spoke. "Are you hungry?"

He looked up at me, warm amber eyes almost glowing in the early afternoon sunlight. "Can we just stay like this for a little while?" he asked quietly. "I've missed it being just us here with the animals."

I had to swallow hard around the lump in my throat before I could manage any words. "Yeah, we can stay like this," I breathed. "Whatever you'd like."

"Whatever I'd like?" He smiled, and I knew there was nothing I wouldn't give him. When he held out his arm to me, I didn't question or second-guess myself. I simply scooted closer until I could lean into him, mindful of his injuries. He draped his arm around my shoulders and leaned his head against mine and, at least for the moment, I let my worries and anxiety fade away. They'd all be waiting for me later, but for now, I wanted this moment of peace with the man who'd turned my world upside down.

As one week melted away into two, then three, I learned several very important things. First: Typhon was a terrible patient once the worst of his injuries began healing. The first week after The Incident, as I'd taken to calling it in my head, lulled me into a false sense of security. Even breathing seemed to hurt him most days, so he stayed put on the couch, usually with at least two kittens for company.

I had to get back to work to give poor Lain a break after two days, once the shock of everything settled. He'd taken on a lot of my appointments for me, rather than reschedule, but I had several clients who were very particular and wanted to wait for me, so I had a solid week of days where I stayed late every day to catch up. I hated leaving Typhon alone, especially with so much still left unknown about the weird group who'd come after him, but I didn't have a choice. I did get him a phone and teach him how to use it, which soothed some of my anxiety. I tried leaving Rom home with Typhon for added security, but he'd become a Velcro dog since that day, stuck to my side any time I left our house.

Thankfully, Ori turned out to be the help I didn't know I needed. They stopped by the house often, at first to check on Typhon for Lelo, then to work with Typhon on trying to recover memories and track down any family he might have. Somewhere along the line, the two of them started becoming friends. More than once, I came home after an extended day to find the two of them watching a movie and talking, which always seemed to lead to me being roped into the conversation. My social battery stayed drained these days, but it was worth it to see Typhon flourish.

Everything changed once his wounds healed enough for Typhon to shuffle around the house. The day Lelo came by and cleared him for very light physical activity was the day I began to empathize with parents of toddlers. Every time I turned my back, Typhon was up off the couch, usually doing something he shouldn't be doing yet. He insisted on helping care for the animals, but instead of sticking to just feeding them as I suggested, I'd find him kneeling on the ground scooping the litter boxes.

"If I lean forward and don't twist, it doesn't hurt," he insisted when I tried to stop him. Repeated warnings that he was going to really hurt himself did nothing. In the end, I took Ori's advice and let him do it, but carefully monitored him. It seemed Typhon was the kind of man who wouldn't learn unless he hurt himself again and set back his recovery, like he did when he decided to feed the chickens. One tumble down the porch steps resulted in two more days of couch rest for him, but he was a little more careful after that.

It was during those two days, about three weeks after The Incident, that I learned another very important thing.

Ori had sent out feelers through their network of contacts, trying to find where Typhon had come from. We knew his name had been Seth Ibarra before all this and that he was some kind of big cat shifter, likely a panther, but that was all we had to go on. For what Ori insisted was a tight-knit community, it took two weeks to finally find anyone who'd ever met Seth, then another week to get any useful information.

Typhon and I were sitting on the couch together when Ori texted to ask if they could come over. It was a Saturday, and I'd doubled my usual appointment number to get the last of the clients I'd rescheduled, so I was exhausted. The days were slowly beginning to warm up, but Typhon had built a fire in the small fireplace. I had my feet up on the ottoman and Typhon lay stretched across the length of the couch, his head in my lap, quietly watching the flames. One of my favorite things about him was how easily he understood me. He was perfectly comfortable sitting in silence with me, enjoying each other's company without trying to force conversation.

From the table, his phone buzzed with an alert. The only people who had the number were myself, Ori, Lelo, and Lain, so I was as curious as he was about the message. I didn't read over his shoulder despite my curiosity, though. I refused to be that person, wanting to know every single detail of every conversation he had with someone else. As someone who'd been on the other side of that, I never wanted him to feel the way I had.

Typhon read the message and, because he was lying on me, I felt the way he tensed. There was a beat of silence, then he sat up, eyes on the screen. My first instinct was to leap to the worst possible conclusion: that the weird group was here for Typhon again, and a pit of dread settled in my stomach. It took genuine effort not to panic, but finally I reminded myself that if that were the case, someone would have contacted me, too.

"Everything okay?" I asked quietly. I peeked over at him, but his face was strangely neutral. Typhon usually wore his emotions on his sleeve, so that was unusual enough to fuel the dread.

"Ori has some news for me. They want to know if they can come over?" Even his voice was devoid of emotion.

"Of course. If you want them to," I added quickly.

Typhon stared at the phone for several moments before typing out a response. The phone buzzed back almost immediately, and he glanced at the reply, then locked the screen and put it on the arm of the couch, eyes distant.

I desperately wanted to know, but it wasn't my business unless he wanted it to be, so I stifled the curiosity and tried to relax, ever mindful of his still-healing injuries. Typhon wrapped his arm around my shoulders and leaned his head against mine, breathing slow and steady, much like how I did during an anxiety attack. I didn't like people trying to talk to me when I was going through it and the voices in my head were in control, so I simply rested my hand on his knee, a gentle reminder that I was here for him.

It took a few minutes, but finally he sighed, some of the tension draining away.

"Ori said they'd learned some news about my family," he whispered. I hated that my first reaction was the pure, selfish fear I was about to lose him.