His hand found the curve of her cheek. Voss brushed a strand of honey-blonde hair off her face and let his thumb settle there, just below the soft fur of one ear. She made a tiny noise against the pillow, something between a sigh and a complaint, and the fur of that ear flicked against his knuckle.
"You’re going to wake up grumpy about being left out again," he told her, low and rough. "Tell me I let you sleep in. I’ll lie through my teeth for you." He bent and pressed his mouth to her temple, breathing her in, smelling the faint sugar of the dried fruit she’d eaten at the meet-up. "Take your time, Fel. We’ve got it handled."
Damien’s tail tightened a fraction around the bed frame, a second agreement, wordless and absolute.
Voss watched him do it and huffed a quiet laugh through his nose. "You realise if she catches you mothering her, you’ll never live it down."
Damien’s amber gaze slid to him, unimpressed, then he deliberately drew one more coil over the edge of the mattress to bracket her knees, as if to say try and stop me.
"That’s a yes, then," Voss murmured.
He stayed a moment longer, drinking in the absurdity of it. The two most dangerous creatures either of them had ever been had gone soft and ridiculous over the rise and fall of one small fox’s breathing. She had no idea what she did to them. That was the worst part. She’d built a den out of monsters and didn’t even know she’d done it.
He leaned in one last time, lips at the shell of her ear.
"Dream about me," he whispered, rough and unrepentant. "Or Damien. We’re not picky. Just keep it tasteful, the snake gets jealous, and his idea of a love letter is biting."
Her nose wrinkled in her sleep. Damien made a low sound that, in a man, might have passed for a laugh.
"She’s a menace," Voss said fondly, settling the blanket higher over her shoulder, smoothing it down with a hand that had crushed throats and now couldn’t seem to stop being gentle. "Look what she’s done to us. We used to be terrifying."
Outside, Snow Team and what was left of Leaf Team had met up and were working out what to do and where to go. Lucan and Exile had yet to return from fighting the tiger men, and Dimitri was absolutely vibrating with anger.
Dimitri took a deep breath and commanded that half of the new Snow Team, Pope, Sam, Thane, Sarge, and Ash, go assist Lucan and Exile in cleaning up the rest of the tiger guards, then go after Maddie and what was left of her husbands and supporters.
Voss found Victor in the formal parlour, backlit by the window, wings fully unfurled and feathers rigid as blades. The eagle’s focus was pinned on Dimitri, who stood at the centre of the room with his arms crossed and jaw set, every muscle in his neck straining against the urge to put his fist through a wall. The rest of the team was arrayed along the perimeter: Ivan, Lucan, and Exile, all standing with their backs to the wall as if to avoid the crossfire of two heavy hitters on a collision course.
"She’s not dead," Voss said before anyone could ask, flat and low. "She’s sleeping. Damien is watching her, and he’s currently invested in tucking the blanket under her chin, so don’t read too much into how peaceful he looks. You can check yourself if you want. But if you wake her, I will personally make you regret being born with feathers."
Victor’s shoulders dropped a millimetre. He stalked out of the room, leaving a trail of scorched air behind him.
Dimitri pivoted, fixing his attention on the rest of the group. "We don’t have time for a pissing contest. Maddie is still out there, and so are her men." He spat the last word with contempt. "We end this now, before they regroup or get desperate enough to try again."
The others nodded, but an undercurrent of unease rippled through the room. Maddie’s coup attempt had failed, barely, but the settlement’s power vacuum was likely to provoke even more bloodshed.
Dimitri barked orders. "Ivan, you’re on perimeter. Anyone who tries to breach, you put them in the ground. Pope, Sam, Thane, Sarge, and Ash, you’re Snow Team Beta. Support the sweep, clean up the tigers, then lock down any survivors until we figure out what Victor wants done with them." His attention narrowed. "We move now."
Everyone split off, gears shifting instantly to their new priorities. The sound of boots on the old floors echoed through the manor as the squads mobilised. Even with Felicity unconscious, every man in the house moved as though she was still watching, still setting the pace by her mere existence.
In the master suite, Voss lowered himself back onto the edge of the mattress, the frame groaning under his weight. He pressed two fingers beneath her jaw, counting the slow thrum there, then dragged the back of his knuckles along her cheek, hunting for the heat of fever. None. Only the faint bloom of colour returning to her mouth, the pale pink coming back like dawn after the worst kind of night.
Then her ear twitched.
A small thing. A flutter of caramel-blonde fur, the tip flicking sideways as if a stray sound had caught it from somewhere far below the surface she was clawing up from.
His chest pulled tight at the sight. He’d spent the last hour mapping every disaster scenario, every move three steps out, and a single ear twitch dismantled all of it.
He laid his palm flat against her cheek, broad enough to nearly cover it, and held her there. Anchored her. Refused to let her drift back down to wherever she’d gone when the light bled out of her hands.
"Come here, little troublemaker," he murmured, thumb tracing the high curve of bone beneath her skin. "You don’t get to scare me like that and then nap through the apology."
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