“And making trouble?” he asked with a ghost of a smile.
“Preferably not that,” she amended. “But that’s all right. I have an idea or two of what might keep you and your friend out of trouble for a while.”
“Whatever you want, ma’am,” Ryder said fervently, as Zeke looked over in surprise. “Seriously. You saved his life.”
Misty smiled. “Well, let’s get him back to town and make sure everything’s okay before anyone makes any promises.”
“I don’t think that’ll be a problem, with this crew,” Ty rumbled next to her.
Misty looked around at the group of capable shifters around here. “I bet not.”
***
Misty sighed as she unlocked her front door, Ty right behind her. “That was a long night.”
The sky was starting to lighten above them, heralding the late winter dawn. “Long but successful,” Ty said as he shut the door behind him.
Misty nodded. “Thank God.”
“Do you actually have a plan for Ryder and Zeke, or were you just being ominous?” he wondered, stripping off his jacket.
“Oh, that. Yeah, I’m going to put them to work on the community center building. Carlos was saying the roof needs some repairing. They want to climb all over things, they can be useful doing it.”
“Genius,” Ty chuckled. “And they’ll go along with it, they’re so grateful. Ryder especially.”
“Ryder was conscious for the whole thing. But if Zeke protests, you can bet his mom will be on our side.”
Diane had been effusive in her gratitude, tears staining her cheeks as she hugged her son. Misty had taken the opportunity to assure her that she wanted nothing bad for the Bigelow family, that she hoped Zeke would make a full recovery, and that she wanted to make sure everyone came together as a community more often in the future. Miraculously, Diane had agreed.
They’d have to see how it all went, going forward. Meanwhile...”Now I’m going to sleep for about ten years.”
“Me, too,” Ty said fervently.
Misty had work tomorrow, but after tonight, she was letting herself show up late. For now—“You haven’t been back to the Davidsons’,” she realized suddenly. “You don’t have any clothes here.”
“I’ll figure something out,” Ty yawned. “Don’t want to leave your side. Can’t wait to crawl into bed with you and sleep forever.”
“Mmm,” Misty said, relaxing into his embrace. “Let’s do that.”
Slowly, they undressed, leaving their clothes where they lay. Misty had enough presence of mind to close her heavy curtains before they both collapsed on her bed. Ty wrapped her up in his arms, warm and close after the bite of the winter air outside, and Misty relaxed into sleep.
***
She woke to a feeling of absolute warmth and comfort. Misty wasn’t the sort of person who had a fuzzy brain when she woke up; she always opened her eyes and got up right away, ready to go about her day.
But it was turning out that with Ty around, she felt the temptation to linger a bit longer.
They were still wrapped up in each other, pressed together—although not in the same position they’d been in last night, with Ty behind her, holding her close. Now they were facing each other, which must mean that they’d moved around in the night, but even unconscious, had wanted to stay close.
Misty was glad of that. It seemed like her conscious and her subconscious were on the same page.
Then she felt Ty slowly stretch against her, his whole long body moving in place as he woke up. She smiled to herself.
Then Ty said, “Mmm.” His mouth brushed her neck, with a rasp of stubble.
Heat flashed through her. Misty turned into the touch, feeling warm and liquid, like any tension or stress had totally drained out of her overnight.
Ty’s hand drifted down her side, palming her hip, and Misty blinked her eyes open and smiled at him. “Morning.”