Page 38 of Flint's Arrow
“Do you regret it?” Flint asked quietly. “Giving all that up?”
“Not even a little.” Arrow met his eyes, expression fierce. “That wasn’t a life, Flint. It was a performance. I spent ten years playing a role I thought would make my family proud, and all I got were an empty apartment and a boss who implied assassins were expendable renegades.’”
Flint’s snake hissed in the back of his mind, still angry about Patterson’s dismissive attitude toward their work. “He sounds like a dick.”
“He was.” Arrow’s smile turned sharp. “But you should’ve seen his face when I quit. I wish I’d remembered to take a picture, because it was a classic. I’m pretty sure he’s still trying to figure out what happened.”
They finished eating - Arrow making faces at his scorched eggs the whole time - and then cleaned up the kitchen together. Well, Flint cleaned while Arrow mostly got in the way trying to help, but it was really comforting, the simple domesticity of it all.
Arrow disappeared into the bathroom to shower while Flint checked his phone. There were three texts from Pax, all variations onhow’s the mating goingwith increasingly creative eggplant emojis. One from Cyrus asking if Arrow was still alive. And a single message from Python:If he hurts you, we can have an old-fashioned picnic in the forest and bury him there.
Flint smiled as he quickly let everyone know things were going fine with Arrow, and that no one was allowed to kill him now that they had claimed each other. His misfit family was intense, but he wouldn’t trade them for anything.
/~/~/~/~/
Arrow’s hotel room at Pine Lodge looked exactly how Flint expected - generic furniture, a barely disturbed bed, and an open suitcase that was leaking clothes as if a bomb had gone off.
“I told you it was bad,” Arrow said, already grabbing armfuls of dress shirts and shoving them back in the case.
“I’ve seen worse.” Flint picked up a laptop bag from the chair. “Is this everything?”
“Pretty much.” Arrow zipped up the suitcase with some difficulty, sitting on it to get the zipper closed. “I left most of my furniture in the apartment. The agent was pleased - apparently I’d get more money for it if I listed it as furnished, so that will be a bonus when it happens.”
“You didn’t want any of it?”
“Not really.” Arrow straightened, brushing his hands on his jeans. “I didn’t pick any of the furniture because I loved it, or it was comfortable. It was all chosen to look good. You’ve probably seen similar layouts in magazines - all minimalist bullshit in black and chrome. That place never felt like home.”
He said it casually, but Flint heard the loneliness underneath. Arrow had built himself a perfect cage and called it success.
“My house isn’t much,” Flint offered. “But it’s yours now, too. If you want to change things, add stuff…”
“I love your house.” Arrow crossed the room, cupping Flint’s face in both hands, staring into his eyes. “I love the plants everywhere, the mismatched mugs, and the way it actually feels lived in. Don’t change a thing, not for me.”
Flint didn’t have a clue what to say in response, so he settled for kissing his mate’s chin. “I’m sure we’ll work things out,” he muttered.
Checking out of the hotel was easy - the clerk barely looked up from her phone, and as the rental car was from a chain, they left that in Big Sky, too. Flint drove them back toward the Alley in his truck, one hand on the wheel and the other loosely holding Arrow’s.
“You know what we should do?” Flint said as they neared the turn off for the back road to the Alley. “We should buy you your own vehicle.”
Arrow glanced over. “A vehicle?”
“Yeah.” Flint flexed his fingers against Arrow’s palm. “You can’t keep borrowing mine every time you need to go somewhere. Plus...” He hesitated, checking Arrow’s expression through the bond. Curiosity and confusion, but no offense yet. “I want to buy you a mating gift.”
Arrow went very still beside him. Flint picked up impressions of surprise and a spot of panic that was quickly suppressed.
“Flint, you don’t have to…”
“I know I don’t, but I want to.” Flint squeezed his hand. “You left everything behind to come and make a life with me. Let me get you something that’s actually yours.”
“That’s...” Arrow swallowed hard. “That’s really generous, but I have plenty of money saved, even without the sale of my apartment. I can buy my own truck.”
“I know you can.” Flint kept his voice even, watching the road. “But I want to do this for you. If you’ll let me.”
The silence stretched between them. Flint could practically feel Arrow wrestling with himself - his wolf probably howling that he should be the provider, and for Flint to buy them something was backward and wrong.
Which is why Flint made the offer. Wolves were hellishly predictable, but Flint wasn’t a wolf. He needed to know if Arrow could accept a gift without seeing it as weakness, and more importantly, if Arrow would allow Flint to take the lead sometimes. If he couldn’t, Flint could see a lot of arguments in their future.
“How about a compromise?” Arrow said, finally.
