When Sawyer returned to the living room, Naomi was already curled up on the couch. This was the part of the evening he would usually crack open some beers, maybe open a bottle of bourbon… But with her there, drinking was the farthest thing from his mind.

No, it was Naomi’s lips that had his full attention. He walked over, sinking into the seat next to her.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“What, are you going to take me out for Italian?” she grinned.

“I don’t want to go anywhere,” Sawyer replied. “But I am a decent cook.”

It wasn’t just that he only left his apartment to run, buy groceries or consult with Hill. He also wanted to have Naomi all to himself, no distractions. They had barely had time to catch their breath from the moment they met, and Sawyer found himself enjoying their current reprieve.

As if on cue, Naomi’s stomach grumbled.

“Well, I think that speaks for itself,” she laughed. “My last meal might have been…” she trailed off for a moment. “That cup of tea at the café, when I met with Roy.”

“Very nutritious,” Sawyer nodded, drawing another laugh from her.

“So, what’s your specialty?” she asked, glancing over at the open kitchen.

“Steak with a side of mac ‘n cheese,” he replied. “Never disappoints.”

“I bet,” she remarked, a glint in her eye.

Sawyer’s wolf immediately growled to life, his muscles tensing under the surge of primal energy. Naomi blinked at him, having clearly heard the grumble in his chest.

“That wasn’t your stomach, was it?” she asked, scooching closer to him.

“My wolf side sometimes likes to remind me it’s there,” he replied. “I haven’t gone for a run in a while, so it’s getting restless.”

“That’s so fascinating to me,” Naomi said, resting her elbow against the back of the couch. “I’ll never know what it’s like to have that wildness inside. And you’ll never know what it’s like to live without it.”

“There are a lot of things like that, though,” he replied. “Everyone has unique experiences that mold us. All we can do is try to understand each other while acknowledging we can never fully know another person.”

“I guess having been a cop gives you a unique perspective on that,” Naomi nodded. “You know better than anyone that everyone has their secrets. And reasons for making the choices they’ve made.”

“We all have different sides,” Sawyer shrugged. “Some we share with others, some we don’t.”

“And that’s how we get the news reports of dudes burying fifteen people in their backyard, and the neighbors are always like ‘he was such a nice, quiet guy’…” Naomi replied.

“Exactly,” he chuckled. “This isn’t a confession, I hope.”

“No,” she said lightly. “I have skeletons in my closet, but not literal ones. And you already know about my baggage.”

“Your parents,” Sawyer remarked.

It crossed his mind that maybe he shouldn’t have brought that up. But Naomi didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she even looked relieved that he had been the one to broach the subject.

“Not that I have told a lot of people that they’re dead, but the ones that have known have never wanted to talk about it much. I think they’re afraid it might bring up bad memories or something. As if I’ve somehow forgotten what happened to them,” she said.

Sawyer nodded. He had his own experience of people walking on eggshells around him. It didn’t help. He hadn’t sought out people to talk to, because he wasn’t much for talking it out in general, but with Naomi, it felt different.

Like she actually understood.

“All of this, what’s happening now, it has to tear open some old wounds, though,” he commented.

“That’s true,” she admitted. “I keep thinking that if I would have been able to convince someone of what I saw back then earlier, maybe David would still be alive.”

“You can’t think like that,” Sawyer shook his head. “That’s taking the weight of the world onto your shoulders. Trust me, no good comes of that.”

“Speaking from experience?” she asked, but it wasn’t a question he was ready to answer.

“Do you want to help me in the kitchen?” he asked in response, effectively shutting down that line of conversation.

Naomi didn’t push the issue. Instead, she just smiled at him.

“I’d love to,” she said.

* * *

Naomi’s laughter filled the apartment as Sawyer plated his carefully prepared steaks. She sat behind the breakfast bar, a bowl of grated cheese in front of her. He had been entertaining her with tales of his stranger cases, from a burglar that dropped his driver’s license in the house he’d just robbed, to the time he had to chase down a man wearing a full Santa Clause getup.

“Wow,” Naomi said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. “I have to admit, academia is not nearly as exciting.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t get shot at either,” he replied.

“Did Santa shoot at you?” she asked.

“No,” he admitted. “But I didn’t know if he was armed or not at the time.”

“What attracted you to the job? I know I’ve asked once before, but maybe this time you’ll actually answer,” she joked, as he took the bowl of cheese from her.

Mixing the cheese with the macaroni, he put the finishing touches on their meal while thinking how to best convey what being a cop had meant to him. With all that he and Naomi had already gone through together, he didn’t see any reason to keep dodging the question.

“Wolf shifters are pack animals,” he said. “And I left my pack back in Pinedale, Wyoming. Those wolves were my brothers. Even now, years after I’ve even talked to them, I know I could call up any wolf from my pack and it would be as if no time had passed at all. We would do anything for each other.”

Elbows on the kitchen counter, Naomi leaned forward, listening intently.

“So it was a sense of family you were after,” she remarked.

“Brothers in blue,” he shrugged. “And I’ve always liked the combination of structure and discipline and a little bit of danger. What I hadn’t counted on was how I would actually fall in love with the work. The times I actually got to help someone, those are the moments I remember the most, not the car chases or gunfights.”

He was aware of how trite that probably came across, but it was the truth. She had wanted an answer, and this was all he could give her. That badge had come to mean a lot to him. And to his surprise, it actually felt good to share that with someone.

“You’re a regular hero, Sawyer Blake,” Naomi sighed.

“Now you’re making fun of me,” he laughed. “Not very nice, after I just spilled my guts.”

“Oh, no, no,” she shook her head, an embarrassed smile on her perfect lips. “It’s just… After my parents’ death, I got dismissed by so many police officers, you could say I developed somewhat of a mistrust of the whole system. Rationally, I know that someone taking a teenage girl at her word when she says she saw a monster crush her dad’s head is more than unlikely, but…”

She looked up at him, and whatever expression he had been inadvertently wearing made her stop in her tracks. Sawyer usually had a very good poker face, but it seemed none of the things he knew about himself could be trusted when it came to Naomi.

The thought of her actually seeing her parents’ murder up close was unsettling. He found himself wanting to reach back through time, to shield her from that life-altering sight. But he knew he couldn’t. And she didn’t need him to. Naomi was tougher than most, whether she herself believed that or not.

“Is head-crushing talk a little much before dinner?” she asked with an embarrassed smile.

“It’s not,” he quickly assured her. “Who are we going to talk to about this stuff if not each other? You can tell me anything. I’m here to listen.”

Sawyer might not be that good at talking, but listening he could do. Having her trust meant a lot. And without it, they could never be an effective team. But he would be lying if he said it didn’t have a more personal significance to him.

It had been a while since he had let anyone in. And now, he had come to the point where he could no longer ignore the reason why Naomi had such a profound effect on him. With her, things effortlessly fell into place. Being around her felt like being home.

So there he was, standing in his kitchen with two plates of steak and mac ‘n cheese in front of him, talking about murderous demons, while all he could think was…

Holy shit. She’s my mate.