Predator Code (Tales from Wildhearth #1)

Chapter 30 - New Business Acquaintances

The morning light woke her.

Jett squinted as the rays speared through the windowpane, lashing across the bedclothes in smears of yellowy orange, the fiery orb of the sun rising between Wildhearth's buildings to wake the city. Blinking sleepily, she yawned and pulled a pawful of duvet close to her chest, snuggling deeper into the soft cocoon of warmth the bed had become. Just above her head, she could hear Karno's breathing.

They'd shifted in the night. She lay with her back to him, her body fitted up against his like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. One of his arms lay beneath her head like a pillow, the other draped across her waist. Jett exhaled slowly, trying to sort through how she felt. After a couple of minutes deliberating, the only thing she concluded with any certainty was that she'd slept better last night than she had in weeks. Everything else was background noise.

Shifting slightly, she tipped her head back, nuzzling the base of Karno's jaw gently, clasping the paw around her waist in hers. He stirred a few seconds later, his chest swelling against her back before he let out a yawn of his own.

"Morning," she said quietly.

"Oh...morning," he replied, sounding a little surprised. For a moment, they just lay there, listening to the waking city, but he didn't move away, gently gripping her paw and resting his head on top of hers. She could feel his heartbeat, each gentle rise and fall of his breath.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked eventually.

Jett smiled dreamily as she gazed out the window. "So well."

"Me too." Another pause. "Thanks for letting me use the bed."

"I think it worked out better for both of us."

Reluctantly she stretched, yawning again before gently unfolding herself from Karno's embrace and pushing up into a sitting position. She ran a paw through her dishevelled headfur, then looked down at him. He looked a little uncertain, his eyes questioning as though looking for some kind of clarification. Did any of it mean anything?

It meant something; she knew that much, but now was not the time to get into it.

"We'd better get a move on," she told him softly. "I needed that. I've just been...alone for a while, you know?"

He nodded, the edges of a smile fading from his mouth. "I understand."

"No, I don't mean—" she blurted quickly before realising she didn't know where in the Peace and Fire she was going with that sentence. She slid back down towards him, resting her head on the pillows and looking him in the eye, taking hold of his paw again. "I don't know what I mean. Let's just finish what we started. If we're still in one piece at the end of it, then we can come back to this conversation. Deal?"

"Deal." The smile came back quickly, and Jett felt a surge of relief flood through her. She couldn't sort out the mess of feeling in her head right now, not when they still had the wolfkin to deal with. Everything else had to take a back seat.

She touched her muzzle to his for a moment, then clambered out of bed. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she refocused, putting everything about Hera, the wolfkin, and the city to the forefront of her mind.

Time to start to put the pieces together.

***

"So this is the secret hideout, eh?" Karno chuckled, casting a dubious eye over the machine shop's exterior. They'd arrived in the Gjornharr district a little after noon-four, and the sun was beginning to edge back down behind Wildhearth's buildings, bathing them in an orangey half-light.

Jett shot him a withering glance. "Sorry, not Silk enough for you?"

"Oh, I dunno, just wasn't what I pictured for the grand headquarters of our little rebel band."