Page 41 of Pawsitive Data

It had taken considerable creativity to distract her from reaching for her tablet at rather crucial moments.

Now dawn painted soft patterns across their bedroom where she slept tangled in sheets, her crystal casting a gentle glow that made his fur ripple with satisfaction. The depth of his feelings for this extraordinary woman still amazed him - this scientist who could transform from serious researcher to passionate mate and back again in heartbeats, who treated lethal danger like a particularly interesting experiment, who had somehow become as essential to him as breathing.

A soft beep from her backup tablet shattered the peaceful moment. Emma stirred instantly, her scientific enthusiasm apparently immune to normal human needs like sleep.

“Why is my tablet suddenly furry?”

Because Lucas had placed his massive panther head directly between her questing fingers and her devices. Her sleep-tousled hair and drowsy pout as she encountered whiskers instead of technology made his heart clench with equal parts amusement and tenderness.

“The blocking behavior suggests interesting territorial patterns,” she noted with a yawn, automatically scratching behind his ears. “Did you just hide my sensors under your tail?”

His rumbling purr vibrated through them both as he used his considerable bulk to herd her back into their nest of blankets.

“Your supernatural heat radiation creates fascinating temperature variations,” she murmured, already drifting off again.

Lucas’s satisfied chuff was the only reply as he maintained his self-appointed duty as scientific equipment guard. His brilliant mate could resume her attempts to measure everything after she’d properly rested. Though knowing Emma...

“Just one tiny reading?” she pleaded with those big brown eyes that made his panther purr. “Are you seriously sitting on my tablet?”

His smug feline expression said it all.

He’d shifted just long enough to kiss her properly, enjoying how her usual scientific narrative dissolved into soft sighs. “Sleep now,” he murmured against her lips. “You can measure all the fascinating supernatural frequencies later.”

“Promise?” Her drowsy smile held equal parts mischief and genuine scientific curiosity.

“I promise to let you document everything,” he assured her, before shifting back to panther form. “After you rest. And possibly after several more thorough experiments requiring your complete attention rather than your crystal array.”

Her delighted laugh was interrupted by another yawn as she snuggled deeper into his fur. “For fun?”

“For a lot of fun,” he agreed, wrapping protectively around her. Though they both knew any actual data collection would have to wait until he ran out of creative ways to distract her.

THIRTY-THREE

The restaurant Lucas had chosen for their “emergency relocation dinner date” was surprisingly elegant. According to him, the safe house didn’t have the appropriate nutrition for his mate to keep up her strength. Not enough meat. Hell, she was happy eating a bowl of cereal for dinner.

While they waited for their food, the candlelight in the dining room cast soft shadows across Lucas’s face as he told Emma about his father, his usual predatory grace softening with remembered affection.

“He used to take me running under the full moon,” he murmured, absently tracing patterns on her hand. “Said a panther’s true nature comes alive in starlight. I was barely old enough to maintain my shift, but he’d wait patiently while I stumbled around on oversized paws, teaching me to move like shadow given form.”

Emma’s crystal pulsed gently, picking up the bittersweet warmth in his power signature. For once, she didn’t reach for her sensors, too caught up in this glimpse of the boy he’d been.

“The last time we ran together,” Lucas continued softly, “he told me that being alpha wasn’t about power or control. It wasabout protection - having the strength to shelter what you love, the wisdom to know when to use that strength, and the courage to be vulnerable with those who matter most.”

His eyes held ancient gold as they met hers. “I didn’t understand then. But watching you face danger with unshakeable enthusiasm, seeing how your brilliant mind lights up at every discovery... I finally get what he meant about the courage to be vulnerable.”

Emma’s breath caught at the depth of emotion in his voice. “I always approach everything through science,” she admitted, fingers tightening on his. “It’s safer, you know? Measuring and documenting instead of feeling. My grandmother was the one who taught me it’s okay to want both - to be passionate about research while still believing in love.”

“Tell me about her. I don’t remember her much. “ Lucas requested softly, his thumb brushing her pulse point in a way that made her crystal sing.

“She was the heart of our family,” Emma smiled, remembering childhood lessons. “This brilliant, fierce woman who taught me that the most fascinating discoveries came from following your heart as well as your mind. I used to hide in her library for hours, reading everything I could find about genetics while she snuck me cookies and told stories about falling in love with my grandfather.”

Her crystal warmed as she continued. “Grandma Mags was always a little quirky.”

Lucas smiled. “Aren’t most geniuses that way? All the ones I know are.”

“Ooh,” she said, “how many geniuses do you know?”

“One.”

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