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The wrinkle in his brow smoothed.

Whoa, Luna thought as the warmth in her chest expanded.It’s actually working.

She stroked his hair away from his forehead.

His eyes snapped open.

“Oh my god!” Luna snatched her hand back, the paper bag rustling in her lap.

Oliver’s head twisted, staring up at Luna groggily. He wore a look of deep relief, but there was confusion behind it. Like his body was telling him something and his brain was taking a secondto wake up.

“You’re safe,” Luna said hastily. “You’re on your couch. Ben carried you back.”

He squinted up at her. Then his expression lapsed into exhaustion, slumping back down against the couch.

“Oh my god, you’resucha drama queen.” Luna took a chocolate wolf out of the bag and tossed it at him. “Eat this.”

The chocolate bounced off his cheek. He picked it up, squinting incredulously. She waited for him to scoff, but he just heaved himself up and stared at the chocolate, so tiny in his large hand. Then he ate it in one bite.

“Surprised you’re not allergic,” Luna tried.

“’S wolf-safe,” he said, still chewing.

A strand of dark hair fell over his forehead. Luna’s fingers twitched around the bag, itching to push it back like she’d done before. The warmth in her chest was tugging in little lurches. It wanted her to touch him even more than she did. It was strange, being able to sense something else’s wants on top of your own. The less she focused on it, the less she could tell them apart.

“Sooo,” Luna said. She shifted down so she was sitting on the actual couch, not just the arm. Leaving a sensible distance between them, of course. “Nobody told me about the proximity thing. Any otherbondcrap I need to know about? I thought it just meant I was on a magical wolf registry and would have a little Tinkerbell warmth in my chest.”

Oliver sighed. “It varies from couple to couple. Some people can feel each other’s emotions. Some of them read each other’s minds?—”

“Read each other’sminds?” Luna laughed shrilly. “You are not getting intomymind, wolf boy.”

“Back at you,” Oliver snarled. He had a very expressive face. Like someone had designed it purely to reach optimum scowl.

She threw the bag of chocolate into his lap. “Okay, rude. I’m notdisgusting, you know. I’m fun, I’m hot. I’m ariotat parties. One time, I was auctioned off at a charity dinner, and a woman paid twenty-five thousand dollars just to have lunch with me. And that was justlunch. Do you know what people would pay to bemarriedto me?”

He gave her an unreadable look like he wanted to say something, but he had too many ideas to settle on one.

“I don’t,” he started. His hands flexed around the paper bag. “I don’tknowyou.”

“Yeah, I don’t knowyou. That doesn’t mean we have to scream at each other about it.”

“Andyou have a fiancé,” he continued like she hadn’t spoken. “AndI don’t want to bow to the whims of bond magic just because it wants us to…”

He trailed off, rubbing his chest. He looked exhausted. Maybe hehadn’twanted her before the bond, Luna realized with a sinking stomach. Maybe her attraction to him had been one-sided. She’d met a few guys who were immune to her charms. Most of them were gay, but there had to be some straight ones out there who weren’t into her brand of cool, fun, and hot. Maybe he could only get off with tall, dark-haired women. Maybe he was only into MILFs. You never knew.

“Okay,” she said, squeaky. She cleared herthroat, flashing him a winning smile. “What do you want? Not the magic. You.”

She meant it as a getting-to-know-you question. Then he turned to look at her, eyes dark and half-lidded. Any notion that he wasn’t attracted to her before the bond was wiped from Luna in an instant.

Luna’s mouth went dry. Her smile faded, forgotten, as the warmth in her chest started to pulse. Neither of them spoke.

Then Oliver looked away, and the moment was broken.

“I want my pack to be safe and cared for,” Oliver said. “I want… I want to fix the roof in the damn lobby.”

“You said you wanted an inn when you were younger,” Luna said. “What, does the reality not live up to your expectations?”

He gave her a sideways look.