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She smirked against his cheek. He would have, once. Last year, before he got surly and closed off. Even now, he would help Vi if he actually gave a shit about her. She’d seen everything he did for his family—cleaning, cooking, driving the kids around, helping with homework, endlessly fixing up the inn.

“Then it sounds like you should stop arguing,” Luna said, kneeling up so the rest of the towel pooled around her knees. “And get on me.”

A low growl rumbled in his throat.

Luna grinned. She tugged the back of his neck, and he followed her down onto the bed.

That phone call was still in her head as she watched Sabine make lunch later that day. The frustration in Chester’s croaky voice, the strain behindVi’s polite tone when Luna told her she couldn’t help. Sheprobablycould. She didn’t know how to set all of that up, but she could find out. A few YouTube tutorials and a call to her secret marketing team and she’d have it sorted.

“You look serious,” Sabine commented from the counter where she was chopping carrots. “Never seen you look so serious before!”

“I’m serious,” Luna replied.

Over on the common room couch, Uncle Roy snorted. He’d been glaring daggers at her since she dared step into the room. He did it less when Grandmother Musgrove was around, but she was taking a nap right now, which meant he could glare to his wrinkled heart’s content.

Luna sidled up to Sabine. “Can I help with anything?”

“Don’t,” Uncle Roy called. “Sabine, I’m telling you.”

“He thinks you’re going to put wolfsbane in it,” Sabine told her dryly, dumping a handful of carrot slices into the pot boiling on the stove. “Come over here, squeeze some lemons. We’re making lemonade later.”

“Don’t,” Uncle Roy snarled.

Sabine turned and growled at him, teeth sharpening. Luna wondered how her slashing scars only made her look more beautiful when Uncle Roy’s burn scars made him look so vicious.

“She’sfine, Roy,” Sabine said, teeth still sharp. “If she tries to drop anything in the soup, I’ll slap it right out of her hand.”

Uncle Roy bared histeeth and lurched off the couch. He stalked into the hallway, slamming the door behind him.

“That’s him taken care of,” Sabine said, teeth back to normal. She motioned toward the lemons next to her on the counter. “Go on.”

Luna started chopping the lemons and pressing them into the squeezer, relieved that she knew how to do this at least. She’d squeezed lemons for cocktails before. If Sabine made her help with anything more advanced,thenshe’d be in trouble.

“What’s his deal?” Luna asked as she squeezed another lemon half into the bowl Sabine had set out. “I thought he was just like that with me, but we went grocery shopping yesterday, and he snarled at a mom for letting her kid walk too close! The poor kid behind the counter asked how his day was, and I thought he was going to take him out.”

Sabine groaned, emptying another handful of carrots into the pot on the stove. “Ignore him. He’s even more suspicious of outsiders than ever. Especially after last year.”

Luna latched onto it eagerly. She’d been meaning to bring it up during one of their Connect Four games, but there was always a kid or an aunt or an Oliver around making it difficult.

“What happened last year?”

Sabine’s knife paused on the next carrot. “Did Oliver tell you why we moved?”

“Yeah, he’s a real open book,” Luna deadpanned. “Can’t stop him talking about personal stuff.”

Sabine laughed. It died fast. She wiped the carrot slices off her knife and turned to face her. “Someone burned our house down.”

Luna’s smile dropped off her face. “Oh my god. Like, on purpose?”

“Very much so.” Sabine headed back to the stove, stirring the pot as she continued, “It was a totally normal night. Dinner, movie, bed. Then around midnight, Oliver wakes us up, yelling at us to get out. The flames had blocked off the halls, so we had to climb out the windows.”

“Oh my god,” Luna said, heart racing. She hadn’t even considered something like that. “That’s awful. I’m so sorry. Was it a hunter?”

“She turned off the alarms. If Oliver hadn’t gotten up in the middle of the night for water and noticed the smoke… things could’ve gone a lot worse.” Sabine scratched her scar, the skin pulling tight as she gave Luna a tight smile. “We lost almost everything. I think it dragged Uncle Roy back to his childhood. Hunters tried to burn him. That’s why he has that scar. We heal a lot slower with fire. It’s a hunter’s go-to for wolves.”

Sabine gave the pot one last stir and went back to the cutting board, wiping it down with a washcloth.

“Lemons are looking good,” she said. “I’ll get the sugar.”