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“If the forecast was wrong,” Luna said, yanking on her jeans, “I’d still drag you up to root around in the snow. I didnotcome up here and spend a night in acaveto come home empty-handed.”

“I don’t know,” Oliver said. “You seemed like you had an alright time.”

“Yeah, back at you,” Luna snickered. Still shirtless, she bent down to scrape her notebook off the ground. She’d been drawing in it when he woke up, hands flying to cover the page when she noticed his eyes were open.

He pointed at it as she tucked the notebook into her back pocket. “You can at least let me see the Musgrove logo. You’ll have to let me see it eventually.”

“They’re just?—”

“Concepts. I know.” He held back a smile, remembering how she’d flung herself over the notebook shrieking loud enough for him to come all the way awake.

“I won’t make fun of you,” he said. “If that’s what you’re worried about.”

Luna scoffed like that was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. Like she didn’t get all weird and self-conscious anytime someone brought up her work.

“I won’t,” he said.

Luna paused. Her eyes narrowed. For a moment, Oliver thought he would get an eye roll and a dismissal, maybe she’d pretend to knock his ankle as she stepped over him. Instead, she reached into her back pocket and took out the notebook, flinging it at him.

It bounced off his chest. Oliver caught it, surprised.

“Wait,” Luna said, dropping to her knees beside him as he flipped through it. “Some of them are really bad. Give it back and I’ll?—”

“These look fine,” Oliver said, holding it out of reach. Some were more fleshed out than others. A dozen little versions of MUSGROVE INN, another dozen doodles of wolves below it.

He held the notebook out and tapped the page. “I like this one.”

Luna grabbed it off him and paused. “This?”

He nodded. Luna looked quizzically at the paper. It was one of the more detailed logos: a fully-shifted wolf sitting in a cozy armchair with a fire roaring behind him. A mug sat in his hand, steaming contentedly.

Luna hummed. She took out a pencil from her back pocket and drew two thick eyebrows on the wolf.

“There,” she said, satisfied. “Nowit’s you.”

He pointed at the mug. “It’s not my mug.”

Luna laughed. “Right! That stupid party hat mug you insist you hate until someone else tries to use it.” She scribbled a tiny party hat onto the mug and leaned back. “Now it’sreallyyou.”

She giggled. The bond in Oliver’s chest throbbed, making his arms twitch. He wanted to reach out and touch all that bare skin still on display.

As if on cue, Luna shivered.

Oliver lay a hand on her lower back. The bond in his chest kicked up, humming happily.

“Ah,” Luna sighed. “Thank you, werewolf heater.”

She tipped her head back, basking in it. Then she frowned, twisting back to look at him, still lying naked in the blankets. “Is your ankle still hurting? You said it was okay to walk on!”

“It is,” he reassured her. He rolled his ankle obligingly. It ached in protest, but it was a dull ache. No agony like yesterday.

She waited. “Well, what’s the holdup? You’re just lying there.”

Hehadjust been lying there, he realized. It hadn’t even occurred to him to move. He’d been having fun watching her get dressed and cheer about the lack of snow. He wanted to watch her while he still could.

The faster they got the flower, the faster they could get back to their lives. But for some reason, he was liking the idea less and less. He was still eager to get the bond removed and stop being magically pulled toward a woman he didn’t even know last month. But he didn’t want Luna to walk out of his life. She was… good to have around. Even if she annoyed the hell out of him. Sometimesbecauseshe annoyed the hell out of him. She pushed him in ways he needed to be pushed. And she fit in great with the family, even if she was trying to drag them all into creating a tourist trap.

She wasfun. And there were times, like last night, when she wasmorethan fun. When she finally dropped that spoiled, airy personality and let something real seep through.