Page 12 of Accidentally Wedded to a Werewolf (Claw Haven #1)

The closer you are, the less he hurts.

Luna paused. Then she reached out and cautiously touched his hair.

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, and he stared 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 second to 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, and he slumped back down on the couch.

“Oh my god, you’re such a 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, glaring 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, 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 other bond crap 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’s minds?” Luna laughed shrilly. “You are not getting into my mind, 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 not disgusting, you know.

I’m fun, I’m hot. I’m a riot at 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 just lunch. Do you know what people would pay to be married to 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’t know you.”

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

“And you have a fiancé,” he continued like she hadn’t spoken. “And I 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 he hadn’t wanted 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 her throat, 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 face 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.

Luna rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, is that too personal? Excuse me for trying to be polite for five seconds.”

His mouth flickered. He scratched it, but Luna glimpsed the curious smile he was hiding behind his hand. Even if it was gone when he dropped his hand back into the bag of chocolates.

“I didn’t think about all the upkeep when I was younger,” he said, popping another chocolate into his mouth. “I just… I don’t know. Liked the idea of offering a safe harbor.”

Luna couldn’t help it: She cooed, bright and teasing.

“Shut up,” Oliver said with the automatic reflexes of someone who had grown up in a big family.

“What? That’s sweet. That’s the first time you haven’t been a complete asshole around me. A girl could get used to this.”

She rocked sideways and bumped their elbows together. They both went stiff, Luna’s arm blooming with delighted warmth. She looked over to see the muscles in his arm working where she’d touched him.

She leaned back. “Sorry. Or…not sorry?”

“I don’t want to drag you into this,” he admitted. “You did get yourself into this mess—”

“Okay, if we’re going to blame somebody, let’s blame the guy who started drinking mystery booze at work—”

“But you didn’t actually ask to be stuck here,” he said over her. “Especially not with some…asshole who passes out if you get too far away. My point is I won’t interfere. You’re already with someone, no matter what our magic says.”

She risked another look over and found him staring determinedly at the wall, jaw flexing.

She wondered what the bond was doing inside him.

Was it pulsing like hers? The others said it was more intense for him since he was a wolf.

Maybe it was churning. Burning. Calling out.

She could still sense a faint yank inside her own chest, drawing her toward him.

She watched him, considering. She was stuck at an inn until the snow melted. This was basically a holiday. Her last holiday before she got married. Hector had already given her his blessing, and if it was for the guy’s health…

“About that,” Luna began. “Hector actually said he was fine with it.”

Oliver stopped, his hand still in the chocolate bag. “Fine with what?”

Luna hesitated. Then she put a hand on his denim-clad leg. Her hand tingled, unable to stop herself from squeezing the firm muscle there.

A groan cut off in his throat. He blinked hard, collecting himself. “Seriously? He’s fine with his fiancée sleeping with another man right before their wedding?”

“We have an arrangement.”

Oliver shook his head. His leg shifted under her touch, but Luna could feel the heat in her chest getting warmer. Shifting. Curling outward, wanting closer.

“I can’t imagine being fine with giving what’s mine to someone else,” he said.

Luna snorted. “Okay, some people aren’t territorial, wolf boy.”

“It’s not a wolf thing,” he argued. He made a face. “It really isn’t. I know way too much about my cousins’ love lives. Some of them have multiple bondmates.” He sighed. “Let’s not get into it. My point is we’re not all territorial like that.”

She dropped her voice a few octaves, letting it go soft and sultry. “Just a you thing, then.”

He didn’t say anything, looking down at her palm on his thigh.

She squeezed it again, enjoying how his muscles jumped underneath her hand. It had been a long time since a guy had made her feel this delicious anticipation. Some of it was even from her, she was pretty sure. At least half of that want was bona fide Luna Stack—no bond required.

“You’re not disgusting either,” she told him. She shuffled closer until their legs were touching. “Actually, I thought you were kind of hot when I met you. Before I knew you were drunk and super rude.”

“I was having a bad night,” he said. His gaze dropped to her mouth. His pupils were huge, almost drowning out the dark brown surrounding them.

Luna grinned. “And it only got worse.” She reached up, tweaking that piece of hair she’d stroked off his forehead earlier. “We could make the best of a bad situation. What do you say?”

He blinked. He still looked disbelieving, but it was rapidly being taken over by a haze that Luna knew all too well. She could feel it, too, making the world narrow down to the two of them on the couch, their legs touching.

She leaned in.

“Wait,” he said.

Her heart fell, the golden warmth behind it coiling in protest.

“Not here,” he continued, standing up. “No soundproofing.”