Page 15 of Accidentally Wedded to a Werewolf (Claw Haven #1)

Luna dragged her finger in a lazy circle through Oliver’s chest hair, humming contentedly.

She was sore and satisfied and warmer than she had been in days.

They’d had sex twice more after the knot finally went down—until she’d lost count of how many times she’d come, and the bedframe was scored with scratches from Oliver digging his claws in.

She looked up to watch Oliver’s sleeping face.

There were no tired bags under his eyes, no wrinkle in his brow.

His face was smooth, utterly relaxed. Luna bet the guy hadn’t been this relaxed since the mysterious incident last year that had made them all move here.

It made her oddly happy. The guy was so pent-up, and he deserved some stress relief.

Especially if it came in the form of making Luna incoherent with pleasure.

Oliver let out a sleepy grunt. “Quit it. Tickles.”

Luna circled her finger around his nipple.

Oliver squirmed, cracking one eye open to glare half--heartedly at her.

Luna grinned. “Sorry. Got bored.”

“Y’r like a golden retriever,” he muttered. His head tilted sideways, lips brushing her forehead. He was half in a dream. Luna could almost feel the edges of it in her mind. Hazy and dark, lit up by flickers of flame. A woman with dark hair and a bright smile—

“Don’t,” Oliver snapped.

Luna startled. She’d gone deeper than she’d meant to.

“Sorry,” she said as Oliver struggled underneath her. “I didn’t mean to. The bond—”

He sat up, shoulders tight. There was nothing half-hearted about his glare this time.

“Don’t,” he said, softer. “If the bond lets us in too deep, we block it. Got it? Some things are private.”

“Totally,” Luna agreed. She dragged a hand through her messy hair, shaken. Who was that? Whoever it was, they had triggered horrible feelings. Maybe he’d left a bad relationship back in Arizona.

She could still feel his emotions, barely-there echoes of guilt and anger. She shoved up a mental block until they faded into nothing. No more Oliver leaking through the bond.

A heavy knock made them both jerk.

Oliver frowned. “Is it dinner already?”

Luna checked the clock on the bedside table. “Yeah. Wow. Guess we tired each other out.”

Oliver made a sleepy noise of agreement and sat up. He rubbed his eyes, only dropping his hand to give her a sideways look. “When you say you’re telling your fiancé about this… He doesn’t get details, right?”

Luna laughed, shooting up to dig her chin into his shoulder. “Why, are you into that?”

“No,” he said flatly.

Right, Luna thought. Possessive. Even if he only had her until the snow thawed.

The knock came again, loud and insistent. Luna wondered why they were knocking so loud, then remembered the soundproofing.

Oliver gave her arm another unhappy look and climbed out of bed to search for his pants.

“We eat dinners together,” he said as he pulled his boxers on. “You don’t have to come.”

Luna leaned on the bedframe, admiring the pronounced curve of his ass as it vanished under his boxers. “Am I invited?”

Oliver made a face like she was, and he was exasperated about it.

“Then I’ll come,” Luna said.

* * *

It didn’t occur to her to be nervous until she was heading down the hallway with him.

What was she doing? She’d spent the day in his room.

Even if they didn’t know, they could smell him on her, right?

They knew she had a fiancé. What was she supposed to do, blurt out their arrangement right there at the dinner table?

It didn’t help that Oliver looked just as nervous as her, his shoulders getting higher and higher with each step.

“You don’t have to,” Oliver said as they reached the common room door. “My family can be…a lot.”

Before Luna could remind him that she was fully aware, the door swung open.

Vida stopped, her headphones clamped securely over both ears. She turned back toward the bustling common room and yelled, “Never mind! They’re here!”

“You don’t need to yell,” Oliver reminded her.

She gave him a droll look only achievable by disdainful teenagers.

“Whatever,” she said and paused. She gave a small, almost subtle sniff. Then she looked at Luna with such a smug, knowing look that Luna’s heart sank.

She definitely smelled it.

“Whatever,” Vida said again, ducking her head to hide a shy grin. Then she fled back to the crowded table.

Everyone had already taken their seats: The kids clumping together, with Vida joining an argument involving Leo, who tried to slide his broccoli onto a complaining Darren’s plate.

The aunts were next to them, deep in conversation.

Then Ben and Sabine, with Ben plucking an eyelash off Sabine’s scarred cheek.

Uncle Roy had pulled his chair away, surveying the scene with a scowl.

One hand kept drifting up to his chin, scratching his burn mark.

It looked old—much older than Sabine’s slashing scar.

Like he’d gotten it when he was very young.

Grandmother Musgrove sat at the head, cutting her steak into tiny squares. She looked up, waving a graceful hand at the two empty chairs beside her.

“Come and sit.”

Luna followed Oliver to their seats, wishing she’d put on deodorant.

It might not have covered up the Oliver stink that everyone was obviously smelling, but it may have helped with some of the nervous sweat she could feel as she sat down.

She and Oliver were seated next to each other, tucked in so tight that their legs and elbows brushed.

“Sorry,” Oliver said, pulling his leg and elbow in so he wasn’t touching her. Pretty rich for a guy who had been inside her multiple times today. He looked out at the table, which was heavy with food. “You could’ve come to get me. I would’ve helped.”

“We decided to let you have the night off,” Ben said, flicking his wife’s eyelash off his finger. He looked considerably less smug than Vida, who kept sneaking glances at Luna and stifling a giggle.

“You seemed busy,” Sabine added. She was smiling, but she looked confused.

Everyone was smiling, Luna noticed. Smiling and looking at each other, all conspiratorial and smug.

Even Leo and Darren had picked up on something, sniffing the air once they noticed all the adults acting weird.

Darren let out an amused snort, averting his eyes.

Leo just kept sniffing, cocking his head at Luna in bafflement.

Grandmother Musgrove asked, “How was your first proper day in Claw Haven, Luna?”

“Great,” Luna said, as bright as she could muster. “Oh, that reminds me! My fiancé wants to thank you guys for being so nice. I’ve been telling him everything that’s been going on, and he’s super happy with it. Super happy.”

Ben’s eyebrows hit his forehead. “Huh. To each their own, I—”

He cut off with a grunt like someone had kicked him under the table. Luna couldn’t tell if it had been Sabine or Oliver, the former looking at him far too innocently and the latter glowering at him almost as hard as Uncle Roy was glowering at Luna.

Luna flashed Uncle Roy her prettiest smile. His eyes narrowed, and he dug one sharp thumbnail into the old burn mark on his chin.

Yikes. Luna looked down at her plate instead. Medium-rare steak, a salad that was mostly lettuce, a bread bun and a dollop of buttery mashed potato. A little boring, but Luna was starving, and she doubted there were many Uber Eats options in a town this small.

She picked up her fork.

Grandmother Musgrove cleared her throat.

Luna looked up. Everybody was holding hands, even glaring Uncle Roy. Grandmother Musgrove held out a hand on one side of her. Oliver sat stiffly on the other side, hands on his lap.

“She doesn’t have to,” Oliver said.

Luna rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand. She wasn’t a grace kind of girl, but when in Rome.

Grandmother Musgrove nodded at Leo. “When you’re ready.”

Leo sucked in a big breath. “Thank you, everybody, who made our food tonight. It isn’t chicken like I wanted, but I guess I’m grateful anyway.

Thanks, everyone.” Then he blinked, looking over at Oliver.

“Wait, you weren’t here. Thanks, everybody but Oliver.

And hello to our temporary pack member, Luna. You’re very pretty and sophisticated.”

Luna giggled. “Wow. Thank you. You’re pretty too. I love your truck shirt—so chic.”

“Thanks!” Leo beamed at her, then looked across the table toward his parents. “Can we eat now?”

“Yes,” said Sabine, hiding a smile. “We can eat now.”

Everyone at the table lapsed back into chatter.

Luna ate her boring food and tried to remember the last time she’d had a homemade family dinner.

She didn’t think she ever had. The Stacks were a takeout family who ate in their separate rooms. They went out to restaurants sometimes, but only for birthdays and the occasional business milestone celebration.

Hector once mentioned that it was strange that such a fun-loving family didn’t bother getting together much.

Luna didn’t think so. They all had their own parties to attend.

Oliver rarely spoke. His family tried to drag him into conversations.

Leo asked about a movie they watched last week, and Ben goaded him about some embarrassing moment from high school involving a wardrobe malfunction during a football game.

But each time one of his family members spoke to him, he’d give them a one-word answer and shut it down.

He kept tensing up whenever Luna reached for her water glass or leaned over to grab more salad.

It was a strange tenseness. Like his body wanted him to relax but his mind wanted the opposite. Like he still thought she was a threat.

What would have happened if she’d been bound to him last year, when he wasn’t so closed off?

It was probably good he wasn’t more open, she considered as she ate her terrible salad. If he actually let her in, she might feel something more than physical. Something that had nothing to do with the bond tying them together. Then she’d really be screwed.