Page 23 of Accidentally Wedded to a Werewolf (Claw Haven #1)

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 behind Vi’s polite tone when Luna told her she couldn’t help.

She probably could. 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.

And Vi seemed sweet when she let her guard down.

Luna was shocked to realize she truly did want to help her.

“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 lethal amounts of 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’s fine, 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 his teeth 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 count-er. “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, then she’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 the opening 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? Those people are crazy. Isn’t it illegal here?”

“Very illegal,” Sabine agreed. “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 strained 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.”

Luna startled. She’d completely forgotten about the lemons. She placed the next half in the squeezer, mind racing. The woman Oliver had been dreaming about, the one with dark hair and a bright smile, who had triggered all those terrible emotions…was that her?

“I didn’t know things like that happened anymore,” she admitted. “Did they catch her?”

“She’s in jail,” Sabine confirmed. “Life sentence.”

Luna sagged in relief. “Good.”

“I’m just glad we found out about Claw Haven,” Sabine said, bending down to slot the cutting board under the sink.

“The mayor’s family were old friends with Grandmother.

Once he heard about our situation, he reached out.

It wasn’t our only option, but Grandmother liked the idea of a fresh start in a town that celebrates monsters instead of just tolerating them.

The town’s built for us, you know? Big doorways, ramps for mer in wheelchairs, horn polish at every corner store.

And everyone’s been so welcoming. You don’t have to worry about getting side-eyed when you’re shopping or having a parent pull their kid away from you on the bus.

And the townspeople have helped, even with Oliver turning down any of the big things.

Beth’s chocolates, Jackson consulting for free.

Claw Haven knows how hard it can be to get started. ”

Sabine dropped a massive bag of sugar onto the counter. “Alright! Let’s get this party rocking.”

Luna kept squeezing lemons, nodding along to Sabine’s instructions and watching her pour sugar into a saucepan. But Sabine’s words kept rolling over in her head: Everybody’s been so welcoming. Claw Haven knows how hard it can be to get started.

* * *

She found Oliver fixing a bedframe in room 8. His nose wrinkled as she walked in. “Why do you stink of lemon?”

Luna wiped her hands on her jeans. Obviously, she hadn’t scrubbed as hard as she’d thought. She’d been distracted, eager to get out of the kitchen and find him.

“Can you take me into town after you’re done? I want to talk to that bookstore lady.”

Oliver looked up from the wooden slat he’d been sliding into place. “Why?”

Luna rolled her eyes. “I want to look into her online store stuff, okay? It’s not a big deal.”

She leaned on the doorway, all casual. If this was anyone else, they would’ve bought it. But Oliver just stared at her with an unreadable expression.

“Thought you weren’t that bored,” he said.

“Maybe I am,” Luna replied. “It’s really boring here.”

She examined her nails. He was still watching her with an intensity that made her nervous. Like he could see right through her. For a moment, she panicked that he’d call her out on it. She almost wanted him to. For him to drag it out of her: Fine, I wanted to help. Are you happy?

She felt a strange rush of disappointment when he turned back to the bedframe, fixing the slat into place.

“Give me five minutes,” he said.