Page 27 of Accidentally Wedded to a Werewolf (Claw Haven #1)

Oliver stared at his family, unimpressed.

“You don’t have to hide right now,” he pointed out. “It’s the common room. We can hear her coming.”

Everyone shushed him. Leo, Darren and even Vida were crouched under the table. Ben and Sabine were hiding behind the kitchen counter. The aunts were standing against the wall where the door would open to cover them. Even Grandmother was joining in, peeking out from behind the curtain with the cake.

Oliver sighed. “You all look like idiots. You know that?”

Luna’s light footsteps sounded down the hall. Oliver tried to bolt underneath the crowded table, only for the kids to shove him away.

“Get your own hiding place,” Darren hissed.

“You’re a bad nephew,” Oliver told him. He looked around the room, cursing himself for leaving it too late. Then he ducked behind the curtain next to Grandmother.

“It’s the best spot,” she whispered.

“Not obvious at all,” replied Oliver, whose feet were sticking out from the bulging curtain.

Sabine shushed them. Everybody fell silent, and Oliver wondered if they’d made a huge mistake.

Luna had been busy all week helping Claw Haven to “rebrand.” He’d been dragged along to so many meetings he couldn’t count them all.

He now knew how to set up a mailing list, what the best newsletter hosting sites were according to five different categories, and how to properly wrap a book for inter-country transportation. All against his will.

But it was nothing compared to everything Luna had to deal with. She might be so tired she wouldn’t even want a surprise party.

The door opened. Oliver braced himself.

“Hellooo,” Luna called. “Um. Guys? I got a text—”

Her words broke off in a shocked shriek as everybody leaped out from their hiding spaces. Except for Oliver and Grandmother, who stepped out at a normal pace—Grandmother because she had the cake, Oliver because he wasn’t about to jump out looking like an idiot.

“Surprise!” everyone yelled, some more enthusiastically than others.

Luna fell against the door, her hands clasped dramatically to her chest.

“Oh my god! What’s happening? Oooh, is it someone’s birthday?”

She gasped, her eyes lighting up on the cake. It was a cartoon wolf curled up on the plate, his iced muzzle lying on his admittedly adorable marshmallow paws.

“It’s for you,” Grandmother Musgrove admitted. “Heath wanted to thank you for all his success this month. We thought we’d make an occasion out of it, to celebrate everything you’re doing for the town.”

She set the cake down on the table, which was laden with everything Luna had taken a second helping of during dinners: gleaming green beans and herby roast. There was also strawberries and cream, since she had brought it up more than once in that first week when she was longing openly for room service.

Luna’s mouth dropped open. She stared at the table of food, then at everybody standing around giggling.

“Heath did this?” Luna asked, pointing dubiously at the adorable dragon cake. “Scales N’ Scones Heath who gives you eye contact like whoever looks away first loses?”

“Ah,” Ben said. “He’s a sweet guy under all that.”

“Right,” Luna said faintly. “Gruff disposition. Lot of those in Claw Haven.”

Oliver shifted self-consciously. But Luna wasn’t looking at him—instead her gaze traveled around the room expectantly.

“Where’s Uncle Roy?”

“He had something on,” Grandmother Musgrove said.

“He didn’t want to come,” Oliver said over her.

Luna sniggered. Oliver ignored his grandmother’s wary look and walked over to Luna, the bond in his chest shoving for him to close the distance properly.

Sure, he felt annoyingly fond of her tonight. But that didn’t mean he was about to get too close, no matter what the bond wanted. He had to draw the line somewhere.

“Well, he missed out,” Luna said. She touched the table, which had been draped with a plastic tablecloth left over from one of the kid’s birthday parties. Oliver waited for her to make a smart comment, but Luna just stood there, touching the tablecloth with a strange look on her face.

Oliver probed the bond. She wasn’t disappointed. She was…touched. Touched and trying very hard to hide it.

She cleared her throat, pulling up a hasty smile as she turned back to them. “Aw, you guys! You didn’t have to do all this. I haven’t even done much yet.”

“Nonsense,” said Grandmother. “Joshua said those bouquets you posted after visiting his flower store have been flying off the shelves.”

“Same as Heath’s sleeping-dragon croissants,” Ben added. “I saw him smile yesterday when he was making them. It was weird. And I think he’s coming around to your logo idea.”

“Chester said books have been going like hotcakes since you set up their online store,” Sabine said. “Especially after you helped them with those pesky packaging issues!”

“And newsletter trouble,” Oliver finished. He’d listened to Luna rant about admin issues for too long not to bring it up.

“All in a day’s work.” Luna struck a goofy pose, color high on her cheeks. “And now I know how to send a paperback from Alaska to New Jersey with minimal bending! Never expected to learn that when I got stuck here. Ahem.”

She was downplaying it. Oliver had been following her around town while she set everything up with various store owners, and he’d seen how hard she worked.

She got results. Oliver kept expecting her to brag, and sometimes she did.

But most of the time, she was shockingly bashful about her work, like she was waiting for someone to tell her she wasn’t very good.

“We hope this is alright,” Grandmother continued, waving at the little table of food. “We’d like to do a town-wide celebration one day—”

Luna laughed, loud and nervous. “Aw, come on. Who needs the town when I have you guys? You guys are…”

She trailed off. The bond spasmed between them, and Oliver had to dig his nails into his palms so he didn’t reach out and comfort her.

“This is so nice,” Luna said quietly. “Nobody’s ever—I mean, I’ve had parties. Tons of parties! You know me, I’m a party gal! But never for something I did. Something I’m, like, actually proud of.”

She blinked hard, a wobbly smile spreading over her face. “I really do think Claw Haven is great! I think—I think you guys are great.”

She sniffed. The common room fell silent, and Oliver couldn’t help himself. He reached over and touched Luna, rubbing her shoulder. The bond flooded him with warmth, and he could feel Luna’s gratefulness even before she laid her hand over his.

“Thanks,” she said softly. Then she looked back at the others. “Thanks to all of you. I couldn’t have been trapped in a better town. I’m almost sorry I have to leave soon!”

It was like a bucket of water over Oliver’s good mood. He could feel his family’s eyes on him, and he resolutely ignored it. He refused to accept their pity. Especially when he knew all along this was coming.

Luna was always going to leave. Why did this reminder feel like an icepick in his heart?

“Group hug,” Leo yelled.

Before Oliver could warn him off it, he was throwing himself forward and wrapping his arms around Luna’s legs. Darren followed suit, much more bashful, and soon everyone was clamoring in and enveloping Luna in a tight group hug.

Oliver rested his chin on her head. He was in the middle of the huddle, trying to fight down his instinct to shove his way out.

For some reason, having Luna close made the intimacy easier.

The bond thrummed between them, and for a ridiculous moment Oliver thought their hearts were beating in time.

Then the hug ended, and Luna pulled away with eyes she would always deny were wet, and the feeling faded.

* * *

Oliver was on his second slice of dragon cake when Luna sidled up behind him.

“So this is why you were asking me how much icing sugar I liked in my whipped cream,” she murmured.

Oliver forced back his dark mood. He wasn’t about to ruin the night just because she’d reminded him she was leaving.

“And you never even suspected,” Oliver replied with forced levity.

“Well, no. You asked it so mockingly,” Luna said, and offered him her finger. There was a dollop of whipped cream on the end of it, the sweet smell wafting tantalizingly as she waved it in front of his mouth.

Oliver glanced over at his family. None of them were looking at him. And hell, this would definitely cheer him up.

He leaned in and sucked it off her finger, watching Luna’s eyes darken.

Luna lowered her voice. “Want to get out of here and celebrate me some more?”

Part of Oliver wanted to say no. To put some sensible distance between them. Make her inevitable departure easier. But it wasn’t closeness she was offering—it was pleasure. Oliver could bury himself in that and ignore the stupid, stubborn disappointment that she wouldn’t be around much longer.

“Race you,” Oliver replied quietly.

Darren piped up from the couch with a giant grin. “Eeeeew! Uncle Ollie!”

“Shut up,” Oliver told him. “We’re going to go play cards.”

“In his soundproofed bedroom,” Ben added.

Oliver shot him a side-eye and followed Luna out of the common room.

They were in the hall before he noticed he had a hand on the small of her back.

He dropped it, even though he would be touching a hell of a lot more in a minute.

He couldn’t get too used to these casual little touches, not with the snow thawing more every day.

Every time he glanced out the window, that snow was thinner.

It wouldn’t be long now.

* * *

The bond roared between them as Luna rode him, her head thrown back.

Oliver ran his hands over her breasts. His claws pricked into her flushed skin, their sharpness echoing back to him through the bond. He squeezed, and they moaned in unison.

It should have been rushed. It had started out rushed, every night ending with a race to the finish line. But somewhere along the line it became slower. Almost sweet, if they were the kind of people who could be sweet together.

“Oh shit,” Luna whispered, grinding her hips against him. “Are you close? I can feel it.”

She meant the bond. He could feel her getting close too, their orgasms always chasing each other through their connection. But she also meant his knot, which was barely starting to swell at his base. She had gotten better at being able to feel the barely-there swell of it just before he came.

“That’s it,” Luna said as she bounced on him. “Come in me. Make me feel it.”

Oliver groaned and came. Luna trembled on top of him, her thighs clenching as the orgasm echoed through the bond, showing him exactly how it felt to get filled up with his own knot.

The sensation of filling and being filled raced between them like a spark racing around a circuit.

Oliver dragged her down, burying his face in her neck and trying to keep the feeling.

Then it ended. As always.

Luna settled down against him, humming contentedly.

Basking in the bond, Oliver knew. The bond was always happiest like this, the two of them bare and pressed together as deep as they could be.

Oliver couldn’t even bring himself to be annoyed by it anymore.

For the first time in a long time, he simply let himself be happy.

Then Luna spoke up and ruined it.

“You know, you’re totally screwing me over with this whole ‘bonded sex’ thing. You’re telling me I never get echoing orgasms after we get that divorce flower?”

“Guess so,” Oliver said. He shifted against the bed, Luna moving with him as his knot pulled at her stretched hole. It never got any less intimate, and thanks to what Luna had said, it felt just as scary and overwhelming as the first time.

He would never have this again, after her.

This strange melding of their minds and bodies, echoing each other’s feelings back at each other.

He would never trust anyone enough to bond with them.

Unless someone tricked him into a bond a second time, Luna was it for him.

And she was never truly his in the first place.

“Whoa,” Luna said, lifting her chin off his chest. “What’s that about? You got all…”

She scrunched up her face.

“I’m fine,” he said. “Quit poking at the bond.”

“I’m not poking,” Luna insisted. “Your grumpiness is flooding into me. Stop harshing my vibe.”

“I would never,” Oliver said bitterly.

He twisted as far away from her as he could, which mostly meant he looked away from her. His gaze caught on the view outside the window: the mountains in the distance, only a hint of snow on their very tips now.

Luna touched his cheek, turning him back.

“Seriously,” she said. “What’s wrong? I thought… I thought tonight was great.”

The shyness in her voice made him pause. He stroked her cheek, something he could only get away with when they were locked together like this. The moment stretched, Luna’s eyes getting big and vulnerable.

She was so beautiful. Oliver hated it.

“Luna,” he said.

Luna blinked, closer to him than any other person would ever get. “Yes?”

Oliver hesitated. Then he finally said it, the thing they had both been waiting for for a long time.

“I think it’s time.”