Page 33 of Accidentally Wedded to a Werewolf (Claw Haven #1)

If Luna was the type of person who enjoyed ASMR, she might’ve found the current atmosphere soothing. A snowstorm was raging outside, and she could hear the soft sounds of people chewing Prickles chocolate as everybody stared silently at the lobby carpet.

But she wasn’t, and if somebody didn’t speak in the next ten seconds, she was going to flip her shit.

“So,” Luna said around the chocolate minotaur she was chewing. “I told my fiancé it would take a few more days. Do we think that’s realistic?”

The snowstorm howled outside. The roof vibrated, and everybody stopped chewing to stare up at the repaired patch of wood.

The howl died down. The wood stopped shaking.

“Maybe another week,” Ben said.

“It is quite late in the year for snow,” Sabine added. She held out a hand for more chocolate. Ben tipped another minotaur into it.

“How did Hector take it?” Sabine asked, covering her mouth while she chewed.

Luna shrugged. “It’s Hector. He can take everything in stride.”

She laughed, trying to make it sound like she was her usual carefree self.

It sounded just as hollow as all those laughs she had flung out during their confrontation with Grandmother Musgrove.

She had gone right back to the woman she was before Claw Haven.

She hadn’t realized how…callous that woman was until now.

Ben nosed at Sabine’s jaw. “If this happened before our wedding, I’d be camped out in your room with you. Not on some beach—”

Sabine nudged him, giving him a severe look that made Luna think they’d talked about this before.

“I mean, that’s cool,” Ben said hurriedly. He turned to shoot Luna a wide grin. “We love a guy who rolls with the punches. Sounds like a cool, cool dude.”

Grandmother Musgrove sighed. She was leaning against the front desk, gripping her shawl so tight her fingers were white with pressure.

“I think it’s been long enough,” she announced. “One of us should go talk to him.”

Luna looked over at Ben. Everybody else looked at her.

Luna laughed. “Me? Not, I don’t know, his brother? No, send one of the kids! He can’t yell at Leo! Not without feeling bad about it later.”

“I’m adorable,” Leo agreed, stuffing another chocolate minotaur into his mouth.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Uncle Roy offered. He shot Luna a dirty look. He’d been shocked by the revelation in the hall, but there was something triumphant in his twisted expression. Like all his suspicions had finally been validated in the worst way.

“I think it’s best if he talks to someone who wasn’t directly involved in…” Grandmother Musgrove trailed off.

“Why?” Uncle Roy glared at her. “He doesn’t trust her. And he shouldn’t! She’s not pack.”

“She sure as shit smells like pack,” Ben muttered.

Uncle Roy sneered. “That bond is about as real as Althea’s gold tooth. It never should’ve happened, and you had no right to stretch it out.”

“I thought it would be good for him,” Grandmother said quietly. She rubbed her forehead, leaning back against the front desk once more. She looked exhausted.

Ben frowned. “Grandmother? Can I get you something?”

“No. I’m fine.” She gave him a faint smile, then turned back to Luna. “You don’t have to. You’d be fully justified to not do anything I ask for the rest of your time here.”

Part of Luna wanted to agree. Wanted to stamp her foot and leave a bad review on Yelp.

But it was a very small part. Everything else in her felt nothing but sympathy for this woman who had to watch her grandson close in on himself and not know why.

Of course she wanted to see him open up again.

Even if she had to use a blonde heiress who was getting married to another man.

Luna swallowed the fresh sting of betrayal and smiled back at her.

“I can go,” she said. “Just…don’t be surprised if he throws me out.”

Ben snorted. “You can hold your own. If he yells—”

“Yell back. I know. I’m good at that.” Luna shot them all another smile, this one more strained. Then she turned and headed down the hall, only pausing to grab another two chocolates from Ben’s paper bag.

* * *

Luna knocked on the door.

No response.

“Typical,” she sighed. She knew he couldn’t hear her through the soundproofed door, but she was nervous. She wasn’t the girl you sent to talk about something serious. She was the girl you sent when you needed to liven up a party. What was she even doing here?

She knocked again. Nothing.

Luna sighed. Then she started drumming the beat to Shakira’s “She Wolf,” which she had spent a good thirty minutes singing on the hike this morning, only stopping after the fifth time he threatened to drop her.

The door flew open. Oliver stood behind it, teeth bared in a snarl.

Luna held up the chocolates. “Last chance. They’re going fast.”

Oliver’s face twisted. He started to close the door.

Luna threw herself in the way. “Come on! I promise not to talk about anything you don’t want to. I just got sent down to make sure you’re not eating the curtains.”

“The curtains are fine,” he said dully. “Get out.”

“I still need to check.” She batted her eyes at him. She even propped herself provocatively against the door, which would be more effective if he wasn’t still half-heartedly trying to close it.

For a moment, she thought he would tell her to get out again. Then he sighed, the pressure of the door easing.

“I’m fine,” he said. “You can tell them I—”

Luna swanned in and plopped herself on the bed, dropping the chocolates on the bed beside her.

“So,” she said briskly. “How about that snow?”

He stared down at her. He still looked raw, like he had out in the hallway. Luna had never carried a secret that huge for that long. That kind of secret would eat my soul, she thought. She didn’t know how he had coped.

“Luna,” he said flatly. “Could you just…not do this?”

“Do what?” She struck her cutest pose, the one that made Hector smirk and forgo whatever they were disagreeing on to kiss her. But like all her other cuteness attacks, it didn’t work on Oliver. Even with the bond burning inside him, tempting him closer, he stayed away.

“I heard what you said on the phone,” he said. “Alright? You don’t have to pretend that you care.”

Luna’s smile froze. Shit. She knew he’d heard through her stupid, non-soundproof room.

“You heard what I said to my fiancé? About the guy I’m sleeping with?

” She tossed her hair dismissively, letting it fall over her face in that hot and appealing way she’d practiced in the mirror.

“He’s not a jealous guy, but come on. Guy’s gonna feel a little insecure if he hears we’re actually getting along. ”

His hands twitched at his side. There were little spots of red in his palm from where his claws had dug in. Luna had seen them pop out while he was yelling in the hall. The skin would be healed by now, she reassured herself before she could do something dumb, like reach for them.

She laughed awkwardly. “It hasn’t been that bad, right? Being stuck together?”

He just stood there, staring down at her. His shoulders were hunched.

Luna tried to think of a joke. Something sweet or ironic to get that guarded look off his face. But the longer the silence stretched, the emptier her mind got.

She sighed, picking up one of the chocolates she’d dropped on the bed next to her.

“Look,” she said. “I know I’m not…the person to talk to about heavy stuff. I’m Party Spice, you know? But I’m here. If you do want to talk.”

She rolled the chocolate between her fingers, pressing a nail in between the minotaur’s tiny horns.

The bed dipped beside her. Oliver had picked up the other chocolate and was sitting down, almost close enough for their legs to touch.

“You’re not that fun,” he assured her. He slid the chocolate into his mouth.

Luna said, “Okay, again, you’ve only ever seen me in a very different context to my usual—”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said over her. He bent over, elbows pressing heavily against his knees. “I can’t believe I— God. I can’t believe I told them.”

Luna hummed. “Probably good you did. It was obviously weighing on you.”

“What, almost getting my entire family killed? Yeah, Luna, it was weighing on me.” He rubbed his forehead in a move that reminded her so much of his grandmother she had to smother a smile.

Luna had to stop herself from reaching out to touch his arm. “How did you two meet?”

Oliver glared at her like she had just insulted him.

Then he sighed. “We ran into each other when I was out for a run. We just…hit it off. At least, that’s what I thought.

Later she told me she orchestrated the whole thing.

Researched what kind of girl I liked. Exes, that sort of thing.

Then she wormed her way into my life. She’d tried to do it before, but that guy figured her out. He was smarter than me, I guess.”

“That’s not fair,” Luna said gently.

“I don’t care if it’s fair,” Oliver snarled. “I almost got my family killed! If I’d just asked more questions, if I’d done a background check, if I hadn’t given her the fucking key—”

He stopped, gritting his teeth.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he continued. “I just… I want— Wait. What the hell were you saying about Party Spice?”

“Like the Spice Girls,” she explained.

His brown eyes narrowed. “There is no Party Spice. There’s Sporty Spice, Scary Spice, Baby Spice— Wait, no, I take it back!”

But it was too late. Luna was laughing, head thrown back with the force of it.

“You know their naaaaames,” she crowed.

He scowled. “Everybody knows their names.”

“No, they don’t!” Luna giggled. “This is great! Did you have a favorite?”

“Shut up and eat your chocolate,” he said. But the haunted look had drained out of his face. Some of the tension had left his shoulders.

She nudged him. “See? This is what I’m good at. Livening up a party.”

He snorted. It was a weak shadow of his usual impassioned snorts, but she’d take it.

“You can’t be all fun all the time,” he pointed out.