Page 34 of Unbearable Attraction (Hollow Oak Mates #4)
LUKA
F our days without word from Leenah was three days too many.
Luka stood outside the Carrow family compound, studying the imposing Victorian architecture that radiated old money and older disapproval.
The wrought-iron gates were designed to keep people out, but his bear was too agitated to be deterred by social barriers.
Their spiritual connection had grown weaker with each passing day, reduced to barely perceptible whispers that told him she was alive but struggling.
That was enough to bring him to Salem, regardless of complications.
The ancient butler who answered his knock looked like he'd stepped from a Charles Dickens novel, complete with disapproving sniff. "The family is not receiving visitors."
"I'm here to see Leenah Carrow. Tell them Luka Ashe is calling."
"I'm afraid Miss Carrow is indisposed."
"Then I'll wait until she's disposed again." Luka's smile carried enough edge to make the butler step back. "However long that takes."
Five minutes later, he was escorted into a formal parlor that screamed wealth and respectability.
Four people arranged themselves like a tribunal.
An older man who shared Leenah's blue eyes but none of her warmth, a sharp-faced woman whose pinched expression suggested chronic constipation, and two younger relatives who watched him with obvious hostility.
"Mr. Ashe." The older man's voice held arctic courtesy. "I'm Leenah's father, Robert Carrow. This is my sister Margaret, and my nephew and niece, James and Catherine. We understand you've developed an... attachment... to our daughter."
"I love her. She loves me. We're bonded." Luka settled into the offered chair without invitation, his bear noting exit routes and potential threats. "Where is she?"
"Resting. The journey from North Carolina was quite taxing." Margaret's smile was razor-thin. "Perhaps you could explain what business you have here?"
"Leenah's been gone four days without contact. I came to make sure she's safe."
"Safe from what, exactly?" James leaned forward, his expression calculating. "Are you suggesting her family poses some threat to her wellbeing?"
"I'm suggesting that people who spend years making someone feel unwanted don't suddenly develop their best interests at heart."
The temperature in the room dropped noticeably. Robert's fingers drummed against his chair arm with controlled irritation.
"We're trying to help Leenah understand the broader implications of her recent choices," he said carefully. "Magical bonds with shifters can be... unpredictable. Especially for necromancers whose abilities are already considered volatile."
"Her abilities aren't volatile. They're powerful." Luka's bear stirred at the casual insult. "Something you'd know if you'd bothered to understand them instead of shipping her away whenever they became inconvenient."
"We provided Leenah with appropriate guidance for someone with her particular gifts," Margaret said coldly. "That she chose to exceed reasonable boundaries is hardly our responsibility."
"What boundaries?"
"The kind that prevent necromancers from attracting unwanted attention through reckless experimentation and inappropriate relationships."
Before Luka could respond to that loaded statement, footsteps echoed in the hallway. Leenah appeared in the doorway, looking pale and exhausted but determined. Her eyes found his immediately, and he felt their bond strengthen with proximity.
"Luka? What are you doing here?"
"Making sure you're okay." He stood, resisting the urge to sweep her into his arms when he sensed her family's hostile attention. "You haven't returned my calls."
"I've been... processing everything." She moved into the room but maintained careful distance, clearly aware of how her family was cataloging every interaction. "You shouldn't have come."
"Yeah, I should have." His voice carried enough certainty to make her blink in surprise. "Because whatever they're trying to convince you of, you don't have to face it alone."
"How touching," came a new voice from the doorway. "The protective shifter arrives to rescue his bonded necromancer."
The man who entered radiated the kind of polished arrogance that came from generations of inherited power.
Tall, expensively dressed, with dark hair and sharp features that might have been handsome if not for the calculating coldness in his eyes.
He moved like someone accustomed to being the most important person in any room.
"Edmund Blackthorne," he said, extending a hand that Luka ignored. "I've heard quite a lot about you."
"Can't say the same." Luka's bear was snarling now, recognizing a threat to his mate. "Who are you?"
"The necromancer offering Miss Carrow protection and resources appropriate to her abilities," Edmund corrected smoothly. "Unlike certain... relationships... that expose her to unnecessary political complications."
"The only complication I see is you thinking you have any claim to her."
"I have an understanding with her family about a mutually beneficial arrangement." Edmund's smile held predatory satisfaction. "One that would provide Miss Carrow with the kind of support network her current choices cannot offer."
"She already has a support network. Me."
"A shifter with no political connections, no understanding of necromantic practice, and no ability to protect her from families who view powerful independent practitioners as threats?
" Edmund's laugh was genuinely amused. "How exactly do you propose to shield her from supernatural political retaliation? "
"By making it clear that anyone who threatens her answers to me."
The casual statement made everyone in the room tense. Margaret's face went white, Robert's jaw clenched with barely controlled anger, and Edmund's expression shifted from amusement to calculation.
"Are you threatening established supernatural families?" Edmund asked quietly.
"I'm explaining consequences." Luka's voice dropped to the dangerous rumble that preceded violence. "Touch her, threaten her, manipulate her into choices she doesn't want to make, and discover what happens when you corner a bear shifter's mate."
"Luka," Leenah said sharply, but he felt her relief at his presence despite her words.
"Fascinating," Edmund murmured, studying Luka with new interest. "The bond between you runs deeper than simple magical partnership, doesn't it? You're actually mated to her in ways that go beyond conscious choice."
"What we are is none of your business."
"On the contrary, it's very much my business if I'm to consider Miss Carrow as a potential partner." Edmund moved closer to Leenah, close enough that Luka's bear roared with territorial fury. "Existing mate bonds can be... problematic... for future magical alliances."
"Get away from her."
"Or what? You'll start a supernatural incident in the middle of Salem's most prominent magical district?" Edmund's smile was sharp with triumph. "That would certainly prove Miss Carrow's family right about the destabilizing influence of inappropriate relationships."
The standoff stretched between them, loaded with the kind of tension that preceded either violence or complete humiliation. Luka could feel his bear pushing toward the surface, every instinct demanding he remove the threat to his mate regardless of political consequences.
But attacking Edmund would prove everything her family believed about their relationship being dangerous and uncontrolled.
"Enough." Leenah stepped between them, her voice carrying authority neither man had expected. "Edmund, thank you for the offer, but I'm not interested in any arrangement that treats me like property to be negotiated over."
"Miss Carrow, I think you're misunderstanding?—"
"I understand perfectly. You want access to my abilities and the political advantage that comes from controlling a successful necromancer." Her blue eyes blazed with anger that had been building for days. "The answer is no."
"Perhaps you should consider the broader implications of that decision," Robert said carefully. "Edmund's family offers protection from?—"
"From threats that conveniently appear whenever I don't comply with your demands?" Leenah's sounded of steel that Luka had seen when she faced down ancient spirits. "I'm done being manipulated by people who see my gifts as either shameful secrets or valuable commodities."
"Then you're choosing to endanger everyone without interference?" Margaret's voice held genuine shock.
"I'm choosing to trust that my work speaks for itself," Leenah replied firmly. "And that the people who matter will judge me by my actions rather than my family connections."
She moved toward Luka, and he felt their bond strengthen as she made her choice clear to everyone in the room.
"We're leaving," she said quietly. "Both of us. Together."