Page 7 of Unbearable Attraction (Hollow Oak Mates #4)

LUKA

L uka knew something was wrong the moment he stepped into his workshop at dawn.

His tools lay scattered across the concrete floor in patterns that defied explanation—chisels arranged in perfect spirals, hammers positioned like compass points, his grandfather's hand plane balanced precariously atop a stack of sandpaper that hadn't been there when he'd locked up the night before.

"What the hell?" He picked up a carving knife that had somehow embedded itself point-first in his workbench, the blade driven so deep it took considerable effort to extract.

The wood around the entry point was black with char marks, as if the metal had been heated to temperatures that should have melted it entirely.

His bear paced restlessly beneath his skin, every supernatural sense on high alert. The workshop felt different—charged with an energy that made his hackles rise. Not threatening, exactly, but present in a way that suggested forces beyond the physical world had been paying him a visit.

The memorial piece he'd been carving for his lost clan sat in the center of the chaos, but the thirteen small bears had been rearranged.

Instead of the tight family grouping he'd been working toward, they now formed a protective circle around something invisible.

Their wooden faces, still rough from his preliminary shaping, seemed to be looking outward as if standing guard.

Against what, he couldn't begin to guess.

"Okay, this is new," he muttered, setting the scattered tools back in their proper places. His workshop had been many things over the years—sanctuary, therapy session, monument to grief—but never the target of supernatural mischief.

The fact that this was happening less than twenty-four hours after Leenah's cemetery encounter couldn't be coincidence. Whatever forces she'd awakened were spreading throughout Hollow Oak, affecting places and people connected to that initial manifestation. Places and people like him.

His bear approved at the thought of being connected to the fierce necromancer, even if that connection came with supernatural complications.

The animal had been agitated all night, pacing behind his ribs with the kind of restless energy that usually preceded territorial disputes or mating season.

Since there were no rival shifters threatening his space, that left only one explanation.

And that explanation had striking blue eyes and a stubborn streak wider than the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Luka spent the next hour restoring order to his workshop, checking each tool for damage and cataloging the strange rearrangements.

Everything seemed functional despite its midnight relocation, though he found protective symbols carved into several wooden surfaces that definitely hadn't been there before.

Crude but effective warding marks that looked like they'd been burned rather than cut into the grain.

Someone, or something, had been trying to protect his space. The realization should have been unsettling, but instead he found it oddly comforting. As if whatever supernatural forces were stirring in Hollow Oak considered him worth defending.

By the time he'd finished cleaning up, weak morning light was cracked through the frosted windows.

November had arrived with its usual sharp bite, promising the kind of winter that would keep most tourists away until spring.

Good for the permanent residents who valued their privacy, but bad for businesses that depended on supernatural tourism.

Bad for ghost tour guides who made their living entertaining visitors with carefully researched stories about the town's haunted history.

The thought of Leenah dealing with supernatural disturbances alone while her income disappeared made his protective instincts flare dangerously.

She was too proud to ask for help, too independent to admit when she was in over her head.

But pride and independence wouldn't keep her safe if whatever she'd awakened decided to become actively hostile.

Which was why he'd left his business card at her door before returning to his workshop the previous evening.

A simple gesture that probably violated a dozen rules about respecting people's boundaries, but his bear had insisted.

If she needed help, when she needed help, at least she'd know where to find him.

A sharp rapping on his workshop door interrupted his brooding. Three measured knocks that carried the kind of authority that made his spine straighten automatically. Elder Varric's summons, then. The Council wanted to talk.

Luka opened the door to find a young messenger shifter, probably one of the teenage wolves from the Greenwolf pack, shifting nervously from foot to foot in the cold morning air.

"Elder Varric requests your immediate presence at the Council Glade," the boy said, delivering his message with the careful formality that suggested he'd been practicing the words all the way here. "He says it's about the disturbances."

"Tell him I'll be there in ten minutes," Luka replied, already reaching for his heaviest flannel. Council meetings in November meant standing around in the woods while powerful supernatural beings debated supernatural politics. Not exactly conducive to staying warm.

The messenger nodded and loped away, probably relieved to be done with his official duties.

Luka locked up his workshop and made his way toward the hidden path that led to the Council Glade, his bear growing more agitated with each step.

Emergency meetings were never good news, and the timing suggested his workshop wasn't the only place experiencing supernatural interference.

The Council Glade sat deep in the oldest part of Hollow Oak's forest, where ancient oaks formed a natural amphitheater around a clearing that hummed with accumulated magic.

Protective wards layered on protective wards, built up over centuries by some of the most powerful supernatural beings in the region.

It was neutral ground in the truest sense; a place where disputes could be settled and important decisions made without outside interference.

Elder Varric stood in the middle of the clearing, his long silver braids catching the filtered sunlight as he spoke in low tones with the other Council members.

Miriam Caldwell from the Hearth & Hollow Inn looked unusually grave, her half-moon spectacles perched on her nose as she consulted a leather-bound notebook.

Elder Bram's expression carried its usual cold judgment, but Luka caught the edge of genuine concern beneath the stern facade.

"Ah, Luka," Varric said as he approached. "Thank you for coming so quickly. I trust you've experienced some unusual activity in your workshop this morning?"

"Tools rearranged, protective symbols burned into my workbench, and a general feeling that something's been rummaging through my space," Luka confirmed. "I'm guessing I'm not the only one?"

"Unfortunately, no." Miriam consulted her notebook.

"Three businesses along Main Street, two residential properties near the lake, and the cemetery groundskeeper's shed.

All reporting similar disturbances—objects moved, temperatures fluctuating, and what several witnesses described as whispered conversations in empty rooms."

"Any pattern to the locations?" Luka asked, though he was already beginning to suspect the answer.

Elder Bram's cold gaze fixed on him with uncomfortable intensity. "Every affected location was visited by Miss Carrow within the past week. Either for her ghost tours or her historical research."

"It's not her fault," Luka said immediately, his bear flaring at the implied accusation in Bram's tone.

"No one is suggesting fault," Varric said mildly, though his rain-cloud eyes held a warning about letting emotions override judgment.

"However, it's clear that Miss Carrow's necromantic abilities have awakened something that prefers to remain undisturbed.

The question now is how to address the situation before it escalates further. "

"Have you talked to her?" Luka asked. "She might have insights about what's causing the disturbances."

"Miss Carrow is... resistant to authority," Elder Bram said with obvious distaste. "She declined our invitation to this morning's emergency session, claiming she was conducting important research that couldn't be interrupted."

Luka bit back his immediate response, which would have involved defending Leenah's right to prioritize her work over Council politics. Bram's attitude toward anyone who didn't show proper deference was well-known, and Leenah's independent streak would have rubbed him exactly the wrong way.

"So what's the plan?" he asked instead.

"We need someone to monitor the situation closely," Varric explained. "Someone she trusts, who can provide protection if needed while gathering information about the nature of these disturbances."

"You want me to spy on her." The words came out flatter than Luka had meant.

"We want you to protect her," Miriam corrected gently. "And through her, protect the rest of Hollow Oak. You were present during the initial manifestation yesterday morning. You've established a rapport with her that none of the rest of us possess."

"What kind of rapport?" Elder Bram's question carried suspicious undertones that made Luka's bear rumble with territorial aggression.

"The kind where she doesn't immediately tell me to mind my own business," Luka replied carefully. "Nothing more than that."

It was a lie, and probably everyone present knew it.

His growing attraction to Leenah Carrow was hardly subtle, especially to supernatural beings whose enhanced senses could detect emotional and hormonal changes with embarrassing accuracy.

But admitting his feelings would only complicate an already delicate situation.

"Can you handle the assignment?" Varric asked, his tone suggesting he was already aware of the potential complications. "Watch over her discretely, provide assistance if she requires it, and report back on any significant developments?"

Luka hesitated. Accepting meant spending time around a woman who made his inner animal pace with possessive energy and his human mind spin fantasies about domestic evenings and shared laughter.

It meant watching her put herself in danger while fighting every instinct that demanded he sweep her away to somewhere safe and isolated until the supernatural crisis passed.

It also meant being there if she needed help, being the person she could turn to when her pride and independence finally met a problem too big to solve alone.

"Yeah," he said finally. "I can handle it."

"Excellent." Varric's smile suggested he was pleased by more than just Luka's professional cooperation. "Begin immediately. Miss Carrow's research may hold the key to understanding what we're dealing with, but she'll need protection while she pursues it."

"And if she objects to being watched over?"

"Then you'll need to be more subtle than usual," Miriam said with amusement. "I suspect Miss Carrow is too intelligent not to realize she's stirred up forces beyond her normal experience. She may welcome assistance, even if she's too stubborn to ask for it directly."

The meeting dispersed with the usual formal courtesies, leaving Luka alone in the ancient clearing with orders that both thrilled and terrified him.

Watching over Leenah meant proximity, conversation, opportunities to learn more about the woman who'd managed to capture his bear's attention so completely.

It also meant fighting his protective instincts every time she walked into danger, respecting her independence while being ready to intervene if needed. Threading the needle between offering help and being overbearing.

The most difficult assignment he'd ever been given, and the one he wanted most to succeed at.

His bear rumbled approval as he made his way back toward town, already planning the best approaches to Leenah's cottage that would allow him to monitor her safety without making her feel like she was under surveillance.

This was going to require finesse, patience, and more self-control than he'd needed since arriving in Hollow Oak twelve years ago.

But if it meant keeping her safe while she unraveled whatever supernatural mystery she'd stumbled into, he'd find a way to make it work.