Page 13 of Accidentally Wedded To A Werewolf

Luna strode in. She was wearing one of Sabine’s sleep shirts and a baggy pair of sweatpants. She should’ve looked like a slob. Infuriatingly, she looked like a model showing off the latest in nightwear chic. Her hair had been freshly blow-dried, fuzzing up around her ears. She kept petting it like she wanted it to lie down, but it sprung back up every time. It looked so soft. Everything in Oliver wanted to touch it.

Luna raised her elegant eyebrows expectantly, fluffing up her hair. “Well?”

“It’s fine,” Oliver managed, choking the urge down.It’s just the bond,he reminded himself as his fingers itched.It’s not real.

Luna gave him an exasperated look. “Okay, seriously. Thanks for the clothes and everything, but what is going on? I drink some weird liquor, and suddenly, I’m werewolf married? I haven’t signed anything. Is this legallybinding?”

“It is,” Grandmother Musgrove said. “Your souls are linked until you remove the bond.”

“Oursouls,” Luna said with a breathy laugh. “Oookay.”

Oliver’s stomach turned. He didn’t like it any more than she did, but this was serious stuff. It shouldn’t be laughed at.

“But is itlegallybinding?” She asked, nose wrinkling. “Like, do I have to get it removed? I’m getting married in two months.”

“You’ll be on the wolf marriage registry,” Sabine said apologetically. “It just shows up. Sorry.”

“We’ll get it removed,” Oliver said. He turned to Grandmother. “We can do the unbinding ritual soon, right? We have an elder, we have the ingredients?—”

“Not theHyacinth confractus,” Ben piped up from where he’d taken his place next to Sabine, nuzzling gently into her shoulder. He only looked up from Sabine when he noticed everyone had fallen silent. “What? Grandmother asked me to check our supplies before we moved out here. I checked. We’re out of confractus.”

Aunt Barney paused in braiding her sister’s hair. “That’s the divorce flower, right? I can never remember the proper names.”

“We can get some divorce flowers,” Oliver said, desperately trying to remember his childhood wolf lessons. “We can order it in, right?”

“Nationwide shortage,” Ben said. “That’s why we haven’t gotten any more. We’re on a waitlist.”

Oliver groaned. “It grows in Alaska, right? On mountains? I can go searching tomorrow!”

“You will go searching once the snow thaws,” Grandmother corrected. “Unless you want to climb a mountain in the snow and start digging.”

Oliver thought about it.

Grandmother reached up like she was about to grasp his jaw, half-fondness, half-frustrated. Then she stopped.

“Oliver, really. You can last a few weeks until the snow thaws. It’s basically spring already.” With that, she inserted herself on the couch next to Aunt Althea and Aunt Barney, shaking her hair out of its bun and presenting it for braiding.

“Right,” Luna said slowly. “And we’ll just… keep this quiet until then.”

“Gladly,” Oliver said sourly.

Luna picked at her sleep shirt. She looked bewildered by the amount of physical affection happening between the pack: both aunts turning to plait Grandmother Musgrove’s long gray hair; Darren and Leo wrestling right up against Vida’s leg while she tried to kick them away from her; Sabine and Ben nuzzling each other. The only ones not touching anyone were Uncle Roy and Oliver, andgoddamnif Oliver didn’t hate that. Once he would’ve been plaiting Grandmother’s hair with his aunts or wrestling on the ground with the kids. Now he was standing off to the side, arms crossed, face stuck in a scowl he couldn’t seem to wipe off his face.

Luna sucked in a breath, giving the room a brisk grin. “Okay! So, this was super lovely, even withall the roofs caving in and the cold and the yelling and the accidental werewolf marriage. It was nice to meet you all.”

Aunt Althea made a noise of protest as Luna started slinking toward the door. “We’ve barely met you! Come, sit. Have some cocoa. Can we get some cocoa in here?”

“I’ll go,” Ben said, untangling himself from Sabine.

Luna watched him go, looking somehow even more uncomfortable than when she was watching everyone touch each other.

“I’mreallytired,” she said, patting her frizzy hair down.

“But you’re part of the pack! Until the snow thaws, anyway.” Aunt Althea patted the scant space left on the couch. “Who are you? What do you do?”

“Um…” Luna looked out at the sea of expectant faces. Her gaze lingered on Oliver, but only for a moment. Just long enough for the warmth in Oliver’s chest to burn hotter. Then she looked away, and he went cold.

Luna bent into a curtsey. Oliver couldn’t tell if it was ironic or not.

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