Page 65 of Accidentally Wedded To A Werewolf

Oliver blinked. “What?”

“With Jackson,” Ben explained, scraping up the last spoonful of cereal and pulling his pancake plate closer. “Did he make you grovel?”

“You know Jackson,” Oliver said dryly. “He’s a petty dragon.”

Ben stabbed his fork toward Luna. “I hope you took photos.”

“So many,” Luna said. She kicked Oliver in the ankle.

Oliver looked over, expecting to be let in on their continued joke about Jackson. But Lunawas making pointed eye contact with something across the room, mouth pulled awkwardly tight.

Oliver turned. Uncle Roy was staring daggers at him from the coffee machine. As soon as he met Oliver’s eyes, he jerked his head toward the hallway door. Then he strode toward it, obviously expecting Oliver to follow.

“Good luck,” Luna mumbled into her toast.

Oliver didn’t bother reminding her that everybody in this room could hear that. He got up, swiping a piece of toast from his plate. He was even more worried now, but he was also starving.

Oliver managed to stuff the entire piece of toast into his mouth before they made it to the lobby, eyeing the crumbs falling to the carpet with the weariness of a man who would be vacuuming later. He really needed to hire some cleaners. Maybe he would do that when the idea of letting someone else into the inner workings of the inn stopped making him want to tear his hair out. He’d asked Jackson to work on the roof, which was a step toward that.

“Hey,” Oliver said as soon as they got out of earshot. “What’s up with Grandmother, really? Is she alright?”

Uncle Roy waved a dismissive hand. “She’s fine. Look, we didn’t get to talk last night. You’re not getting stupid over this human, right?”

“What?”

Uncle Roy gritted his teeth. “I just— Everybody wants you toopen up. Because they’re stupid. Youdidopen up. Opened up the door to that woman who tried to burn us in our beds.”

Oliver went cold. He thought this was behind them. There had been a moment last night after he’d pinned the tarp back in place and he’d come back inside to everybody drinking hot chocolate. They’d gathered around him, rubbing their faces against his cheek like he was a little kid, under the guise of warming him up. But he knew it for what it was: telling him there was no harm done. That all was forgiven. Even Luna had joined in, giggling about his stubble. Uncle Roy had stood off in the corner, and Oliver hadn’t thought anything of it. It was hard to get Uncle Roy to join in on anything, especially physical affection. Oliver had caught him glaring at Luna, but as soon as he noticed, Uncle Roy would go back to sipping his hot chocolate.

“Luna isn’t dangerous,” Oliver tried. “She’s a spoiled priss, but she won’t hurt us.”

It went against every scared instinct he’d built up in the last year. But as soon as he said it, those instincts that had fueled him to yell at his grandmother yesterday shrank back. It was easier to see his beliefs, hisrealbeliefs, behind the fear. Luna wouldn’t hurt the pack. Not if she could help it.

Uncle Roy growled, the noise rumbling low in his throat. “Look. Say sheisn’tdangerous. She still isn’t one of us. Don’t let them convince you she is. Don’t let her.”

“I’m not,” Oliver said, ignoring the bond writhing sadly in his chest. “She isn’t.”

“She’s a tourist at best,” Uncle Roy continuedover him. “She’ll probably put this inn on her portfolio to convince her daddy to let her do some actual work for once. That stunt our alpha pulled yesterday? That was the stupidest shit I’ve ever seen.”

“Hey,” Oliver snapped, hackles going up.

Uncle Roy held up his gnarled hands. “I didn’t callherstupid. I said shedidsomething stupid. Why drag this out? That woman isleaving, and we will be here long after she does.We.Pack.” He thumped Oliver’s chest hard, the way he used to do before football games in high school. “The only good thing that came out of that fire is it finally got someone else in this family to agree with me. Do not let outsiders in! You’re going to be alpha one day. Are you putting the pack first?”

Oliver fought back another wave of defensiveness.Good alphas hear their packmates out. But they’d all learned to tune out some of Uncle Roy’s more colorful opinions, even if Oliver had listened more closely in the past year.

“I always put the pack first,” he argued. “But Luna—she’s good for the inn. She was talking about doing some official partnerships with some stores around town.”

“You hate this town! You said the townsfolk were annoying busybodies!”

“They are,” Oliver said. “But I think they genuinely want to help! Jackson dropped everything to come and spend his weekend fixing up our roof! He texted me on the way over to say he’s only going to charge me half of his usual rates!”

Uncle Roy let out another growl and started pacing. “Do youhearyourself? You’re getting soft again.”

“It’s what our alpha wants,” Oliver reminded him.

“Our alpha is WRONG!” Uncle Roy came to a sudden stop. He squeezed his eyes shut with a shudder. Before Oliver could tell him how far he was out of line, Uncle Roy looked back up with a snarl. “She’s shoving that woman at you, shoving that fake bond. It makes you feel like you need that woman. You don't!”

“You bonded with a human,” Oliver reminded him. “You brought a ‘stranger’ into the pack, you giant hypocrite!”

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