Page 87 of Accidentally Wedded To A Werewolf

“Hey,” Sabine said, the audio glitching slightly. “Look at you! You’re so glamorous! Beth said you’re at aluxury spa?”

“Ilooklike I’m covered in mud,” Luna said, wiping it off her bikini with her spare hand.

“Healingmud,” Beth added, nose twitching excitedly at the end of her muzzle.

Hector raised a muddy hand from the pool behind her. “Hi! Which ones are they?”

“Sabine and Beth,” Luna said. “Uh, the sister-in-law and the chocolate girl.”

“There’s a chocolate girl?” Hector grinned. “Wow. Monsters come in all kinds nowadays.”

“Shut up, she’s a hedgehog.” Luna turned back to the screen, gaze roving over the two friendly faces inside it. Beth didn’t look wholly comfortable pressed against Sabine’s side to fit in the screen, but she looked pleased to be included. It hadn’t taken Luna long to figure out that while friendly touches bewildered her, she was almost always appreciative. Except when people tried touching her spikes. Luna found that out the hard way, and Beth had spent the next half-hour stammering apologies while they picked prickles out of Luna’s hand.

“I found hedgehog-shaped soap to put in my gift bags,” Beth started.

Sabine talked over her. “Hey! No shop talk, remember? Luna, howareyou?”

“I’m good! How’s Grandmother doing?”

“She’s good,” Sabine said. “Sleeping a lot more lately, and she won’t be doing a lot of running this full moon. But her heart isn’t getting any worse.”

“Great! That’s great.” Luna wiped anotherslip of mud off her legs, mostly so she wouldn’t have to look back at Hector back in the pool. She hoped the bubbling mud was loud enough to obscure her as she continued, “And everybody else? How’s Leo?”

“He still won’t let go of those light-up shoes. We’re stuck until he grows out of them. Uncle Roy started grumbling about the postman; I think having you here took all his ire away from being suspicious of the rest of the town. The aunts are making you a scarf—don’t tell them I told you. You should get it after you get back from your honeymoon. Heath has Ben working really early mornings, which has been annoying, but we get the afternoons to ourselves. And Oliver’s fine.”

“Fine,” Luna repeated. “Like…?”

She didn’t get a chance to continue. The spa door flew open, and three familiar faces walked in.

Luna gaped. “Oh my god.”

Clancy Stack threw up a peace sign. His hair had grown a stupendous amount since she’d seen him last, and his goatee had finally grown in properly.

Behind him, Luna’s parents waved.

Beth asked, “What happened? Are you okay?”

“I gotta go,” Luna said. She hung up, jogging toward her family. “You guys weren’t supposed to get here until tomorrow!”

“Flight arrived early. Decided to come hang.” Clancy let out anoofas she collided with him, shocked by the force of her hug. “Can you ease up? I didn’t return from war, Lu. Jesus.”

Luna pulled back to hug her parents. She made sure to keep it light.

Hector whooped, muddy hands in the air. “Brother! How’s college treating you?”

“Kicking my ass,” Clancy declared. “Incoming.”

“You probably—” Luna’s warning was promptly disregarded as Clancy jumped into the mud pool with a yelp. Mud splashed over the tiles. Luna winced, glad she hadn’t put her phone down until now, lying it carefully out of the mud’s reach.

“Did you break your ankles,” Dad asked as Clancy resurfaced. “No? Good.”

Clancy shook his hair, mud splattering over Luna’s torso as she climbed back into the pool with the others.

“You’re disgusting,” she told him. Then, overwhelmed with a weird fondness that made her think of watching the kids argue over the Musgrove dinner table, she leaned over and hugged him again.

Clancy paused in the middle of wiping mud off his face. “Double hugs. Alright. Didn’t hug me like this when you didn’t see me all freshman year, but okay.”

“I missed you,” she admitted.

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