Luke chuckles as he starts dragging our bags out of the car. “Did you think we’d really put up the alpha and his bride in a tiny hut?”
Grace shrugs. “I try not to have high expectations.”
A downward lilt to her voice makes me look at her more closely, and I can see sadness in her eyes again. Seeing her vulnerable makes my protective urges rise, and I take her hand gently.
“This is your home now,” I say, squeezing her hand. “Not just this house, but the whole town—and you’re the luna. That means you can have everything exactly the way you want it.”
Her eyes widen, and the starlight seems to catch in the pale depths, making her eyes shimmer with a sparkling glow.
“You really mean that?” she asks.
“Of course,” I answer. “This is all new to me, as well, and we’ll have to work together to make a comfortable life for the pack as well as for ourselves.”
She looks back up at the house, grinning with just a hint of mischief. “So, the house is really mine, to do anything I want with it?”
“Correct. Go nuts and decorate it however you like.”
“I’m so glad you said that,” she says, letting go of my hand and walking over to the house. The overgrown plants around the stone walls rustle and whisper, even though there’s no wind, and my feelings of confidence are shaken yet again.
She’s so strange… I really don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.
Grace puts her hand on the wall, pressing her palm flat against it. When she closes her eyes, the air seems to thicken as if I’ve been plunged underwater.
A crackling noise breaks out around the house, and sudden movement all around us floods me with adrenaline. Luke and I go straight into a defensive crouch, fists up, ready to fight.
Then the shadows rise, twisting and curling from the ground to creep across the walls of the house. As I watch in surprise, long vines and leaves burst from the gardens and slither across the walls, making beautiful patterns of green across the gray stone.
The slender vines in Grace’s hair move as well, and they slowly wind down her neck and arms to join the other plants. Little white blooms pop up immediately, and even though it feels stupid to think it, I can’t escape the feeling that the little plants are happy.
Not just happy—overjoyed. They are excited to join Grace’s new garden.
It strikes me that if the plants really did know she wasn’t coming back, maybe they came with her so they could be in her new garden. The idea of plants having any kind of will is just way too weird for me, and I have to shake myself and back up a few steps to clear my head.
When Grace turns around, the starlight falls across her hair, tracing it with a silvery glow, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. They look dark to me, almost pure black, and when she smiles, it looks self-satisfied and even a bit secretive.
The smile of a villain planning horrible, despicable things.
“There,” she says. “Much better now. Do you like it?”
I just nod, not trusting my voice. When she turns to go inside, Luke looks at me, raising an eyebrow and letting out a low whistle.
“Well, that was something,” he mutters.
“Yeah… something,” I say.
Luke appears to struggle with himself for a second, then shakes his head. “I don’t really know what to say except good luck, I guess?”
“Thanks,” I growl. “You’re such a big help.”
“Hey,” he laughs. “I’ve been here all day moving furniture and directing people to their new homes. You were—what? Sitting on your ass, eating your wedding feast.”
“Yeah,” I reply. “Correct. But I was also tangled in one of the hardest conversations of my life. Well. Actually, it wasn’t even a conversation. That’s what made it so difficult.”
“Just give it time,” Luke says. “The two of you need to get to know each other, that’s all. Things will settle down.”
“Sure,” I reply, shaking my head. “I have every confidence I’ll miraculously get used to acts of high magic happening right in front of me with startling regularity.”
Luke frowns. “I get it. Magic workers have usually meant trouble for us. But you get along with Alisha and Sarah, right?”
