“Sounds reasonable,” Natasha said. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. Like organize a search party for a guy with no shirt.”
She is really no-nonsense!Luna marveled.But then again, I think she used to be some sort of corporate go-getter in her previous life.
“Wouldn’t want the handsome man to get cold, after all,” Natasha added with a twinkle in her eye.
Am I being made fun of? I’m totally being made fun of! But I probably deserve it.
“Well, uh, thank you,” Luna said. “I’ll definitely let you know.”
“Any time,” Natasha said with a friendly smile. “Just yell if there’s anything either Kieran or I can do for you. In relation to anything at all.”
“I will,” Luna said weakly.
Natasha grabbed a cloth, and started quickly and efficiently wiping down the already pristine-looking countertop. “I’d better go work out what to do next about this oven, though unfortunately I think I’m going to have to end up calling out someone to have a look at it. But I’ll be around, so just come find me if you need me.”
Luna nodded. “Yeah, I’d better get back to work, too. But it was really nice to talk to you.”
“You, too,” Natasha said, waving as she hurried out the door. “Catch you around!”
“See you,” Luna said back, before sighing and turning to Fillmore. He was still out cold, happily ensconced in his sun-warmed corner.
“Come on, buddy,” she said, scooping him up and ignoring his sleepy grumbles. “Let’s go see the town.”
And maybe, if we’re lucky, see Henry while we’re at it.
Chapter 5
Ican’t believe I did that. How incredibly stupid of me.
If he’d been in human form, Henry would have been grimacing in self-disgust and annoyance. Instead, he had to content himself with trotting through the forest on his four legs, feeling the coolness of the leaf litter beneath his paws, and smelling the full range of forest scents with his cool, wet nose.
On the other hand, what choice did I have? If I’d stayed there, the bear would havedefinitelystarted trying to get into the room, and there was no way I could have put Luna in danger like that. I really couldn’t do anything else.
It was true – once he’d seen the bear, he’d had to act fast, changing into his hellhound form and phasing through the wall of the B&B, startling the hell out of the bear and sending it galloping off through the forest. Evenbearsfound hellhounds terrifying, and since the curse – or whatever it was – only seemed to be active when he was in his human form, Henry had known he’d be able to send the bear on its way if he shifted and scared it off. Still, he’d chased it a little way, just to make sure it reallywasgone, but the time it had taken to do that hadbeen enough that his shirt had apparently dried and Luna had returned to the room.
He’d seen her through the window as he’d made his way back to the B&B, obviously searching around the room for him, a puzzled expression on her face as she looked first around the main room, and then went into the bathroom to check for him in there.
If only he’d been a little faster, it wouldn’t have been an issue – he could have just phased back into the bathroom before she was any the wiser. But no – he’d been too late, and there was no way he could just appear suddenly in the middle of the room and pretend like he’d always been in there, she just somehow hadn’t seen him standing right there in front of her.
There hadn’t been anywhere tohidein the room, and even if there had been, how could he have explained that?Yeah, I just thought I’d indulge in a little hide and seek while you were gone! Oh, you found me! Ha ha, now it’s your turn to hide!
She’d think he was a lunatic. And rightly so.
So now our mate thinks we just vanished into thin air, leaving all our clothes behind. As well as just leaving a wet towel to molder on her floor. Fantastic.
But it wasn’t just that he’d messed up with Lunaandhe had no clothes – it was also that the curse was clearly not as broken as he’d assumed it was.
I should have known it was all too easy,Henry thought gloomily as he trotted along. True love’s… well,meetingwasn’t the cure-all he’d been told it was.
Maybe it’s just that justmeetingisn’t enough,his hellhound supplied slyly, and Henry knew that if he’d been in human form he would have been blushing bright red at the thought.
Stop that. We only just met,he scolded the hellhound.Just becauseIknow what a mate bond means doesn’t mean thatLunais ready to jump right into those things. She’s human. We need to go at her pace, not ours.
It was true that the mate bond between them meant that Henry himself was ready to spend the rest of his life with her – he’d marry Luna tomorrow if that was what she wanted. But he somehow doubted that would be happening. First, he needed to let Luna get to know him and show her justwhyhe’d be such a good companion for her for the rest of her life.
Which you have decided to do by dropping your towel and running away,his hellhound deadpanned.Very attractive. Very smooth.
Henry ignored it. He would have liked to have known whatitwould have suggested he do when the bear had appeared, but he knew if he asked he’d just get contemptuous silence.
