Well, go on,his hellhound said, contempt practically dripping from its voice.
Thankfully, Luna, for all the state of shock she must have been in, came to his rescue.
“Oh… well,” she stuttered out, her cheeks still pink. “Yes, itis, but… um, not really an unpleasant one, I guess?”
Her cheeks seemed to be getting redder before his eyes as she quickly waved her hands around, as if trying to dispel the words she’d just spoken.
“I mean – not like that! I swear if I’d known you were in here getting dressed, I would have – would have knocked. Ireallydid not mean to walk in on you… uh…” She frowned suddenly, as her brain finally seemed to catch up with what was actually happening. “But now that you mention it, how did you even get in here? The door was locked… and youdefinitelyweren’t in here when I left. I checked everywhere.” She frowned again. “Um, and… well, sorry if this is rude of me to ask, but if you’re in here now getting dressed, does that mean you’ve just been wandering around naked this whole time?”
There was a sinking feeling in Henry’s chest as he realized that there was really only one way out of this, and that was to tell Luna the truth – or to try to.
Even if hewantedto lie – which he didn’t – if he somehow managed to convince her to let him court her after this, he’d only have to admit he’d lied sooner or later, and he wouldn’t blame Luna for being angry about it.
And besides which…
And besides which, he realized, he was in a very, very rare situation where literally any lie he could come up with would only soundeven more ridiculousthan the actual truth.
Well,he thought,not like I can make anything worse.
“I’m… not a regular person,” he said suddenly, before his brain could catch up with his mouth.
He grimaced.
That, perhaps, was not the best way of putting it.
Luna murmured something that sounded oddly likeYou can say that again, and he looked up, startled. She cleared her throat.
“Sorry, go on,” she said, her voice sounding strange.
“I…” he began. This was even tougher than he’d thought it would be. To be fair, he’d never had reason to think that he’d have to explain to a human that they were mates. It felt like the kind of thing that maybe he should’ve been taught when he was younger. What on earth was he supposed to say? He wasn’t even supposed to let humans know that shifters existed! “It’s kind of a long story,” he tried again.
Tell her!his hellhound hissed.Tell her everything! Tell her that she is your one and only, from now until the end of time! Two souls entwined in eternal union!
Well, thanks,Henry shot back.That’s super helpful. You made me forget what I was going to say.
You weren’t going to say anything! That’s the problem!
“Well… in that case, would you like a cup of tea?” Luna said quickly, as if she was trying to get the words out before she could change her mind. “Or at least to sit down at the table? This feels really awkward, having this conversation across the room.”
“Sounds great, thanks,” he said, glad of the reprieve as he tried to get his thoughts in order. At her gesture, he headed across to the dining table while Luna put the kettle on, a perplexed expression still on her face, a barely audible muttering falling from her beautiful lips.
And itwasgreat. She wasn’t kicking him out, and clearly she didn’t think he was so crazy that she had to keep her distance. It was probably more than he deserved.
Fillmore jumped up onto Henry’s lap as he waited, licking his face and panting excitedly, and Henry stroked his head awkwardly. He wasn’t really used to petting animals, given that they usually either ran from him, or, more recently, stampededtoward him, but he found that the more he petted Fillmore, the more natural it felt. It was… pretty nice, really.
He’d never even thought about having a pet before, but he was finally thinking that he was starting to see the appeal. Even if the petwasthe most ridiculous-looking animal he’d ever seen.
“You’re a cute one, aren’t you?” he murmured, giving Fillmore an experimental scratch behind the ear. Fillmore’s tongue lolled and one of his back legs came up behind his ear in a kicking motion, and Henry couldn’t help but laugh, despite everything.
The clanking of teacups caught his attention, and he looked up to see Luna staring at him, a steaming cup of tea in each hand, and an expression on her face that he couldn’t quite read.
“Fillmore’s really taken a shine to you,” she said. “He’s a good judge of character, aren’t you, Filly?”
That wasnotwhat he was expecting to hear, all things considered, and he felt a warm glow at her words. Could it be that all was not lost?
“Watch out – it’s still hot,” she said as she set the teacups down, before pulling out a chair and seating herself.
The scent of peppermint registered in his nose, and while it wasn’t the kind of thing he would normally drink, he thought that something soothing would probably do them both some good. More to the point, he liked learning about Luna and what she enjoyed. If he was lucky, he would have much more time to get to know her properly.
