“Well, okay,” the guy said at last, giving in. “But only if it really won’t be any trouble.”
“Of course it won’t!” Luna beamed at him. “Oh! But I never told you my name – Luna Hayes. And… well, I guess you already know, but this is Fillmore. He’s my dog. Obviously.”
“Henry Grant,” the man said, nodding to her. “It’s nice to meet you. And Fillmore.”
“Well, it probably wasn’t,” Luna said sheepishly. “But thanks for finally letting me do something to make it up to you. Do you, uh, want to grab a spare shirt from your suitcase while I’m getting this one cleaned?”
A slightly conflicted look flickered across Henry’s face. “I’m afraid this is the only shirt I brought.”
“Oh, right,” Luna said, blinking. When Henry had said he was planning on roughing it in the woods, she guessed he’d really meant it. “Well, no problem. We’ll have this one cleaned and dried in no time. So come on – let me take you back to where I’m staying. If we hurry, we’ll still have the whole afternoon to… to go our separate ways and do whatever it was we were going to do!”
Nice save,she mentally berated herself as, shifting a now-calm Fillmore to her other arm, she reached out, grabbing Henry by the forearm and towing him toward where she’d parked her car, trying to suppress her shiver at the electricity that thrilled through her once more.But it’s probably the truth.
After all, who’d want to spend any more time with someone after allthat?
Chapter 3
She’s my mate. She’s here. I’m in her car. I’m here, sitting next to my mate in her car.
Henry’s thoughts whirled. He’d felt like someone had hit him over the head with a baseball bat from the moment she’d first touched him to retrieve her – really, kind of hideously ugly – dog from his arms.
He hadn’t been thinking straight. The only thing in his head during those first few moments was the ringing sound of his hellhound as it tipped back its head andhowled, the only word that mattered echoing through his head:Mine!
He knew what he was doing was a bad idea. He should have made his excuses and got the hell out of there, and gone up the mountain like he’d originally planned, staying in his hellhound form until he’d figured out just why every animal in the world seemed to have fallen completely in love with him.
Speaking of…
He glanced down uneasily.
Fillmore the dog was sitting on his lap, tongue lolling, his bulging eyes trained on Henry with what could only be described asextreme intensity.
But at least he wasn’t trying to wriggle around or lick off the cake that – still – coated his chest, so Henry decided he’d take it.
Since Fillmore had decided that just sitting on him was enough, Henry turned his head to look out the car window, nervous about what he might see.
You really didn’t think this through very well, did you,his hellhound said, its voice flat and unimpressed.
Henry bristled, but… he had to admit it had a point. The knowledge that the woman sitting next to him was his mate had been vibrating within him like a struck gong, blocking out most of his ability to formulate evenonethought, let alone many thoughts, which he could have used to make an excuse as to why he couldn’t let her take him back to where she was staying, have his clothes cleaned, and then, presumably, ask her out for a coffee or something once he’d figured out how to invite her anywhere while notalsounwittingly inviting every animal in a five-mile radius.
You also never asked her anything about herself, or why she’s here,his hellhound pointed out sourly.Do you think she’d want to go anywhere with you if you can’t even display basic manners, animals following you around everywhere or not?
A chill ran down Henry’s spine as he realized his hellhound was right. He really was making a complete mess of this – it was just that it was so unexpected. He’d never even been sure that therewassuch a thing as mates. Not being a part of regular hellhound society meant that he didn’t really know a lot of the things he should have – his parents hadn’t been mates, but Henry knew theydidlove each other. But given that, he felt he was missing out on a lot of information that might have helped him navigate these unfamiliar waters.
It also didn’t help, he supposed, that a lot of his romances had tended to be a little short-lived. It made it a little difficult to talk to people when everyone found you instinctively terrifying.
But… Luna didn’t seem to notice anything intimidating or frightening about me at all,Henry thought, glancing across at her.She didn’t even blink. She just apologized for her dog, offered to buy me some more cake, and then, without a second thought, invited me to come back to where she’s staying.
Henry knew that he couldn’t allow himself to just sit here like a stunned lump, letting his mate slip through his fingers. Turning away from the window – since there didn’t seem to be any animals trying to chase down the car just at this point in time – he looked across at her.
It wasn’t just that she didn’t seem to find him scary, or that she obviously had a good heart – her insistence on trying to make up for the loss of his cakes proved that, as well as the fact that she’d apparently been willing to adopt what had to be one of the most un-adoptable dogs Henry had everseen– it was also that she was… well…
Cute as a button,Henry’s mind supplied for him. She had fiery red hair, coppery green eyes, pale skin, and traces of freckles over the bridge of her nose. It was a stunningly beautiful, striking combination, and Henry found that once he was looking at her, it was difficult to tear his eyes away. He would have thought she was gorgeous even if she wasn’t his mate – but the fact that she was made her all but irresistible to him.
“So – you live up here?” he blurted out, realizing that hehadto do something to break the silence that had enveloped them for the past three minutes. It hadn’t quite gotten awkward yet, but it soon would if he didn’t do something. “Oh, wait... you said you were staying at a B&B, so I guess not. Sorry, you did say that.”
Luna flashed him a quick grin, and the burgeoning awkwardness quickly slipped away. “Yeah – I’m not a local at all, I’m afraid. But it really is a beautiful place. If I ever decided to settle down and stay in one place, then I hope I could find somewhere like this.”
“You travel a lot then?” Henry asked – this was more like it! Travel was something he could ask about. And he really was genuinely curious. She was his mate after all – he wanted to know everything about her. How could he dedicate himself to her properly without knowing her likes and dislikes, what she did, where she wanted to go, what her future plans and goals were?
