Arrowan

I woke up and basked in the wonderful warmth Luin generated. Usually my blankets stayed cool at night no matter how many I piled on myself.  Luin was like a heater, though, and I woke up cozier than I'd ever been before in my life.

I rolled over and saw him still fast asleep, hugging a pillow against his chest with his face tucked into it. I was torn between waiting him out so we could get up together and getting a start on breakfast, but after only a few seconds of debate, I slipped out of the bed. Luin liked to sleep in, and even once he was awake, he didn't like to get out of bed right away. If I stayed here, there was no telling how long it would be before Luin was ready to start his day. As much as I enjoyed sharing a bed with him – and believe me, it was on my list of favorite activities – I knew I'd get bored just laying around.

It would have been fine. Most mornings, Luin seemed to really appreciate when I woke up first and made breakfast. This time, I had strips of raw bacon in my hands when Luin came sprinting into the room, his eyes wide and fearful. He collided with me, wrapping his arms tightly around my chest while he trembled against me.

I tossed the bacon on the tray behind me, but didn't want to touch him before I washed my hands, so I waited until Luin pulled back, looking annoyed now rather than frightened. Before he could scold me, I said, "Let me wash my hands, okay?"

"Fine." He backed off and watched with crossed arms as I scrubbed up. As soon as the water was off – before I could even dry my hands – Luin was wrapped around me again.

"You weren't supposed to leave me alone," Luin said, his words distorted since his face was pressed against me.

My heart lurched and I kissed the top of his head. "I'm sorry. I thought you might like some breakfast." Also, I'd had no idea he would still feel that way in the gentle light of morning. "I'm surprised you're even awake so early."

Luin shrugged and mumbled, "You were gone."

A rush of affection for this man coursed through me. It seemed like everything he did or said carved out a bigger place for him in my heart. I hadn't known him for a week, but already I felt so much for him. Maybe I should have known it would be this easy – after all, he was my bond mate. There was a reason we were connected, a reason this was the person I was destined to spend my life with. Already, I knew that having Luin in my life was worth whatever danger it brought on myself. I just wished it felt worth the danger I brought to him.

"So, breakfast?" Luin asked as he eased out of my embrace. I glanced down at him and found him staring up at me eagerly.

"Why don't you put a pot of coffee on while I cook?" I offered, knowing he would take me up on it. Luin's preferred state in the morning was stationary and with a mug of coffee in reach.

I went back to arranging the bacon to bake while Luin got the coffee going. It felt nice, moving around the kitchen with him. Routine. I could so easily imagine this being part of the pattern of my life, but in my imagination, we had a home of our own. It was really good of Lachlan to let us stay here for the time being, but how long could we really expect that to go on? Especially when we were in such danger and when the Unseelie after us definitely knew where we were staying.

"What are you thinking about?" Luin asked from the table in the corner of the room.

I glanced at him, surprised he was voluntarily starting a conversation so early. I was even more surprised when I saw how alert he looked. Maybe he was still too shaken up by what happened last night to sink into that sleepy, comfortable haze he usually spent his early mornings in?

"I was just thinking about where we might live." I turned back to get the scrambled eggs going, only glancing back to Luin when he took too long to answer. He looked unhappy. Was I being too presumptuous? Living with him, being with him... it was all so easy for me. It felt natural and like the only obvious choice was to stay together. Maybe he wasn't there yet, though.

When Luin caught me looking, his frown disappeared. He wasn't fooling me, though. His eyes were still troubled and there was still a little line of tension between his brows. "What is it?" I asked.

"It's the pack. You know I live with the Tourmaline pack. They've become important to me and I don't want to abandon them."

"Maybe we could both live there?" I asked hesitantly. I wasn't sure how, exactly, Luin had become part of a pack of werewolves, but it was entirely possible that the pack wouldn't be so welcoming to an Unseelie. I knew I didn't exactly look trustworthy. In fact, I was pretty sure stories of angels and demons derived from the fae. Who could look at Luin and see anything other than unearthly beauty? And who would look at me and see something other than a creature of darkness?

"Maybe," Luin said, but he didn't sound convinced. I wasn't going to push the issue, but then he explained himself. "I don't want to bring the Unseelie down on the Tourmaline pack. I want them protected, not fighting our battles. And I can't ward their entire territory well enough to keep them safe."

I had already put Luin through banishment, years of uncertainty, and an assault. Now I was inadvertently putting a hard decision on him. Being with me would mean leaving the pack. I could see he was serious about not putting them in danger, and I was in total agreement. With so many more people to protect, someone was bound to get hurt. There were just too many vulnerabilities for us to shore up all of them.

"I'm sorry," I said, and I hoped he could hear how much I meant it.

"It isn't your fault," Luin said. I finished cooking our breakfast in silence, both of us dwelling in our own thoughts.

--

Things calmed down for the next couple of days. Luin put off returning to his jobs around the pack. Magnus, as alpha, assured him he could take as much time as he needed. Luin still felt bad about it, though, and I didn't know how to make it better. I wanted to enhance Luin's life, not take things away from him. And I certainly didn't want to isolate him. I shouldn't be the only person he got to interact with regularly. It wasn't healthy for either of us. Besides, I knew he was getting stir crazy. I certainly was.

"Do you want to have dinner with your friends again?" I asked one day while we did some household chores.

Luin perked up. "That's a good idea. I'll have to see if they're free. Maybe we can bring that bread you make this time."

"Sure," I agreed, eager to keep that brightness in his eyes.

Luin pulled out his phone, but before he was able to make the call, the wards flared. Usually, they could only be seen if you connected to them magically. When they were triggered, though, you could see the woven strands of magic that made them up. Given our situation, we had both woven wards around the house in addition to the ones Glenna and Safiya had spelled. The result was that the walls lit up like a firework show just as someone knocked on the front door.

Since my magic was bound into the wards, too, I could tell that there had been no physical or magical assault so far. An unknown, unexpected presence was threat enough to have us on edge anyway.

Luin teleported so he was next to the front door. I wanted to snatch him back and investigate the situation, myself, but I was too far away and didn't have enough shadow magic affinity to be able to use shadows to travel the way many Unseelie could. Instead, I crept toward the door as silently as I could, grateful that Luin didn't seem inclined to actually stand in front of the door until I reached him.

When I was by his side, he fixed wide, frightened eyes on mine. I braced a hand on his shoulder in a silent bid for him to stay put while I took another careful step.

Someone knocked on the door again, louder this time.

"Luin! I know you're in there!"

My heart twisted, but Luin's fear melted away to be replaced with obvious confusion. He put a hand on my arm to stop me from moving forward and slipped between me and the door. After a quick look out the peephole, his whole demeanor changed.

"It's okay!" he told me, and opened the door as far as he could. I blocked it from opening all the way, still not trusting the situation enough to expose us fully.

On the porch looking nervous and just as excited as Luin was a fae man. Seelie. Where Luin's hair was dark and shot through with bronze, this man's was rich blond with streaks like tarnished gold. His eyes were almost the same color as those streaks, just brighter and more metallic, and they widened comically when they landed on me.

"Luin!" he said, throwing himself forward through the gap in the door so he could wrap his arms around Luin. The big duffel bag strung across his back banged into the door, but that didn't deter him. Luin laughed a little and hugged him back, so I eased out of their space and let them have their moment – even though I had no idea exactly what that moment was. The man looked at me over Luin's shoulder and his eyes flared bright gold for a few seconds. "He's your bond mate!" the man said, sounding positively giddy.

Luin withdrew himself from their hug and turned to beam at me. Had I ever seen him smile so widely before? "Arrowan, this is Fen. He was my best friend growing up. Fen, this is Arrowan – my bond mate."

"You have no idea how happy I am to meet you," Fen said, and if I had been the jealous sort, the undeniable earnestness in his voice probably would have been enough to calm me. As it was, I was just glad Fen seemed so delighted over his friend's happiness. In fact, from what I had seen, Luin had excellent taste in friends. Far better than I'd ever had.

"When did this happen?" Fen asked eagerly.

"The afternoon you left," Luin said. "And speaking of leaving, how are you here right now? Don't tell me the Seelie are offering me another deal."

My stomach turned as I recalled the Seelie's recruiting method for their banished former denizens. Luin had apologized profusely over our bond being muted – by his friend named Fen, I suddenly recalled. Of course I didn't blame Luin for what had happened at all. Fen, however... I examined him now with new eyes as my mind worked.

"Could we sit, maybe?" Fen asked, looking nervous again. He glanced at me and I understood. He wanted to talk with Luin privately.

"I think I'm going to have a nap," I said, and Luin smiled gratefully. I wasn't the napping type, but I could hang out in my room for a while and maybe get some research done. I wanted to build up another sculpting studio on Earth and was trying to figure out the cheapest way to make it happen since I had no money of my own.

I headed down the hall and stopped by Luin's room to borrow his laptop. Once in my own room, I glanced at the bag I had brought with me from Alterra. I hadn't unpacked it. It was too jarring, after so many years of being hyper-prepared to run at a moment's notice, to think of not being ready now. Especially since there was no telling when Luin and I might have to make a run for it. Our wards here should hold, but I wasn't sure enough of that not to have a contingency plan.

My mind automatically thought through the supplies in my bag. I still needed to replace the water bottle I had spent when I first arrived here, and adding a few extra bottles for Luin was definitely a good idea.

Then there was the little sculpture I had made for Luin years before we ever met. I had thought, when I made it, that it would be an accurate representation of the two of us. There was a coppery sun with an alabaster crescent moon hanging off of it. The stand was made of a streaked combination of copper and dull steel, meant to represent how the two of us would support each other.

Now that I knew Luin, though, I badly wanted a studio and materials so I could do him better justice. The alabaster and steel were fine for me, but copper wasn't what I would choose for Luin at all, even though it did match his hair. No, I wanted to work the sun again, this time to look like it was made of mercury. Brighter, cleaner, more captivating. And it didn't hurt that the result would match his eyes.

With my new project in mind, I eagerly opened the laptop and started looking for the tools I would need.