Luin

After our date night in, I thought maybe Arrowan and I had hit a turning point in our relationship. I imagined more date nights, more time together, and maybe I would finally learn what it felt like to fall in love. That's not what happened, though.

Arrowan seemed busier than ever, between time spent taking on healing jobs, setting up a studio in the garage, and holing up with the witches. He spent the most time with Roderick, Safiya's soul mate. He was a witch, too, and I had to admit that he had a lot of fascinating stories about his magical exploits over the years, but shouldn't Arrowan be spending most of his free time with me?

I didn't want to be a nag and I definitely didn't want him to think I was just jealous. But with Fen spending more and more of his time shut in his room, moping about his bond mate, and with Arrowan spending so much time at Glenna and Safiya's, I felt kind of lonely.

I had been avoiding going back to the pack since I couldn't ward the whole territory strongly enough that the Unseelie assassins couldn't get through. Maybe I could at least visit the pack house? After a year and a half of living among so many werewolves, solitude was hard to get used to again.

The pack house wasn't warded strongly enough yet, though, and going before it was reinforced enough would put everyone at risk.

Well, if I couldn't go out, I would bring someone else in. Mind made up, I texted Lachlan inviting him over. Twenty minutes later, he knocked on my door, sending the wards flashing bright. When I opened the door, I saw that his face was obscured by a stack of pizzas. He stepped in to reveal that his brother-in-law, Everett, was with him.

I hadn't spent much time with Everett in the past. It wasn't that I had anything against him. He seemed like the nurturing type, only he was also wicked smart. It was a combination I had a lot of respect for – we just hadn't clicked. That didn't seem to matter now. I was just excited to have another person in the house.

Lachlan set the stack of pizzas down on the coffee table and Everett put a couple packs of soda next to them.

"Wait, let me get a trivet!" I said, heading for the kitchen.

"Relax," Lachlan said, snatching my hand and tugging me back.

"You'll ruin the coffee table."

Lachlan waved that off. "It's my coffee table and I say it's fine."

I couldn't argue with that, but it made me endlessly uncomfortable, which seemed to amuse Lachlan. He went to the kitchen to get plates, leaving me alone with Everett.

"I hope you don't mind that I tagged along," he said. "Lachlan and I were having a mate-free day."

"Of course I don't mind!" I said a little too eagerly. "Why a mate-free day?"

Everett smiled and sat down, looking much more relaxed now. "Felix is in trouble for kicking a soccer ball into our son's face. Magnus was playing with them and feels responsible, so now he won't leave Griffin's side."

"Poor Magnus," I said.

"Aw, don't worry about him," Lachlan said, coming back into the room. "He's just sensitive."

"What's he going to be like when you two have kids? The man's going to have a meltdown any time one of them gets a paper cut," Everett said, accepting the plate Lachlan handed him. I took a plate, too, and noticed Lachlan had grabbed four.

He saw me looking and shrugged. "I thought your friend might want to join in. It sounds like he could use a distraction."

How could I not have thought of that sooner? "Let me see if he's feeling up to it."

"Bring him out whether he's feeling up to it or not," Lachlan said. "All this time alone can't be good for him." He knew just how worried I was about Fen.

I went and knocked on Fen's door. He groaned in response. "Come on, Fen. Nap time's over." Just having Lachlan here made me bolder.

"No, I'm good here."

I opened the door and he stared at me from where he was curled up on his bed. His skin was pale and he looked like he had barely been sleeping even though he spent almost all of his time in his room these days. He only ate when I brought him food and stayed to make sure he actually ate it and was all-around not taking care of himself. I knew the word for what was happening to my friend: depression. I just didn't know how to help him, and it only seemed to be getting worse the longer it went on.

"Fen, please? I have some friends over and I think it would be good for you to come hang out with us for a while." He was about to argue, so I pulled out my trump card: "They brought pizza."

See, Fen might be having trouble eating, but he had a special love of pizza.

"I could have some pizza, I guess," he said, sitting up and straightening his wrinkled shirt. Was that the same one he had on yesterday when I brought him breakfast? I debated asking him to change, but for now, it was enough he had agreed to come out to the living room for a while.

When we reached the living room, Everett had moved so Fen and I could sit together on the couch. I introduced everyone around. Lachlan passed Fen a plate and I quickly filled my own with slices of mushroom pizza. Lachlan pulled a face and I shrugged at him. He thought mushrooms were gross, but I loved them. He acted tortured every time I ate them in front of him, yet he brought a mushroom pizza for me so I knew he must not mind all that much.

Fen took mushroom pizza, too, and Lachlan stuck his tongue out in disgust. "Must be a fae thing," he said.

Everett looked at the sausage pizza on his plate and the pepperoni slices on Lachlan's and laughed. "And the werewolves took meat. Good to know we're predictable."

Lachlan leaned back in his seat, chewing happily. After scarfing a few more bites, he said, "So, who wants to go first?"

I looked at him questioningly and he smiled. "The floor is open. What's going on in people's lives?"

"You first," Everett said, smirking.

Lachlan frowned at him. "I don't know what you mean," he said, but his words came out forceful and pointed. Intriguing.

"Yes, you do," Everett insisted. Lachlan pressed his lips together and shook his head, so Everett shrugged and looked at me. "He and Magnus have been talking about having kids."

"Everett!" Lachlan protested.

"What? You wanted to talk about people's lives. That's a pretty big life thing."

"Fine. Yes, we've talked about it. A little. But honestly, can you imagine our lives with a child? Magnus is a child, himself," Lachlan said, but there was a glint in his eyes that told me he wasn't so upset by the prospect.

"Is that such a bad thing?" I asked. "I've seen Magnus with kids. He's amazing."

"Those were other people's kids, who you can give back when you're done," Lachlan said. It sounded rote, like he thought he should say it but didn't mean it.

"I think you guys would be great parents," Everett said. "Just saying."

"Ugh. Thanks. Someone else go now," Lachlan said. He took a huge bite of pizza and glared at us while he chewed.

I glanced at Fen, who had eaten hardly anything yet. He needed to be brought into the conversation, and Everett was a stranger to him. That meant it was my job. "Arrowan's hardly ever home," I said. This wasn't news to Lachlan and it shouldn't have been news to Fen, but both Fen and Everett frowned in concern.

"I haven't noticed anything," Fen said.

Of course you haven't, I wanted to say – but I knew better. Pointing out his detachment would only make him feel worse. "You've been busy," I said instead, even though it wasn't strictly true, unless wallowing counted as an activity.

"Where's he been going?" Everett asked.

So I explained Arrowan's new job and his seeming fascination with witchcraft. When I finished, Fen was frowning and staring down at his hands.

"He's going through a lot of changes right now," Lachlan said. "Moving to a new realm and jumping into a serious relationship, the danger, the exposure to other magical cultures. Honestly, I can't think of much in his life that didn't change. He might just need you to be patient with him while he works through everything."

That was the kind of level-headed approach I usually prided myself on taking, and was exactly what I needed to hear. Everett nodded his agreement and asked, "Have you tried talking with him about how you're feeling?"

"No, not yet. I think Lachlan is right – Arrowan needs time," I said. I could give him time. I had already spent so long waiting on him, and at least this time, I wasn't waiting totally alone.

I glanced at Fen, who was staring down at his hands with his pizza completely forgotten. "I didn't even notice," he said. "I'm sorry."

I bumped my shoulder into his. "Don't worry about it. You have your own things to worry about."

Fen glanced up and saw that all eyes were on him. "I guess it's my turn," he said. Lachlan got up and passed around drinks to all of us, and Fen fiddled with the pull-tab on the top of the can. "I can't get to my bond mate. He teaches at this swanky-looking school. According to Google, it's private, and whenever I try to step onto school grounds, I get blasted back. There's an illusion cast over the whole place – I didn't notice that at first since I could see through it so easily. Most people looking at it would just see a big corn field. The whole thing is strange and I don't know what to do."

Everett set his pizza aside and pulled out his phone. "What's this school called?"

"The signs call it Ashen Oak Academy."

"Maine, you said?" Everett confirmed, typing. Fen nodded and a minute or so later, Everett frowned and set the phone back down. "It has a website, but it all looks generic and all of the contact forms are broken links. Have you tried calling the phone number listed on the site?"

Fen nodded. "Every time I try, it rings until it goes to voicemail. I haven't left one, because what would I say? 'Hi, can that red-haired teacher call me back, please?' I haven't even been able to learn his name. I haven't seen him outside in weeks, either, so I couldn't just call him over to me even if I wanted to."

Hm. His situation was trickier than I had realized. Fen hadn't told me about the school repelling him or being set up with illusory magic. It sounded like he might have to wait until his bond mate left school grounds, but what if he was on lockdown like Arrowan and I were? What if he never left warded territory?

No, there must be something we could do. Fen couldn't have left his life in Alterra to spend his time standing on the sidelines of a strange school, pining.

"Hey, Luin, would you mind taking me home for a minute? I want to grab my laptop," Lachlan said.

I grimaced. "It's not safe." Not for me, not for him, and not for the rest of the pack. "Hey, Fen, could you take him? You can bring him to the building I was living in when you first came and found me."

Fen stood up and wiped his hands on his pants, which had me fighting back a wince. "No problem," he said, and held a hand out for Lachlan to take.

"Wait!" Everett said. "Call the security station and let them know you're coming. Fen would trip the wards, wouldn't he?"

The last part was directed to me, and I mentally kicked myself. "Yes! Yes, of course."

Everett raised a brow at Lachlan. "Shouldn't the alpha's mate know this?"

Lachlan rolled his eyes. "Magnus being alpha has nothing to do with me."

I wasn't sure that was strictly true, but Everett just rolled his eyes and took a swig of his soda. Lachlan made a quick phone call to warn the security post that the wards were about to go off, then the pair of them disappeared.

"So, is it your turn?" I asked Everett.

He sank down into his seat in a way I envied. I didn't know how to lounge like that, and when I tried, I just looked stupid. "Same old," he said. "Griffin's starting to act out in school, which has Felix panicking that we're doing something wrong raising him. I think the kid's just bored and needs a challenge. Marla is getting more mobile – running faster and getting into more trouble than usual. They call it the terrible twos."

I hadn't spent much time around children that young, but it sounded awful. "I don't think I want kids," I decided.

Everett smiled, completely unoffended. "I get it. Me, I love it. Felix does too. I guess that's one of the reasons we're mates." His hand cupped the scar embedded in the muscle at the base of his neck, his eyes softening.

Every pair of soul mates had something like that, I reflected. Felix and Everett worked together in synchronization with what seemed like very little effort, and they wanted the same things out of their home life. Magnus and Lachlan were harder to figure out. Oh, anyone could see at a glance how they fit together, but the why wasn't immediately obvious. After years of watching them, I had decided it came down to a deep inner goodness. Magnus' was overt, and he would bend over backwards in an instant if he thought he could help someone. Lachlan was more subtle about it. He was a bit prickly and snappish, but even though he was the planning type, he would drop everything to help a friend. They deserved each other.

What would Arrowan and I share? When people looked at us years down the road – once we were hopefully settled and once our bond was fully-formed – what would make them think, "They're perfect for each other?" I was excited to find out.