Arrowan

The wards were in shambles. I knew the kind of ward work Luin was usually capable of, but these were so faded and shredded that I couldn't even tell what kind he had woven around the pack house. Rather than being a tightly-woven fabric of magic, the wards were like dangling threads. Almost anything could walk through the gaps.

"This is my fault," Luin whispered to me. "People are getting hurt and I should have prevented it."

His eyes shimmered with tears and he looked up at me, his expression pleading for something. Comfort? Condemnation? If I had to guess, trying to convince him that he wasn't responsible would only make him feel worse. I didn't want to risk it, so I hugged him tightly and he tucked himself against my chest. His shoulders shook, so I clutched him even tighter until he calmed down. In the meantime, Lachlan and Roderick wandered a ways off to give us some privacy.

"I should have come out as soon as the Unseelie were taken care of. I knew the wards hadn't been maintained in too long. Or I could have asked Glenna and Safiya to take care of it, or Roderick," Luin said.

"You're not alpha," I reminded him. "You don't make defensive decisions for the pack." I was fairly certain that was true, anyway, and Luin didn't disagree. "Magnus could have asked to have the wards reinforced. His security team could have caught the intruders sooner. Don't you dare take all of this on yourself."

Whoops. I really hadn't meant to try and push absolution on Luin if he wasn't ready to hear it. Thankfully, he looked up and studied me with damp eyes, then slowly nodded. "It wasn't all my fault," he finally said. "But I still owed the pack better than I gave them."

That would have to be enough for now. At least Luin was doing a bit better. He pulled away from me and rolled his shoulders back, then deliberately straightened his posture and fixed his expression into neutrality. "Let's get the wards back up," he said, all determination now. I nodded and we caught up to Lachlan and Roderick down the hall.

Weaving wards with Roderick was different from working with Glenna and Safiya. I had always felt Glenna's magic as a warm glow. Safiya's felt like it was crackling, sort of like those sparkler sticks people played with on the fourth of July. Working with the two of them never could have prepared me for the intensity of Roderick's magic. It felt sharp and had a dangerous edge, but there was never any doubt he had complete control over himself. The focus in his eyes and the careful way he wove strands of his magic together and around my own should have been comforting. Instead, it only made him feel more dangerous to me.

Magic like his, it had to be capable of complete devastation. And how was he not exhausted by now? As Luin worked, I kept funneling more magic into him through our bond and he still looked pale and ill. Roderick didn't look like all of this magic use was affecting him at all.

I was glad he was a friend, because even with our good relationship I felt intimidated.

The warriors still hadn't returned by the time the warding work was finished. Roderick looked to me and said, "Will you three be okay here? I can put up lightning wards around the borders of the territory. They'll zap anyone who doesn't belong."

"I don't belong," I pointed out.

"Stay in the pack house and that won't matter," Roderick said. "Just don't go outside."

I nodded and Roderick disappeared. It was interesting that Roderick had only bothered to get permission from me when Lachlan was here. Did being mated to one of the pack's alphas not give him any kind of authority? Or did Roderick just not know or care?

"I'm going to find a window. I want to see what's going on," Lachlan said. He started striding away, leaving me and Luin to trail after him. No way was I leaving the man alone, not until Magnus came back. Lachlan checked a few rooms, looking out the windows before moving on, until he finally found one that had a view of fighting wolves. He cracked opened the window and sniffed at the air.

"Our warrior is the bigger one – Rahul. I don't recognize the other's scent," Lachlan said.

Luin nodded and his brow furrowed as he watched the two circle and snap at each other. The two wolves looked to be about the same size to me, so I wouldn't have known who to root for if it weren't for Luin's reactions – wincing when one of the wolves got hurt and leaning in when he managed to do some damage to his opponent.

"What's all this about, anyway?" I asked Lachlan.

He blew out a breath. "There's this pack that's been bothering us lately."

"Bothering?" Luin asked with a dangerous edge to his tone.

"Magnus didn't want to tell you while you had other things going on. We were going to talk about it once you eased back into working again," Lachlan said apologetically.

"What has this pack been doing to you?" Luin asked.

"It's a territorial issue. They're getting too big for their land and they want ours. As you can imagine, Magnus and Roy aren't too keen on that. Up until today, it was just threats and lurking on the borders of our territory," Lachlan explained.

"And no one told me?" Luin demanded.

"You were on lock-down. What could you have done?"

"I could have come here in the last few days. I didn't realize the wards were so pressing. And even if I couldn't come, why didn't you have your cousins ward the property?" Luin demanded. His eyes were glowing again and his glare sent shivers down my spine. Was it strange for me to find this attractive?

Lachlan threw up his hands. "I know! Okay? I know. I should have called them. They've just been so busy lately and I didn't want to add something else to the stack of things they needed to worry about." His shoulders slumped and he looked away from the fight still taking place outside. "I failed my pack. I'm not a very good werewolf."

Luin stepped closer to Lachlan and put a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't know this would happen," he said gently. His anger couldn't hold up in the face of Lachlan's guilt.

"I didn't think it would happen so soon. I thought they would test us a little more before they attacked. I thought we had time. But I put the comfort of my friends over the safety of my pack. It's so stupid."

Rahul yelped in pain outside and Lachlan flinched away from the sound. Luin shut the window, but I knew how well werewolves could hear, and a pane of glass wouldn't be enough to block out the sound of fighting.

"What makes it even worse is that Magnus isn't even going to be upset with me. He's too generous," Lachlan whispered. Luin gently guided him away from the window and onto the bed that was in this room. I turned and watched out the window to give them some semblance of privacy. Rahul was flagging.

I glanced back at Lachlan and Luin, who weren't paying attention to their surroundings and who wouldn't do well in a fight anyway. At least with them right next to each other, Luin could teleport the two of them away if a threat somehow got into the pack house.

"I'm going to go help, okay? I'll be right back," I said to Luin. It should be safe enough – I wasn't sure how long it would take Roderick to put up his lightning wards, but this was a big territory and I wasn't going to be outside the pack house for long.

Luin nodded and smiled gratefully. He probably thought I was leaving to give them some privacy, not because a pack member was in serious danger. That was probably for the best, given how upset he already was.

I had never been here before, so it took me a couple of minutes to find a door outside, and then another minute to get to where the fight had been happening – had been, past tense. It was over by the time I got there, and the wolf from the attacking pack was nowhere in sight. Rahul lay on the ground in a puddle of blood. I ran to his side and was relieved to see a slight movement in his chest as I crouched down next to him.

He didn't react to my presence at all – probably already unconscious. Based on the amount of blood underneath him and how deep some of the claw marks on his sides were, he was lucky to still be breathing at all. But wolf healing didn't look like it was going to be enough to save him. I pressed my hands to the worst of his wounds and pushed healing magic into his body. It was damaged enough that I didn't bother trying to direct the magic. Instead, I let it roam freely, repairing the damage as it passed through. It took a lot out of me, enough that I was dizzy by the time I was done, but when I opened my eyes (eyes I didn't remember shutting), Rahul was staring up at me.

"I'm a friend," I said. His blood coated my hands and he didn't know me, so it was understandable when he jerked away from me and snapped at my fingers, which were still reaching toward him.

"Hey! No need for all that. I just healed you."

Rahul didn't seem impressed.

I tried again. "I'm Luin's bond mate. He came to help and brought me along."

That made Rahul pause. He sniffed at me, but as far as I knew, my scent and Luin's hadn't intertwined like wolf scents did. Fae didn't really have need of that kind of connection since we didn't have a werewolf's enhanced sense of smell.

"Let's both just walk away, okay? I need to get back to Luin and you probably have places to be, too," I said, standing up and slowly backing away. I was afraid any sudden movements would send him leaping at my throat. Rahul didn't respond, but he didn't follow after me... not until I got close to the pack house.

He stuck to my side like glue as I walked through the halls, winding my way back to where I'd left Lachlan and Luin. It took a few tries since this place truly was massive and I hadn't been paying much attention to my path when I ran outside. The dizziness swimming through my mind also really didn't help. Eventually, though, we made it.

Luin jumped to his feet when he saw me, smiling broadly until he caught sight of the blood on my hands. Rahul pushed his way into the room and stood protectively between us.

"He doesn't trust me," I explained to Luin.

"Rahul, it's okay," Luin said. "This is Arrowan, my bond mate."

And that was all it took. Without the slightest hint of apology or gratitude, he went running off. Probably on his way to rejoin the fighting.

"What was all that about?" Lachlan asked.

I held up my bloody palms. "He got into a spot of trouble and I healed him."

"Are you okay?" Luin said, and our bond lit up as he tried to feel me out. It hadn't progressed enough for that to work yet, but I appreciated the attempt.

"I'm fine. A little drained, but nothing that'll make me too sick," I assured him as the room spun around me. In fact, I had such a bad headache and I couldn't pinpoint exactly where the throbbing was coming from. It was more of a full-head experience. My limbs felt weak and the bright light coming in through the windows was only making things worse. But no need to worry Luin. I had over-used my magic stores before and recovered just fine. It would just take some time and some rest.

"You shouldn't have funneled so much magic to me!" Luin scolded. His worry blared so brightly at me through our bond that it made my headache throb.

"Ssh, I'm fine. It didn't even feel like a drain on my magic when I helped you, I swear. And you needed it," I assured him. Luin gave me a sappy smile and our bond shuddered and grew. I cupped his cheek and he leaned into my touch for a few seconds before launching himself at me in a tight hug. His head tucked against my chest and I enfolded my arms around him. This closeness, it felt incredibly right. And when he was with me, the rest of the world faded into the background more easily than I could have ever imagined possible.

Luin mumbled against my chest, but I didn't catch it.

"Hmm?"

He lifted his head just a bit and said, "I'm so lucky to have you." Before I could react, he had already buried his face in back in my chest.

I pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "Not as lucky as I am."

Lachlan coughed softly and I held Luin closer, anticipating that the reminder we weren't alone would send him into an embarrassed tizzy and make him pull away from me. He squirmed against me until I let him go, giving me a full view of his blush-darkened cheeks and foolish smile.

"Sorry, Lachlan," Luin said. "It's been a long day."

Lachlan held out his phone toward us, screen-first. "And it's not going to end any time soon," he said. Luin stepped forward to read the screen and sighed.

"Arrowan and I are tapped today, but Glenna should have some healing poultices. Do you think that ally pack of yours might have any doctors they can send?"

"I'll call," Lachlan said.

While he did that, Luin turned to me. "The fight is over for now, but a lot of our warriors are injured and there's no telling when the Thorne pack will return."

I didn't like the sound of that. "We should check in with Roderick about that lightning ward he was putting up. It should have been done by now."

"It's up," Lachlan said from across the room, the phone still pressed to his ear. "That's why we have some breathing space now. Roderick had to go home. He burned through a ton of magic."

If Roderick had just brought Glenna and Safiya with him, they could have accomplished so much more together. I understood why he hadn't, though. Both were self-trained and easily admitted to being much less experienced than he was magically. He had drained himself to protect them.

I was mostly just comforted to know the man did have a limit.

Lachlan call must have finally gone through, since he turned away and started asking after healers. Luin held out a hand. "Why don't we go home? We could both use some sleep."

I took his hand and an instant later, we were at our bedside. We both climbed in, heedless of the dinner we hadn't eaten yet, the teeth we hadn't brushed, and the clothes we hadn't changed.

"Did you ever wash your hands?" Luin asked sleepily.

Shoot. "No." And they were still covered in Rahul's blood. Luin shoved my shoulder and I trudged to the bathroom. He was conked out by the time I got back.