Lachlan

Magnus wasn't himself today. I couldn't blame him, but I missed seeing that bright, easy smile. I really missed the way his eyes usually looked lit from the inside. How could such dark eyes hold such warmth? It was a contradiction I loved, and the only time he had looked remotely happy in the last couple of days was when he looked at me. Any other time, his eyes were dull, his smile gone, and his posture stiff with tension I had tried and failed to rub out.

Magnus wove through the forest roads on his pack lands with a white-knuckled grip on his steering wheel – he was still upset at the change of plans. I tried again to distract him. "I think I'm going to visit my cousins later," I said.

That did get his attention. "Really? I thought you didn't like to go over there much."

I shrugged. It was true, I did like to avoid the supernatural as much as possible – Magnus excluded – but I hadn't seen them in a few days. "They close their shop for dinner. I'll probably go over then."

Magnus nodded absently and already the glint of curiosity faded from his eyes. Well, at least I pulled him out of his own head for a minute.

I was starting to learn my way through the forest, something I never thought would happen, and knew that after the next bend we would be at the pack house. I watched out the window and felt a thrill of victory when the pack house did, indeed, come into view as I expected. Then Magnus gasped and he slowed to a stop. I glanced at him and took in his shaking hands and wide eyes. What could make him look like that?

My pulse raced with fear and I almost didn't dare look out the window in the direction of Magnus' stare, but my curiosity won out over the fear. Out in the field where the pack held its barbeques and bonfires there was a huge picnic set up with balloons, streamers, tables laden with food, and a massive banner that said "We stand with Alpha Magnus" in bold black lettering.

I looked from the crowd of smiling, waving faces to Magnus, who had tears rolling down his cheeks as he gaped at his pack.

I couldn't keep my hands off him, not now. Not when he was feeling so much, shaking and crying next to me. Not when he was about to go on a maybe-dangerous trip. I grabbed the hand he had resting on the shifting gear and kissed his trembling fingers one by one before pressing a kiss to his palm.

Magnus set his tear-filled eyes on me and smiled that breathtaking, bright smile I had been missing so much. "They've been" – he paused to sniffle – "they've been acting weird for days. I thought they didn't want me anymore."

"I can't imagine anyone not wanting you, Magnus." It was the truth. How could anyone pass up the chance to have someone so good, so pure in their lives?

And this wonderful creature, somehow he was mine.

More tears streamed down his face, quicker than before. "Thanks, Lach."

"Just telling the truth."

We stared at each other for a few long moments before Magnus exhaled shakily and nodded a little to himself. "Okay. We shouldn't keep them waiting."

As we drove closer, the pack cheered. Magnus parked and wiped the tears off his cheeks before climbing out of the car, but more replaced them. I followed behind him as he approached the picnic area. As soon as Magnus reached the crowd, someone broke free and hugged him. Soon he was being passed around, being embraced by some while others patted his arm or his back. I think he spoke to everyone before he made it back to me.

Felix came and stood beside me while we watched the pack show Magnus their support. Felix's eyes were shiny with unshed tears and I knew mine were too. Magnus deserved this, and there was no doubting how much it meant to him, not when he was still a little bit crying.

"They love him," I said quietly. I knew Felix would hear.

He glanced at me before looking back at Magnus with a proud smile. "To know Magnus is to love him," he said. Then he looked back at me and I could swear his eyes were piercing into me, seeing far too much.

I just nodded. He was right. At least in my experience, that was true.

I looked around and realized a few key players were missing. "Where's the rest of the family?"

Felix laughed. "Griffin threw a fit this morning over his clothes. Everett didn't like the outfit he picked out – something about not mixing plaid and stripes – and they got into a huge fight. I had to go on ahead to help with the setup, but they should be here soon. Mel's, um, helping out in the pack kitchen. Driving them all up a wall, I bet."

I snorted. She genuinely scared me, but her ferocity was amusing as long as it was directed at someone else. "Better there than here," I said. Then I realized how that must sound and scrambled. "I mean, I like Mel just fine, of course, but-"

"It's okay," Felix cut me off. "I get it."

By the time Magnus reached me and Felix, he was red-faced and still smiling. How were his cheeks not killing him? Mine would be by now. "Did you know about this?" he asked Felix.

Felix shrugged. "They made us promise not to tell."

"Us?" Magnus demanded, planting his fists on his hips. He was probably trying to look intimidating, but he just looked adorable.

Felix opened his mouth, then his gaze sharpened somewhere behind Magnus and he patted Magnus on the shoulder. "Everett and Griffin just got here. Catch you later!"

Magnus and I watched as Felix jogged to his family. He kissed Griffin's cheek before hooking his fingers into Everett's belt loops and pulling him in for a searing kiss. I quickly looked away, scanning the crowd to see if anyone was upset by the PDA, but no one was paying them any attention at all.

"Your brother is... very open about his relationship," I said. I couldn't imagine acting like that.

Magnus shrugged. "We're really open around here. That's why all the secrecy this week bothered me so much." He looked over the crowd with a dopey smile and it almost hurt to keep from kissing him.

Magnus was not the kind of person I ever saw myself ending up with. For starters, I thought I would end up alone or with a techy person. Magnus wasn't particularly tech-savvy. Magnus was also the first person I had dated who was stronger than me – and it wasn't just that he was a werewolf. His muscles were kind of huge. I had never found that particularly attractive before, but on Magnus, it was hot.

He looked down at me, amusement sparking in his eyes. "Did you know that arousal has a scent?" he asked with feigned casualness. The delight in his voice and the amusement written all over him gave him away, though.

There were two options here: let him embarrass me or brazen it out. I kept my eyes fixed on his while I stepped in closer, looping my sleeved arms around his neck and standing up on my toes so the height difference between us wasn't quite so big. When we were so close I could feel his breath on my lips, I said, "It's no secret that I want you."

I could feel Magnus grow hard against my abdomen. His eyes were molten on mine and he looked a little dazed. I wanted to snatch him away and do wonderful, wicked things to him... but this wasn't the time. So I stepped back and tried to clear my mind while Magnus blinked and shook his head.

"You minx," he accused.

I smirked. I could hardly deny it, so I said, "We should join the party." I looked around and saw that a bunch of his pack mates had been watching our exchange... and possibly listening in. So much for not being as public as Felix was with his relationship.

Magnus saw the crowd and his cheeks pinkened. "So much for being discrete," he muttered.

I shrugged. It wouldn't matter for much longer, anyway. Magnus was mine. We would get through this awful case against him and then... Well, then I really hoped I would feel ready for the change, because right now it still terrified me.

Even so, I laced my fingers through Magnus' before tugging him into the crowd.

--

Saying goodbye to Magnus was harder than I thought it would be – hard enough that I had Felix drop me off at my cousins' house instead of my own when I saw that their driveway was empty. Not all of their customers used cars, but Glenna immediately came to the door and opened it with a smile, so I knew it was safe.

Safiya was laying down on a couch in the living room, one leg dangling over the arm and the other perched up on the back of the couch. She waved lazily at me before closing her eyes and resting an arm over them.

I gave Glenna a "What's with her?" look and Glenna shrugged. "It was a busy morning," she said. "Someone teleported into the shop too close to a display of potions. Bottles broke, potions got mixed together, and very bad things would have happened if we hadn't both been here to stop it."

"You might want to rethink how you display your potions," I commented. I knew I was gawking at Glenna with wide eyes, but I couldn't help it. That sounded horrific. I always thought the danger of running a shop like theirs came from the customers, not so much the wares.

"Ya think?" Safiya said, sarcasm heavy in her tone.

Glenna sat gracefully down on her armchair and gave me a quizzical look. "How are you doing, Lachlan?"

I shrugged. "Magnus left today." They both knew a little bit about the appeal that had been filed against him so I thankfully didn't need to explain further.

Glenna's features flooded with sympathy and Safiya's arm slid from her face so she could stare at me. "Sucks," she said.

"Safiya!" Glenna scolded.

I snorted in amusement. "It does suck." I sat down on the free chair and slouched comfortably. "I thought about going with him," I said.

"Lach!" Glenna gasped. "You couldn't!"

I knew that – I knew how stupid it would be. I wouldn't be allowed to go unless I asserted my rights as Magnus' mate – Glenna had helped me do some research on the Summit. If I did that, if I went officially as his mate, it opened me up to questioning, too. Lying to them was just as serious as lying in court and they didn't take kindly to evasive answers either. I couldn't risk them asking me the wrong questions.

Despite all that, a very real part of me had been desperate to go with him.

"I'm here, aren't I?" I said.

But Glenna wasn't happy with that answer. Her eyes searched mine. Safiya sat up, too, and leaned forward. "So, what's it like?"

"What?" I asked, already getting a bad feeling about her obvious eagerness. Safiya looked just like she had in middle school when she was chasing gossip and drama.

"Being a werewolf's mate. What's it like?"

I frowned and scratched at my beard, debating just how much information I was comfortable sharing with my cousins.

"C'mon, Lachlan! I'm dying of curiosity. Do you have any idea how cool it is that you get to be with your soulmate? I've been trying to figure out how to magically trace soulmates ever since you told us about him and I'm making zero progress."

I hadn't known that. Interesting. I always wondered where Safiya and Glenna learned their witchcraft. How much of it had they just made up or figured out on their own? It made me feel a lot less safe around their magic. "How exactly do you figure out new spells?"

Glenna must have sensed my anxiety – she had been good at sensing people's emotions even before she became a witch and magic gave her an edge. "Don't worry, we're careful," she said. "We do information trades, usually. If there's something we want to learn and we can't find it in a book, we ask our customers. If they can help us, we trade them store credit for lessons."

That was... actually pretty smart. I settled down. "So no one you've asked yet has been able to tell you about soulmate tracking?"

Safiya threw her hands in the air. "No one! Turns out most magical species can't sense them like werewolves can, and for werewolves it's instinct. They can't teach us how to do it."

What was it Magnus had said? Something like, the true power of werewolves is that they can find their soulmates. That jived with what Safiya was saying about how most species couldn't do it. That raised the question of what else Magnus knew about the supernatural world.

"Hey, focus!" Safiya said. "You never answered my question. What's it like to know your soulmate?"

I opened my mouth – about to shut down this line of questioning altogether – but then I made the mistake of looking at Safiya. Her lips were in an exaggerated pout and her hands were clasped before her like a beggar, but the curiosity and hunger for answers in her eyes rang true. For some reason, this meant a lot to her. I sighed, and she must have heard her victory in the sound because she sat up with an excited smile.

"How do you live with her?" I asked Glenna jokingly.

Glenna just smiled. "She's surprisingly easy to live with."

"Hey!" Safiya said, but she was smiling. Then she looked back at me. "Stop stalling."

"Ugh," I groaned. "Fine. It's... good. Really good." At Safiya's expectant look, I continued. "Magnus is... Well, he's incredible. And we just... fit. I don't know how to explain it, Fiya. I really don't. It's like he instinctively knows what to do and say to make everything better."

God, I was terrible at explaining this, but how could you explain how a person could complete you so perfectly? How effortless it could be to be with them, how seamlessly they integrate into your life until you honestly couldn't imagine going back to the life you had before?

Safiya sighed. "You're hopeless. I should have had a poet for a cousin."

I snorted.

The door opened with the sound of a chiming bell. Glenna and Safiya stood and, just like the last time a customer came while I visited with them, Glenna hurried to greet the customer while Safiya pulled me toward the hall.

Unlike last time, the customer noticed me.

"Wait! Who's this?"

I froze and debated my options, but I didn't know what I was dealing with here and a lot of supernatural creatures were just like wild predators – running from them only made them want you more. I looked to Safiya for some hint of how I should handle this, but her eyes were wide and staring over my shoulder.

Feeling like I was in a bad horror film, I held my breath and slowly – so slowly – turned around. Then I wished I hadn't, if only so I could go back to blissful ignorance.

It was the same customer as before – the fey man. His mercury eyes were alight with curiosity as they studied me.

This was not good.