Lachlan

I tried to help Magnus and Griffin with their Lego monstrosity, but it turns out Lego building is a skill, and it's a skill I did not have. I was happy to leave them to it and went to sit on the couch across from the one that Felix, Mel, and Everett were crowded onto. Mel was seated at one end with a tiny baby in her arms, while Felix perched on the couch arm next to her, staring down at the two of them with a dopey smile. Everett sat on the other end, snapping picture after picture with his phone.

It was a nice moment in domesticity. In fact, I couldn't think of another moment like it in my life. I'd never had any siblings and my youngest cousins were born within a couple of years of me. Not to mention, Dad had always kept me pretty separate from the rest of the family after Mom left.

Everett snapped me out of my melancholy thoughts when he got up, and I watched him go over to the corner where Magnus and Griffin were hard at work so he could take a few pictures of them. Griffin was doing a lot better now, and he animatedly showed his father what they'd been working on. I didn't know how Magnus had done it, but with seemingly no effort, he had turned around Griffin's mood. It was just like him, and I was glad my partner had such a way with people. It balanced me out, and it gave me hope that when we eventually had a family of our own, he would be able to make up for my shortcomings.

Mel said, "Hey, do you want to hold her?"

It took me a few seconds to realize she was talking to me and I started shaking my head, but Mel was already coming toward me. "It's easy," she assured me, and showed me how to hold the baby.

She was heavier than I expected, and her eyes blinked a few times before she stared up at me. It was reflex to smile down at her and Mel said, "See? Not so bad."

And it wasn't. There was something sweet about holding her, and when Everett came a while later and held out his hands, I felt reluctant to pass her back. I did, though, and went to where Magnus and Griffin were still hard at work. They had finished the turret I'd attempted to make and Magnus grinned up at me, clearly in his element.

"I might take off, if you don't mind," I said. "I haven't seen my cousins in a while."

Magnus' smile didn't falter. I was relieved that he was so completely unbothered, and he said, "Yeah, of course. Just text me when you get there so I know you made it okay."

"Sure."

I said my goodbyes to everyone else and made the ten-minute walk to the parking lot. At first it felt a little wrong to leave during such an important family event, but I saw everyone often and had gotten some time in with Marla. I knew Magnus had settled in for the long haul and wouldn't leave until his project with Griffin was finished. As much as I loved him and enjoyed being with his family, they didn't need me there for that long... and I really did miss Safiya and Glenna.

It was a peaceful drive to their house, and it felt incredible to be able to walk into their house without having to worry about whether there were any supernatural customers inside. Since my transformation, I had been caught up in the pack and Magnus' struggles, so I had hardly seen them and this freedom still felt like a novelty.

I walked in and found Safiya, Glenna, and Luin seated around the dining room table. There was a mouthwatering spread of roasted potatoes, asparagus, and charred chicken breasts, and Safiya grinned when she saw me.

"Lachlan, it's so good to see you!" Glenna said. "You must join us. There's plenty."

"If you're sure," I said – as though I wasn't an impolite brute who was already headed to the kitchen to grab a plate and silverware.

When I got back, I sat down across from Luin and next to Safiya. She started dishing generous portions out onto my plate and I looked around the table, enjoying seeing everyone again. "How are you all?" I asked.

Safiya scoffed. "Fine. A little annoyed, if you must know."

I shot a look to Glenna for an explanation and she winced slightly. "We've missed you is all. Luin's been keeping us updated, of course, so we knew you were okay, but it's not the same as seeing you."

I glanced at Safiya out the corner of my eye, afraid that direct eye contact would provoke her. I was able to catch her rolling her eyes and she sighed. "I get it," she said. "Just don't let it happen again."

"I'll try. And I am sorry." The table grew quiet after my apology, but I knew it was accepted.

Dinner was nice – and not only because it was delicious. Everyone took turns catching each other up on their lives, though I was sure that was mostly for my benefit since they had all been seeing each other almost daily. Glenna was having a greenhouse built in the back yard, where she would start growing her own herbs and plants for both magic and cooking. Safiya was still hard at work on her soulmate project, though she hadn't made much progress. Luin...

Well, Luin didn't actually contribute much about himself. That wasn't so unusual. He always lit up in a group setting, but I had noticed how his focus was always dominated by the people around him with an intensity I had never seen in anyone else. He seemed to thrive on his connections to others, which made me even more desperate to help him. After all, if connecting with other people was really so important to Luin, how was it he was able to incorporate into my small family so effortlessly? He had family dinner with my cousins almost every day, and he was able to come running whenever I asked for help without hesitation or delay.

Surely someone like Luin should have other obligations, other people in his life who depended on him. He should have people who had known him closely for more than a few months, but he didn't seem to.

After dinner, Safiya and Glenna went to re-open their shop while Luin and I cleaned up the kitchen and dining room. Their store kept strange hours because of the variety of people who came in, and I didn't mind cleaning up after a meal I hadn't helped prepare or paid for.

Besides, it left me alone with Luin.

As we collected plates, glasses, and silverware, Luin asked, "How are things going in Tourmaline?"

I grinned – it was still such a relief that things had worked out in a way Magnus was happy with. And, I had to admit, the pack was running more smoothly now. "Really great. I doubt there's another alpha out there who could share power so easily, but Magnus has been completely fine with it."

Luin smiled a little and said, "You got very lucky with him."

"I know." And truly, I was very aware of how special Magnus was. So many of the most common, corrosive negative emotions seemed to miss him entirely. I had never seen him truly jealous and he sure didn't seem to have any sense of pride. He never got angry and never put himself before others.

I looked back to Luin and saw that the all-too-familiar haunted look was back. While I'd been thinking of my mate, had Luin been thinking of his? And was this a good time to ask about it?

Luin caught me staring and shrugged, smiling sadly. "I'm happy for you, my friend."

Could he be any more heartbreaking?

"Luin?" I ventured hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to talk about it? I mean, about whatever makes you so sad?" Like a coward, I turned to the sink and started rinsing off the dishes we'd piled on the counter so I wouldn't have to see how my question affected Luin. I made it through most of the stack and he still hadn't spoken, so I finally looked back at him.

Luin's eyes were fixed on the floor, his brows were furrowed, and his teeth were worrying his lip. He was still looking down when he said, "I'm alone."

And then his face crumpled and a tear rolled down his cheek. I stepped closer, but was afraid to touch him – especially when I realized I still had damp hands. I waited for more and a bit later, he said, "I told you I came here fourteen years ago, but there's more to the story. The truth is, I was banished. I've been completely outcast from my people. I can't go back and no one's allowed to contact me."

I'm alone, Luin had said. So his family... any friends he'd had...

I couldn't imagine it. But surely, he'd made new connections in the past fourteen years, right? In case he truly had been alone for all that time, I didn't want to ask outright. "So what have you been doing?"

Luin shrugged. "A couple years in, I found a small band of other outcast fae, but having so many of us together made us too big of a target. I've been mostly on my own ever since. I have a small apartment and I make some money doing freelance work – teleporting, lie detecting... I don't like doing magic when I don't know why people want it, though, so I only work enough to pay my bills."

Yeah, I could see how people might abuse a magical lie detector. He had given me an idea, though... Luin's sadness seemed to spring from his isolation. Well, I didn't know all of Tourmaline's rules yet, but I knew my pack to be a very welcoming community and they'd always been friendly enough with Luin when he came around. Would it be possible to move him into the pack house? Get him some kind of job within the pack so people would get to know him?

I wasn't sure what kind of work he could do for us, but with his variety of talents, surely there was something. Or maybe he would want to do something non-magical like cooking. It would be easy to get Magnus on board – as long as there wasn't a rule against it. And surely Roy wouldn't put up too much of a fight.

I didn't want to say anything to Luin now in case it didn't work out, but I felt a weight ease off me just having a plan. But what could I say in the meantime? Luin looked up at me and the words sprang effortlessly to my lips. "You aren't alone anymore," I promised. Even if I couldn't incorporate my fae friend into my pack, he had me, Magnus, and my cousins. That had to count for something.

--

I was in the kitchen, waiting for the last waffle to finish cooking. I went home early last night, hoping to talk to Magnus about finding a place for Luin, but he was already conked out on the bed – and spread across the very center of it, I should add. I'd rolled my eyes and gotten ready for bed, then shoved Magnus over before settling in. He hadn't even stirred, so he must have been exhausted.

Then I woke up way too early in the morning, hours before I needed to start thinking about work, and was honestly a little irritated to find Magnus still out cold. I didn't even think he'd moved in the night since I shoved him over to make room for me. I figured my options were to stew in my irritation, wake up my clearly exhausted mate, or find something productive to do. I chose option number three.

Besides, when Magnus did wake up, surely a nice breakfast would put him in a better mood. I had sausages and scrambled eggs keeping warm in a chafing dish and a stack of waffles under a dome, where I hoped they wouldn't collect too much moisture or go cold. Three glasses of orange juice were waiting on the table since I wasn't under the delusion Magnus and I would be eating without his sister.

And my patience had run out.

As soon as I added the last waffle to the stack, I went upstairs, letting my steps pound heavily as I walked. To a werewolf's sensitive hearing, they would be as good as a wake-up alarm. I walked into the bedroom to find Magnus sitting up and rubbing sleepily at his eyes. Blankets were twisted around his legs and torso and his hair was just on the sloppy side of mussed, and altogether he looked utterly adorable.

I watched Magnus continue to wake up – he was stretching now with his eyes still squeezed shut, though he was smiling a bit in my direction. My irritation had faded as soon as I saw him and I searched for it again – it really wasn't fair how he scattered my mind like this – but now I just felt happy.

Magnus finally opened his eyes and he spread his arms wide with perfect confidence I would come fill the space he'd left for me. And like he was a magnet, I moved automatically toward him. As I nuzzled against his neck and enjoyed the perfect feeling of his arms around me, I said, "I made breakfast."

"I know! I smelled it. It smells amazing," Magnus said altogether too brightly for someone who was still groggy. It almost wasn't fair how easily he could wake up in the morning.

I tried stepping away, but Magnus didn't let me go. "Aren't you hungry?" I asked.

"Yeah..." Magnus answered, sounding like a kid who knew the question was a trap.

"So don't you think we should go downstairs?"

"No..."

I laughed. "You don't want Mel to beat us downstairs, do you?"

And then Magnus was a flurry of motion. He let me go and ran for his dresser to pull out a pair of pajama pants. It was thoroughly amusing to watch him almost trip himself as he tried to scramble quickly into the pants.

"There's plenty," I said. "Don't hurt yourself." But Magnus was already out the door. I heard him stumble on the stairs and laughed again, following at a more sedate pace. I wanted to rehearse my plan for Luin one more time on the way down before I presented it. Besides, I heard Magnus preparing two plates and arguing playfully with Mel over portion size as he did – better to let them work things out before I got there.