Chapter 7

There had been many times in Henry’s life when he had found himself in sticky situations where a calm head and nerves of steel were required. Between hellhound politics – i.e. hellhounds attacking anyone they thought may have even slightly wronged them, whether they had actually done anything or not – and working as a bouncer, he had seen more than his fair share of dangerous situations.

He’d always prided himself on his ability to remain composed no matter what was going on, and make the correct choice between fight and flight. Usually fight, but even then, it never usually came to that – even the drunkest of nightclub patrons tended to back down from him before things had to get ugly, and take his suggestion that they remove themselves to somewhere else.

The third option – freeze – had never even occurred to him as a possibility. It had just never even entered his head.

But he was making up for lost time now. Oh boy, was he. Because he was completely, one hundred percent frozen, one leg through the leg-hole of his underpants and the other hovering uncertainly above the ground, balancing precariously while his hands gripped the waistband like his life depended on it.

Which, he thought, it kind of did. Humiliating himself in front of his mate like this was pretty much life-ending, as far as he was concerned. He really would have to go up to spend time by himself in the mountains, except this time he wouldn’t come back. Ever.

You’re such a drama queen, his hellhound snarled, but Henry could tell that its heart wasn’t in it. The hellhound was embarrassed, and it obviously wasn’t used to the feeling, even though Henry thought that it probably should have been.

He dragged his eyes up to where Luna stood in the doorway, her eyes wide as dinner plates, her mouth forming a perfect ‘O’. The faintest hint of pink tinged her cheeks, growing more prominent even as he looked at her.

I am going to die alone.

His leg – the sole thing keeping him upright – began to wobble. He really needed to put his other foot down on the ground, rather than just swaying around in this ridiculous pose, eyes locked with those of his mate.

The wobbling became more pronounced.

Yep, definitely dying alone.

The whole debacle probably only took a couple of seconds at most, but it felt like an entire lifetime, eons coming and going, his whole life flashing before his eyes… before, inevitably, he toppled to the floor face-first, one foot still caught in his underwear.

Vaguely, he was aware of Fillmore sniffing at his head and yipping excitedly.

At least someone is glad to see me.

It was a long, long moment before his brain finally sprang into action – where were you when I needed you, you traitor?! – and he scrambled to a sitting position, only getting slightly more tangled before he managed to sort himself out and finally, finally get his underwear on properly.

He jumped to his feet and grabbed his jeans before he could stop to think about anything else, yanking them on with more force than was probably strictly necessary, keeping his eyes very much averted from Luna’s general direction.

Should I just shift back into hellhound form and phase right back through the wall again? Maybe she could write the whole thing off as a stress-induced hallucination. I’ve already disappeared on her once today, after all – what’s one more time for the road?

He knew as he thought it that he was being ridiculous. It was no way to treat anyone, especially his mate.

He’d just never been in this kind of situation before! Even being caught naked was something he’d never had to worry about in hellhound society. It had never even occurred to him that it might be something he might find embarrassing. But apparently being caught naked in front of a human – in front of his mate, in his mate’s BB room, after he had unceremoniously disappeared from the room not three hours before – had opened up a side of him that he never even knew existed.

Probably the bigger part of the problem was that more than the nudity, he knew he’d looked completely foolish. Maybe if he’d just acted confidently, it wouldn’t have been an issue.

Then again, maybe standing confidently in her room while stark naked would’ve just made things worse. He thought that was quite possible. At least this way, he hopefully hadn’t come across as too threatening.

That was the one silver lining, Henry supposed – in this situation, ridiculous was definitely a lot better than threatening.

It really wasn’t something he was used to, however, since most people tended to find him threatening, whether he wanted them to or not.

“Here!”

Luna’s breathless voice broke him out of his reverie, and he looked around in time to see his shirt being tossed onto the floor near his feet, Luna having thrown it in his direction while keeping her eyes covered with her other hand. “I thought you had left, so I… took it with me. In case I ran into you. At the festival.” She coughed. “Clearly, I was mistaken. Uh… sorry?”

Her neck was flushing adorably, her hand still clamped over her eyes. It was pretty cute, but he felt bad that he was the cause of all this confusion. He really did need to deal with this situation better than he had been doing so far.

“Uh, thanks,” he managed, bending down to grab his shirt and slipping it over his head. He did feel better, being more or less fully clothed. “You can look now. I mean, if you want to. No obligation.” He winced. In his head, his hellhound rolled its eyes.

Luna dropped her hand and turned in his direction, though her eyes darted back and forth, skipping between Henry and various parts of the room. Whereas before her gaze had been locked with his, now she seemed to be able to look anywhere but at his face. Not that he could blame her.

The silence stretched out, becoming truly awkward. He knew that he should thank her for the shirt, apologize, and leave, but she really did deserve an explanation. And the idea of leaving his mate forever without at least making an attempt at smoothing things over just didn’t sit right with him.

“I’m sorry. This must be… uh, kind of a surprise,” he finally managed to force himself to say, firmly pushing down the side of himself that just wanted to run off into the woods forever. “I really didn’t mean to shock you. I just…”

Well, go on,his hellhound said, contempt practically dripping from its voice.

Thankfully, Luna, for all the state of shock she must have been in, came to his rescue.

“Oh… well,” she stuttered out, her cheeks still pink. “Yes, it is, but… um, not really an unpleasant one, I guess?”

Her cheeks seemed to be getting redder before his eyes as she quickly waved her hands around, as if trying to dispel the words she’d just spoken.

“I mean – not like that! I swear if I’d known you were in here getting dressed, I would have – would have knocked. I really did not mean to walk in on you… uh…” She frowned suddenly, as her brain finally seemed to catch up with what was actually happening. “But now that you mention it, how did you even get in here? The door was locked… and you definitely weren’t in here when I left. I checked everywhere.” She frowned again. “Um, and… well, sorry if this is rude of me to ask, but if you’re in here now getting dressed, does that mean you’ve just been wandering around naked this whole time?”

There was a sinking feeling in Henry’s chest as he realized that there was really only one way out of this, and that was to tell Luna the truth – or to try to.

Even if he wanted to lie – which he didn’t – if he somehow managed to convince her to let him court her after this, he’d only have to admit he’d lied sooner or later, and he wouldn’t blame Luna for being angry about it.

And besides which…

And besides which, he realized, he was in a very, very rare situation where literally any lie he could come up with would only sound even more ridiculous than the actual truth.

Well,he thought, not like I can make anything worse.

“I’m… not a regular person,” he said suddenly, before his brain could catch up with his mouth.

He grimaced.

That, perhaps, was not the best way of putting it.

Luna murmured something that sounded oddly like You can say that again, and he looked up, startled. She cleared her throat.

“Sorry, go on,” she said, her voice sounding strange.

“I…” he began. This was even tougher than he’d thought it would be. To be fair, he’d never had reason to think that he’d have to explain to a human that they were mates. It felt like the kind of thing that maybe he should’ve been taught when he was younger. What on earth was he supposed to say? He wasn’t even supposed to let humans know that shifters existed! “It’s kind of a long story,” he tried again.

Tell her!his hellhound hissed. Tell her everything! Tell her that she is your one and only, from now until the end of time! Two souls entwined in eternal union!

Well, thanks,Henry shot back. That’s super helpful. You made me forget what I was going to say.

You weren’t going to say anything! That’s the problem!

“Well… in that case, would you like a cup of tea?” Luna said quickly, as if she was trying to get the words out before she could change her mind. “Or at least to sit down at the table? This feels really awkward, having this conversation across the room.”

“Sounds great, thanks,” he said, glad of the reprieve as he tried to get his thoughts in order. At her gesture, he headed across to the dining table while Luna put the kettle on, a perplexed expression still on her face, a barely audible muttering falling from her beautiful lips.

And it was great. She wasn’t kicking him out, and clearly she didn’t think he was so crazy that she had to keep her distance. It was probably more than he deserved.

Fillmore jumped up onto Henry’s lap as he waited, licking his face and panting excitedly, and Henry stroked his head awkwardly. He wasn’t really used to petting animals, given that they usually either ran from him, or, more recently, stampeded toward him, but he found that the more he petted Fillmore, the more natural it felt. It was… pretty nice, really.

He’d never even thought about having a pet before, but he was finally thinking that he was starting to see the appeal. Even if the pet was the most ridiculous-looking animal he’d ever seen.

“You’re a cute one, aren’t you?” he murmured, giving Fillmore an experimental scratch behind the ear. Fillmore’s tongue lolled and one of his back legs came up behind his ear in a kicking motion, and Henry couldn’t help but laugh, despite everything.

The clanking of teacups caught his attention, and he looked up to see Luna staring at him, a steaming cup of tea in each hand, and an expression on her face that he couldn’t quite read.

“Fillmore’s really taken a shine to you,” she said. “He’s a good judge of character, aren’t you, Filly?”

That was not what he was expecting to hear, all things considered, and he felt a warm glow at her words. Could it be that all was not lost?

“Watch out – it’s still hot,” she said as she set the teacups down, before pulling out a chair and seating herself.

The scent of peppermint registered in his nose, and while it wasn’t the kind of thing he would normally drink, he thought that something soothing would probably do them both some good. More to the point, he liked learning about Luna and what she enjoyed. If he was lucky, he would have much more time to get to know her properly.

“So, you were saying you’re not a regular person,” Luna said, one eyebrow raised slightly. “Do you want to elaborate on that?”

She’s direct! But maybe that’s what this conversation has been missing.

Taking a deep breath, he plunged in.

“Luna, have you ever heard of shifters?”

Her blank expression told him everything he needed to know. While he’d known the answer, part of him had been hoping against hope that she had known about them somehow. She was pretty well-traveled, after all, and his earlier encounter with Caleb the dragon had shown him that some human women definitely didn’t seem to mind that their life partners could turn into mythical creatures at will.

Well,he thought, here goes nothing.

“Shifters are… well, pretty much what you’d think they are. We’re people who can shift into other forms. Animal forms.” He took a moment to gauge her expression, but it was still oddly unreadable. “For example, I can turn into a hellhound.”

Her gaze shifted suddenly to where Fillmore was curled up on his lap, and Henry couldn’t help but laugh. “Not that kind of hound! Uh… much larger. Much, much larger.” And uglier, he was about to add, but no, as ugly as his hellhound form was, it didn’t hold a candle to Fillmore. Nobody held a candle to Fillmore.

His hellhound sniffed. You’re just insulting me on every front today, I see. A sign of a fragile ego.

If you can’t be helpful, then shut up. Please.

The silence dragged on for several seconds, and Henry was acutely, painfully aware of the ticking of the clock in the corner. And then…

“Okay,” Luna said. “But that doesn’t really explain how you got into my BB room. Or why you were naked.” She frowned. “Or maybe it does. I suppose you don’t really need clothes if you spend your time as… um. A large dog.”

Henry wasn’t sure whether to feel encouraged or not. “Turning into a hellhound isn’t the only thing I can do,” he said. “The power also comes with the ability to phase through solid objects, like walls and things. Which is how I left your room the first time, and how I came back in just now – I really did only want to get dressed.”

Luna contemplatively sipped her tea. “I see.”

Well, she was at least considering what he had to say, Henry supposed, allowing himself to feel just a little bit hopeful.

“And was there a reason you, uh, phased through the wall the first time?” Luna asked, after a rather pregnant pause.

Henry pulled in a deep breath. But again, telling the truth was really all he could do.

“There was a bear,” he said, hoping Luna could sense his sincerity. He hoped that perhaps, he could get away with just telling her, for now, that some errant wildlife had appeared that needed scaring off, without having to explain the fact he strongly suspected he’d been cursed, and the bear had been outside her window because it was irresistibly attracted to him. There was no need to overload her with information. “Since animals are frightened of my hellhound form, I thought I’d shift and scare it off before you got back.”

Luna blinked. “A bear? Well, I guess we are in the woods.” She pursed her lips. “So… you were off chasing the bear when I came back and found you gone?”

“Yeah.” Henry nodded. This was going… well? At least, he thought it was going well. Did Luna actually believe him? “But I got… uh, waylaid.” Probably no need to mention the dragon at this exact moment either.

“I’ll bet,” Luna murmured, turning to stare thoughtfully out of the window, chewing on her bottom lip. She was clearly thinking, but after a moment, she seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. Turning back to him, she resolutely put her teacup down on the table. “All right then. Can I see it?”

Henry blinked, sitting up a little straighter. “You mean… you want to see me shift?”

Luna nodded, her lips pressed into a firm line. “Yes. I mean, I don’t know if I believe everything you’ve been saying or not, but I guess there’s really only one way for you to prove it, isn’t there?”

Swallowing, Henry leaned forward. “Are you sure?” His heart was thumping in his chest, but he was allowing just the tiniest bit of hope to trickle through him. Could it be that Luna really did want to see his hellhound form?

“Positive.” Luna picked up her cup again and sipped her tea, and while the movement seemed calm and practiced, he could see the slightest tremble in her fingers where they held the cup. She obviously wasn’t quite as indifferent as she was trying to appear, but still. She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, rather than calling the cops or hitting him over the head with a frying pan.

“Okay,” he said, standing up and handing Fillmore to her, before moving back to give himself some space. “Just remember that I won’t hurt either of you, no matter how scary I look. I’ll always know who you are.”

She nodded, and Henry took a deep breath, before letting the shift take him over, feeling the elongation of his limbs, the sprouting of midnight black fur along his body. He hadn’t thought too hard about the mechanics of shifting for a long time, it being such a natural part of his being, but now with Luna’s eyes on him, he was acutely aware of every change in his body, from his pointed ears to the tip of his shaggy tail, from his slavering fangs to his sharpened claws.

Shift completed, he looked up with trepidation, half dreading her reaction. It was all well and good for her to ask to see it, but had she really believed that he was telling the truth? And even if she had believed him, how would she react to actually seeing him in this form?

Luna was staring at him, eyes wide – but with what looked like awe, rather than fear. He hoped.

Henry lowered himself down a little, trying to make himself look smaller and less threatening. He was so used to people cowering away from him even in his human form that he just didn’t know what to expect in hellhound form.

But Luna has never reacted to me with fear,Henry tried to tell himself. She’s the only person who’s ever seemed to like me right away. She’s never been frightened of me – I only hope she still won’t be frightened of me now.

Luna approached him slowly, Fillmore still in her arms… until the little dog wiggled its way free and made a beeline for Henry. Henry tensed for a moment, but Fillmore just flung himself at him, rolling around on the ground in ecstasy. Henry nudged at him a little with his nose, not wanting to make any sudden movements, and Fillmore writhed around happily, yipping a little, clearly telling him, in dog language, that he was simply delighted to have made a new friend.

“He really is a good judge of character,” Luna said, and Henry looked up at her, barely daring to believe that things were going this well.

Not only was Luna not afraid of him in his human form, she also didn’t seem too terrified of his hellhound form either.

Is this because of the mate bond? he wondered, as slowly, Luna reached out to scritch the shaggy fur between his ears.

Before he could stop it, the hellhound had let out a low, almost purring sound of pure joy, its eyes half-closing as it leaned into the feeling of Luna’s fingers ruffling through its fur.

“Oh, is that nice?” Luna said, her voice still a little shaky – but there was a clear laugh in there too. “Hellhound sounds so scary, but you’re just a big puppy dog, aren’t you?”

Ordinarily, Henry knew the hellhound would be bristling with indignation at being called a puppy dog, but right now, it was far too busy wagging its tail with unadulterated bliss to think about anything else.

“You said you could, uh, phase through things as well, didn’t you?” Luna murmured, as, much to his hellhound’s chagrin, she withdrew her hand and then sat down rather heavily in the chair she’d been sitting in before.

The hellhound’s ears perked up, just waiting for her to say she wanted a demonstration of that too, but then Luna shook her head.

“No, no… I don’t think I need to see that right now. One thing at a time, maybe.”

She still looked just a little stunned, and Henry couldn’t say he blamed her. Maybe he should shift back into his human form now – just to show her he still could, and she wasn’t stuck with two bizarre-looking dogs now.

Without further ado, he shifted, watching Luna’s eyes grow bigger as she watched.

“Okay, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” she said after a moment, shaking her head. “This is just… a weird day, I guess. I think I’m still in a state of ‘what’. So if you have anything else you need to get off your chest, now’s the time. Before I have a chance to really think through what all of this actually means.”

Henry sat down at the table with her, watching as, with shaking hands, Luna lifted her cup of tea to her lips again, taking a sip.

Well, I guess there is one more thing.

“Well,” Henry said, trying to sound less ‘this is the most important thing I’ve ever had to tell anyone’ and more ‘this is great news!’. “There is something else I have to tell you, actually –”

He was cut off by a sudden buzzing sound emanating from Luna’s pocket. She bit her lip, a look of annoyance cutting across her face. “Sorry,” she said, putting her cup of tea down. “I hate to be rude, but… I just need to check this.”

Henry tried to untense his shoulders as Luna flicked her thumb across the screen of her phone. But then, as she read whatever was on the screen, her frown deepened and she sucked in a quick, sharp breath, as if shocked.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” Henry asked, leaning forward, his senses suddenly on alert.

Our mate is in distress,his hellhound insisted, baring all of its teeth, its hackles rising. She needs us – she needs our protection! Are you just going to sit here?!

Henry tried to push the hellhound’s intense reaction down from the forefront of his mind – though to be honest, after seeing the look on Luna’s face, he was feeling pretty intense himself. Had Luna received bad news? Was something terrible going on that he, in his selfish rush to tell her about being a shifter, had failed to pick up on?

“Um. No,” Luna said after a moment. “It’s just… I don’t know. I’ve been getting these weird text messages lately, and I just got another one. It’s just some crank, I’m sure – it happens when you have a public profile, no matter how low of a one. Maybe someone didn’t like what I wrote about their restaurant or something, and now they’re having a tantrum about it.”

Henry blinked, but his hellhound’s fury didn’t recede. “Can I see the texts?”

“Oh… sure, if you like,” Luna said, giving him a quizzical look. “But really, it’s nothing to worry about. Just some weirdo.”

Still, she handed her phone across to him, open to the chain of text messages she’d been talking about. Henry frowned as he scrolled through them, his hellhound growing more and more incensed.

Luna had been right when she’d said they were weird. Someone writing in all caps, using pompous, semi-arcane language – or what they imagined was arcane language, anyway – telling her things like All YOUR DREAMS SHALL TURN TO ASHES and YOU MUST PAY THE PRICE FOR WHAT YOU HAVE WROUGHT.

From the sound of things, Luna was right when she said it was probably some disgruntled business owner who she hadn’t given a glowing enough review to – but Henry knew from having been a bouncer that minor irritation could become major problem much faster than people would think.

“How long have you been getting these messages?” he asked, as he handed the phone back.

“Oh, only a couple of weeks or so,” Luna said, waving her hand as if to dismiss his concern – Henry could see she was a little shaky though, and he didn’t think it was only because of having just found out he was a hellhound. “It was just, you know, generic stuff at first, but today it’s all gone… weirdly specific.”

“What do you mean?” Henry asked, as his hellhound’s instinct for danger twitched.

“Um. It’s a bit hard to describe,” Luna said, shaking her head. “Anyway, isn’t this… a bit of a mundane topic of conversation right now? I just found out you’re a hellhound, and now we’re sitting around chatting about my weird prank text messages!”

Reluctantly, Henry had to agree with her – he hadn’t even managed to tell her yet about her being his fated mate. But at the same time, he could sense there was something wrong here, aside from the fact that no one should be causing Luna even the slightest bit of distress, prank or not.

If we find out who they are, we’ll see how they like being confronted with an angry hellhound.

With difficulty, Henry pushed the thought down. Not that he was against doing it, of course, but he didn’t even know who he’d be directing his anger at, and until he found that out, he needed to keep his wits about him instead of succumbing to animal rage.

“It is kind of weird though,” Luna said after a moment, frowning. “Not that I want to keep harping on about the text messages when I have so many things to ask you about being a hellhound. But it seemed for a moment there like… the person sending them knew what was going on in my life at the moment they were sending it. Like… like they were watching me, somehow.”

She shivered, clearly uneasy, and Henry’s concern – and anger – rose higher.

“Watching you? What do you mean?” he asked, careful to keep his voice as level as he could.

“Um. Maybe I’m just being silly, though,” Luna said, giving him a sheepish look. “And it’s really not that important.”

“Luna, you’re not being silly, if it’s got you worried.” Henry leaned forward, hoping he wasn’t coming across too intensely. Sure, Luna hadn’t seemed in the least bit scared of him so far, but he was way too used to monitoring himself around people to break the habit now. “Can you tell me what you mean? You said it felt like someone was watching you?”

Luna hesitated a moment longer, before shrugging. “Well, what the hell. I guess if you can confess to me about being a hellhound, I can get up the courage to tell you about this stupid thing. It was just that… well, while I was at the festival getting things to eat and… doing other things… I kept getting text messages that seemed to be talking about the exact thing that had just happened. Like when I couldn’t get some food I wanted, I got one saying that all my desires would be thwarted. And then an umbrella almost fell on me, and I got one saying that it was dangerous to ignore his ‘wrath’ or something…”

Luna trailed off, grimacing.

“And also some other stuff too,” she said quickly. “But I probably don’t need to go into that.”

The more Henry listened, the more concerned he became. “Sounds like this is more than just a prank. I don’t like it. At all.”

Luna raised her eyebrows, a surprised expression on her face. “But it’s just some joke, right? I mean, someone at the festival could have been doing it. You know, just following me around and seeing what I was doing, and then typing up a message… actually you know what, that would actually be worse, wouldn’t it? That would mean someone was stalking me, right?”

Henry nodded. Inside him, his hellhound was bristling and snapping, furious at the thought that anyone who might wish Luna harm could have been anywhere near her.

“I don’t like that idea at all, Luna,” he said, hearing the anger in his own voice – but somehow, it didn’t make Luna start back from him at all. She didn’t even seem to notice it. “In fact, I don’t even like the idea of you being alone right now.” He glanced down as Fillmore gave an indignant yip. “As good of a guard dog as I’m sure this little guy is.”

Luna let out a low, shaky burst of laughter. “Your hellhound form seems like it’d be the best kind of guard dog there is,” she giggled, and to Henry’s ears, she sounded just a little bit manic – though he couldn’t really say he blamed her for that. It sounded like she’d already been having quite a trying afternoon, even before she came back here to find him in her room in a state of, well, undress, and then having to deal with the knowledge that he was a hellhound.

“I could do that then, if you wouldn’t mind it.” The words were out of Henry’s mouth before he had a chance to think through what he was saying – and he could tell from the startled look on Luna’s face that she was as surprised as he was.

“Uh… you mean… be my… my guard dog?” she said slowly, her beautiful green eyes seeming to get wider with every word, as a pink blush rose on her freckled cheeks.

She’s gorgeous, Henry thought wistfully as they stared at each other in silence – and her beauty was almost enough to make him forget the incredibly awkward thing he’d just said.

But not quite.

“I mean… no, that was a stupid thing for me to say,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “I just blurted it out without thinking –”

No!his hellhound howled suddenly, cutting him off with the force of its fury. You finally just said the right thing for once! She needs our protection – show her that we can protect her! That as long as we’re here, nothing and no one would dare to touch a hair on her perfect head!

Henry resisted the urge to shake his own head as he tried to clear it over the sound of his hellhound howling and raving.

It doesn’t work like that for humans,he told it desperately. She doesn’t even know we’re mates yet, and this is not the time to tell her, when she’s just found out she might have a crazy stalker!

Are you stupid? This is exactly the right time to tell her, the hellhound snarled in return. What better way to comfort her than for her to know she has a hellhound by her side for the rest of her life?

Gritting his teeth, Henry ignored the hellhound as best he could. Luna was hardly going to want some guy she’d only just met hanging around her anyway, so all its arguing was moot –

“I’d really love that, actually. I mean, if you wouldn’t mind. If you don’t have anything else on.”

Henry blinked, staring at Luna where she sat across from him, her hands clenched in her lap, but her eyes bright and hopeful.

Did I really just hear her say that?

“I mean. Really,” she said again, after swallowing heavily. “Only if it’s no trouble. You probably have plans –”

“I really don’t!” Henry blurted out, before he could second-guess himself. And it was true – he really didn’t. His entire plan in coming here had simply been to hang around in the woods in hellhound form until he figured out why animals had suddenly become irresistibly fascinated by him.

Speaking of…

Henry frowned as he realized that, once again, while he was with Luna, he hadn’t actually had any animals popping up all over the place to try to nest in his hair or make a home in his pockets. Even Fillmore seemed quite content to simply loll on the ground at Luna’s feet, rather than clamber all over him while covering his face with sticky, slobbering kisses.

It was clear that finding out Luna was his fated mate hadn’t broken the curse – or whatever it was. The bear visitor had been proof enough of that.

But perhaps being near to Luna meant that whatever it was was just less effective?

I’ll think about that later,he told himself. Right now, he had Luna to think about.

“You… you mean that?” Luna asked, as if she was hardly daring to hope she’d heard him right herself.

“Yes, I really do,” Henry said, trying to keep his voice level. “If it’d make you feel better to have me here, then I’ll stay here with you.”

A look of such pure relief washed over Luna’s face that for a moment, Henry couldn’t think of anything else. Was Luna really that happy that he’d just said he’d stay?

Of course, it had to be the mate bond, even if she didn’t know about that yet.

But the idea that someone – anyone – found his presence a comfort rather than a threat was an idea that Henry knew he’d have to take some time to get used to.

“It really would, I think,” Luna said in a small voice. “I just feel like… I don’t know. Maybe I’m going nuts. Am I just being paranoid, do you think?”

“If you’re worried, then that’s all that matters,” Henry said. “And anything I can do to help, I’ll do.”

“That’s really sweet of you,” Luna said, her blush spreading across her cheeks. She glanced out the window to where the light was beginning to fail, the sun low between the trees, which cast long shadows across the ground. “I really, really appreciate it. And honestly, even though it’s still pretty early, I’m exhausted. I was going to get some work done, but I just don’t know if my brain is up to it – I’m fried. I think I just want to get to bed early and try for a do-over tomorrow.” She glanced at him, licking her lips. “But… um. There’s really only one bed…”

“I can sleep on the floor,” Henry said automatically – and really, he could. “I’ll just shift into hellhound form and sleep on the rug. I do it all the time back home. I’ll be perfectly comfortable.”

“Oh… okay,” Luna said slowly, looking at him with just the smallest hint of incredulity on her face. “Sure, if you’re… really, really sure that’s what you want to do.”

You absolute fool!his hellhound roared at him as Henry shifted, and Luna headed into the bathroom to get changed into her pajamas. You total and complete moron! Our mate was hinting she would take us into her bed, and you’re curling up on the floor! She is ours, we are hers, and she knows it – she wants us! You are denying her! What kind of mate are we to her?!

If he’d still had hands, Henry would have clenched them. As it was, he simply sat down and waited for Luna to emerge.

I know that,he told the hellhound. But I haven’t been able to tell her that we’re mates yet, and now isn’t the time – like she said, she’s exhausted, and she doesn’t know what’s going on. If I… took her up on her offer now, it’d mean something different to me than it would to her. It’s not fair. She has the right to know before we go any further.

Perhaps the hellhound could see what he was saying, as it only gave him the hellhound equivalent of a harumph! before falling silent, just as Luna emerged from the bathroom, Fillmore at her heels.

“Sorry, I only brought my dorky pajamas,” Luna said, gesturing self-consciously down at her bright pink flannel pajamas, which were decorated with a pattern of what appeared to be a cartoon dog pushing a lawnmower, with… bone-shaped bubbles coming out of it?

It was a pretty cute look for her, he had to admit. Though he thought that Luna could make a potato sack look cute.

He whuffed out what he hoped translated as a reassuring laugh, and he supposed that he must have been more or less successful, because Luna visibly relaxed.

“Oh,” she said suddenly. “That reminds me – I tried to give Fillmore a treat earlier today, but he was a little too, uh, distracted, somehow, to take much notice of it. But I feel bad – perhaps I’ll give him a little something now.”

Henry cocked his head as Luna opened the minifridge set into the cupboard of the kitchenette, interested to see what kind of thing a dog like Fillmore could possibly consider a treat – well, aside from being spoiled and adored, of course.

But as Luna drew Fillmore’s treat from the fridge, he felt his hellhound’s nose suddenly start to go wild.

Is it? Is it really?it thought wildly, its hellhound mind suddenly going in a whirl. It is! It is! Our mate is truly a goddess among women! A paragon! An angel!

Because what his hellhound’s nose was detecting was very definitely cheese.

Oh, I see,Henry thought, smiling to himself. Not so above it all after all, are we?

You be quiet, his hellhound whuffed indignantly. That is not just any cheese. That is premium cheddar, the likes of which you have never bought me. Let me have this.

Internally shaking his head, Henry decided he would. Despite the fact his hellhound had been even more huffy and ornery than usual lately, he did feel it deserved something. The last couple of weeks had been hard on them both, not just him – even though he was the one who was suffering most of the consequences.

Whatever he thought, however, it was clear the hellhound’s mind was already made up. Before he knew it, Henry found himself on his feet again, tail wagging, looking hopefully at Luna as she cut off a minute piece of cheese for Fillmore, who gobbled it up gratefully from the palm of her hand, licking his chops with great relish.

Clearly, the cheese was really good.

“Oh – do you want some too?” Luna asked as she stood, noticing Henry standing there – obviously, the hellhound was giving her its best pathetic, doe-eyed, please, won’t some kind person feed a starving hellhound look.

“Well, I guess if… uh, you don’t object,” she said, laughing. “If you’re not allowed to have cheese, just shake your head.”

No, it’s okay, let him have some,Henry thought, hoping somehow his reassurance would psychically reach her. Apparently, she did understand, because she cut another bit of cheese from the block – a hellhound-sized piece, as opposed to the tiny little… whatever kind of dog Fillmore was anyway-sized piece.

“Here you go,” she murmured, reaching out a hand. “Or should I just put this on the ground for you?”

But the hellhound hardly gave her the chance – it had snaffled it up from her hand almost before she’d finished talking.

Oh. Oh. This is heaven.

Henry couldn’t help but smile. His hellhound really did sound blissful – and it was good to know there was at least one thing that was guaranteed to make it happy.

And besides which, that is some really good cheese.

And it was – tangy and sharp and creamy. It was perfect.

Henry had to admit, it was probably better cheese than he’d ever provided for his hellhound. Sure, it usually liked the cheap and nasty stuff, but this cheese was on a whole other level!

And there’s a whole block more of it right there,his hellhound said, eyeing it hungrily as Luna put it away in the minifridge.

And there is right where you’ll leave it, Henry told the hellhound sternly. That is Luna’s cheese. It’s for her to offer, not for you to take.

The hellhound did actually accept that without any complaint – clearly, it respected Luna, even if it didn’t respect him. And it seemed satiated for the moment at least – though Henry didn’t see how it couldn’t be, having just eaten a morsel of the world’s most delicious cheese right from the palm of their mate’s hand.

“Well – should we sleep then?”

Luna crossed the room into the bedroom, and Henry followed, before curling up on the rug that lay on the floor at the end of the bed.

Luna closed the curtains, detouring for a moment to give him a quick, only slightly awkward pat on the head that sent his hellhound delirious with joy and which was over far too quickly. She then plonked Fillmore on the bed, before sliding under the covers and awkwardly wedging herself around Fillmore, who was somehow taking up at least seventy percent of the bed despite being about one percent of its size.

“Well, good night,” Luna said after a moment. There was a long pause, and then, almost inaudibly, she added, “Thank you.”

Henry thought that he had never been so happy in all his life as he felt right now. Certainly, his hellhound was about to vibrate out of its skin with pure ecstasy… although it was still somehow managing to be annoyed that the rug in this room wasn’t as nice as the one in the sitting room that it had seen earlier.

… Had that really only been earlier today? It felt like weeks had passed. His entire life had been turned on its head in a matter of hours.

He listened as Luna’s breathing slowed down and evened out, until she dropped off into a deep, peaceful sleep less than a minute later.

She must have been absolutely exhausted. I can’t say I blame her.

Henry continued to lie there in the near-dark for some time, listening with his excellent hellhound hearing to the rustling sounds of the woodlands outside, the muted voices of the other BB guests in the corridor. All seemed as it should have been: no threats, no dangerous animals at the window, no fiendish scoundrels tapping threatening messages into their phones and twirling their mustaches.

My mate. I can’t believe I found her. And she wants to be with me, despite everything that happened.

He yawned.

Perhaps I’m more tired than I realized, too.

And that was the last thought he had before he dropped off into a deep, contented sleep.