The Wolf God's Unwanted Luna

Chapter 71: our house part

I reached out and gently pulled his hand away from his face. I brought it to my lips and kissed his knuckles, then held his hand against my cheek before lacing our fingers together. I gave him a soft, encouraging smile.

He looked at me from beneath thick black lashes, blue eyes filled with something I’d never seen in them before. Vulnerability. A few strands of his hair had fallen forward, shadowing his expression, but nothing could hide what was simmering there. He didn’t look like a predator right now. He looked like someone about to hand me a piece of his soul and bracing for me to drop it.

"I had it built," he said quietly, slowly, like the words weighed a thousand pounds, "as soon as I heard."

"Heard what?" I asked gently, sensing how much this was costing him.

"That they, that they were giving me a mate."

My breath hitched. I stared at him, confused. That would’ve been a long time ago. But when we first met, he hadn’t trusted me at all, he’d gone through my head without asking. Why build a house for someone you were convinced might be a weapon aimed at you? My expression must have given me away because he kept going, trying to fill in the gaps.

"As time passed, I started to think maybe it was just a rumor. Or maybe, even if I found you, it wouldn’t work out. So I moved into the pack house and just... forgot about this place." He glanced toward the house, then back at me. "But it’s finished. Furnished. It’s been waiting."

I blinked at him. "But why? Why build it at all?"

He smiled at me then, soft and sad, and lifted a hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers trailed lightly along my cheek before dropping away.

"Because I guess," he said quietly, "even monsters want a family to love."

He gave my hand one last squeeze, then slipped out of the car, leaving me sitting there with a thundering heart and tears threatening to spill down my face.