Crossing Boundaries

Chapter 24

Luin

Fen was off with Lachlan, who had managed to set up a meeting with someone from Ashen Oak Academy. Our best guess was that the meeting was to determine whether Lachlan was part of the supernatural community. When the school representative saw that he was talking to a werewolf and a fae, hopefully they would gain access to the school. Or, at least, to more answers.

With Fen no longer sinking into depression and holed up in his room, I finally had the time to reassess what I was doing with my time. Instead of working my many jobs all around the pack, I hadn't worked at all in weeks. I couldn't even pick up odd jobs in Glenna and Safiya's shop like Arrowan was doing, since all of my sellable magic tricks required me to actually go somewhere – teleporting, tracking, and even my most distasteful magic, compelling the truth out of people. I could do the last one in the shop, but I didn't think it would help my mental state and anyway, usually when people hired me for that, I had to go to them.

Not to say the people going to Arrowan for healing were in an ideal position to travel to him, but since it was the only way he was operating and he was offering a much cheaper rate than other magical healers on the market, he had no shortage of customers.

Meanwhile, I was alone in our home. Everything I could think to clean was already spotless. The refrigerator was packed so full with leftovers it was a struggle to get the door to shut. The freezer had so many prepared meals in it that I was pretty sure we could go the next month without touching a stovetop. There was nothing left for me to do here.

I had told myself over and over that I wouldn't bother Arrowan at work. I wasn't that clingy, I couldn't accept that kind of neediness in myself. I knew how to be alone. I could cope just fine.

But... I didn't want to cope anymore. Arrowan being here was always meant to be the end of my loneliness, and it seemed like my coping mechanisms for it didn't really work anymore. There are only so many hours you could spend meditating or reading before you went crazy.

So, three weeks after Arrowan started taking on healing jobs in the magic shop, I loaded the cupcakes I had made this morning onto a tray and teleported in. They were my excuse for showing up. I might be desperate for company, but I didn't need to look desperate for company.

It felt like I had walked into a get-together, not a place of work. Glenna was sitting by her cauldron, but not actually making anything. Safiya and Roderick were leaning against the front counter, wrapped up in each other and laughing. Arrowan was sitting in a chair by his privacy curtain, lounging and laughing along.

Anger flared. Was this what he was doing every day when he came here? Hanging out between the occasional job while I waited at home?

Okay, the anger was irrational.

That didn't stop me from marching to the counter and setting down the cupcakes as aggressively as I could without knocking them over.

"Luin!" Safiya cried. "And cupcakes!" She immediately pulled away from Roderick and snatched one up. While she downed half of it in one bite, Glenna stood up and walked over to give me a light hug.

"It's good to see you!" she said. I hugged her back, but even Glenna's pureness and her easy welcome weren't enough to cool my anger. I just wasn't enough of a monster to take it out on her.

Arrowan didn't even get up. He smirked at me from across the room and said, "Miss me?"

My brain short-circuited and words came out of my mouth I never thought I'd be capable of, especially with an audience. "Did I miss you? Of course I did. You're my bond mate and you're never around! What kind of question is that?"