29

~Lou Wilson~

I was standing in front of an old hut on the border of the pack area. She was well cared for, but looked very lost here, just in the middle of the forest.

Sebastian dropped me off here just a few minutes ago. He said he would take me so far to the northern border that it almost counted as outside and drop me off at a friend's. But I didn't know who this friend was.

Suddenly I heard noises and with a creak the door opened.

"Do you want to stand around outside longer or are you finally coming in." Familiar deep blue eyes looked at me.

"L-Luan? You live here?" I didn't know he lived so far off the beaten track, but it made sense since I rarely saw him in the pack house or anywhere near.

"Yes. I love remoteness. Here I have my peace and protection from the looks of pack members who pity me," he explained. His voice was rather monotonous, actually like always.

"Oh," I just said and smiled at him sadly. And suddenly he even smiled back, which I admired with wide eyes. "You're smiling?"

"Because you're the first to smile sadly at me, not because you know about my fate, but because your own heart was broken and yet you're standing here in front of me with a smile trying to show me that you're fine, even though it's not true."

Except this time I wasn't the one who got heart broken...

Caught, I turned my head away and looked around at the small Hütter instead. Even if it looked rather austere from the outside, the inside of the house was by no means boring. It was really very comfortably furnished and the kitchen fittings looked more modern.

"I'll show you where you can sleep."

Luan led me into a small room with a single bed. The interior of this room was really nicely designed, but something was missing. Anything personal.

"This is my room, but as long as you stay here I'll sleep on the couch," he explained. This is his room? It looks cozy...

"What no! I don't have a problem sleeping on the couch, too." I intervened softly. I really didn't want to cause any trouble.

"No! You will sleep there, Luna." With that he left the small room and closed the door behind him.

I finally gave up, put the box of chocolates I was still carrying in my arms on the bedside table and lay down in Luan's small, modest bed just as I was.

I was awake for a long time and kept snacking on pieces of chocolate from the box, which didn't really help against the lovesickness.

Why do we always have to take three steps back when we go one forward?

Snuggled deep into the pillows, I even managed to fall asleep at some point, but only because the musky scent of Arian clinging to his shirt soothed me.

-----

When I woke up the next morning, the whole house smelled like pancakes, making my stomach growl with hunger. Yesterday's chocolate didn't really replace a meal.

The smell lured me back into Luan's modern kitchen corner, where he was busy frying pancakes.

"Morning," I mumbled sleepily. My voice was a little raspy from all the crying yesterday and I probably looked like a zombie with bags of death under my eyes.

Ever since I met Arian, I've been crying far too often. Everything just breaks me down.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" Luan came monotonously as usual.

"Hmm," I confirmed. Well, as well as I could sleep, after such an event. I kept dreaming of Arian. First there were nice dreams, but then more and more nightmares, or memories of the night he turned me down, nothing new really.

I sat down at the kitchen counter, which only had room for two people.

"So how long am I going to be staying here?" I asked hesitantly, reaching for some pancakes that were lined up on a plate by the stove.

"Until Arian finally realizes how he feels about you."

"What?" I looked up in shock. Arian wasn't the problem after all. It was me. Arian was just the one who never wanted to see me again after that. I don't think he'll ever change his mind.

"Well he wanted to get rid of you so I'll take care of you until he finally admits to himself that he needs you and actually loves you. Problem solved and you are happy." Luan looked up from the pan and seriously into my face.

"But he confessed his feelings to me a long time ago." I murmured softly. Would Luan and the others throw me out now? "I just confessed to him that I didn't feel anything for him."

Luan looked at me in surprise.

"You have something?"

"I guess I don't feel anything for him. All the pounding, the spark, the reaction to his smell. It's all just influences of the mate band."

"If you think. But be sure, if you know, then you know and until you realize that, you're welcome to stay with me," he replied, very surprising. I was expecting him to kick me out or something... .

"Do you think it would be possible to somehow continue helping out in the hospital without Arian noticing?" I asked while I was already eating the sixth pancake. Luan had meanwhile finished frying and watched me attentively while I was eating.

"Do you think it's possible that you can eat more pancakes?" I looked at Luan's face in surprise. Did he just say I'm fat? It just tastes so good and I'm starving.

A small grin spread across Luan's face. Not great, but it was clearly visible on Luan's otherwise so sad face.

"So don't take that as an insult," he tried to salvage. "I'm just saying I always thought Seb was the one who shoveled tons of food in himself. But now I'm meeting someone who is even more eats."

Luan got a glare from me. He didn't make the situation any better.

"And coming back to your question, yes I think you can help out at the hospital some days. Arian isn't there very often and we just make the others shut up."

Thank the goddess. I thought I'd have to be moping around in the cabin with Luan forever, but at least I could go back to work and distract myself.