Luna Lost

15. Enter Cassius

Cassius noticed the smile first.

He hadn’t been looking for Luna. Not exactly. Damien had asked him and Jace to keep an eye out for her, which Cassius had interpreted as something they would do naturally whenever they happened to be in town. Damien, however, had delivered the request with enough warnings to make it sound like they were being entrusted with something explosive. Look out for her. Make sure she was safe. Don’t interfere. Don’t introduce yourselves. And, after staring directly at Cassius, don’t flirt with her.

Cassius had been mildly offended by that last one.

Then he saw the woman walking toward him from the opposite side of the street and forgot all about being offended.

She was looking down at her phone, weaving easily through the morning crowd with a smile stretched across her face. A big one. Beautiful and completely unguarded, like whatever she was reading had temporarily made her forget anyone else existed. Cassius couldn’t see the screen from where he stood, but somehow he could almost feel the happiness coming off her.

His steps slowed.

Something warm pulled behind his ribs.

He watched her for another few seconds before she finally lifted her head, and a pair of striking light grey eyes confirmed what the rest of him already seemed to know.

That had to be her.

Cassius stopped walking.

So this was Luna.

Damien had described her, but apparently his best friend had decided to leave out the part where his human mate was drop dead gorgeous. Cassius’s mouth curved slowly as he watched her tuck her phone away, the remnants of that enormous smile still lingering on her face.

“Oh, Damien,” he muttered. “You are so screwed.”

Cassius understood the pacing a little better now. The staring into nothing. The way Damien’s entire body had changed whenever he talked about her, as though every instinct he possessed had suddenly reorganized itself around one human woman.

Still, Cassius had promised to behave.

He could do that.

Probably.

Luna continued down the street, completely unaware that she had already been recognized. She shifted something beneath her arm as she walked, and a small notebook slipped free, landing behind her.

She took another step before noticing.

Cassius moved without thinking.

One moment he was standing across the street. The next, he had slipped between the passing people and reached the notebook just as Luna turned back for it. He scooped it from the ground and straightened directly in front of her.

“Holy s**t!”

She jerked backward so violently that her heel caught against the uneven ground. Cassius saw her balance disappear and reached for her automatically, catching her around the waist before she could fall.

Momentum brought her straight into him.

Her hand landed flat against his chest. His arm tightened around her. Her face tipped upward, and suddenly those strange grey eyes were staring directly into his.

Cassius forgot whatever charming thing he had been about to say.

Something moved through him.

It was quick, almost too quick to catch. A strange pulse beneath his skin that began where his hand rested against her waist and spread outward. His wolf stirred at the same time, suddenly alert to the woman in his arms.

Luna’s breath caught.

For a second, she didn’t move either.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

Then her eyes widened. “You scared the s**t out of me.”

Cassius recovered immediately, his smile sliding back into place. “Usually women need at least five minutes with me before they start saying things like that.”

She stared at him. “Wow.”

“Thank you.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“Still taking it.”

Her lips twitched.

Cassius saw the beginning of that smile again and felt another strange warmth inside his chest. Not as strong as before, but enough that he noticed it.

He wanted the rest of the smile back.

That was an odd thing to want from a woman he had known for approximately twelve seconds.

Luna glanced down, apparently realizing that one of his arms was still firmly around her waist and her hand was still resting against his chest. She stepped back, and Cassius released her, although some strange part of him immediately noticed the space between them.

“You move really quietly,” she said.

Cassius glanced toward the other side of the street. Quietly wasn’t exactly what had happened, but admitting he had crossed that distance faster than a human should be capable of seemed like a poor introduction. “Natural talent.”

“You were not there a second ago.”

“Maybe you were distracted.”

“I was not.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You were smiling at your phone.”

Her cheeks immediately coloured.

Cassius grinned.

“Were you watching me?”

“Watching is a strong word.”

“So yes.”

“I noticed you.”

Something about the way he said it made her hesitate. Cassius watched her fight the reaction before she looked pointedly at the object still in his hand.

“My notebook.”

“Right.” He held it out. “The reason I heroically risked my life crossing a very dangerous street.”

She took it from him, their fingers brushing.

There it was again.

A pulse.

Cassius’s eyes dropped briefly to their hands.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That was definitely something.”

He looked at the completely plain notebook. “I was admiring the craftsmanship.”

She glanced at it. “You’re a terrible liar.”

“I’m actually an excellent liar.”

“That somehow makes it worse.”

Cassius laughed.

Damien was in trouble.

Not because Cassius had any intention of interfering with his mate. He wouldn’t. Damien was his brother in every way that mattered, and the bond between a wolf and his mate wasn’t something Cassius would ever disrespect.

But Cassius liked her.

That was already obvious.

He should probably leave before he discovered how much.

Instead, Luna tucked the notebook securely beneath her arm and looked him over. “Do you have a name, or do you just appear out of nowhere, terrify women and hope they never ask questions?”

“Cassius.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Cassius?”

His wolf stirred.

Cassius’s smile faltered for half a second.

He had heard his name spoken by more women than he cared to count. He’d heard it whispered, shouted, laughed and occasionally cursed. None of those women had ever made the simple sound of his own name travel through him quite like that.

He wanted her to say it again.

Luna caught the pause. “What?”

“Nothing.” His smile returned. “I just liked the way you said it.”

She laughed. “Oh my God.”

“You can say it again.”

“I’m already regretting the first time.”

“Give it a minute.”

She shook her head, but there it was.

The smile.

Big, bright and beautiful.

Cassius felt the damn thing again.

He stared at her for a moment before remembering he was supposed to be charming instead of confused. “And you are?”

She shifted the notebook beneath her arm. “Luna.”

This time his wolf didn’t simply stir.

It rose.

Not with the overwhelming certainty Damien had described. There was no singular word roaring through Cassius’s mind, no instinct demanding he claim the woman standing in front of him. It was subtler than that, but stronger than anything he had felt so far. Her name seemed to settle beneath his skin as though some part of him had been waiting to hear her say it.

Then the meaning caught up with him.

Cassius almost laughed.

Of f*****g course.

Of all the women fate could have chosen for Damien, it had given him a human named Luna.

The name meant little to most humans beyond the moon itself, but among wolves it carried history. Old history. Luna was a name tied to the women who had once stood at the heart of their packs, to strength and balance, to the matriarchal traditions woven through their earliest stories.

And Damien was hardly an ordinary wolf.

Born a shifter when no one else of their kind was. Different from the beginning. A walking exception to rules everyone else had been forced to follow.

Of course his mate was named Luna.

“What?” she asked.

Cassius realized he was staring.

“I like your name.”

“You looked like you were having some kind of religious experience.”

He laughed. “Maybe I really like it.”

She studied him suspiciously. “You’re strange.”

“And yet you’re still standing here.”

Luna glanced toward the clock outside a nearby building and froze. “Shit.”

“What?”

“I’m late.”

“That sounds like poor planning.”

Her mouth fell open. “You are the reason I’m late.”

“We’ve known each other for five minutes.”

“Exactly. Five minutes ago I wasn’t late.”

“Then you were already cutting it dangerously close.”

“You scared me, almost knocked me over and then distracted me.”

Cassius’s grin widened. “I distracted you?”

“That is not the important part of that sentence.”

“It was my favourite part.”

She started backing away, shaking her head. “Goodbye, Cassius.”

There it was again.

His name in her voice.

His wolf shifted beneath his skin, and Cassius shoved his hands into his pockets before the reaction could show on his face.

“See you around, Luna.”

She smiled once more before turning away. “Maybe.”

Cassius watched her hurry down the street until the crowd swallowed her.

Only then did his own smile slowly fade.

Something inside him remained restless. Not demanding. Not recognizable. Nothing that gave him any reason to question what Damien had already told him.

Luna was Damien’s mate.

That was fact.

Cassius had simply found her attractive. He had enjoyed talking to her. His wolf was probably curious because Damien’s mate would eventually become important to all of them. Pack bonds worked in strange ways, and a human entering their world was unusual enough on its own.

There were plenty of explanations.

Cassius chose the easiest one.

He turned and continued down the street, a smile returning as he imagined what Damien would do if he discovered Cassius had managed to break nearly every rule he had given him within five minutes of meeting Luna.

Maybe he wouldn’t mention this little encounter just yet.

After all, Damien had asked him to look out for her.

Cassius had.

The flirting was just a minor detail.