Ethan sat on the wooden bench outside Julian's cabin, staring at his hands like they might start explaining themselves any second now. Sparks flickered across his fingertips, tiny rebellions against everything he thought he knew about reality. Two days ago, his biggest concern had been his grad school applications. Now he was apparently some kind of supernatural firestarter with a mystical bond to a guy who communicated exclusively in ASL and meaningful looks.
And there it was—the guy part. Another thing he was trying not to think too hard about, right up there with spontaneous pyrokinesis and secret wolf powers. Because the bond wasn't just a mystical connection; it was an emotional one. Every time Julian looked at him, every time their hands brushed during signing, something in his chest did gymnastics that had nothing to do with supernatural bonds and everything to do with the way Julian's gold eyes caught the light.
He'd never felt this way about a guy before. Girls, sure—he'd dated Sarah Mitchell for six months last year, had crushed on Emma from his chemistry class. He and Suzie had been together since freshman year of college. Normal, straightforward attractions that didn't come packaged with cosmic destiny and identity crises. But this? This was uncharted territory in more ways than one.
The fire thing was new too, but at least that was a clearly supernatural crisis. The ASL, at least, was familiar—four years of volunteering in Special Ed had given him that much. But nothing in those afternoons helping kids learn to sign had prepared him for using those skills to communicate with someone who made his chest feel like it was housing a miniature sun.
A wolf trotted past, casual as anything, then shifted into human form to grab a bottle of water from a nearby cooler. Ethan tried not to stare, but seriously? That was going to take some getting used to. Though maybe not as much as getting used to the way his heart rate picked up whenever Julian signed something particularly snarky, his hands dancing through the air with a grace that shouldn't be legal.
"Your face is going to stick that way if you keep looking so shocked," Luna Elsa said, materializing beside him with the kind of grace that suggested she'd been practicing dramatic entrances since birth. She carried two mugs of something that smelled like someone had mugged an herb garden.
"Pretty sure my face is the least weird thing happening right now," Ethan muttered, but accepted the mug she offered. The tea was strong enough to probably count as a weapon in some states. Kind of like his feelings for Julian—potent, potentially dangerous, and definitely not what he'd signed up for.
"You're adapting better than most," Elsa observed, settling beside him with practiced ease. "Most new wolves spend their first day either panicking or trying to prove they're the toughest thing since kevlar."
"Give me time," Ethan said. "I'm still working up to the panic part." A spark jumped from his thumb to the mug's rim, and he quickly set it down before he could accidentally create the world's most aggressive tea party. At least the fire gave him something to focus on besides the way Julian's hands felt in his when they signed together.
Elsa's lips twitched. "The fire will settle. Your mother was the same way at first—though she usually set curtains on fire, not tea."
Ethan's head snapped up. "You knew my mom?"
"Knew her? She was Lenny's little sister, which made her mine, too." Elsa's eyes softened with memory. "Which makes me your aunt, by the way. You can drop the 'Luna' business and call me Aunt Elsie."
"Right," Ethan managed, trying to process this new piece of information alongside everything else. "Because finding out I have a family I never knew about is totally the most normal thing that's happened today."
A group of young wolves ran past, carrying what looked like medieval weapons mixed with modern tactical gear. One of them waved cheerfully at Ethan, like this was all completely normal. Like he wasn't sitting here trying to keep his hands from spontaneously combusting while processing enough family revelations to fill a soap opera season—not to mention trying to figure out why his heart did somersaults every time Julian smiled.
"The pack takes some getting used to," Elsie admitted, following his gaze. "But they're family now. All of them. Even the ones who look at you like you're either going to save the world or burn it down."
"No pressure," Ethan muttered, flexing his fingers as another spark danced across them. The bond tugged in his chest, a constant reminder of Julian's presence. It wasn't just the supernatural connection that drew him—it was the way Julian's hands moved when he signed, the subtle curve of his smile when he was being particularly sarcastic, the depth in his eyes that seemed to see right through Ethan's attempts at playing it cool.
"The mark on your shoulder," Elsie said quietly. "It's the same as Serenity's—your mother's. Bigger than Lenny's, more defined. It means something."
"Yeah, it means my life has officially crossed into urban fantasy novel territory." But Ethan rubbed his shoulder where the wolf's head birthmark lay, unable to completely dismiss the weight of legacy in Elsie's voice. "Complete with the whole 'questioning everything you thought you knew about yourself' subplot."
Elsie's gaze was knowing. "You mean Julian."
Ethan's heart stuttered. "I—what? No, I mean... everything. The wolf thing, the fire, the—"
"The way you look at him when you think no one's watching?" Elsie's voice was gentle. "The way your hands shake a little when you sign with him, not from exhaustion but from something else entirely?"
"Is this the part where you tell me it's wrong?" Ethan asked, his voice smaller than he intended. "That whatever this is—whatever I'm feeling—it's not what the bond is supposed to be?"
Elsie actually laughed. "Wrong? Ethan, bonds like yours are rare because they're pure. They don't care about gender or expectations or what anyone thinks love should look like. They care about souls recognizing souls."
"Love?" Ethan choked on the word. "I didn't say anything about—"
"You didn't have to." Elsie's smile was knowing. "The heart wants what it wants, supernatural destiny or not. The bond might have connected you, but what you're feeling? That's all you."
The bond in his chest pulled gently, and he turned automatically toward Julian's cabin. Even through the walls, he could feel him—tired but alert, probably signing something sarcastic to Meemaw about being confined to bed. The thought made his stomach flip in a way that had nothing to do with mystical connections and everything to do with how stupidly endearing Julian's sass was.
"He's good for you," Elsie observed, watching Ethan's instinctive response to the bond. "Grounds you. Gives all that power somewhere to anchor. And maybe gives your heart somewhere to land, too."
"I don't even know what I am," Ethan admitted. "Wolf? Firestarter? Living safety hazard? Guy who's maybe falling for another guy while trying not to set the whole compound on fire?"
"You're family," Elsie said simply. "The rest will sort itself out—including matters of the heart." She stood, brushing off her clothes with elegant efficiency. "Now come on. Julian's probably wondering where you wandered off to, and Meemaw gets cranky when she has to translate his particular brand of sass for too long."
Ethan followed her back toward the cabin, trying not to feel too obvious about how the bond pulled him forward like a compass finding north. Around them, Moonvale continued its strange dance of ancient and modern—wolves shifting forms between checking their phones, weapons being sharpened beside solar panels, traditions as old as the mountains mixing with wifi signals and electric lights.
This was his life now. Supernatural powers, secret aunts, a bond that felt like someone had tied his soul to another person's with cosmic string, and feelings that made his previous romantic experiences look like primary school crushes. Not to mention a pack that treated all of this like it was just another Tuesday.
At least he could understand Julian's signing. Everything else—the wolf powers, the fire, the way his heart did backflips when Julian's fingers brushed his during conversations, the question of what it meant that the most intense connection he'd ever felt was with another guy—that was all going to take some serious adjustment time.
A spark jumped from his fingers, setting a nearby bush's leaves gently smoldering. Elsie casually dumped her tea on it without breaking stride.
Yeah. Definitely going to need some adjustment time. And maybe a few conversations with Julian that didn't involve supernatural crises or life-threatening situations. Just two guys trying to figure out if this thing between them was destiny, desire, or some combination of both that nobody had written a manual for.
The bond hummed in his chest, warm and sure, like it knew something he was still figuring out. Maybe that was the point—some things you had to discover for yourself, even if they came packaged with pyrokinesis and prophecies.