Page 48 of Fetch Me A Mate
"I'm preventing it."
"Smart. Rufus and I will sign, naturally. Place wouldn't be the same without the inn."
"Thank you."
"Course, you know what you're really doing, don't you?" Edgar's eyes twinkled with knowledge Diana wasn't sure she wanted. "You're claiming territory. Marking this place as yours in the oldest way possible."
"Is that bad?"
"Depends on who's watching. Some folks respect clear boundaries. Others see them as challenges."
Diana moved through the square methodically, gathering signatures from shopkeepers and residents who'd attended the Autumn Hearth Gathering. Freya signed while arranging autumn flowers. Cora signed as well after making sure she took some protection vials along with her. Emmett signed with official gravity that suggested he understood exactly what Diana was attempting.
Each signature felt like a small victory, a thread in a web of protection she was weaving around the inn. People asked few questions but offered abundant support, as if they'd been waiting for someone to take this kind of stand.
By afternoon, Diana had two dozen signatures and a growing sense of confidence. The ward would work because the community wanted it to work. Because Hollow Oak had decided the inn was worth protecting.
She saved one line for last.
Rowan's truck sat empty in its usual spot behind the inn. Diana found her note still tucked under the windshield wiper, unread and unchanged. He hadn't been back since yesterday morning's confrontation.
But his tools were still scattered around the work sites, his project lists still taped to walls, his careful repairs still holdingthe building together. He might have pushed her away, but he hadn't abandoned his work. Yet.
Diana climbed to the second floor landing where he'd been installing new electrical outlets. The wire nuts were organized by color, the junction boxes mounted with precise spacing. Everything ready for final connections that required his expertise to complete.
She pulled out the ward paper and laid it flat on his workbench, adding his name to the bottom of the list in careful script. Not his signature, which she couldn't forge, but his name in her handwriting. A placeholder for the choice she hoped he'd make.
"This is your space too," she said aloud to the empty room. "If you want it."
Back in the lobby, Diana spread the signed ward paper on the reception desk and followed Moira's instructions for activation. Words of intention spoken over names freely given, collective will focused through individual consent.
The paper warmed under her hands as the magic took hold, subtle but unmistakable. The inn's protective boundaries solidified, not as walls but as welcome mats with very specific criteria for who qualified as welcome.
Diana tucked the ward paper into the inn's safe, next to the deed and insurance papers and other documents that proved ownership. Legal protection and magical protection, side by side.
Now she waited. For Rowan to return, for his dangerous visitors to make their next move, for whatever crisis was brewing to finally break the surface.
But she wouldn't wait passively. She'd claimed her territory, gathered her community, prepared her defenses. Whatever came next, the inn would be ready.
24
ROWAN
Rowan returned to the inn because he needed something solid under his hands. Something he could fix, something he could make right, while his world fell apart around him. He had an unknown deadline that could very well be tonight, and he still didn't know what the hell he was going to do.
His truck sat in its usual spot behind the building, tool boxes waiting in the bed like they'd been expecting him. As he reached for his hammer, white paper fluttered against the windshield.
A note, tucked under the wiper blade.
Rowan - This is your home too, if you want it. Whatever's happening, you don't have to face it alone. - Diana
He stared at the words until they blurred. Home. When was the last time someone had offered him a place to belong without conditions, without pack hierarchies, without the weight of old mistakes crushing down on his shoulders?
His wolf whined, pressing against his ribs.Home. Mate. Stay.
But staying meant bringing the pack's war to Diana's doorstep. Meant watching Hollow Oak burn because he'd been too selfish to walk away.
Rowan folded the note carefully and slid it into his jacket pocket, next to his heart. Then he grabbed his tools and headed inside.
