chapter 14
The day of the full moon in August brought not only muggy, hot weather, but a very horny wolf into Shyne's bed. If she thought Michael was insatiable before, she hadn't known the definition. Every little thing she did seemed to spur him to want to take her, and although she was sore, he was just so damn talented with his tongue and fingers that she couldn't ever think enough to tell him to stop.
She and Cades had become fast friends over the last few weeks, talking on the phone and texting during the day, and even going out on a few double dates. When they'd snagged Michael and Jason into bag-carrying duty at the outlet mall, she'd known that Michael was on the hook for life. Who else but a totally devoted man would hold her purse while she tried on clothes?
Michael had told her how badly Cades had been hurt by her best friend Callie. She couldn't imagine how she'd feel if Trav just decided to take off and push her completely out of his life, and they hadn't even grown up together like the two women had. Cades was a sweet woman and a strong ally, sharing things she'd learned from growing up with the wolves. And she was an especially good source of funny stories about Michael.
She was glad that Trav had happily taken a job at the bar and was very popular with a certain male wolf named Gio, who played drums for the house band. Trav rented a room in a boarding house in town, and she was pretty sure with the way the two eyed each other that it wouldn't be too long before they were together. Trav had confessed one night that he was nervous about getting involved with another wolf, but she explained what Michael had told her about wolves finding their mates and never cheating. Gio seemed to genuinely like Trav and want to be with him, so maybe Trav would become mate to a wolf, too.
Shortly after her firing, she and Michael had dinner at his grandfather Abraham's house. He lived in a private development that was mostly retired wolves and a few human mates of wolves that had died. Abraham shared a lot of stories with them that night about what things were like during his time, when he was young and in love. She loved him immediately, and when he grasped her in a hug, he said with a thick voice, "You call me Grandpa, you hear?"
Tears had pricked at her eyes, and she sniffled, "Okay, Grandpa."
That same night, a wolf named Bradshaw invited them over for dessert after their meal with Abraham, and he and his human wife Susan asked if she'd be interested in heading up the activities for their community center. Susan, in her early sixties, spoke with enthusiasm about the need for someone to host fitness groups and other activities that would get the seniors in the development and around town off their butts. She liked Susan immediately and was humbled by the offer, promising to give it some thought.
Although Michael denied it, she knew he had somehow set it up. He knew she was unhappy without a job, although she never complained. It was also fun to take care of him and make dinner for the two of them, but she was quickly going stir-crazy while he spent all day at the garage. It didn't take her long to accept the job at the community center. Just like Michael and his friends, the older wolves and humans in the community treated her as one of their own. She'd never known such acceptance in all her life.
Michael nipped her shoulder lightly, drawing her attention back to him. "Are you nervous about tonight?"
"A little. I don't want to make an idiot of myself," she confessed, linking her fingers with his and resting them on her bare stomach. He eased his leg over hers and snuggled her closer to him, a wolfy purr rumbling in his chest.
"All you have to do is repeat what Jason says and don't be startled by all the howling when we're done." He smiled at her in a half-lusty, half-sleepy way, a dimple forming in his cheek. She loved that dimple.
"And then I'm your mate?"
"No, then you're an honorary member of the pack and identified as my mate to the group. You won't be my mate in truth until I come back from the hunt tonight and we make love and I sink my fangs into your neck and mark you as mine."
"And how is that fair?" she protested. "You get to bite me, and I don't get to do it back."
He flipped on top of her suddenly, caging her in with his arms and legs. His brows wiggled suggestively, "You can bite me all you like, Shyne. In fact, I insist."
Grasping his hard cock in her hands, she wrapped her fingers around the silken length, marveling at how he could still be hard after spending the entire day making love to her. Gazing up at him, she saw the amusement that always seemed to be twinkling in the blue depths, but she also saw it laced with desire and love and genuine affection. She couldn't have been happier as they came together once more...for good measure.
* * * * *
Trav wasn't allowed to watch the joining ceremony, which bummed her out. But he wasn't pack or an honorary member, so those sorts of things were closed to him. He had taken her shopping with Cades, and together they helped her find a strapless baby doll top that was a perfect match to Michael's blue eyes. She paired it with a pair of beige shorts and flat strappy sandals.
Darkness fell, and the woods came alive with the sounds of the night as she and Michael walked together towards the deepest part of the woods that sat between Jason's home and Michael's parent's home. She envied them having their parents so close. Although she had no real memory of her parents, she could tell from pictures that she had her mother's Hispanic skin color and hair and her father's dark brown eyes.
The pack, still in their human form, were gathered in a circle, a blazing bonfire visible between them. There were close to forty members of the pack including honorary members like Linus' wife Karly and the other human mates of some pack members. Cades and Jason stood in the center of a stone circle that was several yards in diameter around the firepit, holding hands. Cades' free hand rested lightly on her belly, and a smile lit her features. Most of the men, including Michael and Jason, were shirtless and shoeless, and anticipation of the coming hunt was like electricity in the air.
She and Michael stepped over the stones and met Jason and Cades, and then turned to face each other. She saw Tina and Peter step over the stones, a wooden box in Peter's hands. They joined them, standing on either side of the alpha pair.
Jason's voice rose above the crackling of the flames, and even the woods quieted to hear the alpha wolf speak.
"When a wolf chooses a mate, whether they be human, wolf, or another supernatural being, that mate and any children they have become treasured members of the pack. It is a great honor to welcome a precious mate into the pack, to know that although they are inherently different, they are protected and treasured just the same." Peter turned to Jason and opened the hinged lid of the wooden box. The lid and inside compartment were covered with leather. Jason pulled out two small glass vials and lifted one up. Clear liquid moved inside.
"The olive tree is sacred to wolf-kind. The legends say that the first wolf was created in Greece, and when he died, his mate planted an olive tree on his grave to symbolize his strength. The longevity of the tree ensured that every generation that saw it would know who lay there."
He removed the stopper and handed the vial to Michael who took it and held it reverently as if it contained liquid gold. Jason lifted the second vial, and the clear liquid inside had a yellow hue.
Shyne's mouth dropped open as Jason began to speak. "Shyne's mother was born in Merida, Mexico. In her culture, a tree that is sacred to their people is the Chepak tree. Ancient Mayan healers used the tree for purification, healing, and spiritual ceremonies. It's a tree that stands tall and offers aide to man and animal alike."
Her fingers shook as she accepted the opened vial from Jason, completely awed at what she had just heard. She hadn't told Michael where her mother was from, so he must have asked Trav for the information. That they'd gone to such trouble to include her in the ceremony made tears prick her eyes. She sought Michael's comforting gaze.
Jason took a wide mouthed clear glass jar from inside the box and pulled the cork stopper from it. "Michael Abraham Gerrick, do you choose Shyne this night as your truemate? Do you promise to protect and love her as both man and wolf until the spirits see you together in the beyond?"
Michael reached for her free hand and clasped it before saying with a voice that trembled at the end, "I do."
"Shyne Marie Jackson," Jason turned to her, "do you choose Michael this night as your wolf mate, your one true partner? Do you promise to protect his heart and to love him, man and wolf, until the spirits see you together in the beyond?"
She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked at Michael, "I do."
Jason moved the open-mouthed jar towards them, and Michael lifted the vial and she did the same. Michael tipped his vial over so a slow stream began to enter the jar, and she mimicked his movements, watching as the oils from their sacred trees blended together.
"Your mating is symbolized through the joining of these oils. Just as you came here tonight as two separate creatures, separately, the oils represented all that you were before this moment. Although you are strong on your own, when you blend together as this oil does, you become a new and extraordinary thing, joined together as one. What you knew before this moment, all that you knew of life, is joined forever. The joined oils represent everything you were, everything you are, and everything you ever will be. Just as the moon cannot be separated from the night sky, the two oils can never be separated and poured into separate containers. So will your mating be."
The last of the oil trickled into the jar, and Peter took the empty vials from them and put them inside the box. Michael dipped his middle finger inside the jar, coating it with the mixed oil.
He touched the oil slicked finger to the back of her neck, drawing a short line down her spine as Jason said, "We mark our mates with sacred oil to show reverence to our ancestors, binding ourselves to our mates for the span of our lives."
Michael drew an infinity symbol over her heart, which he had explained earlier meant that her heart was now his forever. He wiped the last bit of oil along the pulse in her left wrist, a promise to hold her hand for eternity. As he'd instructed her to do earlier, she dipped her finger into the oil and marked him the same way. When she finished, she was mesmerized by the glint of the fire on the oil on his chest, the spell broken when he pulled her into his arms with a low growl and kissed her. She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him back for all she was worth, as the wolves lifted their voices to the sky and howled, the sound a joyous song.
"Mine," Michael's voice came out gravelly and deep as he kneaded her waist with his hands, his eyes flickering amber.
"Forever," she promised.
Cades nudged her shoulder, handing her the box containing the stoppered jar of their combined oils. "Go stand outside the ring with Karly. Michael will come over to see you when he's shifted, and I'll walk back to the house with you." She gave a meaningful look to Michael and moved through the crowd to where Karly stood on the outskirts holding her baby boy in her arms. Linus was stripping nearby while keeping a watchful eye on the crowd.
"Welcome to the pack," Karly hugged her with one arm.
Shyne thanked her for the welcome and tried to pick out Michael from the crowd of shifting wolves but couldn't. When the large group of shifted wolves was ready, Jason, standing next to Cades in front of the fire, lifted his muzzle in the air and howled. It was a different kind of howl, filled with excitement. The wolves darted away save for a handful that surrounded Cades for the walk back to the house. A solid black wolf trotted over to Shyne, and she dropped to her knees and ran her hand through Michael's thick coat.
"You're so beautiful, Michael. I can't wait until you can come back to me."
With a whispered love you, she kissed his furry snout and straightened, joining Cades and Karly as they walked back to Cades' home. The wolves surrounding them were all female, chosen by Jason to watch over her until he was done with his shift. Cades had shared the reasoning behind it; that another wolf had kidnapped her during a full moon hunt, and Jason still blamed himself for what she had gone through. Karly had been through a similar situation and spent the full moons at Cades', waiting for Linus to be done.
"I have a feeling," Karly shifted Remy to her other hip, "that you're going to be joining us every full moon, too."
As they walked up the back porch, Cades held the door open for her and smiled, and Shyne caught a hint of fang. Cades' noticed her surprise, and her hand covered her mouth for a moment as an embarrassed flush crept into her cheeks. "It's because I'm a hybrid."
The door shut behind them as they entered the kitchen, the wolves surrounding the house like guard dogs.
"I just have one question," Shyne said as she sat down at the kitchen table. "Did you get to bite Jason?"
Grinning and immediately at ease, Cades shared the story of their mating ritual, and how she came to have fangs and extra wolf senses on the full moon.
Several hours later, howls began to echo on the night air, and Cades said it meant they were coming back. She'd learned even more about wolves after talking to the two women about their mates. She learned that wolves could shift at any time, not just on the full moon. And that once they shifted, they needed to stay in their wolf form for several hours before they could return to human again. It was too much of a strain on their bodies to go back and forth quickly, although there were times when a wolf could shift into human and then if something spiked their adrenaline — such as danger or an emergency — they would be able to shift back to wolf again. Shyne was fascinated by all she'd learned.
She met Michael out on the grass behind the house. He walked quickly and eagerly towards her, wearing only his jeans. Grabbing her into his arms, he kissed her wildly, nipping across her jaw and fisting his hands in her top.
"I'm ready to go home," she told him, desire streaking through her.
"Me, too."
He donned his shoes and shirt that had been left at Cades' home and swung her up into his arms while she held the box of oil. She pressed her lips under his ear and took a slow breath. He smelled wonderful, like nature and man twined together. After several minutes she realized they weren't walking towards the SUV parked in front of Cades' home but towards his parent's home.
"Why are we going to your parent's house? I thought we were going home so we could make love and bite each other."
His eyes flashed, the full moon highlighting his features as if he were caressed by the moon itself. "You'll see."
The house loomed in the night, a darkened shadow against the sky. No lights were on, which piqued her curiosity even more. Michael set her down on the back porch and turned her to face him, setting the box on the porch. "Close your eyes, baby," he said huskily.
He looked so serious that she knew it wasn't a time for teasing. Dutifully closing her eyes, she shut out the vision of his body highlighted by the moonlight and took a deep breath, letting it out on a sigh as Michael's fingers caressed her bare arms.
The back door creaked open, and he grasped her elbow and tugged her with him. They crossed the threshold, and the door closed. He walked her several paces and pulled her into his arms and kissed her, slanting his mouth to match hers and delving his tongue inside. He tasted wild, and she slid her hands through his soft hair and pressed him closer. Behind closed eyes she was aware when he flicked on a light, but she didn't care. He kissed like a man about to go off to war, as if he couldn't live without the taste of her lips, like it was air he could breathe. He nipped against her lips gently, pulling away until she could feel the heated wash of his breath against her flushed skin.
"Open your eyes, baby, we're home."
Confused, she blinked her eyes open and looked around. The house was empty. No large table sat in the kitchen, no comfortable couch was placed in front of the fireplace in the front room. The curtains were gone from the windows, only blinds covered them now, and the freshly painted walls were devoid of pictures and knickknacks.
"What's going on?"
Michael dropped to one knee, and her breath froze in her chest. From the pocket of his jeans he pulled out a ring and picked up her left hand. Poised in front of her ring finger, he danced the edge of the diamond ring around her fingertip and looked up into her eyes. A bare hint of uncertainty glimmered in the depths, as if he wondered what her response would be.
"I love you, Shyne. There's never been another woman that has touched my heart and soul the way that you have. You make me want to be a better man. Be mine, Shyne. Be my mate, my wife. Let me be everything for you and give you the family and home that was robbed from you by fate. Marry me."
Tears edged her vision as she contemplated the man before her for bare moments. He was everything she'd ever wanted in a man and more that she hadn't known existed. A fighter, a lover, a friend. Funny and gorgeous, with a devastatingly wicked tongue, and a cock that made her mouth water. This was exactly what she wanted, and now she had it. Wolves mated forever, and Michael loved her with an intensity that rivaled the sun.
"Yes!"
His eyes lit up, and her very favorite grin spread across his face as he pushed the ring onto her finger and stood up, catching her close to his body and kissing her. He kissed her cheek and hugged her, burying his face in her neck. "I'm going to spend the rest of my life making you happy, sweetheart."
She hugged him tighter before they released each other, and he grinned, "Want to see our new home, baby?"
"What's going on? Where are your parents?"
He grasped her hand and led her upstairs. He turned on the light in the bedroom at the end of the hall, which turned out to be the master. A ceiling fan swirled slowly overhead. The dark carpeting was thick under her feet as they walked into the room. Only Michael's bed stood in the room, the covers turned down. She peeked into the attached full bath and large closet and found some of their clothes hung up and two towels stacked on the counter.
"I wanted to have more done, but we spent the day in bed, and when the guys called and time was so short, I had them bring the bed. I brought some of our clothes and things over yesterday while you were working." He looked very pleased with himself, and she thought he should have been. She had no clue that he'd been up to anything as fantastic as this.
He opened the blind and looked out into the backyard. He told her how his parents had planned for him to have the house when he found his mate and that they had moved during the week into their new home in the development in town.
She turned off the overhead light and joined him, looking out into the darkness. He put his arm around her and said, "I always felt like an adult, you know? I moved out at eighteen and got my trailer, I had my bike and a job and a place in the pack. But when I met you, I felt like I'd been playing at being an adult without ever actually growing up. Things that had seemed important were suddenly foolish. It was as if I was in darkness and you lit up the world for me, showed me things I hadn't known were there — hadn't known I would crave like my next breath.
"That's why this place is so important. I have amazing memories here as a kid, and I want to share those same things with our kids. Build a life here that's just us, give you everything you ever want or need." He looked down at her, his eyes shining with happiness. "You are going to let me spoil you rotten, aren't you?"
"If you insist." She couldn't help but smile. Happiness overflowed in her heart, and she gazed up at the man who, within a short amount of time, had come to mean everything to her.
"I've got an idea," she slid out of his grasp and toed off her shoes, stepping backwards slowly towards the bed.
"Do tell," he said with a gruff tone, his expression changing from one of pure love and happiness to wild animal lust. The sight of it made her body tremble with excitement. No one ever touched her the way Michael did. She was one damn lucky woman.
The button of her shorts popped open, and she undid the zipper and dropped them to the floor. "Make love to me and mark me, Michael. Make me yours forever."
He stalked to her as if he would devour her. She certainly hoped he would.
Their clothes disappeared, and he tossed her to the bed, following with a growl that was happy and lustful at the same time. After they made love, when he was still buried deep inside her, they kissed and talked quietly until passion rose up between them like a tidal wave. This time, he turned her away from him on her side, sliding into her hot core from behind with one hand gripping her hip tightly. He shifted her sweat-drenched hair away from her neck as he moved in and out of her.
"Ready, baby?" he murmured, nuzzling her hair as his grip tightened on her hip.
She pressed her hand to the top of his and linked their fingers. "Yes," she hissed. She felt his body grow warmer, and he teased her neck with the tips of what felt like very sharp fangs. Closing her eyes as he pierced her flesh on either side of her spine, she let out a gasp of pain and then moaned as he began to thrust into her in earnest. The pain faded as he pulled his fangs out and licked across the fresh wounds. He pushed their joined hands down her body until their fingers found her needy *, and he deviled her into oblivion and followed just behind her.
The pounding beginning of Michael's ringtone for Jason woke both of them up from a dead sleep, and catapulted them into alertness. Shyne groaned and pulled the covers up over her head as Michael fumbled for his cell in his jean's pocket.
"'Sup?"
He was quiet for several moments, and then he said, "No shit? That's great. Yeah, we'll be there. Thanks, man."
He tugged the covers from her clenched hands and grinned, "Cades is in labor, sweetheart."
She gasped in surprise, all the annoyance at getting woken up so jarringly dissipating like morning fog. "That's awesome!"
"Come on, they want the family there at the doc's office, so we need to get going."
Although she would have preferred to get some more sleep, she was thrilled to be included in something so special. After a quick shower, they dressed and drove to the wolf doctor who was delivering her baby, a friendly older man named Doctor Mirelli. He was a rogue, which meant he wasn't part of any pack, but he was the only wolf doctor around and well thought of. They met Michael's parents and grandfather in the waiting room of the small office. After saying hello to everyone, she cuddled up next to Michael on the padded chairs and promptly fell asleep.
"Baby, wake up." Michael roused her gently, and she groaned as she sat up and stretched. "Mom just said it's close."
"Are you excited to be an uncle?" She kissed his cheek and settled back against his shoulder, stifling a yawn as she accepted a fresh cup of coffee from Grandpa.
"Yeah," he chuckled, squeezing her shoulder. "But what I'm really looking forward to is having a baby with you, love." He kissed the top of her head with a low hum, and she smiled. She was looking forward to that, too.
A half hour later, Jason, face beaming, walked out into the waiting room and said, "It's a girl!"
They all rallied around him and cheered. Although Shyne was new to the family, she felt an intense sense of belonging, and it brought tears to her eyes. She was surprised when Jason gave her a hug, and she swiped at the happy tears on her cheeks as Jason said he'd be back out to get them when Cades was ready for visitors.
No one sat back down, Michael's parents and grandpa chattered excitedly about the first grandchild and wondered what they'd decided to name her. Michael held her close, and she reveled in his touch.
"Penny for your thoughts?" he murmured, rocking back and forth slightly.
"I was just thinking," she turned in his arms and rested her ear against his heart, "that I really love you. And your family. I'm so glad you're mine."
He pressed his lips to the top of her head, "I wouldn't want to be anyone else's."