Chapter 24 Rozi
ROZI
TWELVE MONTHS LATER… ON A FULL MOON
My skin prickled with electricity as I fastened the vial pendant around my neck, my fingers trembling so badly I nearly dropped it twice.
Inside the tiny glass capsule, the iridescent blue serum caught the moonlight, reminding me of how Brody had looked beneath me during our second trip into the COL cave, his powerful body gleaming with blue-tinged water as I’d straddled him, his eyes blazing as he’d thrust up into me.
“Fuck,” I whispered, heat pooling between my thighs at the memory.
My cheetah stretched beneath my skin, claws flexing with anticipation of what awaited us tonight. Mine, she purred, the word reverberating through my consciousness with primal satisfaction. Mate. Claim. Forever.
I stood at the entrance of the cave housing the Cradle of Life, my thin silver robe doing nothing to shield my naked body from the cool night air.
My nipples tightened to aching points, partly from the chill but mostly from knowing that Brody waited inside, that within the hour, he would be inside me, his cock stretching me open as his teeth found the claiming mark on my neck.
The scent of night, sandalwood and pine, carried on the breeze, mingling with something else, the unmistakable musk of an aroused wolf-shifter.
Brody was already here, his primal scent making my pussy clench with a Pavlovian response.
A year of being thoroughly claimed by him had trained my body to recognize his presence before I even saw him.
My inner thighs were already slick with desire, my core aching with a need only he could fill. The knowledge that tonight would bind us forever, that the entire pack would witness our commitment before we slipped away to consummate it, sent a fresh wave of wetness flooding my center.
Ready? my cheetah demanded, impatient for the claiming ritual to begin.
I took a deep breath, inhaling the scents of magic and moonlight, of ancient power and carnal promise.
The gold bracelet Brody had fastened around my wrist last night caught the silver light, reminding me of his whispered promises against my ear as he’d slipped three fingers inside me, his thumb circling my clit with devastating precision.
“I’m going to fuck you so thoroughly tomorrow night,” he’d growled, his teeth grazing my earlobe as his fingers worked me toward another shattering climax. “By the time I’m done, you won’t remember your own name, just mine.”
As ready as I’ll ever be, I thought, stepping into the cave entrance, my body thudding in anticipation of his touch.
Inside the cave, a breathtaking sight awaited me.
The blue pool of the Cradle of Life dominated the center of the cavern, its otherworldly glow illuminating the entire space with ethereal light.
The water seemed alive, pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat as if recognizing me.
Crystal formations caught and refracted the blue glow, creating an underwater effect that made the entire cavern feel like we were suspended in some magical realm between worlds.
Around the perfect circular edge of the pool, the Bane pack members stood in a reverent ring, forming a complete circle around the water. I could see the joy in their eyes, joy for us, for what we’d found in each other after so many years apart.
Freya, head of the witch coven, stood at the water’s edge directly opposite the cave entrance, wearing a formfitting floor-length white dress that made her look like an ancient goddess.
Her amber eyes glowed with magical energy that matched the luminescence of the water.
She had positioned herself at what must be the most powerful point of the circle, where the energy of the COL seemed the strongest.
Nyx caught my eye and winked, the sequins shining on her Glitter Is Always An Option T-shirt. Bessie smiled at me.
Rose dabbed at her eyes already, though the ceremony hadn’t even begun.
But my gaze was drawn to the figure standing directly beside Freya at the far edge of the circular pool.
Brody stood in a silver cloak that matched mine, waiting for me across the glowing water.
When our gazes met over the circle, electricity arced between us so intensely that the water between us rippled as if disturbed by an unseen force.
His eyes blazed with such fierce love and possessive need that my knees nearly buckled beneath me.
The same reaction I’d had that day in the lab when his hands had circled my waist, lifting me off my feet as our breakthrough was confirmed.
The same dizzying rush that had overwhelmed me in the forest as Swarmer venom coursed beneath his skin and I’d clutched his hand, terrified of a world without him in it.
The same delicious ache I felt each morning when I caught him watching me through half-lidded eyes, his callused fingers tracing patterns on my skin as if memorizing every inch.
Mine, my cheetah sang with satisfaction, claws flexing beneath my skin with primal anticipation of the claiming to come.
Ours, I corrected her silently. Forever ours.
I began to walk the perimeter of the pool, my footsteps echoing softly off the ancient stone. The blue moss that grew exactly at the threshold where water met stone glowed brighter as I passed.
With each step I took around the circle, memories flooded through me, Brody’s arms around me as we’d danced in his cabin to no music at all, just the rhythm of our heartbeats.
His voice, rough with desire as he’d commanded me to take my pleasure from him, then trembling with vulnerability as he’d surrendered control to me the next night.
The way he’d looked at me across the lab when a breakthrough hit, his pride in my work radiating from him like physical heat.
The countless ways he’d shown me that love wasn’t captivity but freedom, freedom to be more fully myself than I’d ever dared before.
As I made my way around the circle, I passed Quinn Bane and his mate Imani standing together at the water’s edge.
The wolf-shifter who’d brought me to the Ridge a year ago, who’d trusted me despite my Dhahabu name, who’d witnessed our breakthrough and supported my vision for what the company could become.
Beside him, Imani, the hybrid Arctic wolf-shifter who co-owned the Bane House B&B, gave me an encouraging smile.
Farther along the circle stood Rhett, the jaguar-shifter who served as the Ridge’s sheriff, holding hands with his hybrid jaguar-shifter mate, Nova.
Next came Mack, the lion-shifter deputy sheriff, standing proud beside Aurora, his hybrid lioness-shifter mate whose baking skills had become legendary in the Ridge.
Emmett, the rhino-shifter who owned the town’s only garage, stood tall beside his demon-hybrid mate, Seraphina.
Piper, Quinn’s mother and matriarch of the Bane pack, caught my eye from her position along the circle, giving me a wink that conveyed her proud support. Jasper, one of the pack’s enforcers, grinned at us.
The full circle of our chosen family had gathered around the water to witness our union in the very place that had given us the key to helping unmated males everywhere.
I was surrounded by love, and the warmth in their eyes spoke of bonds forged in trust. While the rest of the town might have once viewed me with suspicion, the pack and coven had always really seen me, with hearts open and judgment absent.
The COL water in the center of our circle seemed to ripple with its own consciousness, the blue glow intensifying as I approached the spot beside Freya where Brody waited.
This place had given us so much: the cure for pre-feral symptoms, the moss that stabilized neural pathways, the beginning of our journey back to each other.
It seemed fitting that we would seal our bond here, at the threshold between water and earth, between science and magic, between past and future.
Finally completing my journey around the pool, I took my place beside Brody, facing Freya across the narrow edge of the water.
The moment I reached his side, his scent enveloped me.
His heat radiated against me even without touching, the mate bond between us already humming with anticipation of the ceremony to come.
“Love and magic are powerful,” Freya said, her voice carrying a resonance that made the crystals overhead sing with harmonic tones. “And so is the connection between shifters and their mates.”
Brody found my hand with his, his fingers intertwining with mine.
Through our mate bond, I felt his own nervous excitement, his overwhelming love, his absolute certainty that this was right.
He traced circles against my palm with his thumb, a small intimacy that spoke volumes.
Soon his touch would claim every inch of me, just as it had countless times over the past year.
Yet tonight would be different. Tonight would be forever.
A year ago, I would have scoffed at the idea of feeling someone else’s emotions as clearly as my own, but now it felt as natural as breathing.
The way his desire fed mine, the way his joy amplified my happiness, the way his pride in my accomplishments made me stand taller—these weren’t chains binding me, but wings helping me soar higher than I ever could alone.
Freya raised her arms to the crystal ceiling where moonlight filtered through, casting prismatic rainbows across the water’s surface. “Luna. Goddess of the moon. We’re here tonight to ask for your blessing in the joining of Brody and his mate, Rozi.”