32. Ava
Ava
In the weeks since London, I settled into my new life and accompanied Guin and Sol to meetings with the board of Vanderbilt Holdings.
I detailed my successful global expansion to our shareholders for approval and finalized the remaining paperwork needed to settle the deals. I’d officially saved the business.
In the evenings, I came home to my mates and sank into blissful peace.
But old grudges didn’t simply go away because a few Bastards had decided to bond with the Vanderbilt women.
Eyes tracked me down corridors. Other packmates stopped talking when my sisters or I entered the room, their voices dulling to whispers.
I sensed their apprehension. Sol and Maeve had warned me about it.
“Not only are you a Vanderbilt, but you’re also a half-breed,” Maeve explained one night over dinner.
“A half-breed?” I furrowed my brow. “What’s that?”
“One parent is a human, one’s a shifter,” Sol said. “It’s an outdated mindset. It’s taboo to think that way these days.”
I didn’t understand why it would matter. Magic ran in my veins, the same as any other shifter, but there were a lot of things about this world that would take time to understand.
The full moon came. I changed with the pack and ran with my mates, giving our wolves a chance to connect.
Poe and I played while Lycan kept a steady eye on our shenanigans.
I could almost pretend the events in London never happened.
The dreams didn’t come back. The vampires seemed to tuck tail and run.
And Evelyn was lost in the wind, gone back under whatever rock she’d been hiding in before this mess happened.
Life seemed perfect. And when my official mating night came, I went to Maeve’s cabin to get ready the way countless other shifters had done before me. I’d be welcomed into the pack, blood sworn to Kodiak and bound to Lycan and Poe in the traditions of my new family.
“You’re lucky I like you,” Channing said from her spot next to me, painting spirals on my arm with white paint. “Marking before the official mating ceremony is kind of a faux pas.”
I snorted and turned to Maeve, who sat on the other side and dragged a brush over my other arm, matching Channing’s designs.
“Not that I consider myself a traditionalist,” she continued. “But Kodiak doesn’t usually like when marking happens before he has a chance to approve it.”
“And he’s the expert in magical relationships?” Guin scoffed and rolled her eyes. “The guy who’s been single for over a decade.”
“Approve it?” I narrowed my eyes at Lycan’s sister, ignoring Guin’s dismissal. “Would he ever deny it?”
She shrugged, dipping her brush in more ink before moving on to my fingers. “Maybe. If one of the partners was already mated or if it seemed coerced in some way.”
“And what would happen then?” I thought back to what she’d found about my mother and Zion, and I wondered why their mating had never taken place. “I thought the shifter chooses the mate. I thought the bonds were fated.”
“Most are,” she said. “But it wasn’t always so progressive for submissives. In the old days, a dominant could force a submissive into a bond, and unless another dominant stood up for them, they didn’t have much of a choice.”
“That’s horrible,” Sol said, crossing her arms. “Was it like that under the alpha before Kodiak?”
Channing pursed her lips and put down her brush.
“I was young when Kerrick died. I don’t remember much about him, but from the stories I’ve heard, he enforced the old rules until he got mated himself.
And after that, he tried to change them…
but many of the dominants resisted. You can imagine they didn’t want their power taken away. ”
“Kodiak’s not like that, though,” Sol said. “He’s fair. Maybe pushy sometimes, but he always seems to have the pack’s best interest at heart.”
“It must be a hard spot to be in,” I added. “Shouldering the weight of so many shifters. Trying to keep everyone safe.”
Guin sniffed and sipped a glass of whiskey. “Enough of the pity party for His Majesty. We’re here tonight for you. How do you feel?”
Butterflies swirled in my stomach, and the anticipation of what would happen next beat against my rib cage. I knew Lycan and Poe would be waiting for me at the ceremony. They’d never leave me. This was a culmination of the last few months, and I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
“Good,” I said. “I’ve never been more ready for anything.”
Maeve and Channing put the final touches on their designs before I stood and walked to the mirror to examine my reflection.
My dark hair hung in ringlets around my shoulders, and my eyes glowed with my wolf’s acceptance of what was to come.
My sisters had spent the last hour decorating my skin with symbols sacred to the pack: spirals, triangles, and looping circles that represented unending loyalty and devotion.
I wore a floor-length white dress with a halter top that flattered my figure and made me look almost virginal.
I snorted to myself.
Virginal.
The version of me that left for Europe all those weeks ago may have narrowly fit that description.
She was overly critical and afraid to put herself out there, judging her worth only by how much she did for others.
She didn’t have time to slow down, to consider romance, to let herself love and be loved for who she was.
The one looking back at me in the mirror had left that person behind.
I loved her; I loved all my past selves.
But I wasn’t her anymore. I’d shed that skin like a snake and chosen to fully embrace who I’d become.
Life could so easily be snatched away. Things like love, peace, and desire were worth time and patience.
A knock at the door had me looking over my shoulder at Orion, who smiled and walked up to Sol. She put an arm around her mate’s waist and grinned up at him.
“It’s time,” he said. “Are you ready?”
I nodded and grabbed Maeve’s hand, intertwining my fingers with hers.
We walked from the cabin into the woods, the sounds of the autumn night echoing around me.
The chilled air brushed my skin, and the clear night sky cast a heavenly ambiance to the magic drifting through the space.
Fire torches lit the path ahead, and I sensed my mates waiting for me, their steady thrumming hearts syncing with mine.
“I’m proud of you,” Maeve whispered, squeezing my palm tighter. “You went through most of this alone. I, at least, had Guin to help me.”
“You helped me, too,” I said. “I’m glad you’re here.”
When the treeline opened into a clearing, I paused to take in my surroundings.
Most of the pack stood on either side of the aisle, some faces I recognized from London, some I’d only seen in passing, and some I’d never met before.
Kodiak stood in front of a stone column, decorated with the same designs as on my skin.
Poe stood on Lycan’s left, both of them dressed in white linen trousers.
Their bare chests bore matching designs and dots, their powerful arms on full display.
Both of my mates had dark paint smeared around their eyes and foreheads, their irises marking a striking contrast to each other.
Poe’s a dark, radiant brown. Lycan’s a beautiful storm gray.
Mine, my wolf growled. Mine.
“Come here, Trouble,” Lycan whispered telepathically.
“You look beautiful,” Poe added.
I held my head high and walked down the aisle to my future. The rest of the crowd fell away, their whispers dulled into silence. I only had eyes for my mates. I didn’t care about anything else. When we stood in front of them, Maeve turned to me and leaned in to kiss my cheek.
“You’ll do great,” she whispered. “It’ll be over quick.”
She stepped away and fell in next to Guin and Sol as I turned to face Kodiak, standing between Lycan and Poe.
I took Lycan’s left hand and interlaced my fingers with his, grounding myself in his steady strength.
I did the same with Poe on my right, and together, our energy bloomed.
The bond hummed blissfully, and I imagined it twisting around us in a cocoon of safety and adoration.
Lycan’s wolf nudged against mine, welcoming my magical self into his soul, and Poe’s reciprocated, brushing his head against both of us, nipping at our snouts with playfulness and affection.
“Brothers, sisters, family, and friends,” Kodiak started as he opened an old leather-bound book. “Thank you for coming to the mating of Lycan, Ava, and Poe.”
I steeled my nerves, refusing to shake in front of all these people. I wouldn’t show them weakness. I was here with my two favorite shifters in the world. I had nothing to be scared of.
“Were you a good girl?” Lycan asked.
I schooled my features into apathetic nonchalance. “Of course, sir.”
I’d followed the directions he left for me in our bedroom this morning, even if I’d almost cried from the tenderness of it all. Leave it to Lycan to insist on controlling even this most sacred of moments.
Lycan internally snickered, his amusement rolling through me and into Poe.
“What did you do?” Poe asked, keeping his focus trained on Kodiak as our alpha continued.
“Patience, my dear Poet. It’s a present for you,” Lycan replied.
“Ava. Tonight, you will join the pack. You’ll become a Royal Bastard in name and spirit,” Kodiak said, glancing up at me with his dark, serious gaze. “Do you accept this invitation?”
“I accept,” I said with a nod.