20. Forever
FOREVER
deputy gus is on the job.
watch mother? gus can do that.
— gus
Riordan slowly removes his arm from my shoulder, and I know that I need to fix this before he shuts down on me.
He will, too. My mate isn’t that far removed from the male who panicked after he used his curse against me.
And, okay. He was confused, and he was convinced that I was a murderess.
He wasn’t thinking clearly, and I don’t blame him for that now.
Not gonna lie, though. It does sting a little as he pulls away from me.
But then, before it can hurt too much, he nods at Honey. “If you can give Max a call at the station, let him know I didn’t take off again, I’d appreciate it. I forgot to charge my phone last night and it’s dead.”
“Um. Sure. I mean, you can borrow mine—”
Riordan cuts Honey off with a quick shake of his head. “That’s okay. I’m taking the day off, but I’ll talk to him later.”
Honey looks at Riordan, then me, then Riordan again. It’s easy to tell that she’s wishing she was anywhere but here. “Yeah. I… I’ll do that.”
“I appreciate it. Gus—”
The opossum squeaks.
“Right. Deputy Gus,” corrects Riordan. “Stay with your mom when we go. I’ve got to talk to Pen, and then I’m heading back to pack territory. We’ll go back on the hunt for the murderer in Moonburrow tomorrow. Good?”
Gus bobs his head, the tin star on his collar moving with the motion. I watch it bounce before he turns around, disappearing back into the bakery where his flour bag throne is waiting for him. His long, pink tail whips behind him through the open door.
Taking that as her cue to go, Honey waves at me, and then all I get a glimpse of now are her twin blonde braids before the door swings shut behind her.
I’m heading back to pack territory. That’s what he said. My stomach twists, and I have to wonder: have I been dumped already? I’m his bonded mate. That’s not supposed to happen—
Riordan holds out his hand. “Penelope?”
Swallowing the nervous lump in my throat, I place my hand in his. His warm fingers close around mine, and without another word, he leads me out of the kitchen and into the back alley behind Dough You Believe in Magic.
The moment the door shuts behind us, Riordan takes a second to make sure there are no threats nearby. Once he assures himself that the dumpster has garbage in it and not a ‘dead’ opossum shifter, he uses his hold on my hand to tug me into him.
Next thing I know? He’s kissing me.
It starts soft and hesitant, which makes sense considering I’m not sure what’s going on with our mate bond at the moment.
Still, it’s obvious that we do have one.
At the very least, Riordan has obviously decided that being newly mated to me means he no longer has to pretend he doesn’t want me or that he doesn’t have my permission to deepen the kiss until I’m keening softly before he abruptly pulls back and away.
I follow him, eyes trained on his lush lips before I come to my senses.
Falling back on my heels, I suck in a breath, and only when I feel like I can talk without gasping do I say, “What was that? Not that I’m complaining, but I thought you wanted to talk to me.”
“I do,” Riordan admits. “But I’m scared shitless you’re going to say something I don’t want to hear, so I thought I should kiss you first.”
“You want me distracted for this chat, Chief Deputy?”
His eyes blaze at my attempt at a tease. “Desperately,” he grates out, and while I’m teasing my mate, he’s dead serious.
I brace my hand against his chest. Beneath my palm, his heart beats a rapid tattoo.
“It’s okay, Riordan. I should’ve thought about all of this before last night, but I was—”
“Distracted?”
Big time. “Yeah. You could say that. Doesn’t change things, though. I want to be your mate.”
“You are my mate.”
Goddess damn it, the way he growls like that…
I have to squeeze my legs together to keep from jumping him.
Not like it helps. With his senses, he knows exactly how much he turns me on when he does that, and I lost any shame I felt when it comes to that realization after I let him strip me down and mate me.
“I am,” I agree. “And that means something to me. So let me just put this out there: I’m not going back to Salem.
” I don’t know who’s more relieved to hear me say that and know that I one hundred percent mean it: me or Riordan.
Probably him. “I’m just so used to thinking of Massachusetts as home.
Moonburrow is home now because you are home for me.
You’re my mate, and I’m staying with you. ”
“Forever?”
“That’s what being bonded mates means, isn’t it?
Now,” I say, holding up my hand to stop Riordan from kissing me again.
He grumbles softly, but, hey, he’s the one who said he wanted to talk.
“That doesn’t mean I’m leaving my coven.
Serena did so much for me after Mom died.
She’s like a second grandmother to me, and if she needs me, I’m going to help her.
But I’ll try my best to help her from Moonburrow.
Same as how I’d like to work in the library when you’re doing your thing as the chief deputy.
We have a bond now, Riordan, and I’m not going anywhere, but I’m also going to use my abilities when I can. Is that fair?”
Riordan is an overprotective, predatory wolf. ‘Fair’ would be me spending all of my days naked in his bed, but since I’ve made it as clear as possible that I’m not flying out to Salem as soon as he turns his back on me, that’s probably a concession he can make.
But then he brushes a damp tendril of hair from my forehead, tucking it behind my ear.
“Move in with me, Pen. Today. Now. You don’t even have to pack your stuff.
We can do that later if you’d rather go resume our search for the lodestone afterward.
But I want you in my bed today, relocated to my territory as fast as we can make it to my place.
Car, walking, my sweet witch hitching a ride on my back—”
“Riordan…”
“You already have a place to live in Moonburrow,” he continues. “I know that. And I’m not trying to be all possessive—”
I arch my eyebrows at him.
He chuckles. “Okay. I was full of shit there, but you can’t blame me.
I’ve waited thirty-five years for my one true mate.
I’m also a predator, and a born alpha. My wolf is whining at me to pick you up by the scruff and carry you off to our den.
This is all happening so suddenly, and I get that.
I should give you time to realize what it means to be a wolf’s mate…
but I can’t, and I think you know that,”
He’s not wrong, is he?
Moving into me again, Riordan strokes his thumb lightly over the height of my cheek.
“There’s still a killer in Moonburrow. Until we know who murdered Olivia, I want you somewhere I can protect you.
I can sleep at the bottom of the stairs in my fur if that’s what you want, Pen, but I’d much prefer to hold my mate in my arms while we both sleep together.
I’m stronger on my territory, too. If anyone steps onto it, I’ll know. ”
That’s actually a pretty good selling point, and I don’t just mean the idea of sleeping peacefully in Riordan’s bed…
He must be able to tell that I won’t be hard to convince because some of the tension leaves his wide shoulders.
“I’m not trying to order you to move in,” he says.
I grin at him. “The curse broke when I let you bond me to you so you literally can’t anymore even if you didn’t already give me a cheat code to ignore you.”
“I know.” His mouth curves faintly. “It’s still going to take me some time to remember that.
I may not say the right things, Penelope, or be careful with how I do say them, but this is important to me.
You’re important to me. I don’t know who is targeting witches in Moonburrow, but even before you knew you were mine, I knew I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you.
Having you at my place… my wolf will know it, too. ”
When he puts it that way, how can I refuse?
I can’t, and I don’t.
Besides, it’s not like it doesn’t make sense.
Now that I accept I’m staying in Maryland, it would be ridiculous to keep the apartment over the bakery while my mate lives on the other side of town, deep in the woods where the shifters have their territory.
The bond would keep tugging on us until we were together, and there’s no real reason to stay separated when we don’t have to be.
As for Riordan… he’s not leaving Moonburrow. Instinctively, I knew it when he left, just like I understand now how much it cost him to go. He thought he was doing it for me, but now that he’s returned, there’s no leaving the supernatural town again for Riordan.
He came back to be the chief deputy. He came back to be the Beta of the Moonshadow Pack. And he came back because his wolf—and his human side, too—knew he couldn’t risk anything happening to me once it was revealed that there was a witch murdered at the hands of a wolf shifter in his town.
He promised he’d find them and he would stop them. He doesn’t need to be the sheriff or the Alpha to do that. He just needs to be a protective male who will do anything to keep his mate safe.
And I have no doubt in my mind that Riordan Lobo will do that for me.
So what if he’s considered the second-most powerful wolf in town?
The first time I stood near both brothers after Riordan returned, I could feel it.
Max is Alpha of the Moonshadow Pack, but the power under Riordan’s skin is every bit as strong.
He simply chooses to bend it around his younger brother instead of challenging him, and that might have been because the curse taught him that he can’t command the world to do as he says, but, at long last, Riordan is finally content in both his fur and his skin.
He has his brother. He has his pack. He has his mate.
Now he just needs to find the threat to all of us and take it down—and if there’s anyone I believe can do that? It’s my mate.
By mid-afternoon, I’ve moved exactly one thing into Riordan’s cabin: me.
Before we headed for my parked car so that we could drive over to pack land, we went around to the front of Dough You Believe in Magic.
Just like I expected, Honey was at the counter, chatting with a customer, while Gus was curled up on top of the flour bag he claims as his throne, lording over the storefront.
I formally told Honey that I would be moving out of the apartment she so graciously let me use this past month, and if her expression of surprise is absolutely fake, I’m grateful she at least pretends that it wasn’t obvious that I would end up agreeing to move in with Riordan now that we’re bonded.
I tried to get Riordan to agree to let me pack up a few essentials, but he showed his stubborn wolfish side when he refused.
He really meant it when he said that his inner beast needs me on his territory to prove that I’m his mate in all ways, and Honey readily agreed to store my kit, my clothes, and the belongings I’ve accumulated during my stay in Moonburrow for as long as I need her to.
Riordan swore that I’ll have everything I need at his place, and when I teasingly mentioned that he’s too proud to let me borrow his clothes in case I ruin them, my mate gave me a deadpan look, flexed his fingers, and used his claws to shred the hundred-dollar silk shirt he was wearing.
He draped one of the largest pieces over my chest while giving me a lusty gaze. “Will that fit?” he asked, teasing me right back.
It might just cover my nipples. “If you’re okay with your packmates seeing me wear nothing but this scrap of fabric, sure.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have put that idea in his head.
Riordan insisted on driving my rental car—that Riordan promised to buy for me since I kind of have no way of returning it this late at this point—since I’ve never been to his cabin before.
Good thing he’s going to buy it out because, the second his jealous side responded to the idea of his packmates seeing me wearing nothing but that scrap, he jumped the curb.
Luckily, the bunny shifter heading down Main Street hopped away before the car slammed into her. Recognizing Riordan as the driver, the prey shifter kept her complaints to a shake of her head, and I had to swallow my giggle as Riordan grumbled under his breath and righted the car.
We made one pitstop on the way to his home.
After I admitted that I didn’t wear long, flowy outfits because I preferred, and that I’d be more comfortable in something else, he asked me if I was willing to add to my wardrobe on him.
Feeling more confident with Riordan’s bite on my shoulder, I figured it couldn’t hurt.
After twenty minutes in a small boutique on the shifter side of town, I now have enough summertime outfits—complete with short shorts and some slick, silky blouses of my own—to last me through August, and an excitement that has me squealing and clutching his arm as we drove out to pack land.
There’s only one thing he chose not to purchase for me.
No underwear among all the bags, I noticed, though I keep that little tidbit to myself. Something tells me that, now that I’m going to be living with my possessive wolf shifter mate, he doesn’t think I’ll need them… and I can’t say he’s wrong.