Chapter 23
Zinnia
TWO WEEKS LATER
For years, I’d thought I wanted quiet. I’d convinced myself I loved it.
It had felt safer to hold still and keep apart from the rest of the world, if I wanted to stay alive. But the morning of my wedding was noisy and raucous, and even if I had to draw on the steady power of the earth for peace in the middle of it all, I felt more alive than I ever had.
The ceremony Alpha Brand came up with wasn’t exactly a wedding, though I wore a beautiful golden gown Ida had somehow whipped together in time for the ceremony.
All the waiting guests had taken on human form and formal clothing, and the Alpha’s Den was draped with flowers.
There were no rings, and the vows were odd.
Alpha Brand had insisted on officiating, using a ritual his grandmother Verona had found in the pack library that she assured us was even older than the words shifters used in current rituals.
“Of course, I did find this one in a fairy tale book, Legends of the Moonblessed,” she murmured as she helped me button the back of my dress.
“Which seems appropriate, with the… all of that.”
She gestured to the small, golden butterflies that had landed in a crescent over my forehead, a living tiara. They’d come in a cloud, slipping through an open doorway and making all the pack’s pups howl with delight.
“The original story was about a pair who were adopted into a wolf pack and developed magic, and some of the traits of shifters as well. Unusual story.” She escorted me to the doorway of the Alpha’s Den, where Bo and Leroy waited outside, dressed in dark gray suits with matching silk bow ties, looking very human.
“Wow!” Bo whispered when the door opened and he saw me, holding out his arm for me to take. “You’re like a movie star.”
“Mom,” Leroy gasped, his eyes welling up. “You look so beautiful.” I took his outstretched hand in mine, and Bo’s arm, and smiled up at them both. A few butterflies moved away from me to hover over their white rosebud boutonnieres.
“I hope our mate’s half as pretty as you,” Bo said with a grin.
“Or handsome,” Leroy muttered.
Bo swallowed hard, his grin wobbling. “Right. Or handsome.”
The moon was just rising, and the area outside had been decorated with fairy lights, as well as fireflies. The sky was clear above us, only a few stars peeking out as my boys escorted me carefully across the clearing to the assembled pack.
The earth hummed beneath my feet as I stepped barefoot onto the grass and walked toward my mate, with our two sons on my arms. The pack had gathered in a large crowd around the packed ring where all of Mountain’s most sacred rituals were held, but as I approached, they moved to make a wide aisle to the center.
There, Julian stood dressed in a dark suit, Brand beside him. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my life,” my mate whispered.
I answered him with a soft smile, the butterflies above my head dancing as the golden moonlight spilled over the horizon and onto the circle.
The Alpha raised his voice. “The moon is full, Mountain. Our hearts are just as full as we gather tonight to witness and celebrate the bond of two of our own: Julian Rain and Zinnia Star.” He winked at me.
I’d never been an official member of the Mountain pack, but his father had insisted he’d made me one in absentia.
Julian took my hand, and Bo and Leroy stepped back. We faced each other, and I spoke the old words aloud first, followed by my mate. My husband.
“I, Julian Rain, take you, Zinnia Star, into my arms, my heart, my life, and my soul. From now until the end of our journey, I will hold you, protect you, comfort and console you. I will honor and love you in my thoughts, words, and actions. By the heat of the sun and the light of the moon, the power of the earth and the blessing of Her waters, I vow to you, my love, that I am now, and have always been, yours.” He pressed a kiss to the tops of my fingers on each hand and then to my lips.
Everyone cheered at once, which may have been why they missed what happened next.
Something seared my neck, like a white-hot paw being pressed to my throat, just at the base.
The earth sent a surge of healing power through my feet that quenched the sudden fire, but caused a trembling that shook the entire circle.
More than one shifter cried out in alarm.
But not Julian. He was holding me, his hands on my forearms, and his eyes fixed on my neck, his mouth open in surprise. But… happy surprise? His emotions were all over the place, as if he wasn’t sure how to react.
When he tore open the collar of his shirt to reveal his own neck, I understood. There, nestled in the hollow at the base of his throat, was a perfect, silvered paw print. Not a bite, not a claiming mark, but something else.
“It’s the mark a wolf leaves on the earth,” Julian whispered, his fingers tracing mine, setting off a shower of sparks that cascaded through my body in a sensual firework.
I returned the favor and smiled at the flush in his cheeks as he realized the effect of touching the new mark. “The earth gave it back to us,” I agreed. “A wedding gift, you think?”
He gathered me up, lavishing my mouth with the most passionate kiss yet. “Mate.”
“My mate,” I agreed, sneaking a gentle caress over his silver mark and grinning when he shuddered. “Claimed at last.”