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13: Ceremony
Jack
“If we were going to wait until dusk to make her the Luna, why did we have to start this party at noon?”
Though Candlewood’s a small town made up of mostly weres, a few other shifter species have taken up residence here too, along with a few humans, mostly extended family of humans turned were that live with their mates. Right now, I’m certain exactly all of them are crammed into every nook and cranny of the three blocks surrounding the pavilion in the center of town.
The plaza is closed to vehicle traffic, but it’s packed nearly shoulder to shoulder and people have set up blankets and folding lawn chairs on the grass around the pavilion, even in the streets. Darla and Joe’s, the local sandwich and pie shop that makes my favorite
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Where Wild Things Roam 14: Storm
Darby Nearly unbearable pain throbs in my leg, blood streaming down it and over Ian’s sleek coat. I’m grateful for his smooth gait, because I don’t think I could take the jarring otherwise, but nevertheless I shudder with relief when he halts at the packhouse.I don’t know where he learned to do it, but as Ian shifts, I wind up in his arms. Carrying me as easily as a beloved small child, he rushes up the steps just as the door opens from inside. Looking over his shoulder, I see a timber wolf position itself outside, guarding, and two leggy but more finely built tan and black ones start their shift.The desert pack brothers. I recognize the deep honey colored eyes, one of them boring directly into mine.“Townsend—.” Ian shouts, working his way around t
Where Wild Things Roam 15: Dangerous
Darby Good morning, beautiful.Have some things to take care of at the office.Townsend and David will take good care of you.I’ll see you at lunch time.All my love,IanI lay the note aside. “Tessa?”With a graceful leap, she lands beside me on the bed, looming over me and wiggling excitedly. Good morning, Luna.“And to you
Where Wild Things Roam 16: Exchange
Sean Did you feel it?Oh, shit, Sean. What have you done?It’s lifted! The curse is lifted! How?Candlewood’s Luna. Please don’t tell me you seduced her. I swear Sean, I’ll turn you over to Ian myself. On my honor, I did not. Your honor? Where females are concerned, you have no honor. I do now. Listen. We came here to bargain with Candlewood, but we’re in the weaker position. Are you trying to provoke me? Or did the Luna addle what’s left of your brains? Tell me something I don’t know. We have nothing to o
Where Wild Things Roam 17: Fae Gemini
Sean“Luna?”“I’ve no desire to talk to you, Second triumvir.”Darby sneers the title and I sigh, trailing after her and Tessa behind the packhouse and out to the survey markers where the new addition made of more faery-friendly materials will be.It’s been nearly three weeks since Ivan and his family left for Desert pack and I assumed his role here at Candlewood. In every other aspect, this is pretty great. But Darby’s seething resentment is wearing on me in ways I didn’t expect it would, both as the triumvir and as her mate, which I’m certain now I am—her superbloom scent is intoxicating anytime I’m around her. I’m tired of my apologies falling on deaf ears, of her cruel avoidance.“It’s Sean. And yeah, you’ve made that clear.”
Where Wild Things Roam 18: Mates
Jack So the whole threat to Darby thing really has Ian riled. And not that I don’t think what they’re contributing isn’t great, but Sean and the Desert trackers aren’t making that easier. Which means that my normally cush job, just got annoying, and it’s putting a crimp in my sex life.Between regular maintenance contracts, and now the addition to the pack house, there are all kinds of contractors and crews coming and going constantly. Getting their background checks and keeping track of them the whole time they’re in Candlewood is an exercise in irritation. I’m actually considering sending the alpha pair on a honeymoon—a long one.The team I put together to enforce the security protocols, while loyal, follows my instructions to the letter but can’t think outside
Where Wild Things Roam 19: Charms
Sean I yawn, bleary-eyed, and take another sip of coffee.We’ve got patrols circling outwards from Candlewood proper to our borders, looking for any other signs of the vampire that triggered the ward. The only odd thing we’ve found so far though is one of the local nutjobs, an elderly woman named Kassandra. Jack and I found her a few miles deep in the woods behind the packhouse smudged head to foot with some silty black dust and looking for all intents like she’d been dragged through an ashtray. She was covered in cuts and scrapes from running in the pitch dark through the underbrush, and I’m waiting to hear from the pack hospital that she’s stopped her repetitive babbling and I can come and question her.Across from me, Ian’s shot and stares blankly at t
Where Wild Things Roam 20: Insecurities
Ian “This isn’t a topic I think I can be much help with, Alpha,” Dr. Myers says gently, her eyes averted as her gloved hands examine my testicles, the final humiliating step in a medical consultation I naively requested. “My knowledge about conception in faeries is limited at best. Everything feels normal here, so you can sit up. I’ll get these samples to the lab.”Well, that was awful for my ego.Dr. Myers pulls the paper-thin hospital gown over my exposed parts and pats my knee and I wonder if this can get any more emasculating.As she takes her gloves off and washes her hands, I sit upright on the exam table feeling more violated than I ever have in my life. No wonder women hate pelvic exams and mammograms.“Shifters are easy, really. Finding a mate is enough to
Where Wild Things Roam 21: Compromised
Jack I hate alliance negotiations.But compared to Mom’s daily freak-outs over my mates’ ceremony at T minus three days and counting, they look like child’s play.Let me say this in her defense: she did not lie to me.Not in the least.I remember distinctly her warning at the Luna’s induction into Candlewood, that she would make my triumvir mate’s ceremony twice as large as she had for Darby, and she has lived up to that times two.Because that’s really the problem, right? I have two mates.And this triumvir mate ceremony has gone from being a downright shitshow to being a legendary downright shitshow.“We can’t change the date,
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