* * *
The mating ceremony was held a few days later, under the light of the full moon, the sun ceremony having been done earlier that day.
Addie didn’t know what to expect, but what she got was Shifters everywhere, partying with abandon. They did the ceremony at the ranch, where Kendrick was settling in his Shifters. They were making plans to alter the place where the Shifters could live in comfort and privacy. Charlie was happy to accommodate—he was selling the place outright to Kendrick and would stay on to run it. He enjoyed having the Shifters there, Addie could see, his ranch coming alive again.
Dylan arrived to do the blessing, Kendrick having asked him to perform the ceremony. Dylan and Kendrick were still working together, but as equals, making all kinds of pacts that Addie didn’t want to know about. Likewise, Zander had confessed to Kendrick that he’d healed Lachlan all those years ago, not knowing what a monster he’d saved. Kendrick understood—Zander was a healer whose instinct was to help those in pain, and he’d had no idea what kind of trouble Lachlan would cause all these years later. Also, Zander’s healing had no doubt saved Kendrick’s life. Still, Kendrick said with a humorous glint in his eyes, if Zander felt bad about Lachlan, he could keep his cell phone on in case Kendrick needed him again. Zander growled, but Addie saw the guilt in his eyes ease.
Addie’s sister, Ivy, arrived with the kids for the ceremony. Ivy was bewildered at first, but understood that Addie staying with Kendrick made her happy. Tori and Josh acclimatized faster, and were soon running and playing with Robbie, Zane, and Brett, and other Shifter children.
Under the silver moonlight, Dylan called down the blessing of the Goddess and united Kendrick and Addie. Moonlight gleamed on Kendrick’s sword, its shimmer cool and white rather than the hot silver flashes it had blazed in the tunnels.
“By the light of the moon, the Mother Goddess, I proclaim you as mates!” Dylan said in his firm voice. The Shifters around them howled and roared, a mating completed being cause for crazed celebration.
The loudest roar had to come from Tiger, who’d arrived with Carly and the new little cub, whom they’d named Seth, nestled happily in his mother’s arms.
Even louder were the shouts of Zane, Brett, and Robbie. “I told you!” Brett said at the top of his voice. “She’s our new mom!”
As the celebration escalated—every Shifter wanting to embrace Addie, the cubs wanting to be lifted into her arms—Kendrick managed to break them away, especially as the beer started flowing.
He towed Addie out into the fields beyond the house, down the far side of the rise.
“Where are we going?” Addie asked in curiosity. She didn’t much care, as long as she could be with Kendrick.
“Somewhere away from the light.”
Kendrick led her a long way, but before Addie could grow tired, he stopped. “Here.”
He unstrapped the sheathed sword and laid it down, then pulled from the shadow of a bush a couple of blankets he must have stashed earlier. Kendrick shook them out and spread them on the ground.
He dropped down onto his back and patted the blanketed space beside him. “Remember?” he asked. “I promised to tell you about the stars.”
Addie’s heart beat faster as she slid off her shoes, stepped onto the blanket, and settled in next to him.
They lay back, the heavens, cloudless, flowing around them. The moon had become a small disk high above, and stars thickly blanketed the sky.
Kendrick pointed straight upward at a very bright star. “The humans call this one Vega. Shifters see it as a mother, a Lupine, who beams her light, looking for her cubs.” Kendrick shifted his arm to the right and Addie snuggled into the curve of it. “The wolf cubs have run away on the back of a dragon. See them there? Their mother chases them across the heavens all night, and they laugh and fly away. Robbie really likes that story.”