Dark Refuge (29 page)

“Twenty-six years ago,” he said, “the entire pack took refuge in the caverns beneath my mom and dad’s house. When we came outside, I remember the blackened ground and the burned remnants of the house I’d grown up in, and I thought then that we’d never be whole again, because our entire world had been destroyed.”

He glanced at Em and thought of all the changes in their lives. She’d been about nine months old then, too young to understand the magnitude of the damage the fire had caused, but he remembered. They’d had other forest fires since then, but none as close or as destructive as the one that hit them the month before he and Mac turned four. That was the same year when the world learned they existed, when the Chanku finally came out of the closet in a very big way.

“Mating is a huge change for each of us, but marriage is something we choose beyond the mating bond. Not only does it make us more human-like to the outside world, but it somehow seems to cement a bond that we’ve already created. Makes it stronger. I think it’s got to be like a rebirth, which is how I felt walking up the stairs and out into what was left of my parents’ house. Mom made a point of telling me it was a chance to start fresh, to shape our lives the way we wanted them. Em suggested we hold the celebration in the big cavern, the one beneath Mom and Dad’s house. It’s huge—we’ll all fit inside with room to spare—and we might even get Eve to stay a little longer than her usual quick visit.”

Romy glanced at Jace, and then focused on Gabe. “I’ve never seen the caves, though I recall some wonderful times in a cavern somewhere in Idaho . . . or was it Washington?”

Gabe laughed. “I think it was both.”

“Tell me more,” Em said.

“Later, sweetie.” Gabe kissed her.

“I was asking Romy.”

“Oh.”

Gabe was pleased when they agreed on the cavern, and when Lily and Seb stopped in unexpectedly, she suggested opening the doorway to the astral and leaving it open, so that Eve might attend without having to leave her
when
and
where.

The party broke up after midnight. Alex and Annie went off with Lily and Sebastian, while Sunny, Fen, Star and Ig headed over to Sunny’s little cottage to spend the night. Ig and Star had their own home, but it was higher on the mountain and no one wanted a long run through the heavy snow.

Romy and Em had hit it off even better than Gabe had hoped. Both of them had led totally different lives, yet they seemed to find common ground with their strange histories. He admitted to Jace that he’d never figure out the feminine mind, even though the mating had given him access unlike anything he’d imagined.

“That was difficult for Romy and me, as the days went by and those memories became more accessible to me. Things began coming together and I found myself feeling afraid so much of the time, knowing how horrible her life had been, how cruel her father was.”

“Was he really her father?” Gabe had often wondered if her father had instead been the reverend, the one who had shot her mother.

Jace shook his head. “They did DNA tests. Reverend Ezekiel, otherwise known as Franklin Ambrose Smith, was her biological father. In a way, I think it was easier for her to know that the man raping her all those years wasn’t really her father. Her life was hell, but she’s so damned strong, so loving. I don’t think I would have the ability to forgive the way she has. Or to love.” He sort of shook himself and then grinned at Gabe. “So, are you going to tell me about you and Em?”

Gabe thought about the question for a moment. Thought about how his life had changed, how Jace’s had changed. “I don’t know what to say. I went to San Francisco expecting to find funny little EmyIzzy and instead I found my mate. I didn’t know that at first, but within a couple of days I was thinking of her that way, trying to figure out how to convince her we might have something important.” He laughed. It all seemed so convoluted, but it was really very simple.

“She had a darkness in her that I knew had to go, and for some weird reason I decided I was the one to take care of it.” He focused on Jace, remembering. “The fact I was able to help her was due to something you said, that so often healing isn’t all that complicated, that it’s about common sense, and following your gut instinct. That’s what I did, and it worked. I took light to the darkness in her memories, but it ended up being so much more than just being able to help a little bit.” He had to fight the stupid grin that spread across his face, but this was Jace, and he already knew exactly what Gabe was feeling. He had the same thing with Romy. “It sounds so corny, but she completes me. She makes me better than I really am. It’s like finding your other half and feeling whole for the first time.” He glance at Jace. “What? No wiseass comment?”

Jace merely shook his head. “Not from me. You just said exactly what I feel for Romy. But you know, we can’t let on that we think about them that way. We’ll never hear the end of it.”

Too late, boys.

“I should have known Em would be listening.” Gabe chuckled and grabbed Jace’s arm. “We’ve got two women in the bedroom, and I don’t think they’re talking about the wedding. I think they’re naked and finding other ways to entertain themselves.”

“What say we join them?” Jace bowed and waved Gabe forward. “After you.”

• • •

Night of the Winter Solstice

Gabe glanced at Em beside him and thought of how quickly they had come to this point, how very much had happened over the past three weeks. The six young women they’d rescued were beside them—four of them Chanku, two human. The first two humans ever welcomed into the pack, but Nina and Lindy were a perfect fit, loved by everyone who met them.

Sissy, Mbali, Janine and Mary stood patiently in their wolven forms. Nina and Lindy carried silk sarongs, similar to the ones they wore in brilliant jewel tones, one for each of the women to put on once they were officially welcomed into the pack.

Anton waited beside an ancient stone altar on the far side of the pond in the depths of the cavern. Lily had opened the doorway into the astral so that Eve was able to attend, watching the proceedings from her own world. She sat on brilliant green grass beneath a cerulean sky, her white robe glimmering against the green, her long blonde hair flowing about her body, spread across her knees and covering her bare toes. To those standing in the cavern, it appeared as if they watched their goddess on a flat screen against the cavern wall.

It was a magical doorway that even Anton couldn’t explain. As he’d tried to tell his children, there are some things you have to accept on faith.

Gabe glanced again at Em. It was impossible not to look at her, smiling and so relaxed standing within the curve of his arm. Impossible not to look and give thanks that she was his. Her father was on her left and Mei, Em’s mom, was next to Oliver with their arms linked. Anton called the new members of the pack forward. Gabe, Em, Alex and Annie walked with them as their sponsors, circling around the end of the pond until they stood in front of Anton with Eve watching from
just over his shoulder. Tinker McClintock, Annie’s father, stepped out of the crowd and joined them.

Anton named each new member, and then he raised his voice to the crowd filling the cavern. “Do you accept these new members to the pack? Mbali Jefferson, Mary Elizabeth Ryder, Janine Cross, and Sissy Long, and our first human members, Nina Marquez and Lindy Marlette?”

A cheer went up and Em glanced at Gabe with tears in her eyes. He bent to kiss her. He couldn’t help himself—she was much too beautiful to ignore. He held her close, paying attention as Anton went to each of the wolves and asked them, individually, if they accepted the responsibility of membership, to live an honorable life and always be true to their packmates.

As he repeated the vow to each wolf, she shifted and agreed, and either Nina or Lindy stepped forward to hand her a shimmering silk sarong to cover her nudity. He asked Nina and then Lindy, and they each voiced acceptance, until only the wolf Mbali remained.

Finally, Anton turned to Mbali and paused.

Em clutched Gabe’s free hand, and he heard her sniffing back tears. Annie stood beside Em and wept openly.

“Mbali, I told you the news earlier and asked you to hold the secret until tonight. You have proved beyond a doubt that you can keep secrets.” He chuckled and ran his hand over the fur between her pointed ears. “Your cousin Annie and your Uncle Tinker . . .” He paused at the hushed gasp from the pack. “Yes,” he said. “It’s true. Mbali’s mother was Tinker McClintock’s sister, a woman he’d only suspected might exist. DNA confirms the family link, and we are so thankful she, and her sisters of the heart, have been found and brought into the pack.

“Do you, Mbali Jefferson, accept the responsibility inherent with life as part of our pack?”

She shifted. Standing tall and very proud, she softly answered Anton, “I do.” And then she took the ice-blue sarong that Lindy handed to her and wrapped it carefully around her body. She’d barely covered herself before Tinker threw his arms around her and hauled her high for a hug and a big kiss. He tugged Annie into the hug, and when he set Mbali back on her feet, all three of them were crying.

Mbali quickly pulled herself together and wiped her tears with a handkerchief Alex handed to her. She was laughing when she handed it to Alex. Then she and the other five young women turned and faced their packmates. Gabe thought of a bouquet of exotic flowers as their shimmering silk dresses reflected the candle and lantern light illuminating the huge cavern. A deep garnet red for Mary, Mbali’s ice blue, dark purple for Janine and teal blue for Sissy. Nina was in bright yellow, and Lindy’s deep forest green set off her bright red hair.

Mbali left the altar with Tinker on one side and Annie on the other. Alex, Gabe and Em escorted the rest of the women back to the other side of the pond, where they quickly moved into the crowd. Gabe noticed that Mac had Sissy beside him with an arm looped casually over her shoulders, while Aaron had taken Janine’s hand. When he noticed Mary standing next to Jack Temple, Gabe made sure that Em saw them, too. Jack had his father’s good looks and his mother’s sense of humor, and so far none of the women in the pack had been able to nail him down. Would shy, quiet Mary be the one to finally catch him?

He was sorry that Mary’s father had decided not to come, though he’d finally spoken with his daughter. He’d admitted that, in spite of much prayer, he’d not been able to accept her new reality. She’d told him very simply that she loved him but she couldn’t accept his inability to break free of a religion that taught only hatred. They’d agreed to disagree, and nothing had been solved, except that Mary had, for the first time, fully taken charge of her life. She’d begun to open up, to show a side that none of them had expected, including a sense of humor and a powerful sense of honor that nothing could shake. Even her father.

Gabe glanced up as Anton tapped a bell beside the altar. He’d not dressed any differently for the celebration, but in his usual black slacks and a black silk shirt, he looked like the man he was—a powerful wizard, a strong leader, and Gabe’s dad. He was always proud of his father, but at times like this . . .

Anton called Alex and Annie first. Tinker let out a loud cheer and grabbed his daughter’s arm. Laughing and hanging on to her dad, Annie walked around the pond to meet Alex at the altar. Alex’s father stood beside him, and the pride and love in his expression had Gabe’s eyes welling with tears. Alex had come so close to losing Annie, and this moment might never have happened.

Anton let his gaze rest on Annie and then Alex. He sighed dramatically and gave Alex’s dad a lopsided smile. “Stef, how could you and I have been so wrong? Annie is the perfect mate for your son.”

Everyone laughed—it had become a running joke over the years that Lily and Alex would mate if their fathers had anything to do with it, but Lily had, as always, gone her own way and defied expectations when she’d mated Sebastian Xenakis, the son of their enemy. Alex had fallen for Annie the moment he saw her after many years apart, much to her father’s chagrin. But as they said their vows, Tinker stood to one side, wiping his eyes with a big white handkerchief—tears of joy, not sadness. Both moms stood with their men, obviously thrilled with the match.

This was the way it should be, the pack coming together, celebrating love in spite of the dangers they often faced. Gabe held Emy even closer.

Igmutaka, Star, Sunny, and Fen were next. They walked around the pond as a group with Star’s parents Mik, AJ and Tala Fuentes-Temple following behind. Before the wedding, Anton introduced the two new members to the pack first.

“Igmutaka has been among us for many years, a part of our pack as spirit guide to Miguel Fuentes, then as puma, and finally as a man. But despite his various forms, he has always been a spirit guide with duties outside the pack. Now Igmutaka has chosen the pack over the spirit world, and in so doing has given up that part of him tied to the spirit realm. He has chosen life among us as Chanku, and as Mikaela Star’s mate and husband. I also introduce Fenris Ahlberg to the pack. Fen, like Igmutaka, is Berserker by birth. He has chosen life with us and will live as Chanku, and as a member of our pack.”

He quietly asked each man if they accepted the responsibility of membership to the pack. When they agreed, he turned to the crowd and asked, “Do you accept Fenris Ahlberg and Igmutaka as members of this pack?”

The cheers echoed off the cavern walls. Em turned to Gabe, grinning broadly.
I heard that Star stayed away from Montana even longer than I did, so it’s cool that she and Ig are finally together, but part of those cheers are because everyone loves Sunny. Fen is perfect for her, and she still gets to keep Ig, and he finally got Star. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Gabe leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Is that a hint that there’s another man you’d like to add to your harem?”

She whispered back, “Romy and I have already discussed it. I’m adding Jace, she gets you.”

“Good of you to let me know.” He tugged her close against his side and she giggled. And he realized he couldn’t stop grinning. Ig and Star said their vows, Sunny and Fen said theirs, and then the four of them made a promise among them that had many in the cavern wiping away tears.