Diablo Lake: Moonstruck (26 page)

“I’m so glad to have you back in my life every day. I do feel better. Thanks for the pep talk.”

“I admire you so much, Katie Faith. Which means I have every possible confidence you will be great at all this. You’ll mess up, yes. Everyone does. But you have Jace at your side. You got this.”

Katie Faith hugged her oldest, dearest friend before catching sight of Damon.

“I need to talk to Damon about something. I’ll be back.” Katie Faith darted off.

He smiled when he caught sight of her as he put tools back into the shed. “Hey, sweetheart. Do our preparations meet with your approval?”

She hugged him. “It looks fantastic. You’re making this day so much more special. Thank you.”

They’d gotten permission to close off the street surrounding the mercantile. The tables and tents would be scattered on the huge lawn that fronted it and the Patron’s house next door, spilling out into the road where a dance floor would go. A live band would play.

Though not the small wedding she’d originally wanted, it’d be a damned fun party so she’d just up and invited the whole town. She’d told Jace they might as well make it an event to unite instead of divide. If Pembrys wanted to come—as she counted many among her friends and family, she hoped they did—they would be welcomed. If they didn’t, she couldn’t help that. The other event, the one that had booked the church was for a christening and a party after. So Katie Faith had told them to stop on by after that if they wanted cake.

Things were going to be all right.

She and Jace could do this.

She blew out a shaky breath, holding on to that. “Do you have a minute? I need to talk to you about something.”

His expression sobered. “Always.”

“I know that once I marry Jace I’ll be subject to pack law. Specifically when it comes to discussing anyone who’s cast out.”

The answering expression on his face told her he knew exactly what she was going to talk about.

“Until then, I’m in a gray area and I hate the idea of things being used as a way to hurt him. Or you. So I can tell you I know
some
of the details about what happened with your father, but nothing really specific. I’ve been going back and forth as to whether I should tell Jace what I do know. You and Major understand him better than anyone. What do you think?”

He sighed. “It’s hard to see past my own bias. Maybe you might tell him what you told me and let him decide if he wants to know more. I do hope once you take over, you’ll re-think some of our laws. Silence hurts a lot of people.”

She nodded. “It’s on my radar, for whatever that’s worth. I love you all.”

Damon hugged her. “Thank you.”

“You planning to try to steal my woman, Damon?”

She turned to catch sight of Jace approaching, along with several others who’d been setting things up. Damn, he looked good enough to lick.

“Cute as your brother is, I seem to only like one flavor of werewolf these days.”

He hugged her and she sniffed him. Clean sweat always smelled so good on his skin. She managed a lick at the end of a kiss she pressed to the side of his neck.

“We’re headed out for a run. Is everything all right?” He tipped her chin up to look into her eyes.

“Yes. Go. Have fun. I’ll see you later. Come by if it’s not too late. Even if it is.”

He flashed her a grin and within moments, they’d all swept off, heading toward the edge of the forest behind the Patron house.

Jace caught up with Damon just before they took the shift. “Everything okay with her?”

Damon nodded. “Yes. She wants to talk to you about something. But it’s not dire. There’s nothing for you to worry about or I’d have told you up front.”

“Then why’d you over explain just now?” He gave his brother a careful look.

“Because you’d have asked me all those questions so I just went on and answered them first.” Damon quirked a brow.

“Okay. Yeah. Okay.” He breathed out carefully as they reached the little outbuilding they left their clothes and other belongings in before they took on the wolf.

She was fine. Not in danger. Very happy. When he’d just had her in his arms she’d been in love with him.

He stood on the dirt, pine needles, leaves, loam gone a little wet from condensation. The moon hung overhead, three quarters full. The magic of the earth seemed to suck him under and he let go of his human self.

Wolf took over.

Paws hit the earth this time, gaining purchase and tearing into the deeper forest ahead.

The entire world around him might have been black and white, but it was the scent and taste that rendered everything in full color to his senses.

Strength roared through his veins like a river. Power drove him as they hunted. Hunted to feed this mate and their pack. Their family.

He led them through, using keen senses and his connection with them to flank and bring down prey the wolf knew men would remove to be presented to her.

He chuffed out a breath, pride driving him to continue. Wanting to please her, the other part of his heart, no matter her form.

* * *

After he’d cleaned up from the run and made sure the dressing of the game they’d hunted was nearly done, he came home wearing human skin to find her tucked up on the couch, waiting for him at his place.

She looked up from her laptop where she was most likely doing work of some sort. “Did you have a good run?”

He settled in next to her, wanting to touch her. “We did. We’ve got more than enough meat for the wedding now. I was thinking we might go on more regular hunts like this to be sure freezers are full through the winter. If we did it as a pack, we could share and no one would feel like it was charity.”

Pride was important to a wolf but not at the expense of your family being hungry. It was his turn to lead. His place to be sure they were fed, clothed and safe. He couldn’t do everything, but what he could do, he would.

“That’s a great idea. Patty already has a list of families she likes to make sure get a little extra here and there when she goes on her visits.”

“She also has a list of people she calls whenever someone in town has excess meat or fish, vegetables from the garden, all that.”

“She’s the heart of your family. I don’t think I can fill her shoes.”

He turned her, pulling her into his lap and settling back, arms wrapped around her body.

“She’s got sixty years of experience. She created all sorts of processes you’ll be able to plug right into, which is a huge help. But they don’t expect you to be her. You’ll be your own kind of Patron.”

“Aimee said pretty much the same thing. I have to tell you something,” she blurted out.

“This have anything to do with whatever you and Damon were talking about earlier?”

“Yes.” She told him about the discussion she’d had with her mom and Nadine and that she’d asked Damon for his advice on whether or not to come to Jace and what he’d said.

“When I was a boy I used to imagine he was some hero who’d been wronged. A victim of a terrible injustice. But that didn’t last very long. You can say someone should be erased from pack records, but he didn’t do whatever he did in a vacuum. My assumption, given what I’ve been told and what I could figure out, is that he did something horribly violent and most likely to a woman. A Pembry woman. I’m a cop. I can figure it out if I really wanted to.” He let that hang a little, chewing it over.

But it had felt invasive, and whether or not he agreed with the way the pack handled that sort of erasure, he was still bound to pack law.

She nodded, understanding. “Okay. But I think pack law is wrong. I think the wolves who loved whoever your father hurt not being able to grieve openly is a terrible idea. I think it must have led to festering resentment, how can it not? What about you and your brothers? Innocent in all this. You have a right to know your own history. I’m not a wolf and I can’t understand your ways the way you all do. But it’s cruel and it doesn’t serve any goal. There’s enough secrecy in our lives as it is.”

“You’ve done some thinking about this, I see.”

“I’m trying to prepare to do this job. This life commitment not only to you, but to your pack. I have opinions. Remember? I warned you when you asked me to marry you that I planned to be fully involved as your wife and the female Patron.”

He hugged her to him a little tighter. She had, and it pleased him deeply.

“I won’t argue with you. I need you with me. We’ll get through this together.”

She kissed his neck before scrambling to her feet. “Come on.”

He grabbed her hand as he rushed past, rushing to the bed, falling to it with breathless laughter and a tangle of limbs as clothes came flying off.

He rushed to get more, loosing his need as he roved over all her bared skin, with teeth, lips and tongue until she writhed, breathless beneath him. He loved driving her to this state of impatience.

Her scent had ripened. Nearing her most fertile time of month. He licked a trail up her inner thigh to her pussy, tasting all that sweetness for himself.

She arched into his mouth on a gasp before he flipped her over and slid inside as deep as he could go.

Her nails dug into the sheets as she sought purchase to thrust back. He pulled her up to her knees before curling around her as he continued to fuck himself into her body.

Her skin shimmered with sweat. The scent they made together began to rise between them. When he reached around her hip to get to her clit with the pad of his middle finger she made a sound as her body squeezed him so tight he grunted.

His
.

She was his as he was hers. He wanted everything. Wanted it right then as he wrenched an orgasm from her that dragged him down in her wake.

He fell to the mattress, still inside her as they lay there stunned.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The day of the wedding broke with a few clouds that threatened rain, but held off as everything began to come together.

Katie Faith had gone to the Patron house—her house as of that day—met by her mother, TeeFay, Aimee, Miz Rose and Lara. Patty brought in champagne and they all visited and helped Katie Faith not be nervous.

In truth, she was too busy to be nervous as wolves and witches alike stopped over to fill her in and update her on the progress of all the last minute preparations.

Finally, once she was done, her hair pinned with an antique comb her mother brought over, the veil reaching her fingertips but mainly out of the way at her back, she took a deep breath.

“You ready for this?” her mother asked.

“That day with Darrell seems like it happened a decade ago. Knowing all I do now, it seems pretty obvious he and I wouldn’t have worked. This is different in every way.”

Her wedding. Planned for them by friends and family with what she wanted in mind. The place was one she chose, not a fussy church she’d never belonged to anyway.

Aimee arranged the veil just so. “It feels different too.”

It did.

Miz Rose took her hands, joined by her mother on one side and TeeFay on the other. “Oh, you’ve made your engagement ring the talisman where you store your excess magic.” She smiled over at Patty briefly. “This was a good gift. All right, Katie Faith, my girl, we’ve got a spell for you. A blessing, you could say.”

Katie Faith made sure the handkerchief was at hand, tucked at her waist where no one would see but would be quick to retrieve for tears.

“It’s been my pleasure to watch your magic coaxed to life again,” Miz Rose said. “Since you’ve been back, you’ve dug your hands into the dirt and done the work. It’s been hard, I know it has. But you’ve done it and I’m so proud of you.”

Being a witch wasn’t riding on brooms or curses. It was being in tune with the ground at your feet, the sky overhead and the trees all around. It was shaping energy as she willed it.

Not to hurt. But to defend.

And to grow flowers, but that was part and parcel of being a witch, especially one with such a green witch as a daddy.

They surrounded her, linking hands with Katie Faith at the center of their circle. As they chanted, the air all around her began to tingle against her skin. The spell seemed to knit around her from her toes upward.

Love and strength seemed to flow into her as these women she trusted so deeply gave her the gift of this spell they’d made just for her.

Protection.

Wisdom.

Patience.

Compassion.

Curiosity.

As each one of these things jointed the daisy chain they draped around her, heart and soul, Katie Faith gave up trying not to cry and dabbed her eyes as tears came forth.

They loved her.

They believed in her.

She was part of something so much bigger than she’d ever thought. And that would guide her through even the darkest of times.

Her magic, already threaded through theirs, tightened, strengthened.

And when they finished, the spell seemed to
pop
and she could hear the outside world once more.

What a gift they’d given her. A piece of them lodged within her heart and the soul of her magic forever. Made her better.

“Thank you,” she said around tears as she hugged each one.

Patty, who’d been crying too, added her hugs. “Thank you for letting me share in that. It was beautiful.” She took Katie Faith’s hands. “Welcome to the family.”

“Before all the rest of my makeup gets cried off, we need to get moving.” Katie Faith tried to sound gruff.

They walked out, circling to the back of the mercantile to meet up with her father. He smiled at her as she approached.

“You look so beautiful. When you were born, I had no idea what having a daughter would be like.” He kissed her cheek. “It’s been wonderful.
You’re
wonderful and today you’re going to be married to the guy you’ve been waiting for all along. I’m so proud of you and the woman you’ve become.”

She slid her hand through his crooked elbow and her mother took up at her other side. They were both going to present her to Jace and his family for joining.

When they came around the front it nearly made her gasp. Flowers seemed to overflow everywhere. The boxes along the front porch railings had exploded in a riot of color.

“Miz Rose and I thought we could add a bit of our own floral magic,” her father whispered.

“Oh, Daddy. Thank you. It’s the most beautiful wedding ever.”

Hundreds and hundreds of people stood, watching. The combined power from a crowd of shifters that big, spiced with pretty much every witch in town made her a little dizzy.

And at the top step he waited for her. Solemn with a little tiny curve at the corner of his mouth just for her.

His black tuxedo looked smashing on him as it spanned his wide, muscular shoulders, tapering down to his waist. His hair was tamed. Sort of. The edges played at his collar, but it worked on him.

“Happy anniversary,” he said, holding his hand to her.

“Katie Faith Grady is our only daughter,” her father said to him. “Our most precious gift. Don’t squander it.”

They took her hands and placed them in Jace’s before stepping back.

“Hey there, Jace,” she said.

“Hey there, Katie Faith. You ready to marry me?”

“Yeah. I am. Let’s do this because I’m super hungry already and we have the Patron ceremony later.”

He kissed her, much to the crowd’s delight, as they headed to the spot Carl stood waiting for them.

The ceremony was a mix of old and new, of witch and wolf. Her parents offered their new marriage a spell of blessing and the pack laid pelts and horn aside for them. The elders had made them a wedding ring quilt she’d put on their bed, which they’d moved into the house earlier that day.

Never in her life had she felt like she was doing exactly what she was supposed to be. Not until that moment as Jace slid the band on her finger, snug up against the engagement ring as she said her I do.

JJ threw back his head and howled, long and loud, followed by pretty much everyone in the crowd—Pembrys in attendance as well—as the witches looked on.

And it was done.

She was married to Jace and her whole life beckoned, wide open and full of possibility.

Later, as she moved between one group to the next, a glass in her hand and a smile on her face, she nearly ran right into Scarlett.

Katie Faith groaned because there was no way her appearance meant anything good.

“You weren’t invited,” Patty said, stepping between them. “Get along home now.”

“So you’re not even acting like wolves anymore? Your Prime doesn’t even have a real wife. He’s got an imitation wife.”

“And your pack has no Prime. Now I’m not saying this again, get the hell off my property.” Patty’s voice ended on a snarl. Katie Faith had never seen this side of her grandmother-in-law before.

But Scarlett must have. Enough to know Patty meant business.

“I’m not a real wife?” Katie Faith pinched her own arm. “Huh. I sure feel real.”

“You got no call to talk about my kids,” Scarlett yelled.

Jace hustled over with Damon at his side.

Mac also rushed over, putting an arm around his mother’s shoulders as he threw them an apologetic look. He’d promised to be sure everyone behaved and looked pretty pissed off that wasn’t the case.

“Y’all are garbage! Look at this mess.” Scarlett kept talking as she went. “If you’re so dedicated to your pack, where’s the ceremony? How can you not do the full ceremony to take over as Patron? My daughter-in-law Sharon will be there and not acting like some human.”

“Shut up, Momma!” Mac managed to get her moving down the block and around the corner.

“This isn’t over, Jace Dooley! You got some answering to do for your daddy’s sins!” was the last they heard.

“No you don’t,” she told him.

“If she’d only read the invitation she’d have seen you’re doing the Patron ceremony after the reception,” Aimee said. “But I guess it’s garbage to read maybe.”

Things weren’t over.

Scarlett had lost her marbles and was going to continue to be a problem. And it was clear, given her last comment, that she was going to use Jace’s father as a cudgel.

Katie Faith took Jace’s hand in hers. She’d do whatever she had to, to protect him and their pack. Scarlett still hadn’t figured out the humiliated young woman who’d run off years ago had come back grown up and ready to draw blood to protect those she loved.

“You ready to take a run on a wolf’s back?” he asked.

* * *

If anyone ever asked her what it was like to be carried on the back of a pony-sized wolf as it tore through the forest, surrounded by hundreds of other wolves, Katie Faith could tell them to take pain reliever.

Her bones still felt a little jangly from all the bumping around as her feet finally touched the ground at the copse of giant trees about three miles from the mercantile in the deep forest.

When her sneakers made contact with the earth, the magic there rushed up to meet her. To greet her enthusiastically enough to bring a gasp.

All her life she’d been told her magic worked differently outside Diablo Lake’s sprawling town borders. She knew it to be true after living away for several years. Her magic was still there, of course, when she’d lived in Chattanooga, but it had been a lazy stream.

Jace, still in wolf form, fought a ceremonial battle with his grandfather, who surrendered after the metallic scent of blood hit the air. And in that moment, that lazy stream, which had become a busy river, was a massive, never-ending, wave. A wall of power and energy so strong, so eternal and natural in her body.

In that very moment her potential unlocked and she was the witch she was born to be. At her wolf’s side.

And as he transformed so quickly and powerfully, she knew it was her magic that made it possible.

“I’m not just your witch, Jace. I’m the pack’s witch. You’re all my wolves. My magic is part of yours now and always.”

That hadn’t been part of the script, but it needed to be said for the magic of that moment to be right. To shimmer and settle into place. A covenant between wolf and pack, and witch and wolf.

She knew her wolves lived in her, their joys and sadnesses.

Jace kissed her, getting blood on her chin.

“Dude. Ew.”

He laughed, hugging her tight.

“I love you, Katie Faith. Let’s go home now.”

He took wolf form again and she clambered back on board before he tore off into the trees.

* * * * *

Look for
DIABLO LAKE: PROTECTED
coming from Lauren Dane and Carina Press Fall 2016.