“That is a funny turn of phrase.”
Andy smiled and placed his hand gently on her arm. “I know what you are walking into. You need to be able to shift at will for your safety and for Jim’s.”
She squinted. “How do you know what we are walking into?”
“My brother-in-law is a lion who grew up near your home, Acteus Carloth. When I asked him about the situation, he filled me in on the details.”
Lee hugged Andy tightly. “Thank you. Now, let me get changed. I have a wedding to get to.”
Andy was flustered by the contact, and he closed the door to the change room.
Snickering, Lee removed her clothing and slipped the gown over her head. She stifled a shout as the fabric began to move, but after some tightening around her ribs and a flutter of the jagged hemline, the gown settled. The cord snaked around her and crossed under her breasts before wrapping behind her neck.
“Andy, how do I get out of this dress afterward?”
“Untie the cord and the enchantment will release you.” His voice was near the door. “It wasn’t designed to be worn with shoes, but I have some sandals here if you want them.”
“No. I am good. This feels proper.” She twisted from side to side, admiring the flare of the gown in the mirror.
“If you are good, you had better get out to Jim. He is wearing a hole in my sidewalk.” Andy chuckled.
When she opened the change room, Andy stared at her for a moment. “Wait right here.”
He darted into the depths of the store and came back with a hairbrush and a jewelled spike. “Sit still for a moment, and I will fix your hair.”
Shrugging, she sat on the small chair in the change room and watched as Andy twisted her hair up into an elaborate twist held in place with that single jewelled spike. Her neck was bare and the mating marks were highly visible. Jim was going to love it.
“If you need to shift, just pull the spike and your hair will come tumbling down. Easy as that.”
Andy looked so proud of himself that she laughed. “Well done and thank you, Andy.”
The front door opened, and Lee got to her feet. She pressed a kiss to Andy’s cheek and walked out of the dressing room toward her mate.
Jim’s expression was shocked, and he swallowed twice as she approached.
She held out her hand. “I think we have business to attend to.”
To her astonishment, he dropped to his knees in front of her and took her hands in his. “Leandiir Aflai, will you marry me?”
A lump in her throat made it hard to speak. “James Barnes, I will.”
He lifted her hand and slid a ring onto the third finger of her left hand. It was a butterfly of diamonds in the colours of a tiger. “It’s beautiful.”
“It won’t shift with you, so take it off before you change or your front paw will swell.” He pressed a kiss to her knuckle.
She giggled and ran her hand over his hair. “Are you ready?”
He smiled and got to his feet. “If you don’t mind me like this?”
She looked over his tight black tee outlining all of the muscles she enjoyed watching with or without clothing on him. The low-slung jeans fit in all the right places and his boots completed the outfit. “I want you just the way you are.”
His eyes glowed, and he reached for her but stopped himself before he grabbed her.
She chuckled. “First the wedding, then the bedding…again.”
He grinned and offered her his arm. By the time they made it out of the general store, the sun had fully set and the moon was out.
A crowd was gathering outside the Meditation Centre, and outside, Teal and the man who must be Tony waited for them with wreathes in their hands.
Tony put one wreath on Lee’s head and Teal did the same with Jim before inviting them inside the Meditation Centre.
The caretakers of the centre walked them through the building and out back into a huge ornamental garden. Two couples were waiting for them on either side of an ivy-covered archway.
Teal stepped to Lee’s side and pulled her away from Jim. Tony was doing the same with Jim. “Leandiir Aflai, this is Lion Pride Master Alpha Norman Exeter and his mate Ystine. He has agreed to act as your family in this situation.”
Lee stepped forward and knelt at the man’s feet, but she kept her head up.
He chuckled and touched her cheek. “Rise, cub. You have done very well with what our world gave you.”
Lee got to her feet and took the hands of Ystine, bowing and touching her forehead to the woman’s fingers.
“Stand, child. You should not bow to anyone.” The woman’s voice was calm and held a self-control that Lee envied.
Lee stood straight and looked at the man who would be acting as family. He was six inches taller than she was, had thick gold hair that was just being touched by silver. His features were definitely handsome, and he was the perfect foil for the golden perfection at his side. Ystine was barely touched by time, but the knowledge in her gaze had been earned.
“You know all about the fundamentalists, don’t you, Ystine?” The suspicion was confirmed when the woman smiled.
“I was able to make it to the Crossroads and met Norman. He helped me escape from my past, and together, we built a new future. I am very happy that I have lived long enough to see another woman do the same.”
The glowing pride that showed when Ystine looked at her husband was almost blinding. There was love there, not love for someone who had rescued her but someone who had let her find herself. Seeing that expression on someone else’s face brought tears to Lee’s eyes.
On the other side of the archway, the tigers finished their quiet conversation.
A figure appeared in the archway and everyone turned to watch the official raise his hands for silence.
Lee’s palms started sweating. She was about to get married.
Chapter Ten
Guild Master Tobias Orcross acted as the official, and he worked his way through the ceremony with style. They had signed all documents and witnesses had put their marks to the paper. If they were human, they would have been already wed.
“When different species meet each other and find their match outside their own traditions, the world rejoices. Knowledge, tradition and bloodlines mix and mingle to spur on magic in our world.”
He paused and cleared his throat. “Now, I normally do not officiate at shifter nuptials, but my wife informs me that in special cases, I will be called upon, and she is not a woman to be gainsaid.”
A few of the gathered crowd giggled, but Lee caught Tobias’s look. Kris was his wife, and she was pushing matters into place and using him to do it.
“James, will you walk the worlds with Leandiir, stand at her side and guard her back when necessary?”
James smiled. “I will.”
“Leandiir, will you walk the worlds with James, stand at his side and guard his back when necessary?”
Lee took in a deep breath. “I will.”
“James, you take on not only Leandiir’s health and well being, but also her past. Do you take this gladly and with good heart?”
“I do.”
“Leandiir, you take on not only James’s health and well being, but also his past. Do you take this on gladly and with good heart?”
“I do.”
Tobias raised his head. “The past makes us what we are and gives us the tools to shape our future. In these two, I see the brightness of lessons learned and power gained.”
He turned to the Alphas standing next to them. “Alphas, do you give full support of this union for the life of this couple?”
The lion and the tiger spoke in confident tones. “We do.”
Tobias exhaled as if the responses from the Alphas were more important than the responses from the couple.
Lee fought a smile, but the gasp of astonishment from the crowd told her that something important had just happened.
James took her hand and Tobias smiled. “With the agreement in place, I now pronounce you a formal match.”
Ystine brought them a goblet, and James held it while Lee drank and Lee held it while James drank.
Lee’s hands and arms tingled with the spread of the wine through her system.
Tobias spoke again. “Marriage should be a meeting of equals, and the drink you have just consumed will make it so. As your bodies become one, your beasts shall do the same.”
Lee looked in Jim’s eyes, and the amazement in his gaze matched her own. They kissed and the crowd hooted in approval.
Through the roaring in her ears, Lee heard, “And with that, the seal is made, the bond is forged and the vows are taken. Predator to predator, shifter to shifter and body to body, you are bound.”
A rush of power surrounded them, and when Lee broke their kiss, Jim’s eyes were glowing with the same energy she was sure she felt running through every inch of her.
“Well, it’s official now. You can’t run.”
Jim smiled at her words. “I have no intention of running.”
She laughed and hugged him tight.
The tiger alpha cleared his throat. “James, I believe an introduction is in order?”
“Of course. Emerson Barnes, this is my wife, Leandiir Barnes. Lee, this is my father Emerson and my sister Emaline Barnes.”
Emerson extended his hand. “I am happy to meet the woman who managed to get my son’s head out of his ass. He needs to be pulled into reality now and then.”
Lee took his hand and was pulled into a hug against a chest nearly as wide as his son’s. She squeaked a little and Emaline laughed at her.
Wrapped in the tiger’s embrace, she extended her hand to her sister-in-law. “Pleased to meet you, Emaline.”
“And you as well, Leandiir.”
“Call me Lee.”
“Lee then. Call me Emma.”
“Um, Emaline, is he going to stop hugging me soon?”
Emma laughed. “He is memorizing your scent in case he sees you in another form. He doesn’t want to hit on you if we do a hunt together.”
“Enough, Dad.” Jim pried his father’s arms away from her and replaced his father’s embrace with his own.
He stood behind her with his arms around her waist.
“It is our turn, I believe.” Alpha Norman came up, and Lee swiftly made the introductions.
Norman made eye contact with Jim above her head. “Are you ready?”
She felt Jim nod. “We are. Are they waiting?”
Norman nodded grimly. “They are standing by with Tobias’s wife. We just need the signal and we can go in.”
Lee looked up at Jim. “What is going on?”
He sighed. “It is time to meet your family.”
Tobias nodded, and before Lee could do anything, Teal and Tony flanked them on either side, and in a bright flash, they had gone from the Crossroads to the courtyard in the centre of the Aflai pride house.
Floodlights came on and the family came running. Lee stiffened her spine and faced her father and his wives as they approached to confront her.
“Well, well. You have come back with your tail between your legs. Kneel and beg my forgiveness, and I might just allow you to complete the contract with Carloth.”
Lee’s brow furrowed, and Jim leaned in, “He can’t see us yet. You appear to be alone, but you are not.”
Understanding struck her. “Father, I have not come to beg forgiveness, I have come to collect my things and leave this place forever.”
Rasson blinked and shook his head as if he couldn’t believe his ears. “What? You forget your place. Perhaps I should remind you.”
Lee stepped forward to meet her father as he walked out to strike her. When the first swipe occurred, she ducked and struck him across the cheek with her claws extended.
He staggered back, blood pouring from his face. “You dared to strike me!”
“You dared to strike me.” She was calm, composed, but she remained ready.
He lunged at her again, but the result was the same on the other side of his face. He sat heavily on the ground with his face bleeding and stared up at her in shock.
Lee looked across at her family and saw the confusion in all faces except one. Ariil Aflai’s face was blazing with pride.
Rasson spluttered. “What are you waiting for? Defend me!”
Her brothers stepped forward, but Lee raised a hand. “What is the rule when Rasson is disciplining one of the family? You are not to interfere in any way, shape or form.”
Her brothers grinned and returned to the line of children.
Rasson roared, ripping his clothing and transforming into his lion. Lee removed the spike from her hair, took off her wedding ring and spiked them into the ground as she took her lioness for a ride.
She met her father fang for fang, claw for claw. They tumbled across the green grass of the inner yard. When she finally latched her jaws on his neck, he went limp immediately.
She released him and backed away, watching for him to rise again. She knew what he was going to do. It was what he always did. The moment she turned to walk toward her mother, she heard the rush of feet across the grass.
Her lion switched to a tiger, and he was unprepared for the tigress who turned and grabbed him in her jaws before she slammed him to the ground. The crunch of his ribs and pelvis breaking was sickening and satisfying.
Lee shifted back into a lioness and roared so loudly, her siblings covered their ears.
She cleaned her fur and claws before changing back into her human form. “Hi, Mom.”
Ariil ran to her and embraced her. “Oh, Leandiir. I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”
Lee smelled blood on her mother. “What did he do?”
“Nothing worth mentioning. You are alive, and you are finally the woman I always saw in you.” Ariil grinned. “Did you find anyone at the Crossroads?”
“You could say that. Is Carloth around?”
Ariil gave her a calculating look and scented her. “He is usually snaking around nearby. Why?”
“I think we need to speak with him.”
“Who is
we
?” Ariil looked around, but her eyes didn’t see the dozen shifters standing silently in their garden.
Lee grinned. “You will see when it is time.”
Chapter Eleven
Carloth didn’t come alone. Representatives of four other prides came with him. Based on the set of his shoulders, Lee knew he was coming with the intent of taking a bride home.
Rasson was lying in the yard, groaning and moaning. He drifted in and out of consciousness, but his family was ignoring him.