by R. E. Butler
“Wait, wait,” Savage said, putting his hand up. “How does Anne and Cannon meeting up end with you finding your mate in the pack? Cannon? Who is this with you?”
Cannon grinned. “This is Lynne, Drew’s twin sister, and my mate. Let’s sit and talk.”
Thea shook Lynne’s hand and then hugged her sister once more before taking a seat on one of the umbrella chairs her parents had set up around a low table set for dinner.
“It was the craziest thing,” Cannon said when they were all seated. “Anne and I knew we were meant to meet, but it was pretty clear to both of us that we weren’t mates. So we got in my car to find a place to have a cup of coffee to talk, and we ended up at this hole-in-the-wall diner outside of Ingot’s Mill. As we were walking inside, we passed a small group that was on their way out. I knew immediately that my mate was in that group, so I raced after them and grabbed Lynne’s arm. Drew nearly took my head off, thinking I was just some random asshole trying to feel up his sister, but Anne pushed between us and came to my defense, and before we knew it, Lynne and I are declaring we’re mates at the same moment that Drew and Anne say the same thing.”
“If we’d left a few minutes earlier,” Lynne said, “we might never have met. Anne and Cannon had never been to the diner before, and Drew and I were getting pressured from our parents to find mates and settle down. We were just days away from choosing mates in the pack.”
“It’s scary how close we were to losing the chance to be with our destined mates,” Anne said.
“Holy crap,” Thea said.
“It was all because of you,” Cannon said, looking at Thea and Savage. “If you hadn’t been on a mission to help Anne, you wouldn’t have mated Savage, Beatrice wouldn’t have come to challenge for leadership of the prowl, and Anne and I wouldn’t have gone looking for a cup of coffee. It was a crazy domino effect that started because you’re a good sister.”
“Not just a good sister, a great one,” Anne said, smiling sweetly at Thea. “We’ve all gotten our happily-ever-afters.”
“I’m glad I could help,” Thea said with a chuckle.
“I can’t believe that both our daughters have found their mates,” Luanda said. “And so close together. If I wasn’t already a believer in destiny, I sure would be now.”
Arthur brought a platter of hot dogs and hamburgers to the table and encouraged everyone to help themselves. Thea chose a hotdog, topping it with sweet relish and shredded cheese. She took a bite and chewed thoughtfully, then said, “So what are we going to do about the living situations?”
“Good question,” Anne said as she put her hamburger down on a colorful paper plate. “Because Drew is next in line for the alpha position, he needs to live in pack territory and I, of course, do, too. So, I won’t be shacking up in your house any longer.”
Thea nodded. “At least you’re not leaving town.”
“Yeah, but I’d follow him anywhere.”
Drew looked so pleased with her statement that Thea thought he would have danced a jig if he could have. It made her so happy that her sister had found her Mr. Right and it had happened naturally.
Cannon said, “Lynne’s a pack caretaker, so she’s invaluable to her people. There’s a home for us there, but I’m still planning to bring her to the queen so she can be a member of the prowl as well, and we can join in the hunts and celebrations. It’s important to me that we stay close with both our families.”
“What about you two?” Anne asked.
“We’re staying here,” Savage said. “I was planning to ask Cannon to leave a bedroom for us for hunts and celebrations, but I think now we’ll stay with my parents on those nights we’re with the prowl and offer the house to someone else.”
“Good idea,” Cannon said. “We’re going to stay with my parents, too.”
“Will you still work at the shop?” Thea asked her sister.
“Yes, but not full time, maybe one or two days a week. The pack is in need of my talents.”
“Oh?” Thea asked.
Drew nodded. “It’s in our history that there was often an alliance with a witch to provide healing, protection, and blessings to the pack at certain times during the year. Although we’ve had an alliance with the coven for as long as we’ve been in Ingot’s Mill, we haven’t ever broached the subject, just stayed to our respective sides of town. I’m not even sure why our people never associated.”
“I don’t think it was anything sinister,” Arthur said. “When Luanda and I were first married, I remember going to a meeting with the then-alpha to talk about hunting territories. There had been a scuffle in the woods on the full moon – a witch had been gathering Night Blooming Elderberries and had crossed into the path of a wolf who was chasing a rabbit. She fell and was mildly injured, but our people admitted that no one should have been in that territory on that night. So, we kind of just parted ways. Allies in a time of need, but otherwise no interaction.”
“It’s crazy that it went on that long,” Thea said. “Our people could be helpful to each other.”
Drew nodded. “That’s changing now. It was my grandfather who wanted to pull away from the witches, and I remember when my father took over when I was young that he said it was better for our people to remain separate because we were so different. But we’re not, really. We might change into animals, but you’re just as much supernatural as us and we should stick together.” He looked at Savage. “I’m going to encourage my father to reach out to your prowl as well. Can I tell you I didn’t know there was a jaguar group anywhere near us?”
“I didn’t know about your group either,” Savage said. “I’ll be happy to set up an introduction for your father and our new queen, once things settle down.”
After hearing the words “new queen,” Savage was asked to explain what happened, and Thea’s family sat in rapt attention as he described the overhaul to the prowl’s leadership. It was a whole new world for the prowl and Thea was glad that she’d been able to help him set things right for his people.
When their meal was finished, Thea and Anne offered to do the dishes, and she carried the platter and grilling tools into the kitchen as Anne followed behind with the other items. Once they’d set their things down, Anne and Thea hugged tightly.
Her eyes glistening with tears, Anne asked, “Did you really plan to cast a drawing spell for me?”
Thea nodded and touched the corners of her eyes with her knuckles to stave off the happy tears. “Of course. You were so unhappy.”
“I can’t believe you were going to use your spell for me. You’re the best sister.”
“If I hadn’t gone looking for the flower for the spell, I wouldn’t have found Savage, so I’m really grateful for it.”
“Me, too.” Anne looked past Thea out the window over the kitchen sink. “I’m deliriously happy. Drew is... well, he’s everything I ever wanted. It’s hard to imagine how close we were all these years.”
“If I hadn’t found Savage, the spell would have brought you two together, though.”
“True, but you would have been alone.”
“I wasn’t looking for anyone, though. So it was fate or good timing.”
“I think they’re one and the same.” Anne laughed and gave Thea another hug. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that we’re both staying in town. Our kids will get to grow up together. And just think, your brother-in-law is going to be alpha. He’s a pretty cool guy to know.”
“So much has changed in such a little amount of time,” Thea said. “We still have the coven’s celebration tomorrow night.”
“Drew is curious about our people. I asked Mom and Dad if the pack could come. They’ve approached the coven with the request and they said yes. I’m going to use my spell to bless the pack.”
“That’s so freaking cool.”
After cleaning up the kitchen, the sisters headed out to the patio and joined in the conversation about the differences between the wolves and the jaguars until she couldn’t stop yawning and could
barely keep her eyes open. Savage pulled her to her feet with a soft chuckle and said to the group, “It’s been a long couple of days. If you’ll excuse us, we’re going to call it a night.”
“See you tomorrow afternoon for the prep for the celebration,” Arthur said. “There’s plenty of work to be done.”
They said goodnight and began the short walk to their home, Savage lifting her into his arms and carrying her the rest of the way. She had a vague memory of him putting her to bed and stripping her so she’d be comfortable, and then his voice in her ear telling her how grateful he was that she’d found him.
She was glad she’d found him, too.
Chapter Fourteen
A month later, at a large lake in the pack’s territory, Savage and Thea were married in a triple wedding. Drew and Anne were married, as were Cannon and Lynne. Thea had looked amazing in a beautiful white dress, carrying a bouquet with the Spike-Tipped Apple Blossoms nestled among yellow and pink roses. Savage had thought he was happy when he met her and mated her, but marrying her had set his bar for happiness at a much higher level.
He’d settled into the coven easily. He’d only ever been a protector for the prowl, so his skills centered around fighting. He’d wondered what he’d do, thinking he’d be helping Thea in her parents’ store. But instead of that, he’d been invited by Drew to teach self-defense to shifters at the private school in town. He and Cannon taught classes to the kids who attended the school so they would learn how to control their beasts and defend themselves and their people in either form. After school, he helped Arthur with odd jobs around the shop, from inventorying the various herbs used in spell casting, to cleaning out the attic space that was covered in an inch of dust and had, as far as he could tell, not been touched in a decade or longer.
He sneezed, sending up a puff of dust that set him off into a sneezing fit.
“Bless you!” Thea called from down below where she was grinding herbs for a spell with a mortar and pestle.
“Thanks,” he said, rubbing his nose and waving his hand in the air to dispel the dust.
He’d been working in the attic for a couple hours that afternoon and had unearthed a box of old books. He cataloged them into the tablet that Arthur gave him to log the items found, and then he carried the water-stained box down the ladder at the back of the store.
“Check it out,” he said as he set the box on the counter near Thea.
She put the pestle down and peered over his shoulder. “What’s in there?”
“Old books.”
He lifted the books out one by one and Thea made interested humming sounds as she looked at each one. She lifted one that was titled “Spell Casting for New Witches” and opened the hardcover. The leather creaked and dust shimmied from the binding.
“Wow, this is really old.” She set the book on the counter and pointed to the inscription, which read “To Justine, on your confirmation day. Many blessings, Grandma.”
“Do you know who Justine is?”
Thea shook her head. “My parents might know.”
“Might know what?” Luanda asked as she walked out of the back room.
Thea showed her the book.
“I think she was from the generation before ours. This book is about a hundred years old.”
“Is the confirmation day something to do with your powers?” Savage asked.
“No, it’s when a young witch is officially welcomed into the coven. It happens around age sixteen. The custom is for the newly welcomed member to be given a spell casting book by their oldest living family member.”
“Before the confirmation,” Thea said, “I had some kids’ spell books, but we’re not given anything serious to cast until we’re old enough to be able to understand the spells and their consequences.”
Savage nodded. He’d only been with the coven a short while, but he’d learned so much about spell casting. Thea was a great teacher, always willing to help him understand more about her people and their powers. He’d been wholly impressed by her family’s powers during the ceremony, and although he didn’t have an ounce of magical ability, he liked learning about his amazing, talented wife.
“What was the first spell you cast once you were confirmed?”
She smiled. “It was a fire spell, to light the bonfire and change the colors of the flames.”
“Did it work?”
“Yes, and I was able to make the flames several different colors before I grew weary from the power I used and had to close the spell.”
“I’d love to see that sometime.”
She turned to a set of candles on the counter and whispered a string of words in what he’d come to think of as the “witch language.” The candles flared to life, then their colors changed as she twirled her fingers over the tops of them. From yellow to a deep purple to a fiery red before she extinguished them.
“It’s much more impressive in a bonfire.”
He kissed her cheek. “I thought that was pretty damn cool, actually.”
After stealing a real kiss from his wife, he put the books on a shelf in the shop’s library so that Arthur and Luanda could go through them and decide if they wanted to sell them or keep them for the coven’s use. Then he headed back up to the attic.
It amazed him still how much things had changed for him. It seemed like yesterday that he was worried about the Mate Hunt and Sybil finding him despite his good hiding place. Because he’d taken a chance and exposed himself to save Thea from her fall, he’d ended up being a catalyst to the change for not only his prowl but also the pack and the coven. All three groups now got together once a month to discuss issues concerning their people. The witches would cast spells for anyone who needed them, the wolves and jaguars would trade animal hides and butchered meat, and the kids all mingled together. After the first tri-group get together a week earlier, four people had found their mates – a witch and wolf, and a wolf and a jaguar. It pleased Savage to no end that his people had been willing to join with the wolves and witches and strengthen their alliances. None of the groups were alone now, and that’s what mattered.
Thea popped her head up and smiled at him. “Wanna go get lunch?”
He looked at his watch. “Lunch? It’s after five.”
“I mean lunch.” She wiggled her brows.
His cat sat up in interest. He scooted to the edge of the attic opening and smiled at her, lowering his head to kiss her. “Did I tell you today that I love you and your amazing ideas?”
“Yep, but a girl never gets tired of hearing it.”
He kissed her again. “I love you, Thea Bayle. Gorgeous witch. Suggester of awesome ideas.”
She smiled sweetly, her eyes glowing with happiness. “I love you, too. Let’s go.”
They hurried from the store, stopping only long enough to say a hasty goodbye to her parents. He couldn’t get her home fast enough.
As they tumbled to the bed, his cat purring in his mind, he was grateful for everything that had happened to him to bring him to this place. He wished he’d known her years ago, but fate was all about timing. She came into his life at the perfect moment, and he was going to spend the rest of his life thanking his lucky stars that she’d fallen into his arms.
Coming Soon from R. E. Butler
The FINAL Ashland Pride Story ~ Having Hope
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