Slowing her rhythm, she leaned forward. "I need to feel your power," she whispered. "I need to feel your strength, baby. I need to know I'm yours. Take me in the wolver way." She'd beg if she needed to. She didn't need to.
"Are you sure?"
"Never more sure of anything in my life."
Once more she was flipped and turned with a yelp of surprise, and laughter when she landed on her hands and knees with her lover covering her back. Brad didn't join in her laughter. His hand snaked around her waist. He pulled her hips up and into position and then he entered her with a decisive thrust. Her laugh turned into a surprised and satisfied O.
"Yes." It was what she wanted. It was right.
Livvy's one word released Brad from all constraint. His thrusts became more insistent. His hand sought her already sensitive clit and coaxed her body to respond to his demands. Heat rose between them as they joined and parted, joined and parted.
The she-wolf's excitement rose with her human's. This joining was what she'd been wanting since she first sensed the wolf who was meant to be her mate.
"Mine, mine, mine," the she-wolf continued to chant.
"Yes, yes, yes," Livvy chanted with the she-wolf. She tilted her head to the side, exposing her neck to the male riding her back as the electric tension of release began to rise.
"Do you mean it, Liv? Are you offering yourself to me?" The questions were breathlessly asked by a male reaching for his own release.
"Yes."
"Then say it, Olivia Dawson. Tell me you'll be my mate."
He was asking her to make it official, to mark her as his, and bind her to him as his mate.
"Yes," she moaned, teetering on the edge of her orgasm. "Yes, Bradley Seaward. Mark me. You've always been my mate. It's time we made it official."
Brad began moving again, pumping harder and harder into her body. She held herself back, waiting for him to reach his peak with her. It was important to her that they do this together. Brad put his mouth to her shoulder at a place just beyond the crook of her neck. She felt his teeth, sharper than human, against her skin, and whimpered with need.
Pain exploded as he bit her and just as quickly it was gone, replaced by the sheer bliss of their joining. Livvy soared beyond the edge of desire and fell, floating into ecstasy. Brad's body tensed with hers, the arm around her seized in an iron grip around her hips. With one last thrust, he groaned and fell with her.
Her wolf sang with the joy of it as it had before, but unlike those other times, its song was now joined by another. As their howls faded in her mind, Livvy was filled with a sense of peace and contentment unlike any she had ever felt before.
After licking the wound at her neck to heal it with his tongue, Brad rolled them to the side. Curled one against the other, they slept before the warmth of the fire.
Her back cold from the lack of Brad's body heat against it, Livvy opened her eyes to find Brad standing next to the half-wall and looking out over the pond. She grabbed a blanket to use as a shawl against the cold, and another for Brad. He nodded his thanks as she covered his shoulders, but continued to stare out over the dark landscape. Without saying a word, she stood beside him in solidarity, and waited.
Quietly, as if reluctant to disturb the silence of the night, Brad told about his first meeting with Leonard and the things the old Alpha said.
"Tell me what we did was right, Liv. Tell me I didn't use the moment to make my dreams come true. Tell me it wasn't the heat of the moment that made you say yes. Tell me it wasn't a mistake."
"I've made a lot of mistakes when it comes to you and me, Brad. This wasn't one of them. This was the best choice I ever made."
As if to give them its blessing, the clouds parted and the Winter Moon shone brightly just above the tree line. It bathed the pond with its radiance. The snowcapped limbs of the trees shimmered with its soft golden glow. Snowflakes, large and fluffy, danced in the beam as they floated earthward to softly carpet the land in unblemished wonder.
"Mine, mine, mine," her wolf chanted to the rhythm of Livvy's beating heart. And while she knew the wolf referred to the wolver standing in the spotlight of the moon's enchanted aura, the human Livvy believed the sentiment included the love found in her pack as well.
This was the magic of Gilead, and in their mating, Brad and Livvy became part of it.
Epilogue
The last of her students had left the little school calling out, "Merry Christmas, Miz Livvy!" and "See you next year, Miz Livvy!" It was a silly joke that her students thought was clever and original, and she let them think it just as she did every year. In her case, it was even sillier, since she saw most of her students every day whether school was in session or not, but why spoil their fun.
Normally, Livvy walked home with her charges, but today she remained behind to make sure the classrooms were neat and tidy. School was closed for the winter holidays, but Mary's Hall was not. There would be holiday parties held in the building, and this year, several smaller packs in the area had been invited for a gathering before the Winter Moon run. She hoped to entice a few of those visiting wolvers to send their pups here for their early schooling.
Straightening the red and green paper chain that ran the length of the short hallway, she paused as she often did before one of the plaques hung in prominent display.
GILEAD SCHOOL
In loving memory of 'Dear' Ernest P. Benthouse
For his kindness and generosity to Gilead
Through the devotion of the two who loved him best
Edith Pauline and Edna Pricilla
Jazz kept her promise to help the twins with the neutral wording. No one knew if she discovered the secret of the relationship between the twins and Dear Ernest. Did they live as three, or two plus one? Which one of the sisters was officially mated to Ernest or were they both? If Jazz knew, she never told. She couldn't. She was the keeper of secrets. She was the Mate.
Other discoveries about Dear Ernest were common knowledge since the sisters placed the proceeds in trust for the use of the school. Ernest P. Benthouse was a wolver of cunning and discernment. He had a good eye for collecting and the attic of the old Victorian was filled with his finds. Many of these oddities were not sold over the internet as originally planned, but in auction houses of note, sought after by collectors from around the world. The trust not only provided salaries for three teachers, it insured there would be funds for the building of new classrooms, the plans for which were already in the works. The elderly twins were a blessing to Livvy in more ways than one.
Her wolf felt Brad's presence before the door at the end of the hall opened.
"Why are you still here?" he said as he came up behind her. He put his arms around her in that comfortable place beneath her breasts, and pulled her to his chest. "Shouldn't you be out there skipping and squealing with the rest of them? It's your holiday, too, you know." He kissed a spot on her neck, right above the place where he'd left his mark. As it always did, the kiss sent a pleasant tingle coursing through her body.
"What about you?" she asked, turning in his arms. "Isn't there some pretty young thing out there needing roadside assistance?"
"The only pretty young thing I care about at the moment is you. I thought I'd stop by and see if you wanted to walk up to the shelterhouse with me. I need to check the wood supply," he said with a meaningful chuckle and another kiss. "I left your brother in charge at the garage."
Seaward's Towing was thriving. Though it would never grow beyond a local small business, it did provide full time jobs for seven wolvers, including Hannah, who answered the phone and kept track of the paperwork. She still had trouble with reading, but was a wonder with numbers, and the Tilson tenacity was a gift when it came to collecting payments that were overdue.
"Are you sure that's wise?"
Brad's only complaint about employing both Matt and Hannah was that upon arriving early for work, his office door was often locked. Hannah would always exit with her hair disheveled and a giggled goo
d morning for her boss. Matt would follow, buttoning his work shirt and looking pretty pleased with himself.
"Yep, all taken care of. Hannah took the afternoon off to go shopping with Ellie." He sighed. "I still don't know why they can't do whatever it is they do at home."
"Two pups and a very tiny trailer?" Livvy suggested with a laugh. The pair had purchased Old Miz Cramer's place soon after mating. They hoped to someday build a house on the property. "Paper thin walls?"
"We have three pups and two nosy old ladies," he argued.
"And a very big house," she argued back.
Brad and Livvy never did move into a home of their own. As the sisters aged, they needed more care, and neither Brad nor Livvy had the heart to leave them. Livvy took on most of the day to day duties, except for the baking, and the twins loved her for it. Under Brad's constant care, the old house regained some of its former glory and the wide front porch became a gathering place for friends and family, including the Tilsons. Free food wasn't a handout if it came from kin.
Edith and Edna took great delight in these gatherings, and told anyone who would listen that Bradley Dearest would inherit the place once they passed on to their heavenly reward. Everything else would go to the pack.
Most folks didn't care who got the house as long as someone inherited the recipe for Mama's Elixir.
Brad and Livvy would raise their litter in that house and Seawards would be found on the rolls of Gilead for years to come. They weren't rich. The upkeep on an old house didn't come cheap, and feeding a large family often stretched their budget, but they weren't poor, and had no cause for complaint.
"You, Brad Seaward, can't complain about Matt and Hannah when here you are inviting me to take a walk up to the shelterhouse," Livvy teased.
"That's different. The shelterhouse is special." It was and always would be. Though he never became a man who felt comfortable sharing his feelings, Brad always saw the stone shelter as the place where his dreams began and Olivia Jean Dawson made those dreams come true.
"Then we'd better hurry. Dark comes early and we have to get home to the pups. Edna and Edith will stuff them with cookies if I'm not there to intervene."
In spite of her words, Livvy paused by the second plaque on the wall.
In loving memory of Esmeralda Littleton
Our Miz Ezzy
Who, in spite of her eccentricities, never forgot
the foundation on which Gilead was built.
Miz Ezzy died where she'd spent her life, among the woods and fields surrounding Gilead. They found her sitting comfortably against a tall oak tree, looking out over the field where Sam Keppe grazed his cow. She looked like she was napping and dreaming sweet dreams. Her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly open in a crooked smile. She was fairly young, barely sixty, which surprised many who thought she was much older. The Alpha said she died of malnutrition, confirming the long held belief that wolvers weren't meant to be vegetarians.
Her death resulted in a debate over where she should be buried. Some thought she should be laid to rest in the churchyard. Others thought it more fitting that she be buried up on the hill behind her ramshackle home where she could keep watch over her beloved boys. It was no surprise that Donna Morrissey won the debate.
Ezzy was buried in the churchyard between the two brothers who loved her. Both died before she made her choice. According to Donna, Cyrus and Rainbow Small were crazier than bedbugs, too, and so the three should be buried together, happy at last in their eternal lunacy.
Her death also resulted in another continuous stream of income for the school since, at the Mate's suggestion, Ezzy left her holdings in Gilead Castings to that institution. The checks she couldn't read and never cashed now served to educate the young. Miz Ezzy's boys continued to eat, grow, and produce castings for the benefit of the community. Even in death, Miz Ezzy served as a reminder to them all that pack comes first.
Livvy often said that despite her earlier mistakes, in the end, all her dreams came true. She had a mate she adored, pups she loved with all her heart, a job where she could make a difference, and a beautiful home. She never did have the money to travel, but she never missed it. Why would she want to travel the world when she had all the best of it right outside her door?
She had Brad. She had pack. She had Gilead. Added all together, it was magic.
As for Gilead, it continued to grow and the wolvers of the pack continued to search for their place in a modern world while preserving their traditions. Like those that came before them, they persevered.
And the magic lives on.
For my readers,
Thanks for reading Shifter's Magic. I hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like an advanced announcement of dates for coming books I’ll be happy to add you to my Newsletter list. Just email me at [email protected] or sign up at my website http://www.jacquelinerhoades.com .
On a more personal note, if you have read and enjoyed one (or all) of my books, and would be so kind, please leave a short review saying so on the site where you purchased it. Multiple good reviews and word-of-mouth are the lifeblood of Indie authors like me.
Thanks in advance and, as always, Bless you,
Jackie
About the Author
Jacqueline Rhoades is the author of fifteen romances. Known as Jackie to her friends, she lives in rural southern Ohio with one lovable husband and two spoiled dogs. She believes coffee is a food group and always has a pot brewing. When not writing, she can usually be found with her nose in someone else's book or working in her garden.
Jackie loves hearing from her readers and is always willing to chat. She can be reached through her website,
http://www.jacquelinerhoades.com/ or at [email protected]
Other Books by Jacqueline Rhoades
Available at Amazon.com
*Paranormal Romances *
The Guardians Of The Race Series
Guardian's Grace
Guardian's Hope #2
Guardian's Joy #3
Guardian’s Faith #4
Guardian’s Patience #5
The Wolvers Series
The Alpha's Mate
The Alpha's Choice
The Alpha’s Daughter
Rabbit Creek Santa (novella)
Wolver’s Gold
Wolver's Rescue
Wolver's Reward
*Sci-Fi Romance*
Women of Earth Series
Roark
Tor
*Contemporary Romances*
Hidden Mountain Series
Preston's Mill
Changing Times
Shifter's Magic (The Wolvers Book 8) Page 30
