by Abigail Owen
He stared at her for a long second. Then that soft smile that she knew now was for her alone spread over his face like dawn breaking over the mountaintops. He gave her a long lingering kiss. “Thank God. I love you so much it hurts. Living without you is not an option.”
He started walking again before she could respond. She snuggled into his arms and laid a soft kiss on his cheek. “I love you, too, you impossible man.”
He grinned and kept walking.
Epilogue
A fluttering sound at the window caught Zula’s attention. She crossed the room in three long strides but found nothing. A glance outside revealed only radiant summer sun blasting the dark volcanic rock. Thankfully, the same magic that had built her castle, also kept it cool, even when the temperatures soared high into the hundreds.
“Zula.”
With effort, she held in a shiver at the raspy voice—more of a hiss—that wafted through the room. Beno, who’d been lying at her door, growled low in his throat, and Edward’s chair scraped heavily across the tiled floor as he stood.
“It’s all right.” Her calm words soothed her guards, though she knew without looking that they stood ready to defend her.
Slowly, she turned to find two men standing before her—tall and bony with inky hair and eyes. Eyes you could lose your soul in. One of them, Huginn perhaps, always hard to tell the difference between the two of them, smiled. This time she did shiver.
Pulling back her shoulders and stifling her gut reaction to these creatures, she nodded to them both. “Do you have news for me?”
“Yessss,” Muninn wheezed. “The council of Alphas has received proof of Rick Delaney’s actions from an anonymous source.”
Interesting. She leaned forward. “Not from me. Did you—?”
“The source was internal to the Shadowcat Nation.”
Very interesting indeed. Had Tieryn McGraw managed to find something? Zula frowned. No. That made no sense. The ravens had told her of Tieryn’s attack on Delaney. If the cougar shifter had found evidence, she would not have submitted it to the Alphas anonymously. Especially not with her Fated Mate, Shane, having been named the new Alpha of the McGraw Dare, making it the Callahan Dare now.
“What have they decided to do with Delaney?”
Muninn’s grin slithered under her skin. His knowing eyes picked up her reaction, and his grin broadened.
Zula gave herself a mental shake. These shifters, often rumored to be the eyes and ears of a god, had been nothing but helpful to her, providing much needed intelligence the last two years.
“He was removed as Alpha.”
“I hoped to hear that he was removed of his head.” She glanced back outside, her fury with the former alpha smoldering like the black rocks baking in the sun. “Still, it’s a start. Who has been named in his place?”
“Gage McAvoy will marry Delaney’s daughter who is also the Kuharte of the dare.”
Ah, the displaced heir to the McGraw dare needed a new kingdom it seemed and had no problem marrying for power. A nugget of an idea sparked. “No, he won’t.”
Edward, silent and still until now, stepped forward. “My lady?”
She knew her smile had rivaled the ravens’ in its ability to chill when Edward took a step back. “He’ll marry one of our lions, and so will his bride-to-be.”
She moved swiftly to the desk across the room and opened her computer, needing to brainstorm names. The alliances she devised had to be the right ones.
“You’ll never convince them.” Edward moved to stand before her.
She glanced up. “They want an alliance. Marriage is the best way.” The only way she’d remotely trust the mountain lion shifters. Tie them to her people with blood.
Edward picked up the small onyx lion figurine from the corner of her desk, the one her father had given her for her fifth birthday, just before Rick Delaney sent his body home in pieces.
“Your father would agree. So do I. But the Shadowcat Nation does not trust you—even with proof of Delany’s actions. They’ll still be out for your head.”
“And?”
“And…simply asking for marriage won’t work.”
“What are you suggesting?”
He replaced the little statue on her desk with a muted thump. “Take them. McAvoy appears to be politically savvy. Force his hand and marry him yourself.”
Zula leaned back in her chair, tapping her long fingers against the armrest. “Kidnapping an Alpha and a Kuharte could lead to all-out war.”
He crossed his arms. “We’re already at war, and running out of options.”
Still she hesitated.
“My lady…”
She glanced up at a face she’d trusted since childhood. But kidnapping? And tying herself to a mountain lion shifter? Indecision rose like a monster from the depths of the ocean of feelings inside her.
“Sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission,” he said.
Strength and surety flowed through her at Edward’s words. “You’re right.” She glanced at the two ravens waiting silently through the exchange. “What date is the wedding?”
“We’ll search it out,” they hissed in unison. In a blur of oily blackness, they shifted and flew out the window.
Zula willed them to fly swiftly. She would have to act fast if they were to capture her future husband in time.
A word about the author…
Award-winning author Abigail Owen was born in Greeley, Colorado, and raised in Austin, Texas. After ten years in Northern California, she now resides in Austin with her husband and two adorable children who are the center of her universe.
Abigail grew up consuming books and exploring the world through her writing. A fourth generation graduate of Texas A&M University, she attempted to find a practical career related to her favorite activity by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing). However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it.
http://www.abigailowen.com
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