by R. E. Butler
“Is a month long enough to get everything together? We could get married here at the house, in front of the big fireplace. What do you think?” Grant asked Sam.
Aaron liked the idea a lot. Mostly because he wanted Sam to become Mrs. Fallon as soon as possible. Sam smiled so broadly that a tiny dimple formed in her cheek. “As long as Lisa promises to help.”
“I should start my own mountain lion wedding planning company,” Lisa said with a smile after promising that she was more than happy to help Sam.
Brian said, “You can go to the cabin for your honeymoon.”
Owen said, “No, they’re supposed to take her somewhere romantic. Like Reno.”
Sam stifled a laugh behind a napkin. Aaron wondered where Owen had heard that Reno was romantic.
“The cabin’s fine with me, as long as I have my two mates to keep me warm and I don’t have to do any actual cabin stuff,” Sam said.
“What is ‘cabin stuff’?” Rhett asked.
“Cleaning the cabin, hauling firewood, using a toilet outside, killing small or large animals, or any kind of sleeping on the floor. And I don’t like spiders, either,” she added with a wink.
“I think we can manage to agree to those demands for our beautiful bride-to-be,” Grant said, and Aaron seconded that.
“Then the first Saturday in April we’ll get married, and we’ll spend a few days at the cabin. Can you get time off, Sam?” Grant asked.
She nodded. “It’ll be right after the spring concert, so it won’t be a problem.”
Lisa said, “I’ll call you this week, and we’ll get started planning. Using the boarding house will make the planning a lot easier, and we can use the were-bear pastor Giselle again, I’m sure. She’s used to doing multiple marriages.”
Lisa and Sam talked for a bit longer while the rest of the men and kids polished off the three apple pies and then cleared the table. After saying goodnight to Rhett and Lisa and putting the kids to bed, Aaron swung Sam up into his arms and carried her straight to the bathroom. The three of them brushed their teeth and tossed their dirty clothes in the hamper, and then Aaron and Grant settled Sam between them, and Aaron turned off the light.
Silence settled over them for several minutes and then Grant said, “We didn’t rush you into the marriage, did we, sweetheart?”
“Not at all. I’ll be glad to have Lisa’s help getting it put together. She and my mom are going to get along really well. To be honest, I already kind of think of us as married, maybe because the kids call me Mom, and we’re living together. This is just the official, legal step for us. The sooner, the better.” She echoed what Aaron had said earlier.
“I love you, sweetheart. You’re perfect for us,” Grant said, and Aaron heard him kiss her in the dark.
“I’m not perfect, but you make me feel like I am. I love you, too.” She tilted her head back and found Aaron’s mouth, kissing him lightly.
“I love you, too, baby. And you are perfect.”
She relaxed, and Aaron knew the moment she fell asleep, because her breathing evened out and the hand that had been gripping his loosened. As exhaustion stole over him, he smiled inwardly, happier than he’d ever been in his life.
Chapter 17
Sam had never known a month to fly by as quickly as March did. One moment she was chatting with Lisa about starting the wedding planning and now she was standing in front of a full length mirror in the bedroom she shared with Aaron and Grant while her mom fixed Sam’s great grandmother’s string of pearls around her neck.
The dress that she’d chosen was a simple, floor length cream colored satin gown, with delicate lace cap sleeves. Lisa had styled Sam’s hair, twisting it into a pretty chignon and fixing it with a diamond clip.
Sam’s mom, wearing a champagne-colored jacket and gown, fussed over her. “You look so lovely, honey. And happy, too. I’m thrilled for you.” Her mom’s voice was thick with emotion, and she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.
“Thank you, Mom, for everything. I am happy. I really didn’t think I’d get a chance to find real happiness.”
The door opened, and Lisa came in. With a hug, Lisa smiled, “You look gorgeous. They’re going to be speechless!”
Her mom left, heading downstairs to where Henry was waiting to escort her to the chairs that had been set up in the large front room for the ceremony. Besides the pride and Sam’s parents, Sam had invited several of her friends from Indianapolis and her new friend, Louisa Babcock. Grant and Aaron had invited several members of the were-bear den from Bracks.
“Are you ready?” Lisa asked.
Nodding, Sam watched her new sister leave her alone in the room, shutting the door softly. Sam took one last look at herself in the long mirror. She wasn’t nervous; she was excited. She knew that waiting in front of a roaring fire were her two mates, men who loved her and would do anything for her. They’d more than proven their devotion to her in word and deed, taking care of her and protecting her — saving her — and she knew that this moment was just the start of the next chapter of their lives together.
Mentally, she closed the door on her past and walked out of the room, ready to become Mrs. Samantha Fallon.
Sam’s dad stood at the bottom of the steps, looking dashing in a black suit with a red tie. A simple red rose boutonniere was pinned to his lapel. When she reached the bottom step, she took his arm and looked up at him.
The strains of the wedding march began to play, and his blue eyes twinkled happily. “You are beautiful, my sweet daughter. I couldn’t be more proud, or happier, for you than I am at this moment.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek. They walked slowly into the family room, down an aisle littered with red rose petals, to where her mates stood in matching black suits. She hadn’t thought she would cry, but the moment that her father gave her away, two tears slipped past her defenses.
Grant, holding her right hand, brushed one tear away while Aaron, holding her left hand, caught the other. Pastor Giselle, wearing a long black dress, told everyone to sit down, and Sam looked over her shoulder where the boys sat with their uncles, grinning happily.
After the vows were spoken, Giselle called for the kids to join them. The eight of them held hands in a circle.
Giselle said, “When we think of marriage, we often think of only the bride and grooms. But marriage is not necessarily just for those who join in sacred matrimony, but also for their family members. Aaron, Grant, and Samantha have written vows for the children.” Giselle smiled at all of them and then continued. “Aaron, Grant, and Samantha: Do you promise to be loving, nurturing, caring parents for Brian, Ben, Owen, Nathan, and Kevin? Do you promise to meet their physical and emotional needs, to be there for them through the good times and the bad times, for the rest of your lives?”
Grant, Aaron, and Sam all said, “We do.”
Giselle said, “Do you, Kevin, Nathan, Owen, Ben, and Brian promise to love and honor your parents, for as long as you live?”
The boys all looked at the adults in the circle and grinned as they said together, “We do.”
“As it has been vowed, so let it remain forever. I present to you, the Fallon family.”
Aaron pulled Sam into his arms and kissed her soundly, handing her over to Grant for his kiss. The kids stepped forward and hugged Sam and their dads, their faces glowing with happiness. The crowd cheered as Sam and her husbands made their way to the foyer for a moment of privacy, while the pride quickly set up the tables for the reception.
“You’re beautiful,” Grant said softly, cupping her face in his warm hands and nipping at her bottom lip.
Aaron pressed against her back, his hands trailing down her sides. “Gorgeous. And all ours, forever.”
“Don’t forget that you’re mine forever, too,” she reminded them. “And I like you both in suits. Very handsome.”
Aaron turned her towards him with a grin. “I hated being away from you last night. I can’t wait for this party to be over so we can enjoy our wife.”
&
nbsp; Grant hummed in his throat. “A whole six days with our gorgeous sweetheart, all alone in the woods. Whatever will we do?”
“I can think of a few dozen things,” Aaron growled lightly, hooking his arm around her waist and pulling her close.
“Just a dozen?” She blinked innocently at him.
“Dozens upon dozens,” he answered before stealing her breath away in a kiss.
* * * * *
Sam’s mom hung up her gown in the zippered bag as Sam slipped on a pair of tennis shoes. The party was winding down, and Aaron and Grant were anxious to get to the cabin and start their honeymoon. They’d been planning secretively all week, making trips during the day to take supplies and get things set up. She’d been told to pack warm clothes because a late snow had fallen and it was still quite chilly, especially at night. She didn’t care, really, as long as she had them to keep her warm.
Her rolling suitcase was stuffed with sweaters and jeans, and one negligee for each night to surprise them. Her parents were staying at the house to take care of the kids. It was their gift to the new couple, and also to the pride, so that no one had to rearrange their schedule.
“I’m ready,” Sam said, zippering the suitcase after double-checking her toiletries.
Her mom opened the bedroom door and chuckled. Sam discovered that both Grant and Aaron were pacing outside the bedroom door.
“Impatient?” she teased as Grant picked up the suitcase, and Aaron picked up her.
“Yes, woman. How long does it take to change out of a dress?” He followed Grant down the steps hurriedly, putting her down long enough for her to say goodbye to her parents, the kids, and the pride. Then he helped her on with her coat before he picked her up again and headed out the door.
The pride had decorated Grant’s truck with ribbons and balloons, painting the back window with the words Just Married. Aaron put her down in the middle of the bench seat and buckled her in. Grant got behind the wheel, and Aaron sat on her other side. Grant pulled away from the house, honking the horn at the kids standing on the front porch.
“I’ll be happy once we get there,” Sam mused. “I’m awfully sleepy, I think I’ll go right to bed.”
Aaron snarled, “You can sleep in a week.”
She laughed, leaning over to kiss his cheek. “I was just kidding.”
He glanced at her. “I wasn’t.”
During the short ride, they told her how miserable it was to sleep without her, and how excited they were to now be married. She promised she was happy to be married now, too. Technically, she was only married to Aaron, but Pastor Giselle had created a second marriage certificate that had all three of their names on it. It didn’t matter what the government believed; she had vowed herself to both of them. And Aaron and Grant had surprised her by having a lawyer come to the reception with adoption papers. Once the papers were filed on Monday morning, she would legally be Nathan, Owen, Kevin, Brian, and Ben’s mom. It had touched her so deeply that they thought to do that, and the kids were thrilled to have her be their real mom.
Aaron cleared his throat, and she looked at him. He said, “We wanted to talk to you about marking.”
“The biting thing?”
Aaron nodded. “It’s an instinctual thing for us as shifters. Putting visible marks on you is a primal thing. It helps our beasts to feel as though you are doubly protected. If another shifter were to see the marks, they would know you belonged to two men and were off limits.”
She looked between her men. Aaron stared at her intently with a serious expression. Grant glanced at her briefly, but she saw the same look in his eyes that she had seen in Aaron’s. It was important to them that they mark her, but they were asking her to understand and allow it.
Aaron’s hand reached out, and he ran his thumb down the side of her neck. “On either side, here, love. We’ll still be human, but our fangs will elongate and allow us to mark you more easily. There will just be the two marks on either side of your neck. They’ll fade into scars, and unless people are really looking for them, they won’t notice them.”
She remembered seeing marks on Callie’s neck and also on Lisa’s. “None of the men have marks.”
“Actually, Ethan and Eryx do, but the wolves in Callie’s pack mark at the back of the neck, so theirs are hidden by their hair. It’s just not how cats do it.”
“I think I understand. The marks are like a wedding ring that can’t be lost.”
They both laughed. “Exactly,” Grant said.
She raised a brow at them. “It’s not exactly fair that you get to bite me, and I don’t get to bite you.”
“You can bite us anytime, sweetheart,” Grant said.
“It won’t scar, though.”
“No, it won’t,” Aaron said. “But it doesn’t matter. Even if we’re not visibly marked by you, love, there isn’t anyone or anything that could take us away from you. We’re yours forever, and our cats just want to stake their claim, too.”
“So you’re still you when you shift? Just furry?” she asked.
Aaron snorted a laugh. “Of course, Sam. It’s not like there’s an actual cat hanging around in our subconscious waiting to get out. It’s us, but a more primal part of us. When we shift and we’re hunting, we still have our memories, thoughts, and personalities, but we also have a desire to hunt and run.”
Their conversation dropped as the cabin came into view. The rustic cabin sat nestled in the snow covered woods, surrounded by huge pine trees. As she unbuckled her seatbelt, Grant slipped from his side and pulled her with him, lifting her out into his arms.
“I can walk, Grant,” she said as she snuggled into his arms.
“I know, sweetheart, but I’ll point out that you’re wearing tennis shoes and there’s about two feet of snow drifts around the house, not to mention a layer of ice under all of that. I can’t take a chance on you slipping and getting hurt.” He kissed her forehead. “Humor me.”
“I can do that.”
Aaron opened the door, and Grant carried her inside. The door shut, and the room was bathed in darkness for only a brief moment until an audible click as an electric lantern cast a beam of blue-tinted light around the room. Grant kicked off his boots just inside the door while Aaron went back out to the car and brought her suitcase in, setting it on top of a small dresser in the corner.
“Give us a minute to get set up, baby,” Aaron said.
Grant put her down on a full-size bed covered with a dark quilt. “Don’t move,” Grant admonished, and she watched them move around the cabin quickly.
Grant opened the flue of the large stone fireplace and lit a match. Kindling blazed to life quickly, spreading to the logs. Grant closed the screen and then stood, lighting several oil lamps on the mantel as Aaron stood in the middle of the room with a small black remote and clicked it, simultaneously lighting electric candles scattered around the cabin. When the softer lights of the candles and lamps were lit, Aaron turned off the harsh light of the lantern.
They continued to move around the cabin, unrolling a thick mat in front of the fireplace and covering it with a fluffy rug and unpacking boxes on the table. Sam took the opportunity to look around the cabin. In one corner was a kitchenette, with a small refrigerator, table, three chairs, and a counter with a sink and stove. A tall cabinet in the opposite corner was open and held canned goods and boxes.
A worn couch, plush chair, and two small end tables sat facing the fireplace. She was relieved to not see a television. It would be nice to completely unplug from distractions and enjoy their honeymoon. The bed sat across from the fireplace, a sturdy sleigh bed made of dark wood and polished to a high shine. One small table sat next to the bed, and the dresser nearby was the last of the furniture.
“I think you guys promised me I wouldn’t have to pee outside,” she said, wondering where the bathroom was.
Both men laughed, and Grant moved from in front of the fireplace and walked to the wall near the bed and slid open a pocket door. He reached into the
room, and she heard a click. A fat electric candle with three bulbs on top of the toilet illuminated the tiny bathroom. “We do have electricity; but it’s a generator and it only runs the fridge, stove, and water heater. There’s a shower, toilet, and sink in the bathroom. And we looked around for spiders, too, and there aren’t any.”
She grinned. “You guys take such good care of me.”
“You deserve it,” Aaron said.
Sam kicked off her tennis shoes as they finished whatever they were doing in front of the fireplace. Aaron came to her, pushing her coat off her shoulders and handing it to Grant, who hung it up on a coat rack near the front door. She shivered in the cool air of the cabin.
“It’ll warm up once the fire gets going, but in the meantime, we’ll keep you warm,” Aaron promised, picking her up and carrying her over to the rug. He put her feet down in the center of the rug and she felt the thick cushion underneath it. Grant joined them, and the two men stripped quickly, tossing their clothes aside. Aaron stepped close to her as Grant pressed against her back, gathering her hair off her shoulders to bare her neck. She slid one arm around Aaron’s waist and hooked her other arm around Grant’s neck, pulling them closer. She loved it when they both had their hands on her, when they trapped her between them with their strength and warmth.
Grant nibbled down her neck, from her ear to her shoulder while Aaron anchored one hand in her hair and lowered his mouth to hers. His lips brushed across hers, the warmth of his breath cascading across her parted mouth like a caress. His tongue traced the curve of her upper lip and dipped into her mouth to tease her tongue lightly. She moaned softly, Grant’s teeth nipping at her neck, Aaron’s tongue dancing against hers, as they held her between them. Her knees weakened as her clothes came off, slowly, as if they had all the time in the world. They worked together, never taking their mouths off of her as her shirt was tossed away and then her bra. Grant kissed down her spine when Aaron undid her pants and the silky fabric fell to the floor with an audible sound. On his knees behind her, Grant hooked his fingers in either side of her panties and kissed her exposed flesh as he lowered them to the floor and helped her step out of her socks, pants, and panties.
