by Lisa Kessler
Malcolm scrambled ahead of his sister and tackled Jason around the knees. “Jason.”
“Hey, buddy.” Jason swooped him up, eliciting a bout of giggles. “Happy birthday.”
Madeleine stopped in front of me and stared up. “You’re Jason’s.”
He slid his free arm around my waist. “Madeleine, this is Kilani. She’s my mate.”
The little girl held her hands up to me in the universal symbol of pick-me-up-now. I lifted her into my arms and she grinned. “You’re pretty.”
“Thank you.” I laughed. “You’re beautiful, too.”
Madeleine poked her brother. “We can’t tell her.”
Malcolm shook his head. “Nope, because it’s a secret.”
“A secret?” I glanced up at Jason. “Do you know about this secret?”
He raised a brow and shrugged. “What secret?”
I nudged him. “You’re a horrible liar.”
I set Madeleine down, and Nadya came around the corner. Her eyes lit up as she pulled me into a hug. “You look great. How are you feeling?”
“Much better. Thanks. So are you in on this secret?”
Nadya shot a playful look at the little ones. “Did you two tell her?”
Jason put Malcolm down beside his sister as they both shook their heads. “No, because it’s secret and that means don’t tell.”
They spun around and raced away before I could question them further. I turned to Nadya again. “Has my grandmother gotten here yet?”
She nodded. “Yeah, she and Chloe are out back. They chased Adam away from the barbecue grill.”
I took Jason’s hand. “We should go see if they need any help.”
“I think we both know the answer.”
“True, but we can at least offer.”
Nadya gave Jason a quick hug. “Great to see you both.”
She followed after the twins, and I started to go, but Jason tugged me back to him. I stared up into his eyes. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. I just wanted one more minute to have you to myself.” He kissed me long and slow. I savored every caress of his lips until my whole body warmed.
He rested his forehead on mine and I smiled. “What was that for?”
“Because I love you.” There was a sparkle in his eyes as he straightened to his full height and took my hand. “Come on.”
We walked through the house, waving hello to Lana and Sasha in the kitchen chopping up condiments for the burgers. Live music played in the back by the barn. This Wolf Pack went all-out for a first birthday party.
I stopped, blinking as the scene changed and a flash of the future took over. Wyatt, Jason’s dad, stood with him, they smiled, lifting their glasses. Where was I? I struggled to catch the details. I was dancing. With Jared. Where?
And it was gone.
Jason sighed beside me. “Tough to surprise a psychic.”
“What?” I looked up at him. “How did you know I had a vision?”
“You blink hard when they come on.”
“I do?”
He nodded and squeezed my hand. “I pay attention.”
“Not bad for a doctor.”
He chuckled. “So is the cat out of the bag?”
I shrugged. “If the big surprise is me dancing with your brother.”
“What?” He raised his eyebrows. “Should I be jealous?”
I elbowed him, shaking my head. We went out back and my breath caught. Beside the three-tiered birthday cake and banner was another banner that read, Welcome to the Pack, Kilani.
Logan stopped strumming his guitar and leaned into the microphone. “Can we get everyone out here?”
Jason reached into the pocket of his jeans and withdrew a gray velvet box. My heart leapt into my throat.
“Kilani, everybody here can testify that I never believed in mates. I thought it was impossible for fate to choose your destined soul mate. But I’m here today in front of my family and my Pack to say, I was dead wrong. And I am the luckiest man on earth that fate chose you for me.” He opened the box. “Welcome to the Pack.”
It still caught me off guard sometimes to be publically acknowledged as his mate. I hoped it would wear off eventually. Those days of being rejected were behind me, but some days my new life with Jason still seemed like a dream.
Inside the box was a silver bracelet. Each square alternated with a carving of my honu and a wolf. Perfect. Just like my mate.
Tears blurred my vision as I stared into his eyes. “It’s beautiful.”
He took it out and fastened it around my wrist. “I’m glad you like it because”—he pulled another gray box from his other pocket with a twinkle in his eyes—“it matches this.”
He opened the box and a ring sparkled up at me. The band of the ring matched the bracelet with my honu on one side of the diamond and a wolf on the other.
“Kilani, will you marry me?”
I resisted the urge to pinch myself. Emotion choked my throat as I scanned the crowd and found my grandmother’s eyes. She wiped a tear from her cheek and smiled at me.
I looked up at Jason and nodded. “Yes. I would love to marry you.”
Howls erupted as Jason pulled me into his arms. He whispered against my lips, “Surprised?”
“Very.” I laughed, nodding and kissing him. “Tough to surprise a psychic.”
“So I’ve heard.” Jason took my hand, sliding the diamond ring onto my finger. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
His parents stood together holding hands, just as I’d seen in my vision at their house. His father met my eyes and came toward me, without a cane, without help, and embraced me. Tears sprang to my eyes all over again as I clung to him.
He held me tight and whispered, “Welcome to the family.”
I never knew my father, no name was listed on my birth certificate, but I couldn’t imagine a better man than the one holding me and offering me a place in his family.
He let me go and smiled. “I hope you’ll grow to call me Dad.”
I wiped my eyes and rose on my toes to kiss his cheek. “I’ve never had a dad.”
“You do now.”
Sarah came up beside us. “And another mom, too, if you can stand it.”
I laughed and embraced her. “Thanks so much for opening your family to me.”
The rest of the Pack descended on us, overwhelming me with love and acceptance that I never expected. After burgers and chips, and cake and ice cream, Logan lifted up his acoustic guitar again. He had a band, but they didn’t know he was a werewolf, so he kept them away from Pack events.
Jared approached and offered his hand. “Could I have a dance with my new sister?”
I winked at Jason and took his brother’s hand. “I’d love to.”
As we danced, Jared grinned. “I can honestly say I have never seen my brother so happy.”
“He makes me pretty happy, too.”
He chuckled and dipped me. “He’d better.”
Jason walked toward us. “Speak of the devil.” He tapped Jared’s shoulder. “Can I cut in?”
“You hate dancing.” Jared raised a brow.
Jason’s eyes met mine. “I was just missing the right partner.”
“Thanks for the dance…sis.” Jared kissed my cheek.
Jason spun me into his arms. “This isn’t the last surprise.”
“No?”
He shook his head. As the song ended, Jared got up, holding a picture with a drape over it. I glanced up at Jason. “You wanted Jared to dance with me. You were distracting me so you could get that.”
“I’m just glad your vision wasn’t of this part of the surprise.” He took the draped square from his brother. “You inspired me.”
He tugged the sheet off to reveal a charcoal drawing of me and my grandmother sitting at the pond on Maui with our feet in the water.
“This is what you’ve been working on in the garage while I was recuperating on the couch.”
He nodded, a
nd I focused on the art again. In our downcast eyes, he’d somehow captured every facet of my strained but healing relationship with my grandmother. And in the reflection of the pond, in the subtle ripples of the water, my honu stared back at me. The longer I examined Jason’s work, I realized there were wolves hidden in the ripples too. A Pack.
My Pack.
I gazed up at my mate, my lover, my friend, and struggled for words. He’d given me the one gift that could never be bought or bartered for.
Ohana was finally mine. Family.
“I don’t know what to say.”
His lips curved into a crooked smile. “Maybe you should just kiss me.”
So I did.
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to the entire Entangled Publishing team for all your support for the Moon series! It takes a village, and I feel lucky to be a part of this one! Thanks to my fabulous editor and publisher, Liz Pelletier, for helping me polish this book, and to my amazing beta readers, Denise Fluhr and Heather Cox, for all your feedback along the way!
And to my fantastic agent, Laurie McLean, thanks for your support and guidance. You always make me feel like anything is possible. You’re the best!
Big thanks to my Night Angels Street Team. Your love for the Wolf Pack inspires me, and your support for my books means the world to me.
And finally, thanks to my wonderful husband, Ken, who listens to me talk about characters and ideas and believes in me through thick and thin.
You’re my hero!
About the Author
Lisa Kessler is an Amazon Best Selling and award winning author of dark paranormal fiction. Her debut novel, Night Walker, won a San Diego Book Award for Best Published Fantasy-Sci-fi-Horror as well as the Romance Through the Ages Award for Best Paranormal and Best First Book. Her short stories have been published in print anthologies and magazines, and her vampire story, Immortal Beloved, was a finalist for a Bram Stoker award. When she’s not writing, Lisa is a professional vocalist, performing with the San Diego Opera as well as other musical theater companies in San Diego. You can learn more at http://Lisa-Kessler.com She loves hearing from readers - [email protected]
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Discover the Moon series…
MOONLIGHT
HUNTER’S MOON
BLOOD MOON
Discover the Night series…
NIGHT WALKER
NIGHT THIEF
NIGHT DEMON
NIGHT CHILD
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BEG ME TO SLAY
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