by Abigail Owen
A bubble of elation and even freedom filled her as the realization that she didn’t have to be that person here sank in. Zula was more than leader enough to handle another strong woman in her midst. Seneca doubted the woman would bat an eye at a tiger shifter. Though Beno and Edward might not like her animal.
What was more, she had a secret that would help the lions’ situation. Her Kuharte ability—a subtle gift. She called herself a Believer.
Seneca would never apply her gift to Gage and their relationship—that would be cheating herself and him of a true partnership—but she could apply it to their situation with the lions. She would believe they were safe with the lions, despite the rampant hatred aimed their way. As long as she believed it, they would be safe here. Belief had to be a conscious decision based on gut instinct, a warm glow inside her. Her gift had never been wrong…with one, single exception. She’d once believed her father would love her, and that had never happened.
She pulled her shoulders back and took a deep breath. “Let’s go, Eddie.”
He offered her his arm with a flourish. “Yes, ma’am.”
****
Gage stood beside Zula in an outdoor courtyard. This was where he’d first come to the castle as part of the group working to liberate Shadowcat Nation members, including his ex-fiancée’s, Tieryn’s, father, who’d been kidnapped by the lions. Now he was getting mated and married here. Fate had a twisted sense of humor.
The courtyard was surrounded on all four sides by high walls made of sand that glowed a warm yellow in the combined light of the full moon above and the decorative lights strung from lines that crisscrossed overhead, connecting the slim windows that puckered the walls as high as three stories up.
Gage and Zula stood before an archway made of bent reeds and draped in sheer white silk. The heavy perfume of roses filled the air, coming from bundles of the flowers everywhere. Roses for Pete’s sake! Where had they gotten the flowers? And who’d had time to plan a wedding anyway?
Still, his surroundings didn’t penetrate Gage’s nervous anticipation. Not even the stares—some curious, most hostile, all deadly serious—of the lion shifters waiting in the courtyard. He held himself deliberately still, his shoulders strong and confident, lest he shift from foot to foot like an errant schoolboy.
He’d left Seneca sleeping in their bed. Their bed. Desire pulsed through him even now at the memory of how she’d responded in his arms. This could work—their relationship—he just had to convince her. She’d said yes, but a lot could happen on the way to the altar. He should know since this was technically his third trip, neither of the first two making it to the finish line. However, the last two fiancées had been political, and while that element existed here too, he was personally invested with Seneca.
“I assume the mating has already taken place?” Zula murmured beside him, amusement stretching those lush lips of hers. He was sure her lips were sexy to most men, but not him. A mental image of Seneca’s lips, full, but not too full, and pink from his kisses, flashed through his mind. He had more plans for those lips tonight.
“Yes. You said mated and married.”
“Does she bear a claiming bite?”
He tossed her a glance. How had she known? “You’ll see for yourself shortly.”
Her low chuckle scraped over his nerves.
At that moment, a hush descended over the courtyard, the low murmur of all those gathered silenced by the appearance of his bride.
She’d come. She hadn’t changed her mind. Yet. One glance at the determined tilt to her chin and Gage’s shoulders lowered a notch. This wasn’t the timid woman he’d known for years. The woman staring back at him as she walked down the aisle on Edward’s arm, Beno flanking her other side, was the true Seneca. Confident, gorgeous, and utterly sexy.
And where the heck had that dress come from? The garment was nothing like what Lareina would wear. It had Seneca written all over it. Made of a floaty white material, it wrapped around her ample breasts and hugged her slim waist before flaring out from her hips to the floor. A sexy-as-all-get-out slit from toe to thigh parted with each step, and a hint of lace peeked out, teasing him.
He’d never seen anyone more beautiful.
“Down boy,” she teased as she drew near. He choked back a laugh, aware he hadn’t bothered to hide his reaction to her. Her saucy smile told him she’d liked it.
Edward united their hands and Gage detected no tremble in hers, not a single trace of nerves. “You ready?” he asked.
Some unidentifiable emotion flitted over her features. “Are you?” she sallied back.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
With that she turned to Zula, who’d observed this exchange in silence.
“Let’s get this party started,” Seneca said.
“Of course.” Zula tipped her head. “We’re just waiting for the officiant.”
Gage frowned. “I thought you—”
“Oh, no. I have someone much more…” She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “…official coming to do the honors.”
He exchanged a brief glance with Seneca, who shrugged.
The whisper of a breeze brushed his face, filled with the scent of lilacs in the sun, and a moment later, a woman stepped out of the darkness. Like Zula she was gorgeous—tall and slender with mahogany-colored skin that appeared smooth as silk. She was wrapped in a deep purple dress that hugged her figure and matched her lavender-colored eyes, which glowed eerily in the night.
“I am Oya, an ancient from days gone by. A warrior deity of the wind, sudden change, and hurricanes.” Seneca’s dress fluttered in the powerful breeze that kicked up with the goddess’s words. The being before him smiled, her eyes flashing in self-satisfaction. “I am also a sorceress.” That explained the magical castle made of sand in the middle of the Mojave Desert. “I will perform the binding ceremony?”
“Binding?” Gage asked. Zula’s expression revealed nothing.
“Of course. This mating will be bound by the power of the moon and the stars. Unbreakable and undeniable.”
Crap. Gage wasn’t worried about binding himself to Seneca. He knew they would match well, especially since she’d started to reveal her true personality. But, given the promise she’d forced from him, he expected her to refuse point blank.
Her grip tightened marginally on his arm. “Will it force us to experience emotions that don’t exist?”
Her question drew his frown, and he turned his head to focus on her alone. What was she thinking with that question? If it would force him to feel a love for her he didn’t? Or if it would force her?
“No. Your emotions will remain your own. Physical separation will be…painful, and any attempt to pursue a relationship with someone else will result in agony, and even death.”
Seneca gasped. “When you said binding, you meant it.”
“Gods don’t do things arbitrarily or in half-measures.”
“I guess not,” Seneca muttered. She tipped her face to him then and searched his eyes for a long moment. Whatever she found there must have answered any question she had, because she gave a nod. “Okay.”
Relief poured through him. He wasn’t going to have to fight her on this. He raised his eyebrows. “Okay?”
“You know what it means as much as I do. Tell me now if you want to back out. However, I suspect the same ceremony would then be performed with someone from the crowd.” She indicated the onlookers gathered behind them with a wave. “And I find I can’t let that happen to you.”
She swallowed, her only sign of nerves or fear. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and tell her everything would be all right.
He squeezed the hand resting on his arm and turned to Oya. “Let’s begin.”
Chapter Nine
“Are you safe? Being treated well?” Jaxon Keller’s expression was calm, but the hard light in his eyes indicated what the result would be if their answer was no.
This sucked. Gage had held no fantasy about an easy convers
ation with the Alphas of the Shadowcat Nation, and he hadn’t been wrong.
This morning, after he’d contacted Jaxon, Keller had organized a video conference with all the Alphas. Gage and Seneca now sat in a small conference room in front of a computer monitor with eleven tiles, each showing the face of the ten Alphas, and one showing them. How the castle, in the middle of nowhere, had internet, was a mystery he didn’t particularly care about solving, though at a guess, the same magic used to build the structure was involved. Zula, Edward, and Beno stood at the other side of the room, out of view of the screen, but listening.
“Of course,” he answered Jaxon’s question. “We aren’t their prisoners.” Mostly true. Although the open hostility shown by many of the lions was concerning, he was relatively confident Zula’s orders would keep them from being attacked outright.
Jaxon exchanged a glance with his mate, Andie, who was an Alpha of her own dare. “Want to explain that? How are you not their prisoners?” Andie asked.
“Given the evidence that has come to light verifying Rick Delaney’s hand in the start of the war…” He did his best not to pause as Seneca flinched beside him. Her father was still a delicate topic. “We have made a deal with the lions that is a necessary first step toward creating a relationship of trust in order to move forward and end this shifter war.”
“What deal?” This question was from Jaxon.
Gage took Seneca’s hand in his. “We have mated, and married.” He left out the whole binding thing. The Alphas would go ballistic. “And we have agreed to join the lion’s pride.”
Shane Callahan—the man who’d married Gage’s former fiancée, Tieryn, and had taken over as Alpha of their old dare when Tieryn’s father died—leaned forward, his scowl obvious even through his scruffy beard. “Was this your suggestion?”
Technically. “Yes.”
“You’re willing to give up your position in the Shadowcat Nation for this?” Andie asked.
“For the sake of our people? Absolutely.”
Jaxon leaned forward. “And you came up with this plan when? As you were about to mate Seneca’s sister?” No surprise that Jaxon wasn’t buying the story. Time to point out the obvious.
“What’s more important here? Details about how it happened? Or the fact that the lions are now comfortable with negotiating a relationship through us. And, with us here, mountain lions have sources they can trust on the inside.”
Jaxon sat back and the other Alphas remained silent.
“And you, Seneca?” Andie asked.
His new mate flashed them the innocent and slightly blank stare he could now tell was one-hundred-percent false. How had he not seen through her act sooner?
“Like Gage said…I’m absolutely sure of this course.”
“I find that hard to believe, given the role your father played with the lions.” Victor Silva, the Alpha of the Brazilian dare, folded his hands and pinned them with narrowed eyes. Seneca lowered her eyes in submission. He knew she wasn’t latent, but now he had to wonder if she’d also lied about being submissive. If she wasn’t, how her animal allowed the act was beyond him. Pretending a submissiveness that wasn’t there had to take an act of sheer will.
“And given your own actions of late…” Silva let that last sentence hang.
Gage flicked her a glance, but she kept her eyes glued on the screen. What actions? He highly doubted the Alpha was referring to marrying him. He made a mental note to ask her.
“Ms. Delaney?” the Alpha prompted.
“You mean Mrs. McAvoy, don’t you?” Seneca corrected in a soft voice, her eyes lowered. “I’m sorry. What was the question?” Only Gage caught the annoyed brackets around her mouth as though she were biting back her words. He seriously doubted the Alphas could see it.
“Given your father’s role in the situation, do you fear for your life among the lions?”
Seneca brightened and flashed a smile. “Oh no. They understand the need for this relationship.”
Gage clamped his mouth down on his own amusement at the innuendo that perhaps the Alphas of the Shadowcat Nation did not.
Jaxon coughed. “We’re glad to hear that, because we might have a situation.”
“What situation?” Gage asked.
Across the room, Zula straightened, all ears.
“All communications from the Delaney Dare have ceased.”
Beside him Seneca stiffened. “What does that mean?”
“Exactly that. We can’t get through to them and no one from there is contacting us.”
“What about Sarai and Zac?” The couple had been at the compound for the wedding.
“No word.” Andie said through pinched lips. Given she considered Sarai and Zac to be her two best friends, Andie must be freaking out.
“If I might ask…” Seneca said. “Where is my father? Do you still have him in custody?”
The stoic silence that greeted the question said it all.
“You don’t,” Seneca answered before anyone else did. She closed her eyes and shook her head. With a deep breath she opened her eyes again. “I think it’s safe to say my father has taken control of the dare.”
“Why would you say that?” Santiago Moreno, the Alpha of the dare that covered the northern part of South America, asked.
Seneca crossed her arms over her stomach, hugging herself in a self-protective gesture. “I know my father. Trust me, he’s responsible.”
“We’d like to send two representatives to you to negotiate a treaty with the lions,” Jaxon said.
“Our lions.” Seneca’s correction was softly couched, her demeanor so meek, no one could fault her or take offense. How did she do that?
Jaxon dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Your lions.”
“Who?” Gage asked.
“My sister, Hannah, and her husband, Nick Jensen, who is my beta and the key negotiator with other shifters for the Shadowcat Nation.”
“Isn’t Hannah pregnant?” Seneca asked with a frown.
“I thought you said the lions were safe?” Silva put forth slyly.
“I thought you said my father was on the loose,” Seneca countered. Now there was the real her—strength rang through every syllable. “And many of the people he hates most are here.”
Gage agreed. “We can handle the negotiations ourselves.”
“I’ll come,” Andie offered.
Jaxon’s glower said he didn’t agree. “Like hell you will.”
The dark haired fighter gave her Fated Mate a sweet smile Gage wouldn’t want to be on the other end of. “You want to try to stop me, Keller?” she purred.
Gage could almost hear the popping of Jaxon’s teeth as he ground them together. However, Andie’s ability to fight made her an asset, and her position as Alpha gave her decision-making clout. Combined with the fact that her father essentially ran her dare in her absence since she lived at the Keller Dare with her mate most of the time. Her dare would be in capable hands.
“Take Tieryn with you,” Shane added.
Now Gage scowled. While he hadn’t been in love with his former fiancée, he’d grown up with her and considered her one of his closest friends. He didn’t like the idea of her being here. However, she was both a Healer and a Survivor, able to teleport away from danger and take others with her when she did. Her gifts in this situation made sense. Plus, she’d been the one to reach out to Zula, which meant she already had a relatively trusted relationship established with the lioness.
Shane looked as though he’d swallowed a bucket of nails at the idea of sending his newly found Fated Mate into danger. He knew better than anyone else, having met the lioness himself, what he was sending Tieryn into. His faith in his mate, and her Kuharte abilities, must be phenomenal.
Gage swallowed down his own concerns and kept his mouth shut. The solution made sense. “When should we expect them?”
“Will Thursday morning be all right?”
Two days? Fast. “Yes. Fine.”
Jaxon gave a sharp no
d. “Gage?”
“Yes?”
“Until we ascertain for ourselves the situation, don’t let Seneca out of your sight.”
He appreciated Jaxon’s concern. The Alphas as a collective wouldn’t have any concern for a latent, no matter who her father was believed to be. Seneca, having obviously understood the implication, clenched her hands in her lap underneath the desk on which the monitor sat, and where the lions in the room couldn’t see.
“Of course,” Gage agreed.
With nothing more to discuss, they cut the connection.
“Excellent,” Zula purred. “Masterfully done.”
Gage dipped his head in acknowledgement of what he was sure was meant to be a compliment. He had managed to avoid outright lies, simply leaving out facts he considered irrelevant at this point.
He took Seneca’s hand as they stood, and led her out of the room and back to their own. Edward and Beno flanked them down the hallway. Up ahead a pair of men stood talking. When they spied him and Seneca headed their way, the men stopped and both opened their mouths, baring their teeth in a silent warning that, in cat form, would have screamed anger and hatred. A quelling snarl from Beno—who was protector now as much as jailor—stopped them. Gage moved to put himself physically between the men and Seneca, walking slightly ahead of her.
“Hi!”
He whipped around at Seneca’s cheery greeting to find she’d stopped and was addressing the lion shifters. Beno stood beside her and looked over at Gage like, Is she for real?
Seneca ignored the angry and now stupefied expressions the two men bore and held out her hand to shake. “I’m Seneca and this is my mate Gage.” She waved a hand in his general direction. Gage nodded.
To give them credit, both men gripped her hand, though they exchanged a mystified look.
“We’re new to the pride. I’m sure you’re aware,” she continued, smiling sweetly. “What are your names?”
