Redeeming Rue AP4

by R. E. Butler

  Lisa had been at the boarding house in the morning, overseeing the setup of the tables for the dinner and the chairs for the ceremony. Close to one hundred people were going to fill up the yard in a few hours, mostly panthers from clans all over the country. Jilly had spent the night at Callie’s home because although panther tradition didn’t dictate the males and females stayed separated the night before the bonding ceremony, Jilly felt like it was the right thing to do.

  “It’s good here. The females are helping Jilly get dressed. I can’t believe my only niece is old enough to get mated. I feel ancient.”

  “You feel ancient?” John said with a chuckle. “She’s my kid, and I can’t look at her without seeing a little girl in pigtails sucking her thumb. No way she’s old enough to promise herself to males.”

  He ended the call with his brother and tucked the phone into his back pocket.

  Henry said, “Do you think that I’ll ever find a female?”

  John looked at him in surprise. “I didn’t know you were looking.”

  Henry smiled but it was forced. “I’m not, exactly, but I don’t have anyone to share a female with. I’m like Uncle Alek with no one really close to my age. The boys have already decided that they’ll share a mate between them.”

  John choked on his surprise. “What? There are five of them!”

  Henry shook his head. “No, I mean Brian and Kevin are going to share a mate and Ben, Nathan, and Owen are going to share. That just leaves me.”

  “Uncle Rhett doesn’t share Lisa. There are a few lions in King who don’t share a mate. Maybe you won’t share.”

  Henry made a face and rubbed at a space over his chest. “I don’t know why, but it’s bothering me today.”

  “What?”

  “Me being alone. I feel like something is coming. Something that’s going to change everything.”

  “Well, we’ll be prepared for whatever it is, okay? You’ve got the pride at your back, and you’ve got me and your uncles at your side.”

  Henry nodded and looked into the woods for a long moment before walking into the house.

  John didn’t like to see his son feeling emotionally raw, but he could admit that he was feeling a little like that himself. He’d woken up on edge but had attributed it to the bonding ceremony. Maybe it wasn’t just the ceremony that was making him feel strange, but, like Henry, something else was coming that was the cause of the odd feelings. He looked into the woods, seeing nothing but the trees that the pride had hunted in many times.

  Shaking the distracting thoughts from his mind, he turned his attention back to the task at hand and finished setting the tables.

  * * * * *

  James finished the reports that he’d promised Eryx he would complete before he headed to the bonding ceremony. Eryx was the sheriff of Ashland. When they lived in King, James had been sheriff and Eryx had been one of the deputies. He thought it would be strange to work for his son, but he actually enjoyed not being the boss for a change. Being sheriff came with a lot of responsibilities and headaches that he was glad to hand over to his son.

  After printing out the last report, James pulled the pages from the printer and walked them over to Eryx’s office. He returned to the office he shared with John and Alek and shut down the computer before gathering his phone and keys. Walking out to the reception desk where Pauline sat with her ever-present romance novel between her hands, he said, “I’m heading out for the day.”

  “Please tell Jilly that I wish her the best on her special day.”

  “I will, thanks. John’s cell is off for the day, but I’ll have mine with me and so will Eryx and Alek. If anything comes up, call one of us immediately.”

  “Will do. Have fun.”

  He nodded at the woman who was a bear-shifter and had been a civilian member of the Ashland police force since Eryx had taken over. Within a few minutes, he was parking in front of the boarding house and then walking through the front door. He stopped in the kitchen to say hello to the mountain lions who were helping prepare for the party. He hadn’t seen Ray and Wesley since the night of his disastrous date, so he asked Hunter where they were.

  “Ray got in an argument with Tristan and Micah about Scarlett and stormed out. Wes followed him and we haven’t seen them since. That was early this morning, when Tristan was making breakfast. I think it was worse because Sam sided with Ray and Wes and that made Tristan and Micah defensive, especially when Aaron started growling at them for raising their voices at Sam.”

  “Shit,” James said under his breath.

  Chase, Hunter’s cousin, looked up from where he was slicing a cucumber for a vegetable platter. “They’re not wrong.”

  “Who’s not wrong?” James asked.

  “Ray and Wes. If someone were keeping us from our mate, I’d be pissed as hell. Micah said that Scarlett is off limits and they need to move on, but how can you move on from the person who’s meant to be yours?”

  James knew that Ray and Wesley were suffering, and he didn’t like to see that happen to anyone in the pride. “Where are Micah and Tristan?”

  “Micah took Melody to Rhett’s to take pictures of Jilly getting ready, but Tristan is up in his room, I think. He said he felt ganged up on and didn’t want to be around us,” Dylan, Chase and Hunter’s other cousin, said as he turned from the sink where he had been washing dishes.

  James promised to return shortly to help with the food, and he headed toward the stairs. He walked up to the third floor and knocked on the door of the room that Tristan shared with Melody and Micah.

  Tristan opened the door. “If you’ve come to yell, save it.”

  “When have I ever yelled?”

  Tristan snorted and leaned heavily on the doorjamb. “What’s up?”

  “Can we talk?”

  Tristan’s eyes narrowed, but then he pushed away from the doorway and walked into the bedroom. James shut the door and leaned against it, folding his arms. “Why can’t you tell Ray and Wesley about Scarlett? Why can’t they see her?”

  Tristan growled as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “It’s not fair for everyone to put us in the middle. Why can’t they just accept that she’s gone and leave it alone?”

  “Why is she gone? I don’t understand.”

  Tristan glared at him for a brief moment and then said, “I’m not supposed to say anything because Melody asked me not to, but it’s just too much.”

  “I can’t promise I won’t talk to Wes and Ray, but I do promise I won’t share what you tell me with any other lions. There’s too much tension in the house, Tristan. It’s hard enough with the panthers here and dealing with Jilly’s ceremony, but to have discord between the pride members is creating a harmful situation.”

  Tristan scrubbed his hand over his face with an agitated sigh and then said, “Scarlett is an alpha queen. For her family line, the females are all queens. It means that she’s basically supposed to become a breeding factory. Each female in her family is mated to an alpha male and supposed to provide him with a ton of kids. She has twelve brothers, and she’s the only girl in the family. Her father is the alpha and he’ll choose her mate for her. She has no say in who she mates with. Her dad will use her status as a queen to find the most influential alpha in the country, and then he’ll give her to him in exchange for an alliance.”

  “Callie is a wolf, and she never mentioned anything like a breeding queen before. I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

  “I hadn’t either, but Melody said that Scarlett has known her whole life that she’ll be given away. She wasn’t allowed to go to college because her father said that her place was in her future home having pups and being a good mate. Scarlett lives by herself, but her dad controls everything in her life. I know she likes Wes and Ray, James, but it doesn’t matter. She can’t mate with them because they’re not wolves and they’re not who her father is going to choose for her. I can’t force her to talk to them. She asked us to keep them away and not tell them where she lives or how
to get in touch with her. I think she’s hurting as much as they are, but it’s out of her control.”

  James walked across the room and put his hand on Tristan’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault they found each other, but it’s not fair to keep the truth from Ray and Wes, either. What if they do something stupid like go to Bent Creek where Scarlett lives and try to find her?”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Tristan said, blanching.

  James glanced at the clock and saw he had a few hours before the ceremony. “I’ll find them and talk to them. I have to believe, though, that if they’re really meant to be with Scarlett that things will work out for them.”

  “Life is not a fairy tale, James. Sometimes good people, like Melody’s dad, die, and sometimes assholes, like Scarlett’s father, get to rule with an iron fist. And sometimes good guys like Ray and Wes don’t get their happily ever after because life isn’t fair.”

  “You didn’t used to be so cynical, did you?”

  “The tension between Melody and Ray and Wes has started to get to me. To all of us.”

  “Well, put it from your mind, okay? You should go find your mate and give her a kiss. I’m sure she’s missing you, too.”

  Tristan brightened at the mention of going to see Melody, and James left the room, wondering if he’d ever find a woman to love who would make him smile like that.

  After showering, shaving, and changing into his dress slacks and dark blue shirt, James called Wes’ cell and found out that the males were at Kickers, the local bar, drinking. He drove there and found them in a corner booth, nursing beers. He sat down, and one look at them told him that he couldn’t hold onto Scarlett’s secret for a moment longer. Trying to repeat what Tristan had said word for word, he told them about Scarlett’s family and the future that lay ahead for her, one that didn’t have them in it.

  Wes looked heartbroken. Ray looked pissed.

  “What gives her family the right to treat her like property? It’s not fair. She’s ours.”

  “I understand how you feel, Ray, but you can’t go off half-cocked and storm the castle for her.”

  Ray’s eyes widened. “You aren’t going to tell us not to do anything stupid?”

  “I never recommend doing stupid things, but I know that you feel she’s your mate, and there isn’t anything I can do to stop you from feeling that. I just hope you’ll think carefully before you do anything. You wouldn’t want her to get hurt.”

  “No, we don’t want her to ever be hurt,” Wes said. “What can we do? We don’t even know where she is aside from living in Bent Creek.”

  “Melody is not going to tell you, Tristan made that much clear. So you’ll have to figure out the next step on your own. Whatever you do, I support you, and so does most of the pride. If you need me, you know where to find me.”

  He slipped from the booth. “Are you two okay to drive?”

  “I’ve only had a few swallows of this beer. I’m fine,” Wes said.

  James nodded and told them he’d see them at the ceremony. He felt a little torn about them. On the one hand, he thought they should respect Scarlett’s wishes and move on with their lives. But on the other hand, he knew they believed that Scarlett was their mate and they weren’t going to let that go and he didn’t think they should. Hell, if he believed a woman was his mate, he wouldn’t let her go off without him either. He’d fight tooth and nail to be with her, and he couldn’t ask them to do any less. Whatever happened between them, he just hoped that the situation would work out in their favor. Life wasn’t fair. If it were, female mountain lions wouldn’t poison the young females with their claws and curse them to a lifetime of emotionless living. He hoped that the fates would smile kindly on Wes and Ray and that someday they’d be able to be with Scarlett.

  * * * * *

  John looked over at Jilly as she sat in the passenger seat of his car and fiddled with a ribbon tied around her waist.

  “You look lovely, sweetie,” he promised, reaching over and squeezing her hand, which was ice cold.

  “Thanks, Daddy. I feel weird.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, it’s almost like we’re getting married, but all that’s really happening is that we’re promising to get married eventually. I kind of wish we weren’t having a big party.”

  “Don’t you want to celebrate?”

  She shrugged and looked out the passenger window. “Celebrate what? A promise for three years? Daddy, I don’t want to talk to you about this. Can we change the subject?”

  Change the subject when they were about to arrive at the ceremony? Oh sure. He quickly tried to think of something else to talk about, but all he could think of was how miserable his daughter seemed.

  “I’m sorry you’re not happy right now, honey. I wish I could tell you that the next three years will be a breeze and that waiting will make it all worthwhile in the end, but I don’t know that for sure, and I’ve never had to really wait for anything.”

  She grunted. “That’s not as helpful as you planned it to be.”

  Chuckling, he signaled to turn onto their street. “You’re still learning about emotions. Right now you’re feeling anxious like a bride but also disappointed because you know that nothing really changes tonight except that they’ll have new tattoos and you’ll have a ring. You’re respecting their culture and that’s important. Three years seems like forever, but it’ll pass quickly. In the meantime, how about college?”

  “Is there a college course for patience?”

  He parked in front of the boarding house and turned off the engine. “No, but you’ll be fine. Embrace tonight for what it is: a declaration of your commitment to each other.”

  She cocked her head. “Do you think you’ll find a mate someday?”

  “Someday soon I hope.”

  “I hope so, too. I adore Dionne, but I’d like to have a mom of my own to talk to.”

  “You can talk to Sam, Lisa, or any of the mates.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I know that Daddy, but they’re not the same as someone I can actually call mom. Henry needs a mom, too.”

  “Yeah, he does.”

  “And you need a wife. Not one who you have to wait three years for, either.”

  “I love you, honey.”

  Her nose wrinkled as she smiled. “I love you, too, Daddy.”

  He got out of the car and came around to her side, opening her door and holding out his hand to her. The sun lowered in the sky, and the ceremony would start as soon as they were ready. She stared at the boarding house, her face thoughtful and more relaxed.

  “Are you ready, honey?”

  “I am.” She peeked up at him. “Thank you for being here for me.”

  “I will always be here for you, Jilly.”

  She took his arm and he escorted her into the house and through to the kitchen, where the door was held open by one of the males from Dag’s clan. The male bowed regally, and John stepped out into the screened-in back porch with Jilly at his side, and they paused for only a moment before Jilly took the first step. He walked with her across the porch, out onto the thick grass, and down the center aisle between rows of chairs to her waiting mates. Wyked and Fate were not wearing shirts so they could show off the tattoos of their clan name and Jilly’s name on their backs. He felt her begin to tremble and could scent her tears, but she was smiling up at him when he stopped in front of Hanai and the twins.

  John let Jilly go into the arms of her mates and sat down next to James in the front row. The ceremony progressed quickly, as they promised themselves to each other, and the twins gave her a ring and showed her the physical proof of their dedication to her in their tattoos. He thought the ceremony was beautiful in its simplicity. There were no long, drawn out vows, the trio simply promised to be true to each other, and the twins swore to protect her with their lives.

  John rubbed absently over his heart as the twins gave Jilly the ring. His heart had been clenching strangely since he began to walk Jilly down the aisl
e. He thought it was simply an emotional response to the ceremony, but now he wasn’t so sure. He almost felt compelled to go somewhere, find someone.

  He glanced at James, who stared straight into the woods with his jaw clenched and his entire body tense.

  The ceremony ended and John stood, clapping and smiling at his daughter as the panthers whooped and cheered. Jilly and the twins came to him, and he congratulated the boys and hugged her. Her cheeks were wet with tears, but her eyes were bright with happiness. He’d never seen her more beautiful, and he told her so.

  “Aw, Daddy.”

  James congratulated the trio as John moved away to let her continue to greet the guests. Lisa and the other lions were handling the party, and John had a sudden urge to go into the woods and see what was there. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a shadow, something darker than the darkness of the woods, and out of place.

  James grabbed his arm as he moved toward the trees. “You feel it, too?”

  John rubbed the space over his heart. “I don’t know what it is, but I want to go into the woods.”

  “Me too.”

  John nodded at his brother, and they stalked into the woods, intent to find whatever – or whoever – they were feeling drawn to. As they moved farther into the woods, the party noise faded away, and the lights that had lit the yard became dots in the distance behind them. As lions, they could see well in the darkness, but he would have continued to move into the woods even if he’d been utterly blind. His senses were leading him to something, he was certain. His footsteps never faltered as he gave himself over to his beast, who was clawing inside him to move faster toward their goal. Whatever that was.

  Chapter 6

  Late Saturday afternoon, Rue showered and washed her hair, using natural products that smelled like flowers. After drying off, she covered her skin with scented lotion and then dressed in black yoga pants and a long-sleeved black shirt. Dom came to stand next to her as she pinned up her hair before donning the wig.