by R. E. Butler
Sophie kissed her cheek and stepped to the side, joining Elizabeth and her family. Teck and Shy each took one of her hands as they stood next to her, facing Arsen.
Arsen unwound a vine from his shoulder and asked for the trio to raise their joined hands. He wound the rope of leaves around their hands.
“There is little that makes the Centaurs’ spirits happier than when a bride finds her truemates. Where there was loneliness and longing is now filled with love and hope. The olive leaves and ivy of this rope celebrate the heritage of the Centaurs. We originated in Greece, where olive trees grow, and the leaves remind us to look back as much as look forward. The ivy is a hardy plant, able to survive where other plants can’t, finding root against brick and stone. The ivy reminds us to be strong and grow, despite difficult circumstances. The tie between husband and wife is as ancient as time itself, and like the olive tree that puts out strong roots and bears fruit for millennia, your marriage will be as unbreakable as the bonds of time itself. As hot as the sun. As comforting as the summer breeze.”
Arsen placed his hands on the rope and smiled at Kaya. “By breaking the rope today, I signify you, my daughter, leaving your home and joining another.” He tugged, and the rope split apart, sliding from their hands and drifting to the ground.
“It is with great honor that I present to the herd, Teck and Shy, and their shared bride, Kaya. May the sun always shine upon you. You may kiss your bride.”
Kaya turned her head and found Teck, his eyes dark with passion and glittering with promise. He drew her close and pressed his lips to hers. The world slid away as the sweet taste of him filled her. He lifted from the kiss, and she turned to Shy, kissing him. The crowd erupted with cheers and the stamping of hooves.
Arsen smiled at her, and Sophie blew her a kiss. She and her mates turned to face the crowd. She linked her arms with both of theirs, and they walked down the aisle as the crowd showered them with flower petals.
“Where are we supposed to go?” Teck asked as they continued to walk away from the crowd.
“Over there to the tables,” she said. “I missed you guys so much.”
“We missed you, too, sweetheart,” Shy said.
“Too bad we can’t escape somewhere for some privacy,” Teck said.
“We have to have the meal first, and then we can go to the lake. It’s our first night as a joined trio. Although I know it’s not technically legal in your home.”
They stopped at a large table that had been lowered so she and her new family didn’t have to haul themselves up onto the tall stools. “I’m thankful we were able to share this with your family, though,” Shy said.
“Me too.”
The crowd joined them and the females who had prepared the celebration meal began to lift the lids from the dishes until the air scented heavily of roasted meat and vegetables. Teck and Shy’s family joined them, and Arsen shifted into his human form. He and Sophie sat at their table, too.
Arsen called for silence and toasted their marriage. Kaya and her mates clinked the rims of their glasses together.
Then Shy stood and said, “I’ll fix a plate for you, sweetheart.”
He moved to the main table as others joined in, and he filled two plates. He brought the plates back to the table and set one in front of Teck and the other in front of her. Her plate was piled so high she didn’t think she could eat it all if she had a whole day to try.
“I’d like to share from your plate, if that’s okay,” Shy said. He cut a piece of roast pork and added a bite of mashed potatoes to it. Then he offered it to her.
She ate the bite and smiled. “That’s so good.” She took the fork from him and returned the favor, giving him a bite and then she fixed a bite for Teck.
“It’s going to take us all night to eat like that,” Teck said.
“Very true,” she said as Shy gave her the fork and knife and picked up his own from the table.
Conversation flowed around them as they ate. Her parents talked to their grandparents about the den, and she and her mates talked about where they’d live.
“I’ll start packing tomorrow,” she said.
“We’ll help,” Teck said.
When the meal was over, two females brought a wooden platter to them that contained a stack of small dough balls that were rolled in sugar and dripping with dark honey. The pyramid-shaped confection was a traditional Centaur marriage dessert.
“These are honeycakes,” Kaya said as she pulled two from near the top. “We’re supposed to feed them to each other. They represent a sweet and full life.”
She held one to both of their mouths, and they each took one, and then they both fed her one. The honeycakes were sweet and delicious. The herd cheered again, raising their glasses in their honor and toasting the hope for a sweet life.
When they’d finished the dessert, they said goodbye to their family members and the herd and left for the lake. When they stepped into the woods, Teck lifted her into his arms and carried her.
“Shy and I have a surprise for you,” Teck said.
“Oh?”
“You do like surprises, don’t you?” Shy asked as he walked next to them.
“Just from you two.”
Teck chuckled. “Good.”
They reached the lake, and he set her gently on her feet. She gasped in surprise as she looked up and saw that they’d decorated the tent with flowers, draping long strands of them in the trees overhead and creating a pathway of red petals from the lake to the tent opening. Shy ducked inside and lit the oil lamps. He stepped out of the tent holding a cell phone. He looked at the screen and moved his finger around, and then the soft strains of romantic music filled the air.
“Is that music coming from your phone?” she asked.
He joined them and showed her the phone. “I downloaded music before we came here.”
“I thought you just made phone calls with cell phones.”
“There’s lots to do on phones now, sweetheart. We’ll get you one when we get home and teach you how to use it,” he said.
“For now,” Teck said, drawing her flush against him with a soft growl, “your husbands want to dance with you.”
Shy set the phone down on a log and joined them, pressing against her back.
“Is this a bear tradition?”
“It’s a human one. Newly married couples always share the first dance,” Shy said.
They moved her slowly around the open area in front of the tent, taking turns holding her and kissing her. She’d never danced like this before, and she loved every second of it.
When they’d danced to several songs, her whole body was tingling from the contact and the sexy whispers of their plans for her for the night.
She cupped Shy’s cheek. “I’m falling for you, Shy.”
“I’m already there, sweetheart,” he said.
“Teck,” she said, cupping his face, “I’m falling for you, too. You’re both a part of me that I didn’t realize was missing, and now I can’t imagine ever being apart from you. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”
“You’ve got my heart, lilenta,” Teck said gruffly. “Every inch of it.”
He lifted her into his arms and kissed her hard, before carrying her into the tent. Shy grabbed his phone and followed, and then he zipped the tent closed.
She couldn’t wait to see what the night would bring.
Chapter 8
Shy watched as Kaya hugged every female in the Centaur city, speaking softly to each of them. Her cheeks were wet with tears, but she was smiling. She lingered the longest with Sophie and Arsen. Although Shy was anxious to return to their den, he didn’t want Kaya to feel rushed.
Daeton was saying goodbye, too. The time to return to her realm had come, and their family’s visit had ended. As a safety precaution, the Centaurs wanted them to leave the city before the sun rose, and Daeton and her family had to leave through the portal to their realm before sunrise, too.
“I very selfishly wish that
you would all come live in the Medes Realm with us,” Daeton said as Shy bent and hugged her. “I wish my family could be there when our daughter is born.”
Elizabeth said, “We wish you could stay in the Mortal Realm.”
“I hope you have a safe and easy delivery,” Shy said.
Daeton rubbed her swollen belly and smiled. “Since she’s not a Centaur, I get to deliver her regularly and not by caesarean. Compared to how Adi tried to kick his way free of my body during his birth, I’ll gladly take an old-fashioned, normal birth this time around.”
Kaya joined him and Teck. They immediately hugged her between them, and she rested her head on Shy’s chest with a deep sigh.
“Are you ready to go, lilenta?” Teck asked.
“Yes,” she said.
When the final goodbyes were said, and the last hugs and kisses had been given to Daeton and her family, Shy and his family piled into the vans, with Kaya on the bench between him and Teck.
“In a few hours, we’ll be at the RVs,” Adriel said. “We’ll split the drive home over two days.”
“I’ve never been in an RV before,” Kaya said.
“They’re similar to the trailers the herd lives in,” Filene said.
“Why can’t Aunt Daeton live with us?” Elisia asked.
“Because the Centaurs believe it’s too dangerous to live in public,” Axe said.
“But they’re basically shifters, right?” Malia said. “Why is it more dangerous for them to be known to the public than for any other variety of shifter?”
“Some people have long memories,” Elizabeth said. “They were abused in the past, and they don’t want to risk it again. I don’t disagree in theory, but I think they could live in safety even if their existence were common knowledge.”
“Arsen is old-fashioned, but he’s doing his best to keep his people safe,” Adriel said. “No one understands being king until he wears the crown.”
They reached the RVs several hours later. After thanking the Centaurs, their group turned to the RVs and split up between them. Rysk and Tyrant each climbed into one of the trucks that would lead the convoy and bring up the rear.
Shy opened the door to the largest of the RVs, and Kaya stepped inside. Axe was going to drive the RV, with Griegs and Adriel driving the other two. Teck, Shy, and Kaya sat at the large kitchen table with Shaylee, Elizabeth, Tavian, and Ash. Lynk sat in the passenger seat.
Within minutes, the steady rumble of the tires on the road put Kaya to sleep, with her head resting on Teck’s lap.
“I suppose you’re going to move down to the den?” Elizabeth asked.
Shy smiled. “Yes.”
Tavian said, “We may have enough supplies to enlarge your tent, but if not, we’ll order them.”
Tavian, Lynk, and Shaylee lived in the den with their children, Jolon, Mika, and Suni.
“Our situations are kind of similar,” Tavian said. “Lynk didn’t think he’d share Shaylee with me, but she was meant for us both. Teck never saw you in the mate-dreams, so he thought he’d have Kaya all to himself.”
Shaylee smiled. “It’s funny how life works out sometimes.”
“It’s interesting that many of the males in our family are pairing up,” Elizabeth said. “When I mated Ash and Axe, they said that it wasn’t a normal thing for bears to share, and they most likely were drawn to share me because they were twins. Lynk and Tavian are brothers but not twins.”
“The great bear spirit knows what we have need of in our lives, even if we don’t understand it at the time,” Ash said. “Kaya was meant for the two of you to share. Why the dreams happened the way they did is something we may never understand fully, but you can be grateful that you found her when you did.”
Teck nodded. “A month later and she might have moved away from the Centaur’s city and found a new place to live.”
“Timing’s everything,” Elizabeth said. “In love and in life.”
* * *
Bry trekked through the streets of Lorence in the Medes Realm. He was in his fully human form so he didn’t attract unwanted attention to himself. His brow dripped with sweat, and his legs ached. He’d come through the portal from the Mortal Realm without asking permission. First, he’d ensured that his own people had seen him leave through the portal, and then he’d slipped back through so he could spy on Kaya. Once he’d learned what he needed to, he’d gone into the Medes Realm through the portal, arriving in the Centaur settlement and darting away into the darkness before anyone knew he’d arrived. His brother, Manu, lived in this realm with his mate and their young son, but Bry wasn’t there for a family visit. He had one purpose, and that was to make Kaya pay.
Kaya was beautiful, and he’d made it known to the unmated males in the Centaur city that she was off-limits, but for some reason he’d never understood, she hadn’t wanted him for more than a fuck during her needing times. Twice a year, she was hotter than any female he’d ever had the pleasure of burying himself in. She’d fall on him, desperate and mewling, and it had always made him feel special. And maybe he would have thought he was, if it weren’t for how much she seemed to dislike him at other times. She was a proper princess, never outwardly showing that she found him distasteful, but he knew her well enough to know that she didn’t care for him in a loving way.
The situation wasn’t fair. His mate had been killed before he’d even had a chance to meet her. That the fates would bring a female with long-life into their midst but deny him the pleasure of mutual attraction was beyond cruel. He’d warned Kaya that she should choose him instead of the bear shifters, but she hadn’t listened. And now she’d pay…one way or another, and so would the bears who had taken her from him.
As he left the relative safety of the town of Lorence, following a dirt road that led to the next town of Netic Springs, he watched the wooded expanse on either side of the road, looking for the Raiders. They were the Medes Realm’s nastiest, cruelest slave traders. They would kidnap anyone or anything for the right price.
He heard galloping horses, and he palmed two daggers as he turned to face the group of men on horseback that approached him. He’d been alone on the road, but his path was now blocked from behind and in front. He knew them without being introduced properly, recognizing them from their pirate-like garb of billowy white shirts, leather trousers, and knee boots. There were a dozen males, all middle-aged or older, unkempt and scraggly looking, as if it were against their principals to bathe.
They climbed from their horses and surrounded him, but he tamped down the fear that rose inside him.
“I’ve come to offer you a proposition,” he said.
The males parted to let through a very tall male. He wore a crown of twisted metal on his head, and one of his eyes was entirely white, in a face that was heavily scarred. His scarred lip gave him a permanent sneer.
The male sniffed the air. “What seek ye, horse?”
“Are you the leader of the Raiders?”
The male didn’t say anything for a long moment, and then he gave a curt nod. “Aye. My name is Glane.”
“I’m Bry. There’s a female in the Mortal Realm I believe you’ll be interested in obtaining.”
“There are females here.”
Bry shook his head. “She’s rare and powerful. She’s known as a barsei.”
Without much difficulty, Bry had hidden himself in the Centaur city so that he could overhear everything that Kaya and her mates’ family discussed. He’d heard everything about her.
Glane’s nostrils flared. “They’ve died out.”
“She must be the last one, then. She enhances the power of anyone she’s mated to.”
“So take her for yourself.”
“I don’t want her,” he said, hotly. “I want her to suffer. She’ll bring top dollar as a slave. She’s beautiful and powerful.”
Glane’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know any males of worth who would put a female on our radar. You want her to suffer? What did she do to you?”
“She chose another.”
One of the males next to Glane snorted. “I think we could get a lot of money for selling a male horse, and we wouldn’t need to travel to the Mortal Realm to do so.”
“True,” Glane said. “But I’m a businessman. What’s in it for me?”
Bry looked at him in confusion. “You can keep whatever you sell her for. Hades, you can keep her for yourself, and she’ll make you infinitely more powerful.”
The Raider said nothing, staring at Bry with an inscrutable look. Then before he even knew what was happening, a young female was suddenly in front of him, and he’d been pushed to the ground on his knees. She placed her fingertips on his temples, and his eyesight went dark. Bry struggled, but he couldn’t stand because the heavy hands on his shoulders forced him in place.
He felt his mind being opened, and he saw the portal he’d used to come to the Medes Realm, the path he’d taken from the portal entrance in the Mortal Realm to the Centaur’s city, and image after image of Kaya. Bry’s heart ached at seeing her, but he shoved the feeling away.
The female’s face came into view as she lifted her fingers from his temples. She smiled in an eerie, unsettling way. “I can find this barsei, if she truly is one. She’ll fetch a good price at the market. There are twin bear shifters who have mated her, but once they’re dead, her power will be free to join with another.”
Glane stared down at Bry. “I’ll be sure to let the female know that you betrayed her before I strip her and test out her powers myself. Kill him.” Then the leader turned on his heels and strode to his horse.
Bry’s heart leaped into his throat, and he shouted, “No! Wait! Don’t kill me!”
One of the male’s holding him laughed loudly. “He doesn’t need you now, horse. Don’t you know how to play cards? You never show your hand until you’re sure you’ll win.”
Bry felt the bite of cold steel on his throat and then a flash of pain so sharp and bright.
And then nothing.
* * *