by Bianca D'Arc
Grace might only be one little girl, but it was clear that Deena’s warnings about the Amish grapevine were spot on. They’d been keeping an eye on her house and knew when there was a vehicle that didn’t belong. While it was reassuring in a way that Deena had such interested neighbors, it didn’t do much for Josh’s peace of mind that nobody had come over to see if she was okay. In fact, they’d stayed away while her visitors were present. If Deena had been all alone, or in real trouble, how long would it have been before someone checked on her? Josh didn’t like to think of the answer to that question.
“You got married?” Grace asked, her voice rising impossibly higher in excitement. She was smiling, which Josh took as a good sign, but he wondered what the older members of the neighborhood would think of this rather hasty event.
Deena was smiling too, and it helped settle Josh’s concerns. She knew her neighbors better than he did. Hopefully she’d figure out a way to make this all sound reasonable so that she could continue to enjoy a good relationship with the folk in the area.
“It had been planned for a while,” Deena said, skirting around the truth with ease, but Josh would back her up no matter what story she concocted. He planned to be a good mate. He’d stand with his woman, even if she told people he was an alien from another planet.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.
“Our families were involved,” Deena went on making stuff up that seemed to satisfy the young girl. He wondered if Grace’s mother would be as easily fooled. “We were just waiting for Josh to be able to move here and the visitors came to help us do the paperwork and make our union legal in the eyes of man, and in the presence of the Almighty.”
Josh had noticed before the way Deena couched her belief in the Divine in terms that wouldn’t upset her conservative neighbors. Only Josh knew that when Deena referred to the Almighty, she was thinking of the benevolent Goddess and not the rather strict interpretation of divinity that ruled Grace’s family.
He wondered how Deena squared it all in her mind. He knew tolerance was a big part of being a priestess, and Deena’s heart was as big as the world. She would never turn away an animal in pain or a little girl who came from a family that had vastly different views on religion.
“Was that your bishop’s car?” Grace asked. “Did he perform the ceremony?”
“It doesn’t work quite that way in our sect,” Deena said with a kind smile. Josh noticed she didn’t go into detail about how that car had belonged to an evil sorceress intent on killing them both. That probably wouldn’t go down well on the neighboring farm.
“Are you going to grow a beard now, Mr. Joshua?” Grace asked him. Josh had to laugh. He knew that was something the Amish did, but he just couldn’t see himself with a long, scraggly, grandpappy beard.
“Maybe a small one,” he allowed, not wanting to burst the little girl’s bubble. She probably already knew that her parents’ way of life was a bit different from other people’s, but far be it from him to make things worse.
“Did you have a big party?” Grace asked Deena as she walked out of the stall patting the calf one last time.
“Not yet. Josh’s mother is coming to visit in a few weeks and we’ll hold our celebration then. It won’t be as big as your sister’s wedding last year, though,” Deena explained.
“Where is your family, Mr. Joshua?” Grace asked, walking beside him as the three of them walked out of the barn. Sure enough, Mergatroid the pony was eager to get going, as usual, and came right up to Deena for a cuddle.
“My mother is in North Dakota,” Josh answered, seeing no harm in answering the child’s question, though he couldn’t give her an answer about his father. At least not one that would make any sense to her.
“That’s very far away, isn’t it?” Grace asked, her little voice sounding sad. She asked a whole bunch more questions while she got Mergatroid hitched, and then they were off.
“The news will be all over this valley by nightfall,” Deena mused, leaning back against his chest as they both watched Grace and her pony take off down the track between the fields.
Josh put his arms around her and pulled her closer. “You called me your husband.”
“Hmm. I did, didn’t I?”
He squeezed her as she chuckled. He loved playing with his mate. That she felt comfortable enough to tease him made his inner wolf want to play like a puppy. With her. Only with her.
To all others, his wolf was still a badass biting machine, but for Deena, he was a fluffy puppy. The woman had changed him forevermore. There was just one thing…
“Who officiates at a priestess’s wedding?” he asked, curious. They were mates in the eyes of the Mother of All, but the human parts of them both probably would enjoy having an official ceremony and maybe a party to mark the occasion.
“Another priestess,” she murmured, turning in his arms. “Funny you should mention that. After you spoke to your mother this morning and went out to check the perimeter—which I think means that you just wanted to go wolf and chase bunnies through our fields—I called my grandmother. She’s going to give us a few days with your mother when she visits in December and then my grandmother’s going to pop in. She wants to meet both you and your mother. And I sort of asked her if she would…uh…officiate for us. How do you feel about a proper mating ceremony on the Winter Solstice?”
“Seriously?” He liked that she sounded as eager to make their mating official—in front of their families—as he was. He was grinning so hard, his face almost hurt. “I’d love that. Are you sure you want to wait that long, though? The solstice is still quite a few weeks off.”
She punched his shoulder playfully. “I need all the time I can get to find the right dress! And arrange the food and clean the house. There are a million things to do. I want to make a good impression on your mother.”
“She’s going to love you,” he told her, hugging her close and placing biting kisses on her neck. Then a thought occurred to him. “What about your grandmother? Is she up to the trip? Should we go to her? I don’t want to put her out. I’m happy to accommodate an elderly lady, and wouldn’t want to cause her any trouble.”
Deena’s gaze went serious as she placed both palms on his shoulders and looked into his eyes. “Never. Ever. Let her hear you call her elderly. She might be my grandmother, but she’s fey, Josh. She looks younger than I do. And she outranks me to a huge degree. I think I mentioned…she’s the High Priestess. Have you ever heard of Bettina?”
The penny dropped as the name finally connected in Josh’s mind. Every shifter had heard of the highly magical woman who served at the right hands of the Lords of all werecreatures.
“Your grandmother is that Bettina? The High Priestess?” Josh felt suddenly light headed. If he’d thought his mate was a formidable power, the High Priestess was said to be a force of nature itself.
“It’s okay,” Deena told him. “She’s not as scary as all that. Especially not to you. Not now that you’re a Knight.”
“Knight in training,” he reminded her. He hadn’t really come to accept the new title yet. He’d have to learn a lot more before he’d feel truly comfortable presenting himself as a Knight. Especially with the High Priestess Bettina.
Josh wondered if even the magical armor he’d been practicing with would protect him from a wrathful High Priestess should he somehow do something to hurt his mate’s feelings. Bettina was said to eat bad shifters for breakfast and snack on evil mages. What kind of family had he gotten himself into?
“I’ll call my parents later today, and they’ll spread the word to my aunts and uncles, and cousins. I just wanted to make sure the plan was acceptable to you first, before I went ahead and started inviting people. It won’t be the size of an Amish wedding, but my side of the family will fill up the house, and then some.” Deena was smiling again, probably thinking about seeing her family again. Then she refocused on his stunned face and frowned. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“Mind?” He was sti
ll trying to come to terms with the idea that Deena had a large extended family he hadn’t even considered.
“I kind of want to show you off,” she admitted in a shy tone, smiling in that way that made his heart melt.
That was the tipping point. Her happiness was his goal now, and if a big wedding was what she wanted, with all her relations in attendance, that’s what he’d give her. He’d do anything for her.
Josh bent to kiss her, pausing only to whisper against her lips, “I love you, Deena. Whatever you want is fine by me.”
Anything else she might’ve said went into the kiss, and they stayed there, locked together in their own private little world of love, surrounded by Deena’s misfit animals, who seemed to be watching with approval. Josh might be a predator at heart, but all the creatures on that farm were now under his protection. His and Deena’s.
They were a team now and with a little luck, and a whole lot of love, they’d have many decades together to perfect their magic…and their mating.
*
Thanks for reading Lone Wolf. If you enjoyed this story , please consider leaving a review. The next book in the series is Snow Magic. Scroll down for a sneak peek.
A complete list of all of my books, separated by series, follows the excerpt. You can also check out my website at WWW.BIANCADARC.COM. Or you can sign up for my newsletter to be alerted when new books are released.
EXCERPT FROM SNOW MAGIC
©2017 Bianca D’Arc. All Rights Reserved.
Sir Rayburne wasn’t really sure what was going on, but something—a very strong something—had pulled him into the mortal realm. Unfortunately, it had also dragged the unholy creature that had acted as his jailor along.
Ray didn’t want to stick around to find out if the mages that had freed him were good or evil. If they were good, they might possibly be able to handle the flame creature themselves. If they were evil, he hoped it ate them.
If he hadn’t spotted the one familiar face he most wanted to see, he would have spent more time getting the lay of the land, but as it was, he had to protect his mate, first and foremost. He made straight for Evie—his beloved Evie—and swept her into his arms.
He wanted to weep with joy, but there was no time. He had just enough magic left to get her to safety. Little Evie had no protection against the sort of evil the flame creature could produce. Better to let the mages fight it out with the beast while Ray protected the one woman for whom he would happily give his life.
He ran straight to her and scooped her into his arms, expending the last dregs of his magic to transport them both to the place he’d been dreaming of for so long. A blinding flash of light and then they were there. He could feel the bite of the cold North Dakota winter night. It had been summer in the fey realm and he wasn’t dressed for snow, but it didn’t matter. He had his mate in his arms for the first time in way too long and now, they were home.
Evie blinked a few times after the second flash of light. Ray still held her tight, but they weren’t in the warmth of the magical circle anymore. He’d done something. Taken them somewhere. She took a quick glance around and had her answer. They were hundreds of miles away from where they had just been.
Evie clouted him on the shoulder. “Ray! What did you do? Why are we here?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer her questions but rushed ahead, in a state of near-panic. “We need to go back and help Joshua!”
“Who’s Joshua?” Ray asked, puzzled.
That stopped her cold. She looked up into his beloved face, meeting those eyes she’d thought she would never see again and her heart just melted. He’d missed so much. He didn’t even know he’d had a son.
“Ray, you’ve been gone a long time,” she began, having some recollection that time passed differently in the fey realm than here.
“How long?” He traced the lines she knew had formed on her face in the time since he’d left.
Lines of worry, though she didn’t age as humans did. She suspected she didn’t even age like shifters did. Not since joining her life to Ray’s. She didn’t seem to get older anymore, though her experiences had aged her in ways that were visible sometimes.
“It’s been more than twenty years,” she told him in a gentle voice. “That man back there. That was your son. I named him Joshua. And the woman with him was his mate, Deena. They’re newlyweds, and they’re the ones who were tasked with freeing you and pulling you back into the mortal realm.” Ray looked stunned. As well he should. Evie reached up and took his cheeks between her two hands, knowing tears were leaking out of her eyes. “I didn’t know what had happened to you. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
“Oh, Evie,” he whispered, clutching her to his chest as he hugged her tight. “I’m so sorry. I never intended to leave you all on your own.” He kissed her then, a kiss that tingled with his magic and innate goodness. She’d missed that flavor of power and frisson of electricity that zinged between them whenever they touched. He drew back after a moment and looked incredulous. “We had a son?”
She laughed through her tears. Incandescently happy for the first time in over two decades.
“Yes, we had a son. A big, strapping werewolf with amazing magical abilities, and a new mate.” She patted his chest, loving the reassuring beat of his heart under her hand. “Ray, we really need to get back to them. They may need our help.”
His eyes narrowed in concern. “I can’t. Not yet. I need a little time to build up my strength. I’ve been drained of magic every moment I was away. That creature that came through with me was literally sucking my magic out of me. The enemy laid a trap and left the creature to guard and feed off me until I was no more. I thought I might die there. Even fey can die if all of our energy is stripped away.”
The horror of what he was describing pained her. He’d been through an ordeal. They’d both lost time together and so much more. She wasn’t sure they’d ever be able to recapture those lost years, but she was willing to try if he was. But that talk would come later. Right now, they had to figure out how to get back to Josh. Though it sounded like that was a non-starter.
“How long before you can poof us back to where we were?” she asked.
“Poof?” he repeated, smiling a bit at her choice of descriptor. She just raised her eyebrow, waiting for a straight answer. “A few hours. What time is it now?” He paused to look up at the cold, starry sky. “Around midnight?” She nodded confirmation. “Maybe by dawn,” he told her and she realized they weren’t going to get back to the battle in time to make a difference.
She thought Josh could probably take care of himself, but a mother always worried. Still, she had to be practical. She looked around and realized where they were.
“Why’d you bring us here?” she asked, curious.
“It was the only place I could think of on the spur of the moment. It was where I was happiest.” He moved back, letting her go, and looked around at the cold cabin a few yards away.
They were standing in front of the home they’d shared for those blissful months when they’d been newly mated. Remote and wild, nobody lived nearby. Not for miles and miles.
To read more, get your copy of Snow Magic by Bianca D’Arc.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
USA Today Bestselling Author Bianca D’Arc has run a laboratory, climbed the corporate ladder in the shark-infested streets of lower Manhattan, studied and taught martial arts, and earned the right to put a whole bunch of letters after her name, but she’s always enjoyed writing more than any of her other pursuits. She grew up and still lives on Long Island, where she keeps busy with an extensive garden, several aquariums full of very demanding fish, and writing her favorite genres of paranormal, fantasy and sci-fi romance.
Bianca loves to hear from readers and can be reached through Twitter (@BiancaDArc), Facebook (BiancaDArcAuthor) or through the various links on her website (BiancaDArc.com).
OTHER BOOKS BY BIANCA D’ARC
Paranormal Romance
Brotherhood of Bl
ood
One & Only
Rare Vintage
Phantom Desires
Sweeter Than Wine
Forever Valentine
Wolf Hills*
Wolf Quest
Tales of the Were
Lords of the Were
Inferno
Tales of the Were ~ The Others
Rocky
Slade
Tales of the Were ~ The Others
Rocky
Slade
Tales of the Were ~ String of Fate
Cat’s Cradle
King’s Throne
Jacob’s Ladder
Her Warriors
Tales of the Were ~ Redstone Clan
The Purrfect Stranger
Grif
Red
Magnus
Bobcat
Matt
Tales of the Were ~ Grizzly Cove
All About the Bear
Mating Dance
Night Shift
Alpha Bear
Saving Grace
Bearliest Catch
The Bear’s Healing Touch
The Luck of the Shifters
Badass Bear
Tales of the Were ~ Were-Fey Love Story
Lone Wolf
Snow Magic
Midnight Kiss
Tales of the Were ~ Jaguar Island (Howls Romance)
The Jaguar Tycoon
The Jaguar Bodyguard
Guardians of the Dark
Half Past Dead
Once Bitten, Twice Dead
A Darker Shade of Dead
The Beast Within
Dead Alert
Gemini Project
Tag Team
Doubling Down