by R. E. Butler
“Yeah. I didn’t think they’d be so against it. Especially since we’re beloveds.”
Cyrus’s brows rose. “You are? That’s fantastic. That means Aeryn gets access to your military training.”
“Why is that a good thing?” Aeryn asked.
“Because if you’re ever in a tight spot—which I hope to crap you never are—you can rely on his knowledge. It’ll be like you went through the training yourself.”
Cella nodded. “It’s true. You should practice a little on drawing out his memories and using the knowledge. It’s pretty neat. Kelly used her beloved Bellamin’s memories to help kill a wizard that was attacking them. She’d never wielded a sword in her life, but she used it like a pro.”
“You could also swing a hammer pretty damn good now, too, I’m sure,” Cyrus said. “You ever want to leave the kitchen, let me know.”
Aeryn laughed. “I’ll stick to the kitchen, thanks.”
“Well, I tried.” Cyrus’s smile slipped, and he put his hand on her shoulder. “Your parents will come around. I’m sure of it. But no matter what, Gavin is on your side, and so am I. You’ve got the whole coven as your family now, and whatever happens with the ambush, you can shift and hunt with Angie and me in Mishka’s woods up north whenever you like. We’ll be an ambush all on our own.”
“I think it should be something like an ambush and pack mixed,” Cella said. “Like push or amack,” she said, her eyes dancing.
Cyrus put his arm around Cella. “You’re adorable, beloved. But kind of crazy too.”
“I get that from you.”
“About work,” Merrix said.
Cyrus put his hand up. “Take the week. Everyone around here takes a week off after they mate. Enjoy yourselves.”
“Thank you,” Aeryn said.
They said goodbye and continued to Mishka’s office. The doors were open, and Mishka and Harmony were seated on a love seat and speaking quietly. Harmony was a musical muse, and Aeryn knew from Merrix’s memories that she fed her muse nature by singing and changing the emotions of the people listening to her. The happier they were, the more she could feed. Her hair had sections of bright pink and blue, so she guessed she’d fed recently.
The couple stood and met them in the center of the large office. “Welcome to the coven, my dear,” Mishka said, kissing her on the cheek. “You’re positively glowing with happiness.”
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Harmony said after hugging her. “Congratulations. Shall we sit?”
She and Merrix sat on a couch while Harmony and Mishka took their seats. “Thanks for the warm welcome,” Aeryn said.
“Of course,” Mishka said. “We heard from Cyrus that your parents aren’t too thrilled.”
“I hope they’ll come around eventually,” Aeryn said. “They had plans for my life, and I kind of blew that all to hell.”
“It’s surprising when parents aren’t happy for their kids to find their truemates. That you and Merrix are beloveds is something to celebrate, not be angry about.”
“You’re not the first to have family who wasn’t happy about a vampire mating,” Mishka said. “Angie’s brother—alpha wolf, Adam—was quite upset at first, but he came around.”
“I hope they will, but I’m not going to dwell on it.”
“Good for you,” Harmony said.
“I suppose you’d like to take some time off?” Mishka asked with a smile.
“I already cleared it with Cyrus,” Merrix said. “He said we could take a week off.”
“Of course. Just call your people and make sure the place won’t fall apart while you’re gone.”
“I will,” Aeryn said. “They can handle a week without me.”
They spoke to Harmony and Mishka for a little while longer and then headed out. They stopped at the restaurant so she could speak to her brigade personally and shared the week’s dessert menu so they’d be prepared for what she had planned. Everyone was happy for them, except her parents. Even Gavin had called to congratulate her on the official mating. It was beyond her how her parents could be so unkind about the whole thing.
Once they made their way across the street to the apartment complex, they stopped in the lobby. “Do you want to go somewhere?”
“I don’t know,” she said, blowing out a breath. “I kind of just want to be home.”
He nodded and pulled out his phone. “How about I have dinner delivered? The coven has a great chef.”
“Yeah, I know him. I bring him the leftover desserts from the restaurant.”
“Cool. What are you in the mood for?”
“What are my choices?”
Merrix spoke to the person who handled the chef requests and then said, “Rosemary chicken, lasagna, or porterhouse.”
“Oh, porterhouse. Rare.”
He smiled and shared her request. Ending the call, he said, “It’ll be about ten minutes. We can wait down here, or I can come back down.”
“Waiting’s okay with me.”
It did take only about ten minutes for a troll to come through the door with a box that smelled heavenly. Aeryn’s cat made loud purring sounds in her head when she scented the grilled steak.
“Thank you so much,” she said to the troll.
“Welcome,” he said before turning and leaving.
“They don’t talk much,” she said. Merrix carried the box to the elevator and hit the code to unlock the door.
“Nope. They’re not very smart, but they are super loyal. Mishka uses them for guards too. It would take something huge to get by a troll trying to protect someone.”
“I bet.”
Once they were up in the apartment, Aeryn ate the most delicious steak she’d ever eaten in her life while she and Merrix discussed the coming week and made plans for what they wanted to do with their time. When she was finished eating, they tumbled into bed together and chased the night from the sky.
Chapter Twelve
The week of their honeymoon—which Merrix was leaning toward thinking was “unofficial” because they weren’t actually married—was amazing. Because of their beloved bond, he felt like he’d known Aeryn his whole life, but it didn’t take the joy away from getting to know her on an intimate level. She was creative and talented with a passion for making beautiful food; she loved medical drama TV shows and refused to watch any movie that could be considered even a little scary. She reasoned that life was scary enough without worrying about psycho clowns or killer aliens.
While they were out to dinner with his parents, her mom and dad called and asked her to bring him to their home on Saturday night. He was surprised by the call because they hadn’t so much as answered a text that she’d sent over the last week. They hadn’t gone so far as to block her number, but it felt like they had all the same. Their freeze-out had hurt Aeryn deeply.
“Should I wear something dressy?” he asked as he anchored a towel around his waist after stepping from the shower.
“Like dressy, how?” she asked. Her hair was wrapped up in a towel, and she was leaning over the counter, applying makeup in the mirror.
“I don’t know. Nice shirt and slacks, tie?” He’d dated when he was mortal and even had some fairly serious girlfriends, so he was used to meeting parents. But this was different. He wanted Aeryn’s parents to like him. Hell, he wanted them to love him like a son, so first impressions were super important.
“Probably not the tie. I’m going to wear a sundress.”
He let out a gruff sound. He loved how she looked in sundresses.
She gave him a sly smile in the mirror. “Hold those dirty thoughts until we get home, okay?”
“If I must.”
He headed to the closet and chose khakis and a blue pinstriped shirt. He wasn’t a dress-up kind of guy, but because of meetings with Mishka and the occasional dinner out with his parents, who liked fancy places, he had a few outfits to pick from.
Aeryn had only packed two days’ worth of clothes originally, so he’d requested Grete
l, the coven’s private clothier, to meet with her. He took Aeryn to her office, and she’d walked away with a week’s worth of clothes—from cute sundresses to faded jeans and a cocktail dress, which she’d worn to dinner with his parents. Tonight, after meeting with her parents, they would stop at the house she shared with Gavin and pack up her things.
“So, I was thinking,” he said, as he sat on the bed and buttoned his shirt.
“Uh-oh,” she said with a laugh. She walked out of the bathroom with her hair in a tight braid, tied with a pretty pink ribbon. “What about?”
“The kitchen.”
“Ours?”
“Yeah. I don’t have a stove. Hell, I don’t even have a hot plate.” The only appliances in the kitchen were a coffee maker, refrigerator, and microwave.
“And?”
“You like to cook.”
“Well, I can’t exactly do anything about it. I mean, it’s not like we can just move out. Anywhere we live would have to be light tight, and I can’t imagine how difficult that would be to find.”
“I spoke to Cyrus when you met with Gretel, and he said that we should apply for one of the apartments in the renovated hotel. Two of the four floors will be family-style suites with three bedrooms, two baths, and full kitchens.”
“Wow, I didn’t realize those apartments were going to be so big,” she said. She put on a strapless bra and a matching pair of panties in pale pink, then topped them both with a dark pink sundress with a wide white belt.
She looked like a pinup. Too sexy for her own good.
“I think it’s a great idea,” he said, trying to push aside the sexy thoughts. “Granted, it’ll be maybe a year before it’s ready, but Cyrus said we’d be at the top of the list.”
“That would be great.”
The hotel was a block away from the complex and was going to have a huge outdoor area that was light tight, providing a park-like setting without exposure to the sun.
“I’ll text him. In the meantime, I can do a little renovating in here and get a stove for you.”
“Really?” She stepped into heeled sandals and walked over to him.
“I’d do anything to make you happy, love. You know that, right?”
He settled his hands on her waist and looked up at her. She leaned down and kissed him. “I know. I’m very happy. I’ve never been happier in my life than when I’m with you. But I’d love to have a kitchen I could use so I didn’t have to order meals from the chef all the time.”
He cupped her face and kissed her again. “When we get home, we should feed.”
Her eyes darkened, and the scent of her arousal spiked in the air. “Yes, we should.”
Because they were beloveds, he couldn’t feed from anyone but her, and she needed to take his blood once a week as well. He was glad she was looking forward to it. He certainly was. She had the sweetest, most addictive blood in the world, and she was all his. To say he felt lucky was an understatement of great proportions.
“Let’s go before I do something that’ll make us late.”
“Until later,” she whispered, giving him a kiss and a sultry smile.
“Vixen.”
“Just for you.”
* * *
Whisper Creek was mostly comprised of tiger shifters and had been settled by the ambush a couple hundred years earlier. Merrix had never been to Aeryn’s hometown, and now that he was traveling there, his nerves were on high alert. Even when his stepdad had turned him, he hadn’t been so nervous.
They were being escorted to town by Ven and Temple. It was coven policy that no one went anywhere alone. Since they were going to another group’s territory, they had two other vehicles following them to ensure they weren’t followed. There was no telling what the church would do next, and nothing seemed off-limits for them. They’d already tried to abduct coven members’ mates, bombed the club and the restaurant, and tampered with the SyBl deliveries. He didn’t want to think about what they’d do if they decided to turn their attention to the tiger ambush. At least the coven was all adults. In the ambush, there were vulnerable children.
“What are you thinking about so seriously?” Aeryn asked.
Merrix shook his head. “Just our security precautions.”
“It’s a good thing though. It would be terrible if the church tried to come after the ambush.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky, and Jason Finnegan will die a horrible death, and the church will dissolve,” Ven said.
“I’ve never wished for someone’s death before,” Aeryn said, “but after getting Merrix’s memories and seeing the destruction of the restaurant, holy crap, do I wish that Jason would take a dirt nap.”
Merrix chuckled. “We all wish that.”
They arrived at her parents’ home, a stylish cape cod with impeccably manicured flower beds. “That’s all my dad,” she said when she took Merrix’s hand as he helped her from the SUV. “My mom loves flowers but hates the upkeep, so he takes care of them.”
“It looks great,” he said. “Gennaro bought my mom a lilac bush for the first anniversary of her turning, and it’s now her favorite plant.”
“I like sunflowers,” she said.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said before he kissed her.
She squeezed his hand. “Whatever happens in there, I just want you to know that I love you, and their feelings on our mating aren’t going to change that.”
“I love you too, sweetheart, and I know. I want them to like me, but it’s not the end of the world if they don’t.”
She gave him a sad smile. “You’re amazing. They’re lucky to have you for a son-in-law, even if they don’t realize it.”
The front door opened as they approached, and a tall male with dark hair greeted them.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Aeryn.”
“This is Merrix.”
“Hello. We’re meeting in the kitchen.” He shook Merrix’s hand, but there was something off about the way he wouldn’t quite meet Merrix’s eyes that set his teeth on edge.
Theo strode ahead of them. Merrix followed Aeryn into the house, but she froze, putting her hand on his chest. Sniffing quietly, she whispered, “There are people here.”
“What people?”
She shook her head. “Other tigers. I don’t recognize their scents, but it’s at least two others.”
Merrix frowned. It felt like they were being ambushed and he was tempted to scoop Aeryn up into his arms and hurry her back to the SUVs. He was going to ask her if she wanted to leave when she snarled softly and shook her head. “Maybe it’s nothing.”
“Aeryn?” a woman’s voice called out. “We’re waiting.”
“We can leave,” Merrix said with a low voice.
“No, let’s do this. Whatever it is—whoever it is—doesn’t change anything.” She steeled her shoulders, and he was so proud of her in that moment. She was fearless, and he was a lucky male.
Taking his hand firmly in hers, they walked down a short hall to the kitchen. Aeryn stopped short and let out a low growl.
Merrix recognized her parents from her memories, but the two males seated at the table with them were unfamiliar. They looked similar, one appearing slightly older than the other, but with shifters’ long lives, it was hard to tell how old someone was since they only aged one year for every twelve years that passed.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Aeryn demanded.
“Sit down, young lady,” Theo said, gesturing to the two empty chairs on the other side of the table.
“No. You invited Merrix and me to come here tonight to meet with you. I thought you wanted to get to know him, but you wanted to spring this on me? Rocco, I presume?” she said. “I’m mated. Fully mated. What did you think would happen tonight?”
“Sit. Down.”
“No!” Aeryn roared the word, and Merrix moved a little closer to her, putting one arm around her shoulders.
“Explain yourselve
s,” Merrix demanded, “or we’re gone.”
“We don’t owe you an explanation for anything,” Theo said. He turned his attention to Aeryn. “You don’t know if you and Rocco are mates because you never gave him a chance. Now’s your opportunity.”
“Dad,” Aeryn said, exasperation filling her voice. “Merrix is my beloved mate. We shared blood, and I’m immortal now. There isn’t any going back for me.” She looked at Rocco. “I’m sorry you came all this way, but I was very clear when I spoke to you on the phone that I wasn’t interested in meeting you or mating you.”
“Promises were made,” the other male said. “Alliances were assured. You cannot simply walk away from this.”
“Who the hell are you anyway?” Aeryn asked.
“Watch your tone,” Theo snapped. “This is Rocco’s uncle, the king of their ambush—Sully.”
“I’m not some piece of property to be bartered with,” Aeryn said. “I’m a person. I agreed to one date with Rocco not a mating, and whatever my parents promised you is of little matter now. Matings cannot be undone.”
Rocco pushed back the chair and rose slowly. His eyes were dark blue and glowing, and fangs peeked from his parted lips as he stalked toward them. Merrix put himself in front of Aeryn and held her behind his back.
“That’s close enough, cat. She’s mine, and I’m not going to let her go for any reason.”
“I could just kill you,” Rocco said. “You’ve taken what was rightfully mine.”
“If you kill me, you kill her too. Our lives are tied together because of our bond.”
“What?” Lucille’s eyes went wide. She looked wildly at her mate and then Aeryn. “Is that true? Are you a vampire now?”
“No, I’m not a vampire,” Aeryn said, leaning around him to look at her parents. “I’m still a shifter, but when we became beloved mates, it gave me his immortality. We’re tied together now—I die, he dies, and vice versa. So, if Rocco thought he’d just bump off his competition—which, fact check, Merrix would kick your ass to kingdom come—I’d also die in the process.”