by R. E. Butler
Whisper walked out of the room and headed to her bathroom. Her life had flipped around so much in the last twenty-four hours. Not only had her mates decided they were happy to stay in Beyton with her, but she was getting married and her whole family was going to be here – wolf and hyena – to share the day.
When she’d showered, she wrapped a towel around her head and another around her body, and opened the bathroom door to find her besties waiting. “I call next shower,” Bliss said, hopping up from the bed where she had been sitting beside Angel.
“We have more than one shower,” Whisper pointed out.
“I don’t mind waiting.” Angel went to the dresser and brought a paper cup of coffee and a donut wrapped in a napkin.
“Oh, Boston cream-filled, my fav.” Whisper took a big bite of the donut and sighed happily.
“Well, it’s not every day you get married to three hunks. You should definitely get to eat your favorite donut.”
Whisper washed down her bite of donut with a swallow of coffee with lots of cream and sugar, and then she leaned against the dresser and eyed Angel. The night before, while they’d been having their ice cream fest, Angel confessed that she was feeling like everyone was leaving her behind. Even though Whisper was staying in Beyton with her mates, both she and Bliss found their happily-ever-afters.
“You’ll find your mate when the time is right.”
Angel rolled her eyes. “Humans don’t have mates.”
“Oh, bullshit. Humans find their one-right-person all the time. That’s all that a truemate really is. A perfect match.”
“Or three.” She half-smiled.
Shrugging, Bliss took a drink of coffee. “The number of truemates doesn’t matter, although I suppose it would be exhausting to have more than three. What does matter, though, is that when you find him, or them, then that’s it. I can’t tell you what to do, babe, but I do hope that you’ll stick around Beyton. I’d miss you. And my kids will miss their Aunt Angel.”
“Kids? Are you pregnant before marriage, you slut?”
Whisper threw her wadded-up napkin at Angel and hit her on the shoulder. “Bite your tongue. I want cubs, just not yet. I’m having too much fun.”
“Oh, ick. Between you and Bliss, I’m drowning in love.”
Whisper finished her coffee and set the empty cup on the dresser. “I won’t let you drown, as long as you stay in town.”
“I won’t drown in love out of Beyton.”
“When did you become such a love-Grinch?”
“Is that even a word?”
“Stop changing the subject, love-Grinch.”
“Oh great, now it’s a thing.” Angel began to giggle as her eyes rolled, and Whisper joined her on the bed.
“Love you, babe. Stay.”
“All right. But keep the I’m-so-in-love stuff to a minimum when I’m around.”
She made an X over her heart. “I promise to keep my groping to the bare minimum. I can’t promise the same for Bliss and her mates, though. You know what a tramp Bliss was in high school.” Whisper winked at Angel when she heard the bathroom door open.
“You did not just call me a tramp!” she said indignantly. “I was so innocent I should have changed my name to Angel.”
“Now that’s funny.” Angel stood and sauntered to the bathroom, threatening Bliss if there wasn’t any hot water.
“I’m glad she’s staying, and I’m glad you’re staying, too.” Bliss hugged Whisper.
“Me, too, B.”
* * * * *
Bliss walked down the aisle as Whisper’s maid of honor, escorted by Kross. Her mates were sitting in the front row of seats, which had been arranged by rows in Mack’s family room. The dark-paneled room had been transformed into a chapel, with candles flickering on candelabras, bouquets of sweet-smelling flowers, and all of Whisper’s family and friends.
She took her place on the other side of the aisle. Nyte and his brothers wore matching tuxes with bowties that were gold and caramel-swirled satin. Bliss looked at her mates, who wore dark suits, and they each smiled at her. Her stomach flipped, and she chewed the inside of her bottom lip.
Angel was walked down the aisle by Kayne and took her place next to Bliss. She let her gaze wander the room. She hadn’t expected her parents to show up to the wedding, but she was still disappointed that they hadn’t come. She had decided to call them and share the news of her mating with them over the phone so they had time to mull it over before she came home. They hadn’t taken the news well. Her mother had called her a lot of unpleasant names, and her father had disowned her. She hadn’t known that was something that people actually did to their kids. When she came with her mates to their house – the one she had grown up in – she had tried to talk to them, but they didn’t want to see her. The locks had been changed, and her belongings were on the front porch.
Mack said he would speak to them, but he couldn’t make her family accept her. She was thankful she had found her mates, but she was sorry that it had cost her the only family she’d ever had. She was also thankful that Whisper was staying in Beyton. The pack was accepting of people’s choices, but she wasn’t keen on being the only one who was part of a ménage relationship, especially with her parents’ disapproval.
The first strains of the wedding march began to play, and she shoved the depressing thoughts of her family away into the dark corner of her mind and put her brightest smile on her face. Her best friend was getting married, and when Bliss married her mates someday, she and Whisper would be sisters for real.
Her best friend looked like a princess in the beautiful dress that Bliss and Angel had chosen for her. The ivory strapless gown had a short train and was decorated with tiny seed pearls and crystals. Whisper had cried when she’d seen the dress for the first time, and Bliss was thrilled she’d been able to be part of her bestie’s wedding day like this. A surprise wedding was unusual, but Whisper’s mates had pulled out all the stops to make sure that it was a day to remember.
Whisper, escorted by both Mack and her oldest father, Calvin, reached the end of the aisle. When the minister asked who was giving her to her mates, her mother and two fathers stood as well, and all five said “we do.” Whisper kissed her dads’ cheeks and turned slightly, handing her bouquet to Bliss before she turned to her mates. Legally, she was marrying Nyte, but the ceremony included Fade and Azrael in the vows.
Bliss smiled at her friend as she spoke the same vows three times in a row and had the vows repeated to her three times. Maybe for her own wedding, Bliss could find a way to make the vows unique, so that everyone was able to say the same thing but in their own way. Love, honor, and maybe listen to occasionally. Or love, honor, and sex-up nightly.
Bliss handed the bouquet back to Whisper and the minister announced the newly married clan. The pack and baros stood and cheered. Whisper and her mates walked down the aisle, and Bliss took Kross’ arm and followed.
They stood in the receiving line and hugged and kissed their friends and family, and then it was off for pictures. Bliss’s mates waited patiently for her until the photos were done, and they were able to head out to the reception being held in the bar.
Link swept Bliss into his arms, and she hugged her arms around him. “Whatcha up to?”
“You look exhausted. And cute. I wanted to carry you.”
She kissed his neck with a smile. “Thanks.”
“It’s my pleasure.” She loved the way his voice rumbled when he talked.
He set her down in the bar at a table with their names on small cards at each place setting. Her mates’ cousins were sitting at the table with them, and she finally had an opportunity to get to talk to Heaven, who she’d only met that morning. The pretty blonde smiled at Bliss as she joined them at the table with her brothers.
The evening sped by in a blur of dinner, cake, and dancing, and Bliss found herself being carried out of the bar by Link once more at the end of the night.
“That’ll be us soon,” Memphis said.
“Y
ou have to ask me first.” She closed her eyes and yawned.
“We will, babe, and then make you ours forever,” Rome said.
“I’m already yours.”
“Good answer,” Link chuckled.
Chapter 18
*Three Weeks Later*
Whisper ate a cupcake topped with powder-blue frosting and made appropriate cooing noises at the adorable infant footy pajamas which were covered with little wolves. She sat between her mother-in-law and Bliss, who had come along to help with the baby shower.
After her wedding, Whisper and her mates had stayed the weekend at a hotel in Atlantic City, and did nothing but order room service and make love. After their weekend, they’d driven to Dalton and packed up their belongings, and then formally left the baro. She thought that Dante would be angry at her mates for walking away from the baro for her, but he was very understanding. Alyssa and Sydney were sad that she wasn’t going to be staying, but they were still family, even if she lived in New Jersey instead of Kentucky. And organizing the baby shower had been her way of showing the two sweet females that she had no intention of forgetting about them.
For the time being, Whisper and her mates were living in a rental home in Beyton. It was on the other side of town from the bar. When spring came, they were going to start building their home. Mack’s property was quite large and included the bar as well as his house, so there was plenty of room for their own home. Close enough to walk to work in nice weather, but far enough away for privacy.
Alyssa opened another gift, the paper tearing loudly and drawing Whisper’s thoughts back to the present. “Oh, thanks, Mom!” Alyssa said, holding up a picture of two cribs.
Whisper raised a brow in confusion and Alyssa’s mother-in-law said, “Mason hid the cribs in the garage after we shipped them here. Since they were so bulky, I just wrapped a picture of the two cribs.”
“I didn’t know you were having twins,” Bliss said.
“I’m not,” Alyssa put the picture down and took the next gift handed to her by Sydney. “We have two nurseries in the house; one upstairs and one in the den.”
“Oh, duh, I keep forgetting about the den.”
“You’ll get used to having two of everything with the den,” Sydney said with a sweet smile. “It means twice as much shopping.”
“Oh, I like the sound of that,” Bliss quipped.
“I better warn my brothers of your penchant for shoe hoarding,” Whisper elbowed her bestie.
Whisper’s phone buzzed in her pocket, and she discreetly checked it. A text from Nyte told her that he was thinking of her and missed her.
“I miss you, too,” she typed back.
She slipped the phone back into her pocket and watched as Alyssa opened the gift from Whisper and her mates: a Coach diaper bag filled with supplies.
“Oh my gosh! I didn’t know Coach made diaper bags!” Alyssa held the pretty bag up, her eyes wide with surprise.
Whisper smiled graciously and didn’t share the story behind the bag. Fade had seen her looking at Coach computer bags online and decided to surprise her with one. He’d shopped in a Coach store in the mall, but hadn’t realized that the one he chose was actually a diaper bag. He offered to return it, but when she asked if she could give it to Alyssa instead, he agreed, after replacing it with a computer bag.
After the shower was over, she helped clean up and texted Nyte that she and Bliss were ready to leave.
Alyssa sniffled as Whisper hugged her goodbye. “I wish you didn’t have to leave so soon.”
“Me, too, but I have piano lessons the day after tomorrow and need to get home. We’ll be back after the baby is born so I can spoil the newest addition to my extended family,” Whisper promised. She hugged Alyssa once more, and then Sydney, and said goodbye to the rest of the guests. Then she headed outside with Bliss, where her mates and brothers were waiting in a rental SUV.
Her mates got out of the SUV and hugged and kissed her as if they had been separated for weeks instead of just hours. Nyte was driving and Memphis was manning the GPS from the passenger seat. Bliss, Rome, and Link were in the third row of the SUV, and Az climbed inside and sat in the second row, patting the space next to him. “Come on, sweetheart, let’s get to the airport and go home.”
“Did you have a good time?”
“It was a lot of fun, but I’m ready to go home.”
Az settled his arm over her shoulder and hugged her to him. “This was never really home for any of us, but New Jersey feels just right.”
“I’m glad.” She leaned against him and took Fade’s hand and squeezed it.
“Anywhere with you is home,” Az said, kissing the top of her head.
The SUV headed away from her former baro’s territory and towards the airport. She’d enjoyed coming to visit, but she was glad to be going home. Fade rubbed his fingertips along the inside of her right wrist, which now bore a new tattoo. He had designed a tattoo for their clan; a simple outline of the head of a hyena, surrounded by a circle of ivy. They’d gone together to get the tattoo, and she wore it with pride and loved knowing that her mates had the same tattoo on the inside of their right wrists.
She watched the scenery blur by as they turned onto the highway, and she said a final goodbye to Dalton, which had become her home for only a little while. Ahead of her lay Beyton and the pack, which had welcomed her mates as official members, along with her hyena brothers.
Before she had gone to the gathering, she had worried that she would lose everything when she found her mate. She hadn’t lost anything, but she had gained so much. Not only her mates, but her birth family and her mates’ family. Everywhere she turned she now had family, and that includes her bestie.
For a hyena raised by wolves, she was doing pretty well for herself. She had everything she could ever want, and more than she’d possibly dreamed.
The End
* * * * *
Contact the Author
Website: http://www.rebutlerauthor.com
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @rebutlerauthor
Facebook: www.facebook.com/R.E.ButlerAuthorPage
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Also from R. E. Butler
Wiccan-Were-Bear Novella Series
A Curve of Claw
A Flash of Fang
A Price for a Princess
A Bond of Brothers
A Bead of Blood
A Twitch of Tail
A Promise on White Wings
A Slash of Savagery
The Wolf’s Mate Series
The Wolf’s Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence
The Wolf’s Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel
The Wolf’s Mate Book 3: Callie & The Cats
The Wolf’s Mate Book 4: Michael & Shyne
The Wolf’s Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika
The Wolf’s Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna
The Wolf’s Mate Book 7: Lindy & The Wulfen
The Necklace Chronicles
The Tribe’s Bride
The Gigolo’s Bride
Ashland Pride Series
Seducing Samantha (Ashland Pride One)
Loving Lachlyn (Ashland Pride Two)
Marking Melody (Ashland Pride Three)
Hyena Heat Series
Every Night Forever (Hyena Heat One)
Every Dawn Forever (Hyena Heat Two)
Every Sunset Forever (Hyena Heat Three)
Wilde Creek Series
Mate of Her Heart (Book One)
The Alpha’s Heart (Book Two)
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Coming in 2015…
Every Blissful Moment (Hyena Heat Book Four)
Non-shifting wolf Bliss Roberts imagined the most exciting thing in her future was her honeymoon with her three gorgeous hyena husbands. She never expected them to get lost in the mountains on the way home and stumble upon a young owl shifter being forced to mate with a much older male. Stressed out by her own family’s disfunction, Bliss loudly objects to the young girl’s t
reatment. When the girl escapes, her people demand that Bliss and her husbands take over the evening’s entertainment, which includes having public sex so the owls can share in the pleasure.
Memphis Gable and his brothers Lincoln and Rome knew their wife was a spitfire with a wounded heart, but they didn’t expect to have to defend her to a group of deadly owl-shifters. To protect her, they’ll give the owls just a taste of the passion they share with their bride. When Bliss accidentally drinks too much of an aphrodisiac, the hyena clan’s good intentions may be overwhelmed by her out of control lust. Can they keep a lid on their sweetheart’s passion, or will the owls demand everything they have to give?
It wouldn’t be a hyena heat novel without scorching m/f/m/m sex, three males who would strip naked in a heartbeat to save their mate, and the sweet woman who has claimed their hearts. This book contains dangerous owl shifters who glow when they’re turned on, a young woman in need of rescuing, mating, claiming, growled obscenities, and frequent use of the word ‘mine.’
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Coming in 2014…
Redeeming Rue (Ashland Pride Book Four)
As an albino black panther banished by her people, Veruka Jennings knows if her clan discovers she had a child, it would mean death for them both. Labeled an abomination and forbidden from having cubs, she's spent the better part of her life as an outcast, believing she is worthless because of the color of her fur. After secretly overhearing traveling clan members discuss a bonding ceremony in Indiana, she decides to spy on the proceedings for one last look at the people who treated her like trash.
When James and John Fallon investigate a shadowy figure in the woods during a bonding ceremony, they do not expect to find the woman they are meant to share. But instead of enjoying their mating, they find themselves fighting to protect Veruka and her son. If they can protect her, will they be able to keep her? Or will Rue believe she's not worthy of their love and disappear from their lives forever?