"You look beautiful. My brother is a lucky man,” Leland said.
"Now they all have mates. Just like we wanted in the beginning," Sylvia said.
Maria handed the other bridesmaids their bouquets and everyone gathered in front of Leland and Dana. Cyrus walked with Daisy, and Buck walked with Maria. Jessie had invited Rollo to be a groomsman in his wedding. At first, Dana had thought it was a joke, but now she understood that it was his way of showing that there were no hard feelings for what happened. Sylvia took Rollo's arm and they were the first to walk down the aisle.
Cyrus and Daisy walked next, followed by Buck and Maria. The wedding march started and Leland led Dana down the aisle. When they walked into the atrium, the first thing she saw was Jessie standing on a rise in front of the minister, wearing a tuxedo, his blue eyes blazing. It sent a thrill through her body and a rush of anticipation into her belly.
As shifters, the moment they had claimed each other was the moment they had married. But they were also human and enjoyed these rituals because this was how they got to share their love with their family and friends.
Dana couldn't take her eyes off Jessie as she walked down the aisle. She sensed the warmth of the guests as she passed. Leland handed Dana off to Jessie and he helped her up the rise to stand with him in front of the minister. Sylvia took Dana's bouquet, and she and Jessie held onto each other's hands, gazing into each other's eyes.
The minister started the ceremony, but Dana could barely hear a word. All that she could see in the world was Jessie. He was all that mattered. All of this, the ceremony, the dress, the guests, it was all just an expression of how much she loved him.
When the minister prompted her to say her vows, she almost forgot what she had written down. She gasped and giggled and Jessie squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"Jessie Kinkaid, you came into my life at exactly the best and worst moment. I wouldn't have had it any other way. I waited for you for so long, but in the end, you saved me more than once. I just hope that I can save you too. You are my family. My heart. My love. Together we’re capable of anything. We already know we can overcome all odds, our future together should be easy after this. But no matter how hard it ever gets, I know that every moment is worth it as long as I can spend it with you."
"Dana Myers, you are the most beautiful girl I've ever met. Like an angel sent from heaven. The minute I saw you standing on the side of the road, I knew it was over for me. I told my brothers a thousand times that I didn't want to mate. But that one moment was all it took for me to realize what a fool I'd been. You and I do know what we can overcome, and my hope is that I can protect you from the difficulties of life. Even now, I know you can take anything that life throws at you. But my job is to make your life as beautiful as you are. And I'll spend the rest of mine doing my best to make you smile."
Dana felt tears threatening to run down her cheeks again. Jessie’s words made her heart jump into her throat and she could barely breath through the overpowering emotions.
"Dana Myers, do you take Jessie Kincaid to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, in sickness and health, forsaking all others as long as you both shall live?"
"I do,” Dana managed to say in a clear strong voice.
"Jessie Kincaid, do you take Dana Myers to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, as long as you both shall live?"
"I definitely do," Jessie said, smiling wide.
"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," the minister said.
Jessie swooped in and gathered her around the waist, pulling her against him as he pressed his lips to hers. Dana groaned as she wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling his soft lips pressing hard against her. Heat rose in her core and in her cheeks, knowing that everyone was watching. She let him kiss her, long and hard on the stage in front of everyone. When he pulled away, she was breathless and hot from blushing. He took her hand and led her down the aisle. Above them the lodge’s resident parrots swooped over the party, squawking their words of love.
"True love," squawked the red one.
"Beautiful," squawked the blue one.
Dana beamed love and happiness as Jessie led her around the corner into the dining room. It was already set up for a reception, with tables lined up and chairs all around. The rest of the guests filtered into the room behind the couple. The band stood onstage, playing Dana’s favorite song. Jessie scooped her into his arms and danced with her as the party circled around them.
"Let me be the first to present the new couple. Congratulations Jessie and Dana," Leland said into the microphone.
There was laughter and talking that intermixed with the music as Jessie and Dana danced in each other's arms. "How about some champagne, wife?" Jessie whispered, after several songs.
"That sounds perfect."
They went to the wedding table and sat down as the waiters brought out dinner. Jessie filled their champagne flutes, and Dana took a long sip of bubbly. The sensation matched her emotions perfectly. She wanted to laugh and cry and sing and dance all at the same time. Her heart was bursting with happiness and she could barely keep it in her chest. She emptied her glass, hoping the effervescence would help her keep feet on the ground.
Jessie's brothers stood at the ends of the wedding table, competing for who would give their speech first. It was Cyrus who won the staring contest as he lifted his pint glass of beer to the happy couple.
"Jessie, most people don't take you seriously. But that's never been me," Cyrus said as laughter filled the room. "I've always known what a loyal, heroic, and intelligent man you are. When I was playing hermit up on the mountain, you were the one who helped me out without judging my choices. I've always appreciated that more than you could possibly know. Now that I have my mate, Daisy, it does my heart so good to see you with your own mate. Everyone deserves happiness, but you deserve it more than most. Here's to a bright and happy future to you and your lady," Cyrus lifted his glass and everyone applauded.
"I can hardly follow a speech like that," Buck said, standing.
He had his baby Joy on his hip, and she played with his bowtie. "As the baby of the family, we've enjoyed pigeonholing you as the troublemaker. But that's never been true. You've been the glue of the family all along, Jessie. Now that you have Dana, you can grow into the man you were always meant to be. I couldn't be happier for you. Now that I have Maria and my daughter Joy, my life is better than I could've ever imagined. Raising our families together on Fate Mountain will be a privilege and a triumph for all of us. Congratulations, Dana and Jessie, you deserve all of the happiness you can manage to hold."
Maria looked up at Buck with stars in her eyes and squeezed his hand as he sat beside her. Joy climbed into her mother's lap and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck, kissing her with her wet little mouth on the cheek. Maria smiled at her daughter and smoothed down the child’s wavy black hair. Dana watched Maria and her daughter with a sense of longing in her heart, just then realizing how much she wanted a child of her own.
"Little brother. Jessie," Leland said. "As the oldest of the Kincaids, it was easy for me to see my baby brother as a kid forever. But I was wrong to ever do that. You are strong, intelligent and loyal. Like Buck said, you are the glue of the family, more than any of us, more than even me, as the alpha. We all owe you a debt of gratitude for your commitment to the family. Sylvia and I are always here for you. Anything either of you needs, just let us know, and we will do our best to help you in any way we can."
After Jessie's brothers had spoken, Dana felt like she might cry. The display of brotherly love was too much to bear. She has lost her own family and her fox pack and now she was beginning to be accepted into the Kincaid clan as one of their own. Being surrounded by these faithful and loyal grizzlies, who gave love so freely, was beyond a dream come true.
She couldn't help but fee
l like she had everything she'd ever wanted. A mate, a family, home, and her freedom. With Jessie by her side, nothing was impossible. She didn't even know what she wanted out of the future, but it didn't matter as long as she had Jessie and her new clan.
"All these speeches are making me uncomfortable," Jessie chuckled in her ear.
"I'm glad I'm not the only one," she said.
"Want to get some air?" he asked.
"You know I do," she said.
He took her hand and let her out onto the deck off the restaurant. The sun was setting behind the mountain and the light glowed orange and pink across the sky. They held hands and Jessie offered her the bottle of champagne he had in his hand. She took a long swig directly from the bottle and smiled as she leaned over the railing.
"Do you regret losing your freedom as a bachelor?" she teased.
"Hell no," he said, retrieving the bottle to take a long swig.
"Just making sure,” she giggled.
"You're worth a hundred million women who aren't my mate; who aren't you."
"I think that my luck has officially changed for the better," she said, gazing into his eyes as the fading sunlight made them glow and sparkle like crystal blue diamonds.
"Fate gives us what we need. And all I need is you,” he said, kissing her with the taste of champagne on his lips.
Bonus Books
Lion’s Halloween Baby
bonus book one
Ever since serving in the military, Lion Shifter Rowan Tark has searched for a place to call home. When he steps off his motorcycle in Fate Mountain, right before Halloween, the first thing he does is sign up for the local dating website that matches male shifters with curvy human women.
Geneva Zales is a witch with a problem. Everyone expects her to take over as coven leader! But how is she supposed to follow in the footsteps of a witch as great as her own mother? After the coven's annual Halloween ritual, Geneva knows exactly what she has to do. Find a mate.
When Rowan and Geneva meet at the Fate Mountain Lodge, in the middle of the Halloween celebration, their undeniable connection takes over.
Can Rowan navigate the consequences of a night of unbridled passion? And will Geneva ever be ready to take over as Fate Mountain's head witch?
Chapter 1
Geneva Zales inspected the ridged surface of a ripe pumpkin in the patch in her backyard. The autumn air filled her lungs as a cool evening breeze fluttered through her long, black hair. A crow flew overhead and cawed from a treetop. She smiled at the omen and hefted the pumpkin into her wheelbarrow. It was just right for the ritual.
Geneva snipped two more pumpkin stems with her sheers and placed them in the wheelbarrow beside the first one. With all the ingredients she needed in the wheelbarrow, she lifted the handles and wheeled it to the back porch of her big, Victorian farmhouse.
She had been planning this ritual for months. Tonight, on All Hallows Eve, with the veil between worlds thin, she will cast her spell allowing her to speak to her mother on the other side.
She sighed as she looked out into the overcast sky. The yellow dusk hung heavy in the air. She could feel the energy of the shift coming. The veil was lifting and soon the two worlds would collide. She could hardly wait. There were so many things she wanted to ask her mother. She needed to know what she should be doing with her life.
Most of the white witches in her coven believed that Geneva should take over her mother’s position as matriarch. Geneva, however, wasn’t under the impression that she was ready to lead the coven. After all, she was only twenty-nine and had barely just begun her own journey as a witch. Her powers paled in comparison to her mother’s. How could they possibly expect Geneva to follow in her footsteps?
She carried her pumpkins into the kitchen, setting them on a stone counter against the back wall. Herbs and garlic hung overhead. Fresh produce was neatly arranged in bins in the pantry.
Leaving her pumpkins on the counter, Geneva went to the sink and washed her hands. Outside the window, she noticed the rain splattering against the glass. She hoped the rain would clear up by tomorrow night for the gathering. The full moon had to be visible in order for her spell to work.
Drying her hands on a towel, Geneva sank into a chair at her kitchen table. She looked down at her cup of cold tea and thought about tomorrow. She’d practiced her part in the spell a thousand times, but she knew things could go wrong if it wasn’t performed exactly right. She took a sip of the cold tea and it left a bitter taste in her mouth.
She’d preformed thousands of spells in her life, but she still felt nervous every time. It wasn’t that Geneva was less talented than any of the other magic users. But, there was something that always seemed to hold her back. Maybe it was living in her mother’s shadow. Geneva had been slow to learn as a child. She had preferred to spend her time in the forest, playing with squirrels and collecting nuts rather than studying books in the magical library. Her mother had told her it was all right that she wasn’t as adept with the books as some of the other children.
Geneva’s mother had been a great scholar as well as a natural talent. She’d studied with the best mages of her generation to become well known throughout the world of magic users. When Geneva had been given the chance to study in the great academies of magic, she’d chosen to stay in the mountains and collect herbs in the forest.
Her mother assured her that it was perfectly respectable to be a hedge witch, but Geneva always felt a sense of inferiority when she compared herself to her mother. Now that the coven was expecting her to take over leadership, all her old insecurities were resurfacing.
She just hoped that she wouldn’t be so nervous tomorrow that she screwed things up. Her mother had to tell the coven that Geneva was not fit to lead them.
Geneva pushed herself up from the table. She had to go to sleep early tonight so she would have the energy she needed for tomorrow.
She walked through her house, her footsteps echoing throughout the empty house. Geneva’s father had disappeared a long time ago and her parents never had any other children. She was alone.
Chapter 2
Rowan Tark, a lion shifter, pulled his motorcycle up in front of Fate Mountain Diner and cut the engine. He swung his leg over the side of his Harley, pulling off his helmet. Looking out through the lenses of his aviator sunglasses, he shook out his long mane of flowing blond hair. Fate Mountain was supposed to be one of the best towns in the country for shifters to settle, and Rowan had finally made it to town.
Since leaving the military six months ago, he had been driving around the country, trying to find himself. It wasn’t until recently that he had realized what he really wanted. Love and a family. That revelation had come as a surprise to him.
He thought about it as he pushed through the front door of the diner. A bell tingled above his head as he stepped inside. Carved pumpkins lined the back counter and a bowl of candy corn sat beside the cash register.
As he waited for the hostess to seat him, he looked back on the day he had realized he really wanted a family. He’d been riding his motorcycle through New Mexico one night and had just barely missed a coyote that had ran out in front of him. He’d swerved to miss the creature, causing him to almost lose control of his bike. In that moment, his entire life had flashed before his eyes. He knew then that he needed to find his people. That’s when he learned about Fate Mountain.
He pulled off his aviator sunglasses just as a pretty blonde waitress approached him and pulled a menu out of a box near the cash register. He could see that her name tag said Lily.
Rowan could tell that the waitress was a bear shifter by her scent. He’d have to remember her name since she was the first shifter he’d met in town. If he was going to become part of the shifter community on Fate Mountain, he would need connections.
“Just one today?” Lily asked.
The natural born female shifters were particularly rare, which was why it was often so hard for men like Rowan to find mates. But he could tell she
’d been turned by her own man.
“Just one,” he responded.
“Would you like a booth or would you like to sit at the bar?” Lily asked.
“I wouldn’t mind sitting at the bar,” he said.
She led him over to the long counter that faced the window into the kitchen. Lily set his menu on the bar and Rowan took his seat on a stool.
“Coffee?” she asked.
“Yes please,” he said, setting his sunglasses down on the bar.
Lily walked behind the bar and lifted a coffee pot from the machine. She flipped over his white porcelain cup and filled it with deep, brown liquid. Without asking, she slid a bowl of creamer and a sugar dispenser down the bar to his spot.
“I’ll let you take a look at the menu,” she said.
Rowan opened the menu and considered his options. It was all the typical diner fare, but it seemed to have been elevated to diner gourmet. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a plaque detailing all of the awards Fate Mountain Diner had won over the last two years since being taken over by a famous shifter chef.
In Rowan’s opinion, that was just one of the many reasons in favor of moving to this town. The inventor of the dating site Mate.com lived on Fate Mountain. A whole group of local shifters had found mates through the website. When he’d found out about that, he had to check the place out for himself.
Rowan had just made himself a profile on Mate.com a few days ago. The dating site matched male shifters with their human females. Mate.com could actually predict a shifters fated mate with a hundred percent accuracy.
It was through some kind of computer magic algorithm invented by Corey Bright, the creator of the website. Rowan still didn’t have any hundred percent matches on Mate.com, but he was hopeful. He figured he might as well come to the center of the action if he was really committed to finding a mate and starting a family.
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