This was the kind of wedding I would’ve watched on television back before I met my mate.
We rolled to a stop in front of the temple of Saēna. Gigantic pillars to the front flanked the steps leading into the temple. The doors were folded open like an accordion and I saw through to the back, also opened up to allow viewing of that side as well.
Shadow stood at the opposite side of the temple. Rogue and Crest to his front and rear. Delta joined us. As she wasn’t part of the royal family, she couldn’t ride with us in the rickshaw. That was a stupid rule especially for a family so in touch with their people. But tradition was tradition for a reason.
Talon stood on a raised dais in the center of the temple. A photograph of Race rested to Shadow’s side on a tall but narrow square table ornately decorated in copper and yellow and rose golds. A photograph of my best friend Breya sat to mine. It was our way of having our friends whom we wished could be here on our special day with us. Although Breya was still alive, she didn’t know about shifters or immortals, and thus, it was decided by the powers that be i.e. Shadow and Talon, that it would be safer for her not to be invited.
Music, probably from the time of the first Roc himself, was piped out into the crowd. On the third beat, Both Rogue and Avalon started to move. On the fifth beat Shadow and I started our move, and then on the seventh, Crest and Delta walked until we all came together in the center in front of the dais.
“We honor Saēna,” Rogue said. The crowd cheered and I realized they were listening to all of it. I looked around and saw television cameras recording us.
“We honor the king,” Avalon said, then both Rogue and Avalon moved behind Crest and Delta, spread out in a reverse V, with Shadow and me at the front.
“As your king, I am the voice of Saēna. Today we honor our goddess and all her divine wisdom, who gave us our father Roc and our mother Wilhelmina by bringing together their children. On any day, a pair-mating is cause for celebration. But Saēna has given us this great honor by bringing them back through my son Shadow of the Roc and his mate, Meena Anthony, now Meena of the Roc.”
Meena of the Roc? I liked the sound of that. So much, that I had to force back the tears in order not to ruin my makeup before the official wedding photos were taken.
Cheers from the crowds outside rose to deafening levels. Freaking deafening.
“Shadow, my son, claim your mate within the holy temple of Saēna for your people,” Talon ordered, then turned to me. “Meena, claim your mate within the holy temple of Saēna for your people.”
Shadow—who looked freaking incredible in a copper silk tunic and copper silk pants embroidered with yellow gold and rose gold stitching. No headdress for my mate, his hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail at the nape of his neck by a rose gold band—took my hand in his and turned me to him.
“Meena, my eaglet, my love… am I your choice?” he asked.
“Yes. Forever,” I answered. After the cheers died down, it was my turn. “Shadow, do you accept this decision?” I was told this was how the royal vows went because the woman chose her mate.
“Yes.” He smiled broad and bright, looked up into the cameras and said, “Forever.” We were all going to need hearing aids after that roar from the people of Cloud.
“The goddess chose you to come together,” Talon said, taking back over the MC duties. “Honor her. Honor your families by bringing love every day. Love for each other, love for the children you will make”—my cheeks pinked when he said that—“and love for your people.”
At the same time Shadow and I answered, “We will.”
Then, Talon blessed our union and Shadow and I kissed to seal our pair-mated bond. I already wore his ankle chain. That never came off, so there was no exchanging of rings or anything.
Shadow and I moved in the inverted V to the end of the line. Crest and Delta stepped up to the Dais.
“We honor Saēna,” Crest said, closing the ceremony. The crowd cheered.
“We honor the king,” Delta said, too. Hers were the very last words of the ceremony. The crowds continued to cheer as we were led out the front, Crest and Delta leading, and Rogue and Avalon following us down the steps to the rickshaw. Though, instead of Avalon joining me, Shadow and I rode off together.
Our reception was held in the city square so everyone could join in the festivities. There were areas sectioned off for foreign dignitaries. Roc regents from several cities, along with other bird-shifter clans: Hawks, Falcons, Owls, Kites and Ospreys to name a few, pointed out to me by Shadow. He also pointed out that ravens weren’t invited and vultures turned us down, which according to him, gave us a good idea of where their loyalties lie.
The rest of the square was open to the public and there was food enough for everyone. Royal weddings happened so seldom; the people deserved a celebration of this magnitude.
After the official photos were taken and all the flashes from news cameras and cellphones, my picture had been taken more today than all the rest of my life put together. Taking my hand, Shadow and I chose to walk back to the palace in order to work off some of the feast we’d consumed.
The headdress came off hours ago. That sucker weighed a ton. He walked me inside the palace and up to our apartment.
“Wanna get busy on the couch?” I asked. “We haven’t broken that in yet.”
Instead of answering, he sat me down to remove my sandals. But then he pulled me up, leading me to the stairs. My dress came off in a whoosh over my head. He tossed it to the steps. My bra was gone by the time we reached the landing and my panties when he pushed me down on the bed.
“No, my eaglet. I wish to make love to my mate in our bed and not let you up for days.”
Days? I didn’t think I could go for days, but I was willing to give it the old college try.
Shadow undressed, tossing his wedding gear on the reading chair in the corner of the room. “On your knees, eaglet.”
Hell yeah. I flipped to my knees, stretching my arms out front of me so my breasts and my face rested on the pillows. He got up on the balls of his feet, squeezing the inside of his knees against my hips as he mounted me from above and behind.
“Am I your choice, my love?” he whispered.
I lifted my hips and widened my thighs, and answered. “Yes.”
Unlike the frantic, frenzied mating of our first time, he took his time, seeing to my every need, want or desire before he took for himself. Oh yeah, my husband definitely made love to me.
A day and a half went by before he let me leave the room. We showered. He went down to get us food and drinks. But we stayed in that room, mostly under the pelts, until Shadow’s phone rang.
“Better be good,” he said into the line instead of hello and his face dropped. What now? Shadow hung up the phone and threw it on the bedside table while I waited for him to fill me in.
When he didn’t, I prompted, “Shadow?”
“It appears that Crest has made contact with his mate.”
I gasped, happily and clapped my hands together in front of my chest. “That’s great.” But the look on his face told me it wasn’t great. “What?” I asked.
“He doesn’t know where she is…” He paused, and I sucked in a girding breath. Good thing I did when he finished, “but we know she’s in trouble.”
The Story Continues
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See how Crest’s story goes in:
Soar: A Warrior’s Fight (Immortal Elements Series Bk. 2)
Run: The Viking Pack (Immortal Elements Series Bk 3) due out in October
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Soar: A Warrior’s Fight (Immortal Elements Series Bk. 2)
When destiny calls, you answer… or die trying.
Saahirah of the Gyr is a falcon-shifter on the vacation of a lifetime when her camp is attacked and her family is murdered—then Saahirah is sold into a harem kept by the regent of the land. Desperate to escape, Saahirah clings to one thought: there’s a mate somewhere destined for her. She can’t give in to the regent or she’ll never know true happiness.
There’s just one little problem: the regent has one of the world’s most powerful witches in his employ. It takes witchy power to fight witchy power, so Saahirah does what any smart-minded twenty-something shifter girl would do—she teaches herself magic. The magic, however, works a little too well, connecting her with a mysterious figure with honey-amber eyes that pulls her heartstring taut, and Saahirah knows she’s in a whole different kind of trouble.
Crest, aerie-lord and youngest brother to the future King of the Roc, is the one to answer her call. Even though the timing seems off, with an evil presence threatening the world, they discover they’re stronger together and their bond is exactly what’s needed—a reminder of what they’re fighting for... and why they have to win.
Also by Sarah Zolton Arthur
Adult Romance
Series
Brimstone Lords MC
Bossman: Undone (Brimstone Lords MC 1)
Duke: Redeemed (Brimstone Lords MC 2)
Chaos: Calmed (Brimstone Lords MC 3)
Standalones
Summer of the Boy
The Significance of Moving On
Skydiving, Skinny-Dipping & Other Ways to Enjoy Your Fake Boyfriend
Audio
Summer of the Boy
About the Author
Sarah spends her days embracing the weirdly wonderful parts of life with her two kooky sons while pretending to be a responsible adult. And there is plenty of the weird and wonderful to go around with her older son being autistic and the younger being a plain ol' wisecracker. She resides in Michigan, where the winters bring cold, and the summers bring construction. The roads might have potholes, but the beaches are amazing. And above all else, she lives by these rules. Call them Sarah’s life edicts: In Sarah's world all books have kissing and end in some form of HEA. Because really, what more do you need in life?
Read More from Sarah Zolton Arthur
www.sarahzoltonarthur.com
Flight: The Roc Warriors (Immortal Elements Book 1) Page 20