Dominion: A Shifter of Consequence Tale (Shifters of Consequence Book 4)

by Mazzy J March

  She returned to my side and grabbed my hand. “Girlfriend, if you think that’s going to fly with me, you’re out of your mind. Big or small, this is your day, and it’s going to be pretty.” Christie dragged me to the start of the first aisle and paused. “We used white netting and white ribbons on the favors we did so far, so you haven’t committed to any color scheme. What’s your pleasure?”

  Somehow, I’d pictured all weddings as pastels. Pink or lavender, yellow maybe? It wasn’t as if I’d been to many. In fact, none I could recall. My experience was limited to romantic movies on TV where the bride spent frantic months and uncountable dollars getting ready, then, on the morning of the wedding, either called it off or maybe even eloped. I supposed that didn’t always happen, but often enough to stick in my mind.

  “What if we elope?” I blurted out. “You know, run off and come back married the next morning. Done deal, no muss, no fuss…” Hope clung to every one of those words.

  Christie, however, stared at me as if I’d just grown three heads. She carefully set down the package of neon-green-and-hot-pink-striped plastic plates marked Spring Bliss and cocked her head. “And who, precisely is going to marry you to four guys at once? Not a human officiant for sure. That’s unfortunately still illegal in all the states. And no alpha or elder from another pack would step on Samson’s toes that way.”

  “Damn.” She was right. “Well, maybe Samson will marry us in his office with a couple of witnesses and no reception at all until after the war is over.” Sounded like a good plan!

  “Uh-huh.” She continued along and picked up some white plates. “You could do it this way, white or clear, and then accessorize with napkins, tablecloths…balloons?”

  “Why not?” I took the plates and set them down. “I mean why not the office thing, not the plates. Then we won’t need any party supplies at all. Do you think it’s appropriate for us to have a big festivity while we’re at war?”

  Christie grabbed a stack of plates, pale yellow this time, and tossed them into the cart. When had she gotten a cart? “It’s nearly fall, so how about if we go with those colors? I think it would be really stunning. I even know where a few trees have already started to turn, so we could do some really pretty arrangements on the tables and tuck a few in your bouquet.”

  Why did I feel like nobody listened to me? Oh yeah, they didn’t. “Christie. I don’t want all this. Let’s go home and tell the alpha we aren’t going to have a party.”

  She scooped up some plastic platters in pumpkin, pale gold, and forest green and added them to the cart. “We cannot do that. Everyone within a hundred yards heard Samson’s explanation of why there would be an event, and it took all four of your mates arguing to make it as small as it is. His brother is one of the grooms. The pack healer is the bride. The others also have status, and it would be insulting not to celebrate all of you. You’re going to have to put on a pretty dress, hold on to a bunch of flowers, I’m thinking sunflowers though they are more summer will be the perfect color, and tell the whole pack how much you love your mates.”

  “You used to be so supportive.” I pouted but held up a stack of plastic champagne glasses that just happened to be orange, yellow, and maroon. “These work, right?”

  She grinned. “Perfect. I’m glad you’re finally onboard. And, Wendi, I am supportive. Even if the alpha hadn’t insisted, I would have. You deserve the most beautiful wedding day ever. One you’ll remember your whole life.” When I moved to speak, she held up a hand. “And don’t say you’d always remember no matter what because of who you’re marrying. You’re not going to cheat me out of a maid-of-honor dress I will swear is great because I can wear it again, but we both will know I never will, but it won’t matter because you’re my bestie.” She held up two packs of mixed utensils. “We could use the alpha’s huge set of silverware, but last time, someone lost a fork and the cook had a cow. You good with orange plasticware?”

  “Sure.”

  We continued on through the store until we had three carts piled with party supplies for our “little” reception. “What will we do when we have the big one?” I couldn’t imagine feeding the hundreds I’d been told would show up.

  “That one will be catered. A pack only about eighty miles away does that for everyone in the state. They’re known for amazing food, spectacular decorations, and bringing real plates and glassware.”

  “Forks, too”

  “All the stuff.” We piled our purchases onto the counter and, after the clerk rang them up, paid with the pack credit card. It seemed like a fortune to me, but as soon as we rolled the carts to the parking lot and helped Brandon pile everything in the back of the van, we headed for the other side of the store where a helpful sales associate took us in hand and soon had me locked in one dressing room with about a hundred gowns and Christie in another with nearly as many fall-colored maid-of-honor dresses. I’d tried on almost all of them when I found it.

  The dress.

  The one I’d wear when I said I do to my mates.

  Suddenly, I was all onboard for the wedding and everything it entailed. It didn’t even take the wind out of my sails when Christie asked me over the top of the dressing room wall, “Which one haven’t you slept with yet?”

  I pretended I didn’t hear her. She was my bestie, but some things needed to stay between mates. Plus, I intended to put an end to that particular loose end this very night.

  I’d get Moss naked and on top of me or die trying. Something told me it wouldn’t be too difficult. We’d made out enough times, I knew what to do to make him mine.

  It felt kind of good to be the one doing the seducing for once.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  We got home just before dinnertime, and I was grateful to find Moss, Escher, and Cash at the house to help us unload. There had barely been room in the fifteen-passenger van for all the stuff and the three of us. And the credit card had been so used, I’d expected it to melt in my hand. In fact, when we drove through the Soda Hut for one of their famous peach milkshakes, we paid cash for fear we’d trigger a fraud alert.

  While the guys piled all the party supplies in the garage, Christie and I snuck our dresses and shoes and things to the closet in my room—the one she was using at the moment while not allowed to leave pack lands without permission. I took a moment to unzip the dress bag and admire my gown.

  “I never thought I’d buy one of these things,” I told her. “Even going in there today, I had thought I’d go for a simple white dress, maybe cocktail length, but instead, I went for the most lace and satin I could find in a single garment.” It really was foofy. Nothing like anything I’d ever owned or ever would again. And I loved it. “Do you think the train is too much? And the veil?”

  Christie, who’d been admiring her own dress, a soft-pumpkin color with fall-away sleeves, that was much longer in back than the front, lifted her head and beamed at me. “It’s exactly the right amount of everything. I especially love the sparkly buttons all the way up the back.”

  “And wasn’t it amazing they had someone who could alter it right then?” We’d used the two hours to try on shoes, pick the veil, and other things, and finally a quick run through the party side of the store for a few more goodies.

  “What was amazing was Brandon didn’t die of boredom waiting. Are they going to wear tuxedos?”

  “They can wear anything they like.” Honestly, I was good with that. “I want them to be comfortable, so if they want to show up in swimming trunks, I’ll still marry them.”

  Christie tucked her dress in the closet and reached for my hanger. “Let’s get this stuff put away so we can eat dinner. I have practice right after.”

  “Right. We don’t want to keep anyone waiting.” I followed Christie down the stairs to the kitchen where we all ate some very tasty grilled chicken and salad, along with a lentil salad with a delicate vinaigrette. I’d never have to cook with these guys. Escher was a great cook, but the others were no slouches either, and I had no idea
who had prepared this meal. Probably all of them to some extent.

  When the table was cleared, Christie and my mates were all gearing up to go outside, but I had other plans for one of them. “Moss, do you think I could ask you to stay back for a while? I need help with something.”

  He looked up from where he was donning one of the padded jackets with long padded sleeves they’d all started wearing after his arm was slashed. “What? Oh, sure.” He slipped off the jacket. “I’ll be out when I can,” he told the others.

  Christie’s look said she knew exactly what I was up to. How, when I hadn’t even told her who I had not made love with, I didn’t know, but the girl was intuitive. “If you get tied up, don’t worry. It’s okay to miss one practice, Moss,” she said and nearly skipped out the door. At least she hadn’t giggled. Much.

  With all the others gone, I faced Moss. “It’s upstairs.” My cheeks were flaming, but I turned and strode for the stairs. “What I need you to help me with, I mean.”

  “Right behind you.” His shoes tapped on the steps behind me. “I wonder why Christie thinks you’ll keep me all evening. Does she know what you need me to do?”

  “Probably,” I muttered, cheeks still too heated for me to want to turn back to face him. “I mean, no. I didn’t tell her anything.” I opened the door of Moss’s room and stepped inside.

  He walked past me into the middle of the room.

  I closed the door and leaned against it.

  “So, what did you need me to help you with?” Moss turned to face me, puzzlement twisting his expression. “I don’t see anything out of place.”

  “No?” I left my spot and moved toward him, praying I wasn’t doing the wrong thing. “I think we have something left undone.”

  “Really? Show me what you need.”

  I’d been unsure exactly how to broach the subject, but his words guided me. Gave me inspiration. “Okay, but you can say no anytime.” I reached for his waistband and flipped the top button. “I mean”—my courage was flagging—“if you want to.”

  He was so still I was terrified I’d goofed, but when I moved to the second button, all that went away. “Wendi, are you sure?”

  Sure? I’d been with my other three mates more than once, and he wondered if I wanted to make love to him? “Surer than I’ve been about anything in my life.”

  He pulled my hand off his pants, but I didn’t have time to wonder why because then he was kissing me. We’d kissed before, we’d even touched some, made out, but when his lips crashed down on mine, the hesitancy of our previous times was entirely gone. His tongue urged my lips open and took possession. My seduction plans flew out the window because I was not in charge here. The man who was removing my clothing one piece at a time, he held dominion.

  “I wanted to wait until you let me know you were ready to be with me.” His voice was strong, growling, and my knees were as wobbly as they’d ever been. “So, you can say no anytime you want.”

  “I-I’ll never say that. I think I fell in love with you the day I met you at school. You’ve been my friend, my supporter, the one who always helped me see the bright side. But why did you ever think you had to hold back? Have I done something to make you think I didn’t want you to make love to me?” It wasn’t the time for questions, but I had to know.

  Instead of answering, he led me to the bed and sat me on the edge then stood in front of me. “Finish with the buttons.” No please, just an order. It was kinda sexy. And I obeyed, slipping one button after another free to reveal his boxers and the really large bulge in them. Moss shoved the jeans down over his hips and to the floor then kicked off his shoes and stepped out of the pants. He wore no socks. Odd how I noticed.

  Especially because of what was jutting through the opening in his undershorts, inches from my face. “Moss, were you afraid I’d be put off by your…umm, size?” Because my geeky study-buddy had the biggest, longest, widest… He was well-endowed.

  “I had a girlfriend years ago, and we were really in love. Not mated or anything close to it, but things progressed, and one night she snuck me into her house and up to her room—this was high school, senior year.”

  He stopped there, fists clenching at his sides.

  I waited, then tried to help. “And she didn’t like what she saw?” Because I couldn’t imagine it. Sure, he was really large…but he perfectly formed. And someone like him would never hurt a woman. I knew he’d be a loving, caring mate. He had been so far, and nothing was likely to change that.

  “She screamed and called me a freak.” He swallowed hard and moved to step back, but I grasped him by the hips and held him in place.

  “She sure was an expert for someone so young. Maybe it was her lack of experience.”

  He shook his head. “No. I learned later that, although she’d played the virgin with me, pretended I’d be her first and she was so shy, later I heard she’d dated just about everyone. And while I know some of the guys had a tendency to brag, not all did. Anyway, I didn’t care except for the lying and the fact I realized someone with experience had deemed me a freak.

  “And not that I thought you would, but I didn’t want to mess up a good thing, if you were put off by me.”

  I wanted to go kill that girl. Or at the very least beat her with a club bigger than the one facing me now. What a horrible thing to say and after lying to him! “Moss, I love everything about you, including all the parts of your body. What I don’t understand is how I never noticed before when we shifted to run or anything…I’ve seen you naked.”

  “You’ve seen me naked but not aroused naked.”

  “How did you manage that?”

  He grinned. “Main force of will. You wouldn’t believe the things I thought about to distract myself. And I never slept naked with you, always shorts or pj’s.”

  “And now?” I reached for the part of him some idiot girl rejected. “How will we sleep tonight?”

  “Any way you like, but I hope it’s naked.”

  I pulled his boxers off him and waited while he took off his shirt and joined me in the bed. Moss touched and caressed me, while not allowing me to do much to him, until I was writhing on the bed. I got it. He’d been holding himself back while I’d been with the others, but my desire for him was unique and special. It was about Moss, and when he knelt between my legs and fitted that extraordinary part of him to my opening, I arched upward in welcome. He was big, it was a tight fit, but he moved slowly until I adjusted then drove all the way in, filling me in a way that would always be only him. Every one of my mates was unique and special, and I would never take them for granted.

  Especially not when they made me come over and over, like Moss, until I wept his name and clung on for dear life.

  We slept naked. Of course, we did. And his mating mark was in the bend of my elbow. I had been so lost in his lovemaking I didn’t even realize it until I saw it the next morning.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I scissored my legs against the sheet clinging to every inch of my skin. As I kicked the damned thing off me, the cool morning air rushed against my face as I shot upward, wrapping my arms around myself, trying to breathe.

  Goddess, it felt like an elephant, no, three elephants were sitting on my chest, not allowing one ounce of oxygen to enter my lungs.

  My heart thrummed overtime under my sternum as I begged for the next breath to come, overwrought with thoughts plaguing my mind all night and now, with the morning, refused to let me be.

  “What’s the matter, mate?” Moss asked, his silky bass voice wrapping around me, but the panic wouldn’t allow it to penetrate like it usually did. His hand rested on the small of my back, and I inhaled long and deep, hoping his touch would quell the frantic.

  It did, but only momentarily.

  “I just…I mean…” The words wouldn’t come, and the flood of what-ifs bombarded their way into reality.

  Moss jumped up, threw on some boxers, and came around to the other side of the bed where I was now dangling my fee
t over the edge of the mattress and fisting the sheet, trying to hold on to something, anything to ground me. “Sweetheart, breathe. You’re not breathing. Guys,” he yelled and cupped my face, trying to get me to look at him.

  I concentrated on every breath while my other mates came upstairs. I wiggled my toes and concentrated on the glitter polish on them for something to center my mind.

  “I’m freaking out a little,” I said as they gathered around me. My wolf and I could practically feel the pulses of worry coming from them.

  Escher kneeled in front of me and took my ankles in his hands. “Worry is predicting the future, mate. We don’t know the future. Let’s talk through your concerns. Sometimes speaking them out loud is the answer.”

  I snickered. “You should talk.”

  The rest of my mates chuckled, and the sound instantly calmed me. Escher nodded and smiled. “You are right. Come on, gorgeous mate, tell us.”

  I let out a long exhale. “What’s my last name going to be?”

  Looking up long enough to see how concerned they were, I saw Moss shake his head. “Wendi, what are you talking about? Your last name is Walker.”

  My turn to laugh. “I mean when we are married. Am I going to have five last names now?”

  Escher bit down on the inside of his cheeks, probably trying not to laugh at me. “You can take all of our names or none of our names or keep Walker. It’s a nonissue and 100 percent your choice.”

  My heart began to slow, but kicked up once another worry came to mind. “Okay, but what if I…”

  Cash sat on the bed next to me. “What if you what, female?” Goddess, that nickname was usually Escher’s for me, but the sentiment felt the same coming from his lips.

  “What if I get pregnant? I mean…I’ll be like one of those early afternoon talk shows where people throw chairs at each other and have to take DNA tests. Who is my baby’s daddy?”