Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 148955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
There’s a knock on the door and the tension in me surges. I yank it open.
Mason and Grey are standing there. And I know, immediately, that something isn’t right. I open the door wide and am asking “What happened?” as they cross the threshold.
They met with the coven tonight.
“They found the records,” Grey says. “Sure enough, Nelle Jenkins paid a bucket load of money to have her two nieces matched up with two alphas from our council.”
Mason’s eyes and my eyes meet.
It matters to neither of us that witches are the reason Ivy is mine and Amelia is his. I know we’re on the same page here.
“And?” I ask.
Grey takes in a big breath. “And they think that things went screwy because it usually follows birth order, but suggested if you were more suited to Ivy and Mason was more suited to Amelia, nature could take precedence over witchcraft. They say sometimes spells have flaws and things go awry. Or spells are perfect and nature simply intervenes. They think that’s why Mason got confused. If you’d come across Amelia first, it might’ve gone the same way.”
“Hm,” I say.
Ivy is definitely suited to me.
Mason’s eyebrows rise and I know he agrees.
“And Nelle Jenkins paid to have something interfere in the marriage of their parents. Basically, a chain of events that we’re in the midst of now for the Brennan girls. They say they can only reveal what they must, they won’t tell us any more than we need to know, so that’s all fine. It’s all good. Right?”
I shrug. “I’m good. You good, Mason?”
“More than good,” he says. “That’s not the problem.”
“What is the problem?” I ask.
“The coven,” Mason says. “And Riley. Riley caught scent there. Scent that drove him nuts. He went mental. Worse than I went when your woman’s scent hit the village.”
“What? Why?”
“He swears he smelled his mate. The two witches there, one old one, one younger one, they started asking him questions. They searched their ledgers and found his name.”
“Riley’s?”
“Yep,” Grey says. “Riley’s name. His mate… get this: she’s not dead. She’s is a witch. A witch who cast herself into the role of Riley’s mate through a spell she wrote and then she faked her own death.”
My eyes bulge.
“He’s on a tear. He’s unglued, Ty. We’re glad you’re here, glad you’re with us, because we’re gonna need you. Riley’s gonna need us. All of us.”
Epilogue
Ivy
Two Weeks Later
We swim, Ty and me, underneath the waterfall, and he catches me by the waist as we look up at the cave we’re now in. It’s beautiful. The rocks are sparkly. Green. Like his eyes.
“Oh my goodness,” I exclaim. “Beautiful isn’t a strong enough word.”
“I agree.” But he’s looking at me, not the cave we’re in.
He’s so fucking sweet.
He lifts me by my hips up onto the ledge. And then he pulls himself up beside me. I wring my hair out and then lean over and wring his out.
“Why do you squeeze water from my hair?” he asks.
“So you won’t shake like a puppy at me.”
He smiles and then kisses my nose.
“I can’t believe this is right outside our back door. This is amazing, Ty.”
He gazes into my eyes. “Tomorrow, we’ll stand on those banks on the other side of the waterfall and get married.”
“We will,” I say and lean over and kiss him. “Can’t wait.”
“And then I want to swim in here in our wedding clothes and fuck you while they all have their party.”
I laugh. “That sounds like a typical Tyson thing to say.”
He smiles wide.
It’s been fun planning the wedding. It’s been a plan thrown together fast, but I know it’ll be perfect. It’ll be on the banks, like he said, and we’re having a big party in our backyard. The ladies are doing potluck and Stan, Ty’s mom’s beau, is going to officiate. He and Ty get along quite well, actually.
I bought Ty a ring. He can wear it when he knows he doesn’t have to shift. He told me he bought me one, too, and I can’t wait to see it.
“Are you scared about seeing the whole pack at once again for the first time since…”
I shake my head. “No. I’ve seen a few people. None of them made me feel weird. I mean, I can’t say I didn’t feel a little weird, but not because of them, because of me. I’m working on it.”
“I’m a lucky man,” he whispers against my temple and drops a kiss there.
No way would I deny him his pack. That he was willing to give that up to give me what I need even though he has the brawn to force me to live with him, to face them whether I want to or not, it means a lot to me. It means everything to me that he was so sorry, so sincere in his remorse. I feel like a very lucky girl.