Chapter Ten
Sawyer
Under a beautiful arch made of woven winter branches Sawyer stood with Roscoe by his side. Behind them, the pack, including Maggie and Heath, watched quietly as Gaia performed the bonding ceremony. Roger made a little cooing noise, and Sawyer looked back at him briefly. Maggie held him with a smile. She'd gone through the roof with excitement the first time she met Roger while Heath had jumped away like Roger was a baby snake instead of a baby child.
Even now, he kept one eye on Roger as if he was moments away from exploding. Though, thinking on some of his diapers, Sawyer wasn't sure that was so far off the mark.
"As your lives are now interwoven, so shall your hearts become intertwined," Gaia said, holding a loop of yarn. One half of the circle was red and was meant to symbolize Roscoe while the gray side was Sawyer. At the beginning of the ceremony they wore their own colors on their own wrists, but at the end, Gaia took it off them and twisted it, putting the gray side on Roscoe and the red on Sawyer as a representation of their bond. "In the same way that this simple circle of yarn binds you, you two are bound as well, together forever."
"Together," both Roscoe and Sawyer repeated. "Forever."
The pack began to cheer, but Roscoe lifted his hand to silence them. "Sawyer would like to blend the two traditions a little more and I, for one, have no objections to his proposed addition." He turned his attention back to Gaia.
"You may now kiss your mate," she said with a smile and the smallest eye roll.
Roscoe was careful of Sawyer's stitches when he took him in his arms and kissed him, but that didn't mean the kiss was any less potent. When Sawyer was righted, he let out a soft whistle. "Definitely not any less," he said, remembering a worry he'd had before, that a baby would somehow dampen their lovemaking. Roger had been born a week ago and had made an impact on their life, obviously. But, they were still able to make time for each other, and did, often.
"I thought that was a bonding ceremony I heard as I was hiking in," a booming voice said over the crowd. "Apparently, I've missed a lot." A ruggedly handsome man walked up from the back of the crowd. He wore typical clothes for hiking but had no pack. His brown hair was a little longer in front and fell over into his eyes in a manner that was decidedly roguish.
"Angus," Roscoe greeted him warmly. "Where are the others?"
"They are a while out still. Trying to make a deal on some equipment and steel. I arrived first with the lumber. We'll need to haul it in from the highway, but it looks like that will have to wait," Angus said with his eyes on Sawyer.
"Meet my mate, Sawyer," Roscoe introduced him. He went to Maggie and carried his son to meet his uncle. "And your nephew, Roger."
Angus' eyes flared open in surprise for a moment before he schooled his expression back. "Roger? Our father's name. That is very nice news. Nice to meet you, little nephew. And nice to meet you, brother-in-law," Angus said before wrapping Sawyer in the epitome of a bear hug.
"Okay, okay, I can still kick your ass," Roscoe said, yanking Angus away from Sawyer before setting his arm over his mate's shoulders. Roscoe spoke to the crowd, "Come, the bonding ceremony is finished, and there is food to eat. Gaia has sworn to play us a few songs on her banjo."
The crowd dispersed, all but a small group.
"And who is this?" Angus asked with a smirk.
"This is Maggie," Gaia said, putting her arm over Maggie's shoulder in much the same way Roscoe had done to Sawyer.
"Pleasure to meet you, but not who I meant," Angus said, eying Heath like he was water on a warm day.
"This is my brother, Heath," Maggie said slowly looking from her brother to Roscoe's brother and back again.
"Nice to meet you." Angus put his hand out, and Heath shook it quickly, never looking him in the face.
"Uh, yeah, nice to meet, you too. Um, bro."
Sawyer smirked as they moved as a group to follow the pack to the A-frame Roscoe had constructed with the back the day their first bonding ceremony had been scheduled. Sawyer wouldn't have allowed it except there was no space yet that was undercover and large enough for the pack to congregate as a whole. After their reception, this space could be used just as easily for meetings or even classes.
"What happened to you?" Angus asked Garth bluntly. Sawyer was beginning to realize that was simply Angus' style.
"Long story," Garth said. His face was nearly healed. Those weren't the wounds that still needed to heal. While he hadn't been behind Sawyer's kidnapping, he had dug some deep wounds in the pack. He and Roscoe had sat down several times since the kidnapping, and while they weren't best friends, Sawyer was sure they would come to a friendly arrangement.
"I got time," Angus said, sitting down next to Garth on one of the benches.
Sawyer was worried that Angus might break the tenuous connection they'd just now created, but he felt his hand being pulled away from their conversation and into the arms of his mate.
"They'll figure it out," Roscoe assured him. "Angus knows how to see straight into the heart of people. Besides, right now, I need to dance with my mate."
"You dance at bonding ceremonies?"
"Of course. Bears love to dance, didn't you know?"
Sawyer hadn't known. There was still so much about his mate and his people that he needed to learn, and he would, all while in the arms of the man he loved.
THE END