Chapter Twenty

 

A month later, on the eve of the full moon…

“I feel it,” Celeste said quietly to Grant. She was standing with him and a group of her pack members on the edge of the woods behind the enormous house where she lived now. Grant had claimed her right after the previous full moon, with a bite to the shoulder that had left behind a scar. A claiming mark, they called it.

All month long, she’d spent hours every day meditating, visualizing herself turning into a wolf, watching other wolves turn…

And now she was ready. A healer named Anita was standing by in case she was needed. The first turn could be physically debilitating, so she’d been told.

She could feel the moon’s pull pulsing through her body.

She was the only one who was clothed – sort of. She had a towel wrapped around her body, reaching down to her ankles. Her legs had gotten really hairy over the past week and she was embarrassed.

“You’ll get used to it,” Taylor had assured her. “I went through the same thing. I cried the week before my first turn.”

Jeffrey was dancing with excitement. “My first full moon with Mommy!” he sang. Her heart sank. She had to tell him the truth. They couldn’t live their whole life based on a lie.

“Are you nervous?” Grant asked Celeste.

“A little. Okay, a lot. But you’re here with me, so I know I’ll be okay.”

Jeffrey bounced up and down impatiently. “Why did Aunt Mandy have to leave?”

“She’ll be back,” Celeste assured him. “She has to travel for work, but she and Truman promised they would come visit.” Truman had officially joined Mandy’s pack, and he was also working for the Network, finding placement for lone wolves throughout the country.

She stroked Jeffrey’s hair. “You believe me, right?”

“Yes. I know you and Daddy don’t lie to me.”

She took a deep breath. “Speaking of that. Jeffrey, there’s something we have to tell you. It’ll be hard to hear, but you have to know this.”

He looked at her. “You mean that you’re not my real mom? You’re really her sister? I know that.”

She and Grant exchanged glances of shock.

“How long have you known?” she asked Jeffrey.

He avoided her gaze. “I always knew. You didn’t smell like her. And you looked a little different. I just saw you cleaning up the house and then you asked if I was hungry, and I thought maybe you would take care of me and not leave me alone. I just pretended I didn’t know. I thought if I called you Mom, you’d have to stay with me.”

“You knew all along,” Grant repeated, astounded.

Jeffrey stared into the distance. “She tried to take me one time,” he said. “She came to the ugly orange house in Somerville when I was playing tag with Reynaldo. She was in the bushes. I didn’t tell you because I thought you would make me go with her.”

Celeste felt a stab of anger. That was why Jeffrey had been upset for days.

God, how that must have messed with Jeffrey’s head. He was an incredibly strong little boy, to have come through all of this and still be okay. “I would never have done that.”

Finally he turned and looked at her again. “Are you mad at me now for lying?”

Tears filled Celeste’s eyes. “Jeffrey. Of course not. You’re my son, even if I didn’t carry you in my tummy. I will always be there for you, and I will never leave you.”

Grant stroked Jeffrey’s hair. “We will never leave you,” he corrected her gently. “I missed six years of your life, and I’m not going to miss another second.”

“Do I have to call you Celeste now? I like calling you Mom.”

“I like it when you call me Mom. It feels right. You call me whatever you want.”

“It’s time,” Grant said.

Jeffrey shifted first, young and more vulnerable to the moon’s pull. He shifted quickly, impatiently, exploding into an excited fluff-ball and yipping ecstatically as other members of the pack shifted around him. Then Grant changed, smoothly and with astonishing control, dropping to all fours in the form of a huge, handsome silver wolf.

Celeste closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The night air felt cool on her skin, and then the cold became a tingle and morphed into frissons of energy that swept over her body as the moon pulled at her. She’d pictured this a hundred times over the last month – a thousand – and now she felt a fierce swell of pride in her chest as her spine lengthened and she dropped to all fours, fur sweeping over her body.

She opened her eyes and looked down at her paws, and saw that her fur was snow-white. She felt her tail begin to wag, and the sensation made her want to laugh, but it came out as a yip. Grant was looking proudly at her, jaws agape in a delighted doggy grin.

And they ran into the woods together – father, mate, and cub.

 

 

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About the Author

 

Hello, I am Georgette St. Clair, writer of hot, sexy romances which star all Alpha heroes, all the time. The road to love may be rocky and fraught with peril, (and humor and scorchtastic sex and healthy heapings of snark) but my shifters will stop at nothing to claim their fated mate.

 

A little about me: I live in Florida.  My checkered career involved stints as a newspaper reporter, EMT, internet marketer, cocktail waitress, temp, nurse’s aide (but not all at the same time...)

Now I’m living my perfect life, spending my days in a fantasy universe where I nudge my smart-mouthed, take-no-guff heroines onto the path that will set them on a collision course with true love.

 

Check out my for a complete list of titles and what’s coming soon. Or connect with me on

 

 

 

Also by Georgette St. Clair

 

The Billion-weres series

 

Starcrossed Dating Agency series:

 

The Mating Game series:

 

Tri-Valley Dragon series

 

Alpha Prime series:

 

Shifters of Silver Peak series:

 

Bridenapped series:

 

Twin Alphas series:

 

Shifters, Inc series:

 

Blue Moon Junction series:

 

Timber Valley Pack series:

 

Standalone titles: