Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chloe
One month later
The sun was setting over the MacIntire pack compound, but the place was buzzing with activity. Wolves were milling about in the open field where we gathered for pack runs.
Only the tall grass had been mown down and raked up a few days before. In the center of the clearing, stood a tree. It was huge, it’s branches covered in fairy lights and paper lanterns. Chairs were arranged in rows facing the trunk. Though the moon was full, shining down so brightly that we didn’t need other lighting, there were lanterns set everywhere, the candles inside casting a gentle glow. More fairy lights were strung along the backs of the chairs.
It was romantic and beautiful. The perfect setting for a mating ceremony. Though wolves didn’t marry as humans did, when true soul mates found one another, the pack often celebrated it with a ceremony during the next full moon. All the pack members would watch as the mates made vows to one another, then the entire pack would shift and enjoy a run beneath the moonlight. It was an ancient and wonderful tradition.
Ricki and Lachlan had planned the entire thing to surprise me. I thought we would make our vows in the moonlight, surrounded only by our family and pack mates. Having been raised human, Ricki wouldn’t hear of it. She insisted it should be special.
I glanced around and realized that Ricki’s idea of special also included a cake and champagne, so I had no complaints whatsoever.
A shrill whistle pierced the air and the wild activity ceased. Ricki stood in front of the tree where Lachlan and I would make our promises to each other and clapped her hands.
“Everybody sit your asses down!” she yelled. “We need to start.”
I laughed as wolves grumbled and found seats. My grandmother sat in the front row between Carter Whelby and Nicholas. Miss Emma and her husband, Tom, were further along toward the end. Other wolves from what was once called the MacArthur pack were there. After Carter became alpha, he changed the name to Prater at the pack member’s insistence.
Several members of my grandmother’s pack were in attendance as well. Though the MacIntire compound usually remained half-empty, tonight it was full to bursting. All of the empty houses were filled with guests and friends.
I watched from my position on Ricki and Calder’s front porch as everyone settled down, their voices hushed as Calder and Lachlan took their positions beneath the tree.
I looked down at the simple cotton dress I wore, glad that I’d allowed Ricki to talk me into it. The halter straps tied behind my neck and left my back bare to just below my shoulder blades. The dress fell to my ankles, clinging to my figure without restricting me. The white material would glow in the moonlight.
I’d drawn the line when Ricki tried to fix my hair. I fully intended to go for a run with my mate after the ceremony was over and any effort to curl or pin it would be wasted in the end.
Ricki bounded up the porch steps and stood next to me. “You ready?”
She glanced down at my empty hands and frowned. I had refused to carry a bouquet of flowers as humans often did, preferring instead to walk to my mate with open hands and an open heart.
Clearly, Calder still needed to explain a few things to Ricki about the differences in shifter mating ceremonies and human weddings. Otherwise the poor unmated she-wolves of the MacIntire pack would face this every time they found a mate. Most of them would be unable to deny their alpha female anything she wished, buckling beneath the weight of her dominant personality.
“I’m ready,” I replied.
We walked down the porch steps and out into the clearing. Every eye in the field was focused on me, but I didn’t notice. The only thing I could see was Lachlan. Once again, Ricki had failed in her attempts to get the male shifters to dress up and he stood beneath the tree in nothing but a faded pair of jeans and a tank top. Most of the male wolves were dressed in a similar fashion. Their attitude was that the fewer clothes to remove before a shift, the better.
Ricki moved to her chair as I walked down the aisle created between the seats. Someone, meaning Ricki again, had sprinkled flowers along the path. Rose petals and stemless daisies were scattered beneath my feet as I moved toward Lachlan.
His eyes never left mine as I drew closer, gleaming in the candlelight. He took my hands as we faced each other in front of Calder. As the alpha of the MacIntire pack, he would preside over the mating ceremony as a gesture of his approval of the match.
“Let us begin,” Calder stated, his voice carrying through the night air. “Before your pack, you will make your eternal promises to each other. Do you both come willingly into this mating?”
“We do,” Lach and I said together.
“What is your vow to Chloe MacArthur?” Calder asked Lach.
I stared up into Lachlan’s eyes as he spoke the words to the ancient rite. “I, Ian Lachlan, swear that my life belongs to you, Chloe MacArthur, until we are separated by death. You will live in my blood, nourish my bones, and become a part of my soul.”
His hands held mine tightly as he vowed his life to me. I smiled up at him, feeling his sincerity through the connection between us, the bond of true mates.
“What is your vow to Ian Lachlan?” Calder asked me.
“I, Chloe MacArthur, swear that my life belongs to you, Ian Lachlan, until we are separated by death. You will live in my blood, nourish my bones, and become a part of my soul.”
“Do you accept these vows from your mate?” he asked us both.
“We do.” Once again, Lach and I answered in unison.
To the wolves behind us, Calder lifted his voice. “Bear witness to two true mates!”
Howls and claps broke out among the pack, the noise growing deafening.
Once again, Ricki’s influence entered the ceremony as the cacophony died down.
“Kiss your mate, Lachlan, so we can cut that damn cake!” he whooped.
I laughed as Ricki’s low growl reached my ears, knowing that Calder’s words weren’t what she instructed him to say. Then Lachlan took me in his arms and pressed his mouth to mine. The kiss grew heated and wild, eliciting more howls and yelling from the pack.
When he released me, my knees were weak. Lachlan rested his forehead against mine as he held me close. “You are in my blood and bones, Chloe MacArthur. Without you, I would be an empty shell.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck tightly. “I love you, Ian.”
His mouth brushed my ear as he asked, “Do you really want cake?”
I shook my head.
“Then let’s go for a run.”
While the rest of the pack was distracted with cake and champagne, Lach and I slipped away. We left our clothes on the back porch of his house, shifted into wolf form, and loped into the trees surrounding the compound. When we burst out of the woods close to the lake on the property, I shifted back to human form and held my hand out to him.
“Make love to me, mate, in the light of the full moon.”
Lachlan shifted and took my hand. Together, we sank down in the grass. He kissed me then, our tongues tangling in the lush kiss. There was no urgency in his touch as his hands moved over my skin, his fingertips trailing from my shoulders to my breasts. As his thumbs swept over my nipples, drawing them into tight peaks, I curved one hand around the back of his neck and smoothed the other over his hip before moving it between us to stroke him lightly.
Lachlan nipped my bottom lip before moving his mouth lower. He pressed a kiss to the mark he’d left on my shoulder, a bite he repeated often to keep the imprint of his teeth fresh in my skin. He wanted everyone who saw me to know that we belonged together.
Then he moved lower, stopping to flick my nipple with his tongue. I gasped but he continued on his journey until he reached the small scar on my ribs. He kissed that as well, noting the wound that had nearly taken me from him before we mated.
I threaded my fingers in his hair, enjoying the fact that the strands were growing quickly. Though I loved being able to see his face when his hair was short, I’d always liked his hair long. I knew that he was growing it out for me.
His mouth returned to my breasts and he ran the tip of his tongue along the bottom curve of each, making me shiver at the light contact. When his mouth finally captured my nipple, I sucked in a sharp breath.
My hands roved his body, running over the corded muscles of his biceps and chest. When I reached between us again, curling my fingers around his cock and stroking him firmly, he growled. His hands captured my wrists, pinning them above my head.
Unwilling to submit, I twisted suddenly, rolling us both until he lay beneath me. He grinned when I straddled his hips and released my hands. I lifted up, guiding him inside my body and we both groaned as I sank down until he filled me completely.
His fingers gripped my hips as I began to move, preventing me from picking up my pace.
“Ian,” I whispered. His name was a plea. I was desperate to move faster, my body no longer content with the indolent motion of my hips.
Without releasing me, he pulled me down as his body bucked, driving himself deeper inside of me. He repeated the act again and my body tightened in response. Only then did one hand move from my hips to the center of my body. His thumb pressed against my clit, rolling firmly, and I cried out, my head falling back.
Our bodies crashed together over and over until I was begging for release. Lachlan put his other hand between my shoulder blades, urging me to lean down, and his mouth closed around my nipple, sucking hard.
At the contact, my climax rushed over me. My muscles trembled from wave after wave of bliss and I collapsed on his chest. His mouth closed around the mark on my neck and I felt his teeth break the skin once again. I mirrored the gesture, sinking my teeth into his flesh as my orgasm renewed.
His body jerked beneath mine with a growl and I knew he was coming. As we both came down from the pinnacle, Lachlan’s arms drew me tighter against him and he remained deep inside me.
We lay there together, our hearts beating in unison, and I was awed by the love that emanated from him. When I recognized him as my mate, I never thought that he might one day return my feelings. Now that we were together, I promised myself that I would never forget how blessed I was that he was able to love me in return.
As the moon rose in the sky, my mate and I made love over and over, celebrating our love with the gift of each other.
It wasn’t until a few weeks later, when I found out that I was pregnant, that I realized we conceived our child.