Jackie woke deliciously relaxed, for the first morning in what seemed like forever. She didn’t even care that it was well past nine. Trevor had nudged her awake sometime earlier to tell her he was going out to run errands and bring back more food. She snorted with amusement as she walked by the multiple bags of food on the dresser on the way to the bathroom. Bears must like full larders.

In the shower, she started planning her day. Eat, pounce on her new mate, buy a dress, get married, invite her mate to pounce on her, and go to sleep in his arms. A far cry from her former, very structured corporate life, even though she’d been satisfied with it at the time. Funny how kidnapping, pregnancy, escaping, and falling in love could change a woman’s priorities.

She felt her new mate bond energize. Trevor was close by. In case he brought company as well as food, she pulled on her sleep T-shirt, then went back to contemplating what to do with her hair. It hadn’t been trimmed in months, but was still too short to pull back into anything elegant. She fluffed it to encourage it to dry, and figured she’d worry about it later.

Trevor walked in carrying a stack of containers that smelled of bacon and pastry, and a huge suitcase.

She kissed him as she took the containers from him. “Hello kisses are never going to get old.”

She set the food on the chair, since they had no more table space. He put the suitcase on the bed and opened it, then stood back, watching her, with an anticipatory look on his face.

She crossed to the suitcase, which was filled with clothes. Her clothes, from her apartment in Houston. She raised an eyebrow at him. “I see that smug look on your face, cowboy. Start talkin’.”

He grinned. “While you were meeting with Brooker yesterday, I asked Matteo to check your legal status in Texas. Seems your shit-for-brains ex was ducking some loan collectors and has been staying in your place, since you’d paid your lease a year in advance. He told your boss you’d had a death in the family, and that you needed more time to take care of things.” He pointed toward the suitcase. “Matteo sent someone to stuff this suitcase and had it ported to Kotoyeesinay. His wedding present to you.”

She laughed. “What a lovely gift.” She pulled out a ruffled, cream-colored silk blouse to hold over her torso. “Most of this should even fit, if not the way it used to. I lost about twenty pounds when I was cleaning for the pride and eating frozen dinners, then gained most of it back in the last month as Princess started really growing.”

She opened the closet to hang up the blouse.

“After we eat, we have a schedule for the day.” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of the chest pocket of his T-shirt and handed it to her.

She opened it and puzzled over his abbreviations. “Okay, I get the wedding at four, but what are these others?”

He pointed. “The eleven-thirty is a fitting at Fairy Fineries, so I’ll have something to get married in besides jeans, boots, and a shirt with snaps. They want to make a dress for you because you charmed their scissors to always stay visible in their workroom.”

“But they already… oh, never mind.” She’d have to work out how to do something else nice for them later.

“The one-o’clock is a trip to the real estate office, so we can choose a lot to build on. I already gave them a deposit.” He rocked back on his heels and dropped his eyes. “While I was on the road, I bought plans and materials for a two-bedroom cabin. They’re in my trailer.” He tilted his head toward the motel’s parking lot. “I wanted you and Princess to have a place to live, even if it wasn’t going to be with me.”

Jackie rubbed his biceps, determined not to cry. “It was always going to be with you, cowboy. You’re my rock.”

He smiled. “I’m glad. The three-thirty is at the town hall, for the license. We’ll walk to the glade from there. They tell me there’s a shortcut.”

She pulled the pen out of his pocket to add a two-o’clock item to his schedule, then handed both back to him.

“What does ‘N & N’ stand for?”

She gave him a smart-ass smile. “Nap and nookie, of course.”

The glade reminded Jackie of a botanic garden, with mossy, floral scents in the air and winding paths to show off each shrub and tree. Her frothy, fluttery red-and-pink beaded dress was right out of an epic fantasy, but her low-heeled ruby slippers were thankfully practical enough to keep her from falling on her ass.

Trevor wore an embellished deep red vest, a cream-colored tunic, and tight black pants and high, cuffed boots. He’d asked for swashbuckling, and Fairy Frocks delivered.

She squeezed Trevor’s hand and pulsed her profound happiness through their mate bond, which was growing stronger with each hour. He smiled as he lifted their joined hands and kissed the back of her hand.

The path let them out into an open meadow that shimmered with sunlight and magic. Wooden plank tables mixed with white plastic deck chairs clustered toward one end. Everyone she’d met in town during the week sat or stood, chatting with many more she’d never met.

Jackie drew Trevor’s attention to two women striding toward them. Trevor beamed and crossed to them quickly.

“Aunt Straya!” He kissed the beautiful black woman on her cheek. Her fitted dress had African design elements and showed her figure to advantage. He nodded to the other, much paler woman in gray whose resemblance to human was only superficial. “I’m glad you both could make it.” He stepped back to put his arm around Jackie. “This is my mate and wife, Jacqueline Breton.”

“Please, call me Jackie.” She smiled. Any woman who could convince a teenage bear to dig her garden and chase away the critters was someone worth getting shifter parenting advice from.

“Call me Straya. Congratulations on your mate bond.” She turned to motion her companion closer. “This is my friend, Auris.”

Auris nodded, but kept her deep black eyes focused on Jackie’s baby bump. “She is impatient.”

Jackie laughed. “You’re telling me.” She was still getting used to perfect strangers having something to say about her pregnancy.

“Three weeks early...” Auris held up her hand and looked at it as if she’d never seen it before. Maybe she hadn’t, because it was growing thinner and turning a sickly shade of yellow. Her eyes narrowed as she turned to glare suspiciously at an empty edge of the glade. She dropped her hand and headed that direction. Where she walked, the grasses swayed away from her sandaled feet.

Trevor’s wary unease mirrored Jackie’s own as she looked to Straya. “Is she an oracle?”

“Maybe. I don’t think she’s found her final form, yet.” Straya glanced at Jackie’s belly, where the frilly dress displayed it proudly. “Shifter babies sometimes come early.”

Trevor tightened his arm around Jackie. “We’ll be ready.”

“You must come visit, when your daughter is old enough to travel.” She leaned closer and whispered conspiratorially. “I have pictures.” She waggled her eyebrows and tilted her head to indicate Trevor.

“Don’t listen to her.” Trevor turned Jackie away. “Come on, there’s someone who wants to see you.”

Jackie laughed. “Later, Straya.”

He led her to the far side of the clumps of party-goers to where a woman sat by herself at a small table.

Jackie’s feet faltered. “Mama?”

Her mother’s face lit up as she stood and held her arms wide open. “Jacqueline!”

Jackie stumbled into her mother’s arms and wrapped her arms around her. Tears flowed as she soaked in the healing magic of her mother’s love. “I missed you.”

“Me, too.” Her mother rubbed her shoulder. “I’m sorry I believed that lying leopard when he called from Vegas to say you and he had won a jackpot cruise around the world and were leaving the next day.”

The remorse in her mother’s voice made Jackie pull back to look at her. “Don’t blame yourself, Mama. He’s a world-class liar. I don’t envy anyone who marries him.”

“I should have known better.” Her mother pulled out two tissues from a packet and handed one to Jackie. “You’d never have left your clients in the lurch during tax season.”

Jackie chuckled. “True.” She sighed. “When did you get here?”

“At noon.” Her mother’s eyes gleamed. “My first trip through a fairy portal.” She waved fingers toward patient Trevor, standing ten feet away and undoubtedly listening to every word. “Your man called me this morning and told me everything that happened.” She smiled. “He’s very protective of you. He was afraid I’d disapprove of what you did to survive.”

Jackie shook her head. “That was me, Mama. I wanted to be the perfect daughter so Weirtree wouldn’t look down on you anymore.”

“Oh, baby, you could have been a saint and it wouldn’t have mattered. They were set against me the day I married your handsome father.” She shrugged. “I don’t give a flying fuck what they think.”

Trevor snorted in surprise.

Jackie laughed. “Good.” Her mother’s willingness to flout expectation had always been Jackie’s private delight. “What do you think of Kotoyeesinay?”

Her mother smiled. “Astounding. I had no idea...” She waved a hand to encompass the glade and the variety of species in it. “There’s magic in every stone and blade of grass.”

“Do you like it well enough to think about moving here instead of Houston, like we were planning?” Jackie felt tears welling again. Damn hormones. “Trevor and I are building a house. It’ll take me some time to get my finances straightened out again, after being away for so long, but I’ve been saving money so you could go anywhere but Weirtree.”

Her mother exchanged a look with Trevor, who had sidled closer to Jackie without her noticing. “It’s your surprise.”

Trevor grinned. “I asked Matteo to get the Williken pride to fund an irrevocable trust for Princess, for college and stuff. Matteo went above and beyond to, uhm, extract two more, one for your mother and one for you, as the injured family.” From out of the wide bag hanging on his belt, he took out two folded pieces of paper and handed it to her. “Have a look.”

The figure on the page took her breath away. “That’s… wow.” The education fund amount on the second page made her grin like a village idiot. “Princess could buy her own college.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks. Trevor took the papers back from her and handed her a tissue.

“Sorry.” Thank the goddess she’d decided against wearing any makeup for the day.

Her mother patted her shoulder. “It only gets worse. Wait’ll delivery.”

Jackie laughed. “Gee, thanks, Mama.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be here when the time comes. And yes, I’ll think about moving here. I want to know my granddaughter.” She hugged Jackie again. “I think that elven woman dressed in Gelsemium sempervirens wants to start.”

The ceremony was short and sweet. Guivre herself, resplendent in green vines with yellow flowers, acted as celebrant. She bound their hands together with a strand of spider web. “As you have already dedicated yourselves to one another in the shifter way, all that is left for me is to wish you a long life filled with health and happiness. The strength of love is not just the grand, but the small—the tiny gestures, the quiet thoughts, the anticipation of needs. Your children will feel it and learn from you, and all the world will be the better for it.”

She waved two fingers. The spider web settled into the skin of their wrists, making a complicated knotwork pattern before it vanished. Jackie felt the wave of subtle but powerful magic course through her, and she knew Trevor felt it, too. “Now you will always know where the other is, in this world or any other.”

Guivre splayed her fingers, and the shaded glade lit up with thousands of pinpoint lights. “I, for one, would like some fairy sundew.” She pointed to the table with a stack of full champagne glasses. “First round is on me.”

The attendees laughed and cheered as Trevor drew Jackie into his arms for a passionate kiss that left her no doubt what they’d be doing as soon as possible.

Before they could step away, Guivre touched Jackie’s forearm. “The glade welcomes you and accepts your pledge of defense. Talk to Iolo Maxen about honing your talent for making talismans. You’re a natural, and your talent will grow with time.” She touched Trevor’s hand. “The glade also welcomes you and accepts your pledge of defense. It’s been too long since we’ve had an Ice Age shifter gracing our presence. We are honored.”

“A what?” asked Trevor.

“An Arctotherium. From what is now called South America. Even ogres would hesitate to take on a bear of your size, with those claws.” Guivre cocked her head, and subtle magic flared. “I see. Your parents were imbeciles to drive you off.” She shook her head. “Regular shifters of this age instinctively fear you because you’re a predator of predators. Corrupt alphas like Roehm fear you most of all, because not even magic can make you submit.” Guivre smiled. “You are a gift of your moon goddess, born in mystery in times of need. Your mate will be, too, when you change her.”

Trevor frowned. “Whose magic? My mother’s? She says she doesn’t have any, that Aunt Straya got it all.”

Jackie narrowed her eyes. “Whose need?”

Guivre nodded at Jackie. “The world’s. Extraordinary beings for extraordinary challenges.” She smiled slightly. “Unfortunately, the unseen gods are always coy as to what those challenges are, until after the fact.”

Jackie rolled her eyes. “Just like politicians.”

Guivre laughed, and the glade echoed with the tiny shimmer of bells. “Yes, very like.” She stepped back and waved toward the guests. “Go celebrate with your families and make new friends.”

She turned and stepped daintily toward the red wyvern, who was crouching in the trees. She spoke in an unfamiliar language. The wyvern lowered his big head to the ground. There was something sad and soulful in the opalescent eyes.

Jackie slipped her hand into Trevor’s and felt the mate bond spring to life. “Come on, handsome, let’s do as we’ve been told.” She moved closer and gave him a provocative smile full of sin. “After that, I’m planning on a wild ride or two on my cowboy.”

He laughed as he scooped her and her amazing dress up into his arms and kissed her, then spun her in a circle. “You’re killing me here.”

She laughed. “Right back at you, cowboy.”

He set her back down on the ground and slipped his hand in hers.

She felt a familiar urge and sighed. “Do you suppose the glade heart has a place to pee?