Chapter Thirty
‡
They’d taken turns showering, so someone could stay with Minette in the kitchen. Now clean and aching in every muscle, Ryder had Minette on his lap. His emotions hammered at him, impossible to control.
There was delight as his cub chattered about her night, her words flowing as if she’d stored them up to use all at once.
There was rage as she told him about being scared and how dark the trail to the tavern had been. He felt as if he had a noose around his neck at the thought of losing his little kitten.
He’d thought love was an on-off emotion, not one that expanded to fill the universe.
Sensing she’d lost his attention, Minette twisted in his arms, took his face between her tiny hands, and frowned at him. “Daddy, d’ink you mi’k.”
“Right, kitten.” The kitchen was brightening as the morning sun streamed in the windows. He caught Ben’s glance. What the fuck were they supposed to do now?
Ben’s face was pale. The deepened lines bracketing his mouth showed the strain of the night, of being hurt, of the healing that had drawn on both the patient and the healer’s reserves.
“We’re clean and hydrated as the healer ordered. Let’s get our li’l females to bed.” He put his arm around Emma, lifting her off the chair.
“You’re the only two people in the world who call me little,” The light in Emma’s amber eyes said she didn’t mind at all.
“Keep telling you, bard, to males like us, you’re the perfect size,” Ryder said.
Ben shot him a grin.
“Pretty Emma,” Minette chimed in.
“Aren’t you just the ego-stoking group?” Emma leaned forward to kiss Minette’s cheek as Ryder rose.
His cub was already falling asleep by the time he made it up the fucking, unending stairs. At the top, he waited for Ben and Emma. Neither was moving any faster.
Emma glanced at Ryder and Minette. “If you’re not planning to sleep next to her, do you mind if I do?”
Before he could answer, Ben tilted his head. “My bed’s big enough for three and a half.”
“Aye,” Ryder said, no thinking needed.
Emma’s mouth dropped open. “But—”
“It’s a big bed, darlin’,” Ben said. “We’ve been in it before, aye?”
“Well, true, but—”
Ryder studied her. She didn’t look unhappy at the thought as much as surprised, and he’d bet a breakfast bunny her mother’d never shared her bed with a cub. But with their animal heritage, most shifters reverted to needing tactile contact during stress…like cubs piling in a heap on their mother.
Emma’s shivering hadn’t stopped despite a hot shower. She needed them. He admitted the rest—they needed her just as much. “We’ll even let you sleep between us. No nightmares will get past us.”
She looked shocked he’d join Ben in ganging up on her. Then, with a soft accepting sigh, she showed her courage. “I want that. I want you both and Minette with me, so I can make sure you’re still alive each time I wake up.”
“Yes. Exactly.”
When they were all piled in the bed, males, female, and cub, Ryder gave a long, low, contented sigh. Minette was against his chest. Emma’s cinnamon scent drifted to him. He could hear his brother’s slow breathing.
Alive and together.
*
As a gentle afternoon rain began, Ben woke and lay still, taking stock. The weariness was better. The aches in his shoulder, arm, and sides—gone. Thanks to the God’s gifts, cahirs had more resilience than most shifters.
He also hadn’t slept so deeply in years. Didn’t take a genius to know why. On his side, he faced the center of the bed, curled around a soft, lush body. Emma’s round ass was pressed against his groin, her back was against his chest, and he had his arm over her and Minette. Ryder was in the same position, facing the cub, his arm over both females.
For long, contented minutes, Ben soaked in the joy of having his female and cub in his arms. Of having his brother beside him to love and protect their small family. This was how it should be.
Last night had been…bad. If he lost his family now, he doubted he’d survive. His mouth tightened as he recalled his terror at hearing Minette was missing, seeing Emma on the ground, and Ryder fighting the hellhound.
His littermate had risked his life to save Emma, and afterward, charged in to help Ben. Emma would’ve sacrificed herself to save the cub. Could a male have any more worthy partners in life? Fuck, they made him proud.
He loved them. His littermate. Emma. Minette.
That needed to be shown. Made fact. If the Cosantir thought to take the cub, he’d face them all.
But a united front was merely a side benefit, he admitted. The step they’d take now was what his heart, not logic, demanded.
Emma’s breathing was slow and even, the flush of health in her cheeks. She’d recovered. His brother’s color had returned. Minette looked like any happy, sleeping cub. From the little twitches, she’d awaken soon.
Sliding out of bed, Ben headed for the phone to call Angie.
Fifteen minutes later, Angie showed up, her van filled with her grandchildren. A bouncing, talkative Minette was delighted to join them.
After waving the cub off, Ben trotted back up the stairs to find Emma and Ryder were awake.
“Who was at the door?” Emma’s voice was husky with sleep as she stood beside the bed.
“Angie and her grandchildren. They took Minette to join them for an afternoon of frosting cookies.” He shook his head. “She said something about the cookies having the shapes of shifters and OtherFolk.”
“Oh, I saw the cut-outs. The dwarf one was really cute. All beard and nose,” Emma said.
Ben winced, hoping Gramlor never saw the cookies. The dwarf wasn’t known for his sense of humor.
“I can imagine it now. Purple pixies and green salamanders with stripes.” Ryder grinned, and then lifted his eyebrows at Ben, asking silently why he’d sent the cub away.
“Almost dying last night made me think.” Why couldn’t his tongue be smoother? More persuasive? “I saw how easily I could have lost you two. How much I love you both.” He stepped closer to Emma, crowding her slightly to run a finger down her cheek. “Seeing you in danger sets my blood to boiling. I have a need to…feel…for myself that you’re alive.”
He knew his scent was changing, conveying his desire.
Emma’s mouth formed an “O.” But as Ben’s finger trailed down to the hollow of her neck, her scent took on the fragrance of arousal.
Ben glanced at Ryder, then at the bedside table.
Ryder hesitated before nodding. No further explanations were needed. This was what they wanted. What they’d planned to do all along. As always, since meeting as adults, he and Ben were running the trail, shoulder-to-shoulder, as littermates should.
Ben pulled Emma into his arms and kissed her, slowly and deeply, savoring the way her mouth softened, how she melted into him, how her arms came around his neck. Cinnamon and spice, and everything nice. Yes, this was the right time to make her theirs.
A drawer opened and closed.
He lifted his head and turned her to face Ryder. As Ryder’s arms came around her, Ben took one bracelet from his littermate’s outstretched hand.
Despite the anxiety welling within him, he smiled as Ryder took his time kissing Emma. When his littermate stepped back, their female was flushed, and her arousal scented the air. Nothing in the world could smell as sweet.
Now…if she agreed, they could celebrate properly.
She reached for them and frowned when they didn’t move. “What’s wrong?”
Ben glanced at Ryder and knelt.
Ryder’s shoulder was against his as he did the same.
Ben cleared his throat. “We love you, Emma. And you love us, don’t you?”
Her hands covered her mouth. “I still haven’t said it, have I? But…it’s so hard.” Yet even as her lips trembled, her eyes grew determined. Straightening her shoulders, their female gave them all that was her. “Yes. I love you both.”
She pulled in another breath. “I love you, Ben. I love you, Ryder.”
“She makes it sound as if her claws are being pulled out.” Although Ryder grinned, his voice rasped with emotion.
“Let’s see what she sounds like when she says yes to something else,” Ben said. He lifted his hand, the lifemating bracelet on his bear-sized palm. The silvery, moon-shaped discs ranged from the thinnest crescent to a full circle. “Emma Cavanaugh, we love you. We want you as our lifemate, to carry in our hearts and souls throughout this life and into the next.”
Tears filled her eyes.
Ryder lifted his hand, his lifemating bracelet on his callused palm. “You’ll be our center, the heart of our family. We’ll laugh with you in times of joy, hold you during the sad times, and guard you from danger.” He grinned. “And teach you to cook.” Trust the cat to add something extra.
Even as her tears spilled over and down her cheeks, she gave a hiccupped laugh.
“We’ll sing with you, make love to you, and…” Ben pulled in a slow breath. “And gift you with our cubs.”
Her eyes went solemn—she knew, she knew what offspring meant to him. Her smile appeared, turning her beauty into something shining. She held her arm out. “Yes. I say yes.”
Ours.
With careful fingers, Ben slid a bracelet on her left wrist.
Ryder’s eyes were moist as he did the same.
By the God, nothing in the world looked as beautiful as their bracelets on her arm. When Ryder rubbed a shoulder against his, Ben’s throat thickened. Family. They had a family.
Eventually, their female noticed the two other bracelets on the nightstand. The discs were larger. Magicked by a blademage to make them “elastic” during a trawsfur, these gleaming silver wires were much thicker. “Those are mine for you, aren’t they?”
When Ben nodded, she picked them up.
“Whatever happens tonight, we’ll be together.” Her soft golden-brown eyes were filled with love. “This is right.”
She put one on Ryder’s wrist, one on Ben’s, and marked them as her own. With a lilt in her clear voice, she added, “For as long as life shall last and long beyond, I’ll be your lifemate.”
*
That night, Ryder parked the SUV in the Wild Hunt parking lot. As the others got out, Ryder walked around the vehicle. Despite the full day of rest, weariness pulled at his bones and muscles, making him feel as if he was wading through waist-high wet snow.
Emma clasped his hand. “It’ll work out.”
“Sure it will.” Fuck, he was a liar.
“Ready?” Ben plucked Minette out of the backseat and handed her over as if he knew how much Ryder needed her in his arms.
“Hang on, kitten.” He jiggled his cub and pretended to drop her, just to hear her laugh. To hear her laugh. She had an infectious little-girl giggle, and all three adults grinned.
Worry filled Emma’s eyes.
Oh, he understood the aching dread of never hearing the cub after today. Ryder squeezed her hand. When his loved ones had been safely cuddling in one bed earlier, he’d felt as if the Lord of the Hunt had granted him his heart’s desire. But, the closer they came to the tavern, the more his emotions shredded.
He could lose Minette—because of a vindictive, lazy, greedy female.
Stay calm. Don’t give up. But wasn’t this depressingly familiar…right to the glares from Genevieve, a male, and a covey of females who entered the tavern.
The trip across the parking lot was made in silence.
The tavern door had a large CLOSED sign, and two males stood outside to ensure no humans entered. Since the Wild Hunt occasionally closed for special events of the human’s social clubs, no one thought twice when Calum closed it for the quite imaginary Celtic Mystics Club. Calum told curious humans the group was private and exclusive, something like the medieval Templars. Thus odd shifter happenings—like Zeb and Shay kneeling before the Cosantir on Main Street—could be explained away as initiation rites.
While the guards and Ben exchanged greetings, Ryder looked around. Despite the short notice, the room was filled. Daonain from around the territory lined the walls and sat at tables and on bar stools. Calum stood behind the bar. Alec, Zeb, Vicki, and Angie sat at one end.
Near the pool tables, shifters from the two construction crews along with their relatives had commandeered tables.
The wolf pack occupied a cluster of tables with Bree and Shay at the center. Genevieve and her covey of buddies had joined them.
“There she is. There’s my baby!” Genevieve jumped to her feet.
Sudden silence shrouded the room.
Minette buried her face in Ryder’s neck.
He tightened his arm around her. “Easy, kitten. I have you.”
Emma drew closer. “We’re here, sweetie. It’ll be all right.”
With her thumb in her mouth, Minette grabbed Emma’s shirt, keeping her close.
“The Cosantir’s at the bar.” Ben nodded toward Calum.
“Aye. Let’s get this over with,” Ryder said grimly.
“Ryder.” Bonnie approached from the side. “Brady and Van have our cubs in the kitchen. Calum asked my males to guard your cub with our own.”
Let his kitten go somewhere else? He noticed Genevieve approaching, undoubtedly planning on an earsplitting confrontation. Minette didn’t need to hear her mother yelling. The kitchen would be a safer place; no one would get past Bonnie’s big mates.
“Thank you, Bonnie.” He kissed Minette’s cheek. “I’ll come and get you when the adult talk is over. If you’ve been good, we’ll have a root beer.”
The cub hesitated, but nodded. Silent again.
“Come, young catlet.” After taking her gently from Ryder, Bonnie carried her away. “Tyler wanted popcorn. Do you want to help us make some?”
“I hate letting her out of my sight, but this is better,” Ben said, voicing Ryder’s thoughts as Genevieve arrived with the male beside her.
“Minette is my child, you abusive thief,” she yelled. “The Cosantir and the shifters in this territory won’t let you keep my cub. No male should steal a child—especially someone who likes to hit females and cubs.”
“I’ve never hit a female or cub in my life.” His voice came out strong, but he already knew no one would believe him.
“Oh, right.” The female named Candice rose from the wolves’ tables. “I saw Genevieve’s bruises. All over her body.”
Another female chimed in, “By the Mother, look at her face and arms.”
Obligingly, Genevieve tilted her face to let the lamps highlight the purple bruising on her jaw and cheekbone. To show off the rest of the damage, she’d worn a low-cut, sleeveless shirt.
Even knowing what a shrew she was, the marks on her body made him sick. That was…just wrong. “I don’t know who hurt you, Genevieve, but you know it wasn’t me.”
“No one else would want to hurt her,” Candice yelled. “You hit her.”
Yeah, this was going just as it had before.
“He wouldn’t.” Tullia, the wolf whose house they’d remodeled rose from the wolf pack’s tables. He couldn’t believe the elderly recluse had left her home. “I’ve seen Ryder with the cub. He’s an excellent sire.”
“Yeah, the cub adores her daddy.” To Ryder’s surprise, the yell came from the construction crew. More shouts from them followed…
“He’s a great father. He’d sure as hell never hurt the pup.”
“By the God, he almost panicked the day she fell down and cried.”
“Helped kill a hellhound to save his cub, for fuck’s sake.”
Face flaming at being opposed, Candice put her hands on her hips and faced the crew’s table. “Ryder is worse than any hellhound.”
“Like you know him at all? You ever even spoken to him?” Kenner, the drywall finisher, crossed his arms over his beefy chest and lifted his chin at Shay. “Control your mouthy wolf, alpha. That’s our cat.”
Our cat. The construction crew had claimed him. The sensation filling Ryder was…indescribable.
Rather than take offense, Shay glanced at his mate. “Sorry, a leannán. I think this one is yours.”
Bree scowled at him. Then she stood, leaned her hands on the table, and stared at Candice. A menacing growl rolled through the room.
Candice turned pale and sat abruptly. When Bree continued to growl, she went all the way down to her knees. With a satisfied nod, Bree resumed her seat.
“This isn’t right.” The young male standing next to Genevieve planted his feet. “Cubs don’t go to sires if a mother is around. Ever.”
As others in the room nodded, Ryder tensed. He couldn’t let Genevieve win. Minette wouldn’t survive the neglect, let alone the abuse.
As if he felt Ryder’s despair, Ben squeezed his shoulder. His voice boomed through the room as it often did on a construction site. “Most females take care of their cubs, but Genevieve doesn’t. She’s a damaged female who’d rather fuck than care for her baby.” He lifted his chin at Genevieve. “You’re damned good at manipulating males, but the Cosantir and the shifters in this territory are smarter than you think.”
Ryder pulled in a breath. Don’t give up before the fight is over, cat. His inhalation brought him Emma’s angry scent. She stood so close her arm brushed his.
“How could you say such a thing to me?” Genevieve burst into tears and pointed to Ryder. “He—he’s such a terrible person that he was driven out of Farway. Everyone there knows how vicious he is, so out of control. He can’t be trus—”
“Actually, female, the town was delighted he rescued his cub.” Owen’s deep voice filled the room as he entered the tavern.
“What?” Genevieve puffed up.
Using a loud voice, Owen said to Ryder. “Everyone in Farway knows you dumped this female before leaving. After you, she took up with a wolf pair, but they kicked her out of their house for fucking every tail in town.”
The crudeness triggered gasps from the older females in the room. Ryder almost joined them.
The corner of Owen’s mouth tilted up. “The wolves wanted to keep Minette, but the shrew wouldn’t let them, since the wolf pack provides money to unmated females with cubs. Yeah, so when Ryder took Minette, the Farway alpha cut off her funds.”
Ryder exchanged a look with Ben. No wonder she was fighting to reclaim a cub she didn’t love.
“You liar,” Genevieve screamed.
As she went into another yelling fit, Ryder turned to Owen. “You went to Farway?”
Owen nudged him with his shoulder—a cat’s equivalent of a slap on the shoulder. “Thought I might get answers you couldn’t.”
Ryder felt a strange tightness in his chest and managed a low, “Thanks.”
Owen shrugged. “I owed Ben—and hey, even cats can have friends.”
“Don’t listen to that male. Ryder is violent. Look what he did to me yesterday.” Genevieve pulled down her shirt to show an ugly red welt along her shoulder blade.
Emma’s anger grew and grew at the lies coming out of the female’s mouth.
“Yesterday? But…when?” The male who’d hidden in Genevieve’s cabin last night blinked in confusion. “The only time you weren’t with me was yesterday afternoon when I went to the barbecue. That guy”—he motioned to Ryder—“he was at the barbecue the whole time.”
Emma leaned closer to Ryder, holding her breath in hope.
“He wasn’t,” Genevieve stated.
“Yeah, he was,” the male said, looking confused. “He was with the bard the entire time.” The male’s gaze took in the lifemating bands on Emma and Ryder’s wrists. “His lifemate.”
“Lifemate? He lifemated that”—Genevieve’s voice rose to a piercing screech—“that huge thing calling itself female? He wouldn’t have anything to do with her.” Her lips curled back off her teeth. “He’s mine.” She lunged at Emma.
Huffing in annoyance, Emma smacked her alongside the head—hard.
Genevieve staggered backward, flapping her arms like a startled goose. With a loud wail, she landed on her ass.
Oh, Goddess, what did I do? Trying to feel remorse, Emma found only satisfaction in her heart.
Ben’s roar of laughter was almost drowned out by the cheers of his construction crew and an amazing number of clapping and laughing shifters.
Ryder slung an arm over her shoulders. “My female, you have no idea how much I enjoyed seeing you take her on.”
“I hadn’t anticipated you doing a smackdown.” The sheriff sauntered past Emma, patted her arm in a disconcerting approval, and went down on his haunches next to Genevieve. “Not many shifters are stupid enough to take on a bear.”
“She-she hit me!” Genevieve started crying again.
“Mmmhmm. Seems someone else did, too.” Alec turned the female’s face to the light and scrutinized her bruises. “You wear rings, Ryder?” he asked in an easy voice.
“What?” Ryder frowned. “No. They get caught on shit—good way for a carpenter to lose a finger. I don’t even own any.”
“Figured.” Alec pointed to two purple marks in the center of each bruise, which resembled the dark center of a flower. “I’ve seen injuries like this before. We’ve got a human in town who gets off on punching his girlfriends. He wears two oversized rings to increase the damage.”
“A human hit her?” Angie’s voice added to the comments from the rest of the room…
“Seriously?”
“She got beat up by a human?”
“Why’d she say Ryder did it?”
Outraged noises filled the room.
“Not a bad punch, bear.” From nowhere, Vicki appeared next to Emma. Sneaky cat. “It lacked style, but was surprisingly effective.”
Well. Emma blinked. The Cosantir’s mate wasn’t critical of Emma’s lack of control, only her…technique?
“Um. Thank you.” She leaned down and whispered a confession. “It felt good, too.”
Vicki actually laughed. “You have the makings of a Marine.”
“Herne forfend. Do not encourage her, Vixen,” Alec muttered, joining them. “I better take control of this before it deteriorates further.”
Emma frowned. Wasn’t running a meeting the Cosantir’s job? But Calum still stood behind the bar, hands resting on the top, simply watching.
Vicki leaned in. “Calum is letting Alec run with this so everything will get brought into the open. Once the Cosantir invokes the God, there’s not much talking. Judgment is swift.”
Judgment. The word sent a chill through Emma. She sent up her own invocation to the Mother of All. Please, don’t take Minette from us.
Two females helped Genevieve to her feet. It appeared as if her covey had decreased. Emma spotted her other two followers kneeling beside Candice at Bree’s feet. Shoulders were hunched, heads bowed. Any movement netted a growl from a pack member.
“Genevieve, come here, please.” Alec said, voice level.
Gaze averted from Emma, Genevieve walked over.
“Shifters.” Alec’s raised voice quieted the room. “By Daonain tradition, a cub is placed with her mother, especially since litters often have more than one father. We must remember, however, that tradition is not law.”
The noise rose.
He waited until he could be heard again. “This female here has been proven to be untruthful and she has lied about another shifter.” His nose wrinkled. “Does she wear human perfume to conceal the scent of her lies?”
Whispers ran around the room.
“I know all the mothers here would understand.” Genevieve clasped her hands over her breasts, and tears brimmed in her eyes. “He’ll steal my baby from me. Please don’t let him take my cub.”
The female was dodging the whole issue of her lies. And the mothers in the room looked concerned. Emma wanted to hit her again.
“We should ask which of these two parents is most capable of caring for the cub,” Alec said calmly.
The room grew silent again.
“When did Minette leave your care, Genevieve?” Alec asked.
She named the date and straightened her shoulders. “I’ve been searching for her ever since.” Her face crumpled. “I’m so sorry for creating a scene. I-I just want my baby. I want her safe from him.”
When frowns appeared, Emma felt Ryder stiffen. Shifters protected females and cubs. Tears were appallingly effective.
“Ryder and Minette arrived in Cold Creek a week after that date. Am I right?” Alec asked Ben.
“Right,” Ben said.
“Did you see any signs of abuse?” Alec asked.
Ben tried to recall his first sight of the cub. “She was several pounds lighter than now and—”
“He’s Ryder’s littermate. Of course he’s going to lie for his brother!” Genevieve shouted. She turned to the people in the bar. “Please, just tell him to give me my baby.”
Alec frowned. “Cahirs in the North Cascades Territory don’t lie. But let’s call an impartial witness. Is the healer here?”
Donal moved forward. “Aye, Alec.”
“Did you see Minette when she first arrived?”
“I did. She was very underweight. She also had healing bruises on her face and hands and back. I’d say most of them were far older than a week. She was also unable to speak and terrified of her shadow.”
“Her condition improved while she was living with her sire?”
“No question about it.” Donal’s silver eyes iced when he looked at Genevieve. “If you feel this one needs to be starved a bit to show her what hunger feels like, I’d be delighted to do so.”
The mood of the crowd swung back. The healer was respected—and everyone knew tactfulness wasn’t part of his personality.
“She’s my little baby, and I didn’t have any money for food. You can’t blame me for being broke.” Genevieve turned to Alec, her beautiful face appealing. “I need to stay with her. You wouldn’t keep her from her mother, would you?”
Emma heard Ryder’s growl before Ben stated, “You’re not getting anywhere near her.”
“You don’t have anything to say about it,” Genevieve said. She turned to Alec, laid her hand on his chest, and rubbed her breasts on his arm. “The Cosantir makes those decisions.”
Alec chuckled and stepped away. “Wasting your time, wolf. Wrong prey.”
“Genevieve is right, however. I believe all the facts have been aired.” The interruption came in a deep, clipped voice as Calum moved out from behind the bar. His dark face was as remote as Emma had ever seen it.
Scowling, Genevieve turned her venom on the intruder. “What’s it to you, you—” Her voice strangled in her throat when she met Calum’s gaze. A blind person could see the power crackling off him, and she must have just realized Alec wasn’t the guardian of the territory.
Emma had a feeling the female wouldn’t attempt the breast-rubbing technique with this obviously pissed off Cosantir.
“Donal stated the child was underfed while in your care.” Calum’s gaze ran over Genevieve. “It seems you didn’t stint your own portions or attire.” He turned to Shay. “Does the wolf pack fund single mothers?”
Shay smiled slightly. “The pack provides cub-sitting so mothers can work. In addition, Angie gives free meals to cubs and mothers for dishwasher services at the diner.”
Genevieve’s mask slipped for a second to show her fury. Then she said smoothly, “Oh, but my home is in Deschutes Territory. I can give little Minette a far better life there where we both have friends.”
“And where you can receive money for possessing a cub.” The Cosantir turned to Ben. “You were seen talking with Amanda Golden—the realtor. Are you putting your house on the market? Did you and Ryder plan to leave everything, take the cub, and run?”
Gasps sounded around the room along with loud protests from the construction crew.
Emma noted the past tense. Because there would be no running now, would there?
Ben’s lips compressed at the incriminating question. But a cahir didn’t lie to the avatar of his god. “Aye.”
Calum’s glance landed on her. “Emma? You’re respected here as our bard. As a teacher. Did you intend to go with them?”
“Yes.” She showed her wrist and smiled at the lifemating bands. “I go with my mates—and our cub.”
“Felicitations, bard.” Alec’s pleased grin earned a reproving look from his brother.
“Well, honestly.” Genevieve crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts up. “I don’t see what the big deal is. They were afraid and planning to steal my child.”
Joe Thorson put a foot up on a chair. “I see the point you’re making, Cosantir. Ryder, his brother, and lifemate want the cub enough to give up the life they’ve made here.”
“Leaving isn’t the only sacrifice they were willing to make,” Zeb said in his harsh voice. He gave Genevieve a dark look. “That so-called mother fled into her cabin, leaving her child outside with a hellhound.”
Genevieve glared at Zeb.
The uproar in the tavern increased. For all he looked like he’d terrify demons, Zeb was held in awe and respected by the community.
“She sure did.” Shay rose to sit on his table. He pointed at Emma. “The bard almost lost her life saving the cub from the hellhound. Ryder attacked the hellhound to keep it from ripping her apart.”
Emma realized the entire tone of the tavern had shifted. Sympathy for Genevieve had faded to nearly nothing.
“But…but, I was afraid.” Genevieve held her hands out to the crowd. “You would have been also.”
Calum said something to Alec before turning to answer Genevieve. “Everyone is afraid of a hellhound. The question is who were you trying to save—yourself or a cub?”
The male standing beside Genevieve dropped his gaze and moved away from her.
Calum crossed his arms over his chest. “I think it’s clear where the cub is better cared for and better loved.”
A hum of agreement ran around the room.
Calum continued, “However, the bond between a mother and child can’t be ignored.”
Genevieve nodded vehemently. “Yes. See?”
“So. Has anyone ever seen a well-loved child willing to be parted from her mother?”
As Calum’s keen gaze swept the crowd, Ryder saw the shifters shaking their heads. No one volunteered an exception.
“Excellent. We shall allow Minette a choice in her future.” The Cosantir motioned to where Alec was crossing the tavern with Minette in his arms.
Calum plucked Minette from his brother, set her on her feet, and went to one knee in front of her. His hand cupped her little chin. “Cub, should I send you to live with your mother?”
He paused.
Minette’s forehead crinkled with worry. Thumb going into her mouth, the cub looked at Genevieve.
Genevieve held out her hand. “Come here, baby. I love you, and I’ll take care of you.”
Bitterness rose in Emma in a foul cloud of darkness. Why would Calum do this? Minette couldn’t stand against her mother influence.
But Minette was shaking her head. She backed away until she could hide behind Ryder’s legs like a terrified puppy.
Genevieve stepped forward.
Emma felt her hand close in a fist—and she stepped in front of Ryder at the same time Ben did.
Genevieve stopped dead.
Calum spoke. “Ryder, ask Minette if she wants to live with you.”
Ryder knelt to face his cub. He had to clear his throat twice before he could speak. “Kitten, do you want to stay with me?”
“Daddy.” Without any hesitation, she burrowed into his arms.
As he lifted her, she wrapped her legs around his waist, clinging tighter than a burr. His eyes were wet before he closed them and rested his cheek on the top of the cub’s head.
Emma heard his whispered, “Thank you, Mother of All,” before he took his place between Emma and Ben.
The entire tavern filled with cheers.
It was over. By the God, the cub was safe. Ben’s eyes burned as if he’d peeled a sinkful of onions.
“Nice job, Cosantir,” Alec said to his brother, then motioned toward Minette. “But I hope it’s all right if the greedy cub demands more than one parent.”
The cub wanted Genevieve, too? Dismayed, Ben looked at Minette.
Not Genevieve.
The cub had her fingers wrapped securely around Emma’s braid—and her other hand was fisted on Ben’s shirtsleeve. The kitten was claiming all three of them as her own.
Laughing in relief, Ben put his hand over hers. So little. So beloved.
“Indeed, I do believe her wishes are quite clear. Herne agrees as does the Mother.” The Cosantir turned to Genevieve. His eyes darkened to the deepest of blacks with the presence of the God. “The bond between you is broken.”
Ben saw Minette jolt.
Genevieve staggered back, and her hand pressed her chest at the cleaving of the mother-child bond. “You can’t…”
“You abused one of the Mother’s precious cubs.” The Cosantir’s expression turned to granite. “Last night, your greedy, vindictive actions caused the death of one of my shifters. If you are within my territory by morning—or ever again—I will find you and send you back to the Mother.”
Genevieve’s face went white at the promise of death. Her mouth opened and closed, and she fled the tavern, abandoning her male companion without a backward look.
The Cosantir’s gaze took in the male who now stood alone. “Jeffrey, you came to the rescue of your female, Genevieve, but abandoned another female and child to the hellhound.”
“I did.” The shifter bowed his head. “I…I let her push me into the cabin. I wanted to come back out, but she shifted to wolf and stopped me.” The lad pulled up a sleeve to show oozing marks from a bite. So he had tried.
The Cosantir waited silently for…Ben didn’t know what.
And then he did when Jeffrey pulled in a breath and turned to face Emma. “A wiser male wouldn’t have listened to Genevieve. Wouldn’t have been pushed around—or cowed by a bite. I’m sorry, bard.”
“I understand,” she said softly.
Ben felt her shiver. Donal had healed her body, but…Ben could only imagine what she’d felt when left out in the dark and cold with a cub, left to face a hellhound. His mate had a soft heart. Ben did not.
“You have summed it up well, Jeffrey.” Calum’s face softened slightly. “I will not banish you, but you will leave this territory. After three winters, you may return and we’ll discover if you have acquired some wisdom. The Mother has given you gifts. Endeavor to prove worthy of them.”
The stiffness drained from the young male, and his eyes gleamed with sudden tears. “Thank you, Cosantir. I—I will return at the appointed time and show you that your mercy is justified.” Head bowed and without a glance at the front door through which Genevieve had disappeared, Jeffrey moved toward the back of the bar and the portal leading into the wilderness.
As he left, Ben discovered his heart held sympathy after all. Jeffrey wasn’t the first male Genevieve had almost destroyed. Thank the God that Ryder had learned and was back where he belonged.
Next to Ben, Ryder whispered to the cub, “I love you, kitten, forever and ever.”
With her arms around his neck, she planted a kiss on his cheek.
So fucking little. But not alone any longer. It was time to make the changes clear.
“May I hold the cub?” he asked his littermate.
“Our cub,” Ryder corrected, even before knowing what was on Ben’s mind. He passed her over, kissing the top of her head as he did.
Gripping Minette around the waist, Ben lifted her over his head.
To his delight, she showed no fear, but beamed down at him.
“This is the cub of my littermate.” His voice boomed through the room. He turned so all the shifters had a chance to see her. “I say she is my cub as well. Her heart and body and soul are mine and my mates’ to guard as long as life shall last.” He lowered her to kiss her forehead.
Her little hands patted his face before she planted a kiss on his big nose.
He laughed and shouted, “Have I witnesses?”
The room shook with the voices of his clan. “Witnessed.”
The Cosantir smiled slightly. “Let it be so.”
Joy surged through Ben, and he couldn’t keep it from his face. As he held Minette in one arm, he gave Ryder a bear’s smack on the shoulder. “We share, bro. Aye?”
Emma’s cheeks were wet with tears as Ryder gathered her in one arm and pulled her between them—the place their lifemate belonged. “Aye, brother. By the God, aye.”