Next morning

Kerr woke to the sensation of Ammy nuzzling his cock. He smiled and moved one hand to stroke her glossy black curls. “You got a plan for my morning wood? Or are you tormenting your mate?”

After a night of pleasure, he was one thoroughly mated Shifter, and Ammy was now his forever. He brushed her hair away from the mating mark he’d given her. He traced it and purred.

“Kerr?” Ammy’s voice was low and sultry. “Is that supposed to make me horny?”

“You mean this?” He touched the mark once more.

“Yes-s-s-s, damn you.” Ammy moaned and twitched her hips. He traced the mark again, this time with more pressure. She shot him a glare. “Do you want a blow job or to fuck me? Decide. Now.”

“Lady’s choice.” Kerr laughed as she crawled over him, putting her knees on either side of his thighs, and then took his cock inside her sweet pussy in one quick thrust. After the night they’d had, they fit together perfectly. “Ride me, darlin’. Take what you need.”

“What about what you need?” Ammy rotated her hips, and he groaned at the sensation.

Kerr cupped her breasts and tweaked the turgid peaks. “I’ll take what I need once you’re finished using me.”

“That’ll work. Now, kiss me, luv.” Ammy leaned down and offered her lips.

Kerr accepted the invitation and took control of the kiss while Ammy took control of his cock.

Yeah, mated life was starting out good. Now all he had to do was find the damn artifact and then convince Baba Yaga that Assjacket needed a magical artifacts library for Ammy to curate. Because while Ammy may have assured him over a late night snack she was happy to leave her job and live here full time, he’d known deep inside she’d miss her career.

What his witch wanted—needed to feel complete and happy in her new life—he’d see about providing.

* * *

Two hours later, Mac and Zelda’s house

“Are you sure the artifact’s magic leads back here?” Kerr stood in the front yard of Mac and Zelda’s house and stared at his well-pleasured mate. Damn, she was even more beautiful than when he’d first met her.

“Yes.” Ammy frowned at the house, tiny fists on her hips. Oliver had come out from under Mac’s porch and wended his way around Ammy’s legs. “The magic trail definitely leads straight here from Ardie’s den. Something stinks in this whole mess.”

“Well, one thing that stinks is my witch. She stinks like you, boy.” Oliver began to rub his cheek over as much of her lower body he could reach.

“She’s my mate, and she’s supposed to smell like me. And I agree, Ammy, something about the artifact theft is off.” Kerr hated unsolved mysteries; they made his whiskers twitch. The feeling was bad enough when he was in his animal form, but in his human form the twitching made him look as if he had some horrible neurological disorder. “If Ardie wasn’t lying to me—and I know his tells, so he wasn’t—then something rotten is going on in the town of Assjacket.”

“We’ll figure it out, luv.” Ammy leaned into him. “Have I told you today how much I adore you, Kerr?”

“Yeah, but I’ll never tire of hearing it, darlin’.” Kerr leaned down and gently took Ammy’s still kiss-swollen lips. Touching her in any way soothed his inner cat. “I love you, too, baby.”

“PDA. Gross. I think I’m gonna get sick.” Oliver choked and coughed as if he were hacking up a fur ball.

“House rules: You hack it up, you clean it up,” warned Kerr.

“That would be a good trick.” Oliver plopped on his butt, lifted his leg, and licked his balls. “No opposable thumbs.”

Snorting, Kerr turned to Ammy. “Let’s go in and see if Mac and Zelda have heard anything.”

“Okay. I also need to change clothes. I can’t go around wearing just your T-shirt like a dress all day.” Ammy preceded him into the house. Oliver trotted behind them.

“We’ll need to move your luggage to our home,” Kerr said. “We’ll also need to make a quick trip to England and get the rest of your things. I want you fully moved in as soon as possible.”

“Don’t forget my caviar,” Oliver said as he prowled toward the kitchen.

“And Oliver’s stuff, too.” Ammy gave Kerr a wink and a sunny smile.

“Well, look at you two.” Zelda and Mac entered the room, each holding one of the twins. “You were right.” Zelda looked toward her mate. “They did the deed. So … how was it? Worlds colliding? Universes exploding? Time-space continuum shift?”

Ammy laughed. “All of those and more. We broke the bed … the kitchen table, and … the porch swing. What can I say? Dogs drool, cats rule.”

Kerr howled with laughter as Mac growled.

Zelda giggled and nudged Mac with her shoulder. “We’ve got some work to do, babe. Time to defend the honor of canines everywhere.”

“Damn straight,” Mac grumbled, but Kerr could tell his friend wasn’t all that upset since he’d be getting a lot of loving out of the friendly competition.

“I know,” Zelda said. “Let’s get Dad and Babaneedstochangepoopydiapers to babysit. I want quality HoHo time.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Mac winked, then he turned to Kerr. “What the hell are you doing here anyway? It’s your honeymoon. Better enjoy it while you can.”

Kerr started to speak when a flash of powerful magic announced Baba Yaga’s arrival in a transport vortex, followed by Fabio entering through the front door.

“Look at the lovebirds.” Baba Yaga, dressed once again back in the ’80s Madonna-mode after her brief sortie into the ’90s, gave them what Kerr could only describe as a benevolent smile. “I knew you were meant for each other.” She winked and mock-whispered, “Had a little inside intel from the Goddess, ya know.”

Kerr stiffened. He looked at Ammy. Inside intel?

That smell I mentioned? Ammy said.

Yeah?

There never was a theft, Ammy concluded.

“You’re shittin’ me.” Kerr looked from Ammy to Baba Yaga, who now wore a sly smile, and then back to Ammy.

“Never would I shit you,” Ammy replied in a serious tone. “Baba Yaga, the artifact was never stolen, right?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely one hundred percent correct.” Baba Yaga led the way to the mantel, waved a hand, and muttered something that sounded like, “Revealasaurous.”

A flash of azure sparkly magic and the reliquary containing Merlin’s Foreskin sat in all its gleaming purple phallic glory on the mantel.

“Why?” Kerr snarled. “Why make us think the artifact was stolen?”

“Why, to throw you two together, of course.” Baba Yaga laughed, a tinkling of bells. “Next to Zelda, your Ammy is one of my most favorite witches in the world. Her piece-of-shit mother never appreciated all Amethyst’s sterling qualities and talents and kept trying to match her with some of the biggest dickhead warlocks in jolly old England. I had to do something.”

“And what was that, exactly?” Kerr pulled Ammy closer against his side and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

“I sought the advice of the Goddess, of course. She and I are BFFs.” Baba Yaga shrugged. “Just part of the job of being the most powerful witch in the world. And if you can’t use your powers to help those you care about … then why have the powers in the first effin’ place? Right?”

“Right.” Kerr wasn’t going to disagree. Baba Yaga’s plotting had brought him his soul mate.

“Thank you, Baba Yaga, for bringing me here and making sure I stayed,” Ammy said. “But why now? Mildred has been trying to match me up with twits like Reginald for years.”

Baba Yaga frowned. The atmosphere in the room heated up until steamy mist hung in the air. “Well, you were handling the losers just fine, then that bitch finally went too far. You think Reggie the Wanna-Be-Rapist had the smarts and magical ability to research and use dark magic spells that could breach your defensive magic, sweet Amethyst? No, he didn’t. Your bitch of a mother gave him the spells and drilled him until he could do them in his sleep. She fricking ticked me and the Goddess off. Millerina is the kind of witch that gives other witches a bad name. And when both me and the Goddess are ticked, heads roll.”

“Literally?” Kerr asked. “Because if not, I’d like a few moments alone with Ammy’s mother to express my displeasure over her abuse of my little witch.”

“Milly is already paying for her turn to the dark side.” Baba Yaga’s smile this time was so cruelly satisfied that Kerr shuddered. “She’s in prison, in solitary and stripped of all her magic. It’s not the country club where you were incarcerated, Zelda. And she’ll stay there until she repents.”

“Will that happen?” Kerr asked Ammy.

“No,” Baba Yaga answered for Ammy. “Old Milly is a sociopathic narcissist. She’ll never admit she’s in the wrong. She’s fully convinced the rest of us are whacked.”

Ammy sighed and rubbed her cheek against Kerr’s chest. “I’m afraid that’s accurate. I managed to avoid her plots for most of my life, but knew she was getting more and more desperate to see me settled to her advantage. Then … Reginald happened.”

“Yes, that was the last straw.” Baba Yaga shook her head and tsked. “Her actions forced me to step in and make sure you found the one man on this Earth who could love, cherish, and protect you. Live well, children, and name me godmama to your kittens.” Baba Yaga clapped her hands. “Now, let’s eat. I’m starved.”

As Baba Yaga turned to lead the way into the kitchen, she looked over her shoulder. “FYI, Amethyst, a certain studly bobcat Shifter sent a request into the ether. The Goddess and I granted it. The U.K. Magical Artifacts Library is being relocated and will now be called the Appalachian Regional Magical Artifacts Library. Your salary will increase, and you’ll have health insurance and a 401(k) plan.”

Ammy shrieked, a happy sound, and threw her arms around Kerr’s neck.

He pulled her up and placed her legs around his waist. “Happy, darlin’?” he asked as she peppered his face with kisses.

“Yes, since now I have everything I could want. You. A chance at a family. And my job. I am beyond happy.”

“What my witch wants, she gets. That’s a promise from me to you.” Then Kerr kissed her to seal the deal.

Mac and Zelda cheered.

Oliver muttered, “Get a room.”

Baba Yaga and Fabio laughed.

And the purple reliquary glowed.

All in all, it was a glorious beginning to a beautiful life.