Two nights before the summer solstice, at Feral Passions Resort
The summer solstice wasn’t until Monday, but they held the mating ceremony on a Saturday night when there were no guests at the resort. Instead, the lush meadow was filled with strikingly handsome men, including a few older mated couples who’d made the trip back to the preserve just for this occasion.
Cherry wore a beautiful white gown and stood between Cain and Brad. Steph and Christa wore white as well, standing proudly between Ronan and Wils. The sisters and Steph had shared so much laughter all day while preparing for tonight, they’d decided ahead of time not to risk even a glance at one another until Trak completed the ceremony.
They’d all made their first shifts the weekend before, but tonight? Tonight was the real thing, more real even than growing fur and running on four legs. Tonight Cherry stood in front of the pack alpha, promising to love and cherish the two men who promised the same to her and to each other.
Brad and Cain had never had a ceremony of their own. They told her they’d been waiting all these years to find her. Tonight was significant on every level possible.
As Christa and Steph repeated their vows beside Ronan and Wils, Cherry tightened her grasp on Cain’s and Brad’s hands. Then Trak stepped back to the middle once again and faced all of them. He’d worn a dark suit for the occasion, and he looked absolutely regal standing before them with silvery moonlight bathing a small meadow beside the lodge. Cherry thought of her dreams that first night, of running beneath a full moon with two wolves by her side, and she felt the power of Trak’s words, as if by speaking them he created something magical out here. The moon, almost full this close to the solstice, was a silver beacon of light bathing the entire group of werewolves gathered for the ceremony.
Trak raised his hands, encompassing the newly turned wolves and their mates. “You have made your vows to the ones you love and to the pack you serve. Go forth secure in the strength of the pack and the love of your mates. My blessings and those of the pack on each of you for peace, good fortune, and love from this day forward. As Alpha of the Trinity Alps wolves, I pronounce each of you mated for life.”
Brad and Cain kissed her and then kissed each other, and it was done. Cherry glanced toward her sister and caught Christa’s eye. “Thank you,” Cherry said.
Christa dragged her three mates with her. “What are you thanking me for?”
“For dragging me on a vacation I really didn’t want to go on.”
“You had a good time, right?” Steph slung an arm around Cherry’s shoulders. “I sure hope you did, sweetheart, because it’s too late for a refund on the deposit.”
The band started to play and drowned out the rest of Steph’s teasing comment, but it was all okay, because Cherry learned something else she hadn’t known about her two wolves.
They both really knew how to dance.
* * *
Two nights later, Cherry ran with her two wolven mates beneath the full moon. Pine needles crunched beneath their paws as they raced through the dark forest, winding their way along a narrow trail to the top of a rocky peak. There, surrounded by their wild brethren, they raised their muzzles to the silvery sky and howled.
Exactly as she’d dreamed.