Chapter Twenty-Three
By the time the full moon rolled around, Cyrus had tested out every possible talent that he could have gained as a vampire, and found himself excelling in compulsion and telekinesis, and had gained some strength and speed that he hadn’t had before. He couldn’t shift under any circumstances, but the tiger and human sides allowed him to retract his fangs, grow claws, and most importantly, be out in the daylight. Not that he had much interest in being away from his beautiful beloved during the daytime, but he had been able to look over the club’s daytime security from outside of the club and offer insight to the family for how to improve things to keep everyone safe.
His parents had outfitted their basement to be light-tight, so that he and Cella could spend the night before the full moon at their home. There was a lot of preparation to be done for the ceremony, and they couldn’t wait until sunset to start traveling to the ambush’s territory.
He left his sleeping mate in the basement with a note and hurried upstairs to meet with his parents. He’d been to many mating ceremonies in his life and loved how the ambush got together to celebrate a joining. Midas had explained that once he and Cella had shown him their respect as king, the others with them had returned to the ambush and promised that having a tribrid and vampire in their ranks would only benefit them, and of course Cyrus agreed. He and Cella were not only immortal, but stronger and faster than the pure tigers. While Cella was bound to the nighttime, he had the ability to walk around twenty-four-seven and would happily help any ambush member in need.
“Happy Mating Day,” his mother said when he walked into the kitchen. “Is Cella still sleeping?”
“Yes,” he said, pecking her cheek. He smelled coffee brewing and went to the pot, pulling a mug from the cabinet.
“I thought you might like to have coffee. It’s technically early morning for you, right?”
He nodded as he fixed a cup. “It took me a bit to get used to being up at night. A lot of it is mind over matter. I just look at the clock differently now. Instead of noon being the middle of the day, it’s midnight.”
His father walked into the kitchen and greeted him. “When you’re ready, we can check out the party prep and then I wanted to show you a house that Midas mentioned to me the other day.”
“A house?”
“Yeah, we’ve been talking about building a place for you two so you can join us on the full moons, and Midas reminded me about a house that’s been empty for a few years. It belonged to Max and Stella. Their son was supposed to move into it when he graduated from college, but he joined his mate’s ambush and hasn’t been back. It’s debt-free, the deed is in Midas’s name, so it would be a matter of transferring it to you and Cella.”
“Does it have a basement?”
“Yep.”
He smiled in surprise. “That would be awesome. We can check it out and then I can take Cella over there after our ceremony to take a peek at it before we come back here for the night.”
“We’re staying at my sister’s, by the way,” his mother said. “I know the upstairs isn’t light-tight, but we wanted you two to have as much privacy as possible.”
He smiled at her. “Thanks, Mom. Who’s coming to help Cella get ready?”
“Me, of course, and Aunt Iris, Aeryn, and Paige. I’ll be knocking on the basement door in an hour to make sure she’s up in time.”
“Sounds good. Thanks, Mom.”
“For what?”
“Being gracious. You accepted my mating with Cella right away and you’ve stood by us, even when we didn’t know what I’d be like after being changed.”
“I’m sure there are parents who’d be upset if their son or daughter mated a vampire, but it’s not our life to live, it’s yours. You get to decide what’s right for you, and there isn’t anything on this earth I wouldn’t do to see that you’re happy and safe. Cella saved your life, and she loves you dearly. I can’t think of anyone better suited to you than her.”
“She makes me a better male.”
“That’s how it’s supposed to work,” his father said.
Cyrus handed his mother a bottle of SyBl. “Would you mind heating this up in a coffee mug and taking it to Cella? She prefers it hot first-thing when she wakes and there’s no microwave in the basement.”
“Of course.”
His father clapped his hands together. “Are you ready?”
“You bet.” He finished the last of the coffee and set the mug in the dishwasher, kissed his mom goodbye, and headed out with his father. The mating ceremony would take place in a clearing that had been set with picnic tables covered in white cloths with arrangements of flowers in glass bowls in the center of each one. He knew his mom had been working hard on the decorations, and he and Cella had helped the night before as well.
“Everything’s in order,” his father said as they surveyed the tigers finishing the prep for the party. “You’ll be getting ready at Aunt Iris and Uncle Theo’s while Mom and the others help Cella. Let’s go look at Max and Stella’s place.”
Before following his father, he thanked the tigers who were working so hard to ensure he and Cella had a wonderful ceremony, and then left the clearing. Several minutes later, they reached a quaint cottage with an arched, wooden front door. His father lifted a potted plant from the stone porch and picked up a key, unlocking the door. Must and dust reached Cyrus’s nose immediately and he sneezed.
“Yeah, it needs some work,” his father said with a chuckle, leaving the door open to let in some fresh air. “But it’s got good bones, and the bonus is that it has a finished basement.”
“I was thinking we could maybe fashion some automatic shutters that would come down at sunrise and go up at sunset.”
“That would be handy. It would be nice if you two could have full use of the house and not be stuck in the basement, even if it is a nice one.”
“At least until we can figure out the windows on the first floor, we’ll have a place to stay.”
“How are you feeling?” his father asked as they stood in the master bedroom, which had a walk-in closet and an en suite bathroom with a claw-footed tub.
“Good. Why?”
“I mean with your blood needs. If you’re hungry, I’d be happy to let you feed from me.”
“Thanks, Dad. Actually, I’m fine. There was a part of me that was a little concerned about being around so many shifters. It’s one thing to be around a handful of them like when I met with Midas, but this whole group? I didn’t think I’d have a problem, but I’m still learning about myself. As far as feeding goes though, Wyst, a falcon shifter at the club, let me feed from him, so I’m good for another two weeks.”
“You only have to ask, you know.”
Cyrus put his hand on his dad’s shoulder. “I know. Thank you.”
“No problem. Let’s go check out the basement, and then you need to get ready. The afternoon is drawing to a close.”
Once they’d walked around the small, finished basement, Cyrus could tell it would be a good place for them to stay during the full moons. There were hookups for a bathroom, so they could have everything they needed in the basement until he figured out how to make the whole place light-tight for his beloved. After closing up the house, he took a walk around it and told his father he liked it.
“Do you think Cella will?”
“Yeah, I do. It looks like a storybook cottage, like a fairytale creature might open the door and invite us in.”
His father laughed. “I suppose so.”
By the time they reached his aunt and uncle’s house, he had ninety minutes to get ready before he had to meet Midas in the clearing and wait for Cella to arrive. He hadn’t been nervous before and had even scoffed at the idea that there was anything to worry over, but as he turned on the water in the guest bathroom to take a shower, his stomach felt like it was filled with butterflies. Or something more manly than winged, pretty things. Like bats.
When he’d showered and dried off, he dressed in the black trousers that were laid out on the bed and put on socks and shoes. There was a knock at the door, and he called for whoever it was to come in.
Gavin walked in with gold arm cuffs.
“Uncle Theo wanted me to bring these to you.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Since I didn’t get to throw you a bachelor party, being your gopher on your mating day seems like a good best man job. Do you need anything, by the way?”
“I’m good. And thanks for being my best man.”
“Aeryn said she was going to ask you if she could be your best woman.”
Although Midas was also going to perform a wedding ceremony as well, so they’d be man and wife and also fully mated in the eyes of the ambush, they weren’t sticking to human traditions and having a bridal party. But males always had someone stand with them during the mating ceremony, and he’d happily chosen his cousin.
“I know she wanted to be a maid of honor. We just didn’t go that route.”
“She’s just excited to be able to help Cella get ready. She’d never been asked before.”
The soon-to-be-mated female would generally have her female family members help with her preparations, but since Cella didn’t have any, Cyrus’s family had been pleased to step in. Aside from his mother, Aeryn had been tickled to be asked, and so had his Aunt Iris, and Paige, who wasn’t related to Cyrus’s family but was a longtime family friend. He was thankful his family had stepped up for Cella, and knew she appreciated it too.
Cyrus fixed the golden cuffs to his biceps, checked his reflection in the mirror over the dresser, and walked out of the bedroom with his cousin. It was his mating day, and he couldn’t wait until he could hold Cella in his arms again.
* * *
Cella was aware when Cyrus left. She was tempted to let him know she was awake so they could have some sexy fun, but she knew there were things that needed to be done before sunset to get ready for the ceremony, and she didn’t want to delay him. When the door to the basement shut and she was alone, she rolled to her back and stretched. He’d left her a note on his pillow, and she opened it.
“Cella, I hate that we’re separated today, but I hope the hours will pass by swiftly. I can’t wait for sunset, where you’ll find me under the arch, ready to start the next chapter of our long lives. I love you. Cyrus.”
She let out a breathy sigh and smiled. It still surprised her that he didn’t think he was romantic, when he seemed to always know the right thing to say.
About an hour later, she rose to her feet and grabbed a robe, then tucked the note into the pocket of her rolling suitcase. There was a knock on the basement door, and Cella called for whoever it was to come down.
“Happy Mating Day,” Cora said when she descended the stairs. She crossed the room and hugged Cella. “I want to be the first to officially say welcome to the family.”
“Thank you.”
It was ambush tradition for the female to have a group help her get ready, and Cella was particularly grateful for not only Cyrus’s mother, but also his Aunt Iris, and his cousin Aeryn. Paige was her fourth attendant, a young female who was mated before Christmas. The group had followed Cora down the stairs.
“I brought you breakfast,” Aeryn said, handing Cella a plastic travel mug with colorful butterflies emblazoned on the surface.
Cella could smell the SyBl through the small hole in the pink lid and she smiled. “Thank you so much for thinking of me.”
She’d packed several bottles of SyBl, and had planned to drink one room temperature, since she couldn’t go upstairs into the kitchen because it wasn’t safe during the daytime with all the windows. Cyrus must have grabbed a bottle. He was honestly the sweetest male on the planet.
“Have you showered yet?” Cora asked.
“No. Cyrus told me to wait.”
“Good.” She handed her a glass vial filled with orange-tinted liquid. “This is oil made from the Moon Orchid. It’s said that were-tigers originated in Indonesia, so when tigers join with their mate, they want her to smell of the homeland.”
Cella pulled the stopper and sniffed the contents. “Wow, that smells amazing.”
“Traditionally, females bathe in the oil, but since there’s no tub down here, we’ll improvise with the shower. Soak your skin under very warm water for a few minutes, then turn off the shower and pour the oil over your skin and get as much of it on you as possible. Let it soak on you for a little while, and then rinse it off.”
“Don’t get it in your hair though,” Paige said. “It’s hell to wash out.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll get your outfit ready while you’re showering,” Aeryn said.
Cella nodded and walked into the small bathroom. Following their directions, she soaked her skin and then applied the oil, sitting down on the floor of the shower stall and closing her eyes as she waited for the oil to saturate her skin. Not for the first time since she and Cyrus had become beloveds, she wished that her family was still alive. She’d lost her mother to illness when she was a teenager, and her father had kept on for a while afterward but was a shell of a man without his wife. She’d thought it was sad that he hadn’t been able to find love again and keep on with his life, but after mating Cyrus, she understood the all-in emotion of finding the one right person. If something happened to Cyrus, she didn’t think she’d be able to go on, either. And not only because their lives were tied together through their bond as beloveds, but simply because her world would never be the same without him. She thought her mother would have adored Cyrus, and most likely would have made her special scones and fussed over him. Of course, humans hadn’t known about shifters back then. It wasn’t until Cella was turned that she realized the world was not quite what it seemed, and humans were definitely not alone. She rubbed her thumb along the bottom of the ring that Cyrus had given her and smiled. Even if her parents weren’t with her on this special day, they were with her in spirit and she knew they’d approve. She was marrying and mating the love of her life, after all. It had only taken three hundred years to find him.
After Cella rinsed off the oil, she dried her hair, then walked out into the basement with a towel wrapped around her body. A pale lavender gown had been laid on the bed and the four females smiled at her as she looked at the lovely gown. Cora plucked the dress from the bed and helped Cella into it, the soft silk sliding over her curves and fluttering around her ankles. It was gathered at the shoulders, leaving her arms bare, and tied loosely around the waist with a gold-braided belt twined with tiny dark purple flowers.
Aeryn climbed onto the bed and patted the space in front of her, and Cella sat on the edge while Aeryn brushed her hair and pinned it into a simple twist. Iris knelt on the floor and slipped white sandals on Cella’s feet and buckled them, and then Paige held out two golden cuffs that were etched with symbols Cella didn’t recognize.
As Paige fixed the cuffs on Cella’s biceps, she said, “These are passed down to the females in this ambush from the last mated female to the next. I was mated last, and it’s my honor to give them to you. You’ll give these cuffs to the next ambush female to mate. They’re inscribed with symbols that wish you a long and happy life with your mate.”
Cella touched one of the cuffs and smiled. “That’s so sweet.”
Cora looked at her watch. “It’s time. Are you ready to join with Cyrus and become part of the ambush?”
“I am,” Cella said as she rose to her feet.
Iris handed Cella a bouquet of colorful orchids tied with white ribbon. “The color of the orchids represents our hope for your mating. Blue for peace. White for honesty. Pink for happiness. And purple for passion.”
Aeryn picked up a full-length mirror that had been leaning against the wall and brought it over to Cella so she could see her reflection. If she had the ability to cry, she would have been bawling. Her eyes sparkled bright blue with emotion, and she inhaled a shaky breath. “Thank you all so much. For welcoming me into your lives so easily. Cyrus loves his family and this ambush, and it’s easy to see why. You’re amazing.”
Cora sniffled and brushed at her wet cheeks. “I always wanted a daughter, and I finally get my wish today. You’re beautiful and I’m so happy for you and my son.”
Up in the house, there was a knock.
“That’s Midas,” Iris said. “He’ll escort you to August, who will walk you down the aisle.”
The three females walked ahead of them up the stairs, and then Cora offered her arm to Cella and escorted her up into the kitchen and to the backdoor, where Midas stood wearing a dress shirt and slacks. “Hello, Cella. It’s my honor to escort you to the clearing.”
“Thank you,” Cella said. She kissed Cora on the cheek and smiled at her as she hurried out of the house and caught up to the other females. In the distance, she could hear music playing softly and the murmur of conversation. She took Midas’s arm and they walked toward the clearing.
“I wasn’t certain if I thanked you properly for saving Cyrus,” he said. “I owe you a debt for saving one of my ambush members.”
“He was mine to save,” she said. “I’m thankful I could, with the help of my coven.”
“This mating, and your joining the ambush as a member, has strengthened the alliance between the ambush and coven, and I’m grateful for your willingness to accept our traditions as your own. If there’s ever anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask. If it’s in my power, it’s yours.”
“Thank you, Midas. For everything.”
He nodded and gave her hand to August, who smiled at her with eyes filled with unshed tears. “Did Cora tell you she always wanted a daughter?”
Cella smiled as she took his arm and Midas left them. “She did.”
“It’s true. I know you waited a long time for Cyrus, but we waited a long time for you too. Thank you for saving my son, and for joining our family and ambush. You’re my daughter now, so I want you to call me Dad. If you’d like to, I mean.” He cleared his throat and blush stained his cheeks.
She was touched. She kissed his cheek and said, “Thank you, Dad. I’m honored.”
He adjusted his tie and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m the one who’s honored today, sweet girl. Welcome to the family.”
Her eyes stung with emotion as they walked to the aisle centered between the rows of chairs. Cyrus stood with Midas and Gavin at a beautiful arch full of ivy and flowers. Time stood still for a moment, as she looked at her handsome beloved, upper body bare save for golden cuffs around his upper arms similar to the ones she wore. Then the ambush stood, and August tugged her arm gently and they began to walk down the aisle, toward the male who was the utter center of her world.
* * *
Cyrus walked down the aisle, where short rows of chairs on either side were filled with ambush members. Gavin walked beside him as his best man. They reached the arbor that the ambush females had made for them – the white arch covered in ivy and dotted with tiny orchids. It was cold out, fresh snow blanketed the surrounding area, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t as affected by the cold now that he was a tribrid. Prior to his turning, he’d still run hotter than humans and could withstand cold temperatures without discomfort. And it was a good thing, considering he was shirtless.
Midas appeared and walked down the aisle, stopping in the center of the arch and turning to face the ambush.
“I’m happy for you,” Gavin whispered to Cyrus.
“Thanks.”
“I’m next, by the way. I’m calling it.”
“I don’t think it works like that,” Cyrus said, trying to withhold a laugh.
“Does too, because I just did.”
Cyrus rolled his eyes with a chuckle.
Then everything within Cyrus went quiet. He could feel Cella coming before he saw her walking with his father. His beautiful beloved was stunning from head to toe, a vision in a gown fit for a goddess, and he wanted to fall at her feet and worship her for eternity.
Good thing he was going to be able to do that since they were both immortal.
His eyes stung as the ambush stood and faced Cella as she walked down the aisle, and when she placed her hand in his, he knew that he was definitely the most fortunate male in existence.
He had his mate, and their immortal lives were just beginning.