Mate Claimed

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Could be,” Xavier agreed.

“You’re good, Xav. Neal?”

Neal Ingram was a big man, a Lupine, and the Shiftertown’s Guardian. Often the Shiftertown’s Guardian came from the leader’s family, but the Guardian most closely related to Eric had died years ago. Eric, to keep the peace, had requested that Neal, the Guardian for his clan, be made Guardian for the entire Shiftertown.

Guardians were another thing the humans had almost fucked up. Each clan had its own—the Shifter male whose Fae-made sword would send dead Shifters’ souls into the afterlife—but the humans insisted on only one for each Shiftertown.

They just didn’t want too many guys with big swords running around, Eric supposed. So each clan’s Guardians had to hide their swords and submit to the one Shiftertown Guardian. Eric appointing Neal, the next-highest Guardian in the dominance order, instead of holding a choosing for the Guardian to be picked from Eric’s own clan, told the other clans that Eric wasn’t going to insist his clan dominated everything. Now Eric’s clan had no Guardian at all—they used Neal.

Eric had an ulterior motive that he figured his Shifters understood. When a Guardian died, tradition dictated that all eligible-aged members of the clan gathered for a choosing. The Goddess herself picked the next Guardian—so legend said.

Jace had been about the right age to qualify, and Eric had no desire at all for Jace to become a Guardian. Guardians lived a lonely life. Females avoided them, and while Shifters respected them, they were also uneasy around them. Guardians dealt in death. Everyone knew the last person they’d see in life was their Guardian arriving with his sword to send their bodies to dust.

Neal was unmated, fairly young for a Shifter at age one hundred, a gray wolf, and the silent type. He lived with his brother and several nephews, but didn’t get out much or say much for himself.

However, the man was a genius at computers. Most Guardians were.

“I’ll check the Guardian network,” Neal said in his deep voice. “If he did take the Collar, I’ll find him.”

“And then I’ll have a talk with him,” Eric said.

“You have a ceremony,” Neal said in his quiet way.

“After. You’ll come with me.”

Neal inclined his head.

Xavier, who’d watched the exchange with undisguised curiosity, tapped a little more on his keyboard. “About the other name you wanted me to look up. I might have found him too. Dr. Peter Murdock?”

Neal’s gaze snapped back to Eric. “Him? Why?”

“I have questions he might be able to answer,” Eric said calmly, though his pulse sped up at the thought of facing the man again. He kept those thoughts at bay, not wanting to trigger another attack. Not today.

“Who is he?” Xavier asked.

“A bastard who used to stick needles and probes into Shifters,” Neal said. Neal had been a victim of the experiments too, the humans wondering what a Guardian had inside him that made him a Guardian.

Murdock had been part of the team of scientists studying Shifters, but he’d seemed a bit more ashamed than the others that he was torturing live specimens. Not that he stopped it, or protested, or anything. And he’d still called them specimens.

“Sounds like a real nice guy,” Xavier said. “And successful. Full professor at UCLA, but now retired back in good old Vegas.”

“After the ceremony,” Eric said, looking at Neal again. “A long time after.”

He didn’t want bad memories to destroy this time with Iona, no matter how much he needed to get to the truth.

Eric looked much better when he stood next to Iona at the mating ceremony that afternoon—the mating under full sun.

Iona wore a garland of flowers, woven by Cassidy and her friend, a Feline called Lindsay. The two women had helped Iona pick out clothes they said were very Shifter—a loose brown skirt and a sleeveless white top with a high collar. Iona’s hair hung unbound, and the day had warmed enough for bare legs and sandals. Winter on the desert floor sometimes took its time.

Eric was dressed up—for Eric—in a button-down shirt, black jeans, and square-toed black boots. His slicked-back short hair was still damp from a shower.

He smiled down at Iona next to him, a look of heat in his green eyes. But she sensed the tension in him, no matter how nonchalant he tried to appear. He was wound up, ready to get this over with.

Iona’s mother had come for the ceremony, though Nicole was still in Hawaii on her honeymoon. Iona had talked to Nicole earlier on the phone, explaining to her sister that she was about to mate officially—in Shifter terms—with a Shifter.

Nicole had been stunned, then hopeful, then sounded relieved. Nicole had always known, she said, that Iona would have difficulty in a relationship with a human, but had been uncertain that Iona finding a Shifter was a good solution either. But because Iona sounded happy, Nicole would be happy. When she met Eric, though, she would make sure he was good enough for her big sister.

They’d both cried, Nicole sorry that she couldn’t be there for the day. But there’d be a full moon ceremony, Iona had been told, and Nicole might be back in time for that.

Penny stood a little behind Iona as Cassidy had instructed her. Her mother was a bit nervous to be among all these Shifters, still uncertain that she wanted to lose Iona to one. But, like Nicole, she seemed relieved she no longer had to worry about Iona finding a companion for life. And, like Nicole, she’d make sure Eric made her happy.

Jace stood behind his father, Cassidy and Diego on the other side of Jace. Xavier had come, and he stood with Lindsay, talking and laughing with her. Diego’s mother stood next to Diego, talking like mad to Cassidy.

The other Shifters began forming circles around the group in the middle, an inner ring of close friends, an outer ring of everyone else, including Graham and his Lupine Shifters. Each circle moved in a stately dance in opposite directions, the Shifters holding hands as they moved around the ring. The whole thing was informal, with everyone smiling, laughing, talking, calling out to each other.

Silence fell when Liam stepped into the middle of the double circle, Kim at his side carrying little Katriona.

Liam, grinning, his Irish blue eyes warm, placed one hand on Eric’s shoulder and one on Iona’s.

“This is a simple ceremony, Iona,” Liam said. “I call for the blessing of the God, and it’s done.” He leaned to both of them. “You two be happy now. It’s a fine thing, another mating.”

Eric moved closer to Iona when Liam stepped back, Eric’s body heat touching her. Liam took both their hands, raised them up, and clasped them together. Eric’s hand was warm, strong, and Iona swore a spark leapt between his fingers and hers.

Liam declared in a loud voice, “The blessings of the God be on Eric and Iona. Under full sun, the Father God, I declare them mated!”

The circles of Shifters whooped, then everyone went crazy. Music sprang up from of one of the houses, old-fashioned rock and roll. Dancing started right away, but first, Iona was jerked into a hug by Jace, who swung her off her feet.

“Thank you, Iona,” he said. “Thank you. He needs you—bad.”

“Don’t squash her,” Eric yelled at him, but then he was pulled into embraces by Cassidy, Diego, and a crushing one by Nell.

Cassidy’s strong arms went around Iona, her cub inside her pressing Iona’s abdomen. “I’m so happy you’re my sister now.”

Iona’s eyes were wet when Cassidy released her and so were Cassidy’s. Cassidy immediately turned to Penny and hugged her as well. “Mother of my sister, you’re an honorary member of our clan now.”

Penny looked a little bewildered but hugged Cassidy back. When Penny came to Iona, she broke down. “I’m so happy for you, sweetheart. I was worried, but I see how he looks at you. And how you look at him. I know that feeling.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Be happy, darling. And don’t worry about the business. I can handle it. I took care of it the whole time I was raising you, remember.”

“I’ll still come to work, Mom. I haven’t abandoned you.”

“We’ll see,” Penny said, tears in her eyes.

Iona was stolen away then, for hugs with Diego, Xavier, and Juanita, their mother, then instantly claimed by Shane and Brody, who gave her, well, bear hugs.

“Leave her be,” Nell said, coming for her share. “My house is always here for you, honey. I’ll kick out these two louts, and we can talk about anything that troubles you.”

“Thanks, Nell. Everyone’s being so nice to me.”

“To the mate of the alpha?” Nell’s eyes widened. “You betcha. You’ve got the full trust of the dominant Shifter, and everyone’s going to want to get next to you. Take some advice—show that you’re neutral to everyone and favor only your family. Trust me on this. But the offer of a haven is there if you want it.”

“Thank you,” Iona said sincerely. She had the feeling she’d be asking for advice from both Cassidy and Nell a lot.

“Hey.” Graham stopped next to Iona, his tattoos sharp in the bright sunlight. He opened his arms. “I question your taste, but the blessings of the God and Goddess go with you, Iona.”

Iona let Graham hug her, aware that Eric was breathing down Graham’s neck from the other side.

Instead of giving Iona a perfunctory hug and releasing her, Graham wrapped her in a powerful embrace that lifted her from her feet.

“And I’m not just sucking up to you because you’re the leader’s mate,” Graham said as he held her. “You have balls, Iona. Good thing for Eric that you do.”

Graham finally thumped her back to the ground, and Eric shouldered his way between them, a low growl in his throat.

Iona grabbed Eric’s hand to draw him away. Eric left with her, but only after he and Graham had exchanged long gazes promising violence.

Iona and Eric were pulled into the circles of dancing Shifters, finding themselves in the midst of laughing, shouting—and growling and howling—males and females of all three Shifter species, in both human and Shifter form. Bears, wolves, and wildcats surrounded her, but Iona was with Eric, his hand on hers like a secure tether, and she wasn’t afraid.

She let herself be swept up in the celebration, very aware of Eric’s hard body by her side, and of her rising mating frenzy.

Misty found Graham sitting by himself on top of a picnic table in the middle of Shiftertown, a little way from the uproar that was filling the place.

She’d arrived to find the streets beyond the gates deserted but heard the commotion behind the houses. She’d parked her large black pickup on a quiet side street, then walked the rest of the way to see what was going on.

She’d found what looked like a free-for-all bacchanalia—wild animals writhing around each other and with tall humans, some of the humans clothed, others naked, men and women alike. Music blared up and down the yards. Misty had realized, after the first few freaked-out moments, that they were dancing.

Graham had been easy to spot sitting on the table, surveying everyone like a god, a bottle of beer held loosely in his hands. Though the other Shifters pretty much ignored her, Graham saw Misty coming—she felt his gaze on her all the way across the revelry.

Misty hopped up and sat next to him, for the first time nervous about being near him. Too bad, because she liked him. Graham was a big, tough guy with bad-boy appeal, but when she looked into his strong face and winter gray eyes, she saw a man who had to make hard decisions and hid his emotions behind harsh words.

There were two kinds of leaders, Misty had learned—the bullies that pumped themselves up by belittling others and those who were men good at command. The first were weak, the second strong. Graham, she sensed, was the second type. Misty’s instincts about this were good, honed by growing up in neighborhoods where it was survival to tell the difference.

Graham McNeil had power. His large body exuded it, his huge muscles solid—no sagging flesh on this man.

“Hey,” she said when he didn’t say anything to her. “Am I crashing a party?”

“A mate blessing.”

He watched her in quiet contemplation, his stare not letting her go.

“Mate blessing? What’s that?”

“Male and female Shifter joining,” Graham said. “Like human marriage, only better. The male in this case is the asshole Feline who beat me so bad the other night.”

“And you came to his wedding?”

Graham made an indifferent gesture with his beer bottle. “It’s a Shifter thing. We fight, we agree to hate each other, we move on. Everyone has a place, everyone knows what it is.”

“That’s good. I guess. Better than having to fight your way out your door every morning.”

His gaze fixed on her even harder. “You’re talking from experience.”

“Grew up in a bad neighborhood in Los Angeles. This is better. Las Vegas is Sin City to some, but for me, it was a fresh start.”

Graham listened, all his awareness on her. When she fell silent again, he said, “What are you doing here? In Shiftertown? Today?”

She shrugged, doing her best to be offhand. “I was talking about getting a tattoo. Remember—you suggested I come to Shiftertown and find you when I made up my mind? You’d take me to the best artist, you said. I’d like your opinion on the design too.”

Graham finally looked away from her. He moved his gaze to the couple in the center of the crowd, a tall man who knew how to move his body in the dance, and a black-haired woman with a garland of flowers on her head. Red gerbera daisies and white roses, woven with a red ribbon. Good choice.

When Graham spoke again, his words were clear. “The thing about Shifters, sweetheart, is that we’re very good at knowing when people are lying.” His gaze switched to her again, skewering her all the way through. “And you, sweet baby, stink of lies.”