Primal Bonds

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The moon was two nights past full that night, but Liam decreed that they were within the time range for the moon blessing. Besides that, he added with a grin, Sean and Andrea would combust if they didn’t get it over with.

Andrea once again stood in the clearing with a garland of flowers on her head, Sean at her side. This blessing was the more sacred of the two, and all Shiftertown was there, circling and celebrating. They had two things to celebrate: Sean and Andrea’s mating and the fact that Shiftertown was once again peaceful—well, as peaceful as a bunch of Shifters living together could ever be.

Callum’s men had pretty much surrendered to Liam the day before, now that their Fae backers had been defeated. Ben O’Callaghan was put in charge of seeing that the Felines followed Liam’s strictures, Ben’s penance for having joined the Felines-only movement in the first place. One day, Ben, Liam had told him, the world will belong to us again. One day. But not today.

They’d spent the rest of the day and evening recovering from the fight, Sean and Dylan and Liam having to face the delayed reaction to the Collars. It had been bad. Eric, who’d been testing out how much he could resist his Collar, hadn’t fared much better.

Liam had sent out Spike and the other trackers to clean up the parking lot of the bar where Felines had battled Sean and Jared and to recover Sean’s bike. Sean moaned when he saw the shot-up engine and gave the motorcycle a caressing hug while Andrea watched in sympathy. “I’ll take care of you now,” he’d said to it. “Me and Andrea. She has a wicked grip on a wrench.”

Glory’s car had been found as well. Dylan had discovered that Wade’s tracker had driven Glory’s car out to a road past the caves to the west of town and abandoned it, on Wade’s orders. Glory hadn’t been best pleased about that and made sure everyone knew it.

The human police had come to the bar outside Shiftertown to ask Liam about the reported noise in Shiftertown that day, and Liam had glibly told them, “Shifter games.” He’d smiled his warm smile and let his Irish lilt roll from his tongue. Kim had backed him up, as had Silas the reporter. “Running and jumping and other frolicking,” Liam had said. “Like your human Olympics but not as organized.”

The police, who really hadn’t wanted to deal with Shifter problems, bought his explanation and went away.

That night, as the moon rose, the Shifters were rested and joyous and now slightly drunk.

“Under the light of the moon, the Mother Goddess,” Liam said, his smile so broad that Andrea was surprised he could speak. “I recognize this mating.”

Simple words, but they meant everything.

Liam didn’t get a chance to make a speech this time. As soon as he pronounced the blessing, Shifters around them went crazy, whooping and shouting, howling and bellowing, and Sean swept up Andrea for a deep, possessive kiss.

“I love you, Sean,” she whispered, her heart in the words.

She couldn’t kiss Sean long, however, because the family was all over them. Andrea got squeezed into a round of hugs—Connor’s enthusiastic, Liam and Kim’s loving, Eric’s strong, Glory and Dylan’s warm. Glory had dressed in her favorite leopard-print pants and spike heels, and she smiled with newfound happiness. Neither she nor Dylan had mentioned a mate blessing, but Andrea felt in her bones that it wouldn’t be long coming.

The celebration lasted all night, Fionn there celebrating right along with the Shifters. Fionn had softened a bit, observing his daughter’s happiness with Sean.

Dina had loved this man, Andrea thought as Fionn held her after the mate blessing, no matter how strange their relationship might have been. They’d shared the mate bond. Andrea now felt love from Fionn for her as he hugged her close.

Ronan came to thank Fionn for saving his life and started a discussion with him about beer. Apparently Fae liked ale as much as Shifters, and Andrea left Fionn to Ronan, Ellison, and Eric, who began introducing Fionn to a succession of beers from across America.

In the small hours of the morning, Sean took Andrea by the hand, winked at her, and crept away with her from the mad festivities to Glory’s empty house.

Glory watched them go as she slid her fingers through Dylan’s. “I’m thinking we should stay somewhere else tonight, or we’ll never get any sleep.”

“Kim offered us the use of her house,” Dylan said, taking a sip from his bottle of Guinness.

Glory smiled. “Kim’s generous.” She couldn’t stop herself from feasting her eyes on the man at her side—tall, blue-eyed, hard-bodied, with a quiet strength that belied the ferocity with which he’d fought earlier today. She watched him draw beer from the bottle, his mouth moving as he savored it, and her female places squeezed.

“Kim knows,” Dylan said. “Sean and Andrea will be wanting their space, and Kim said she got in enough food to satisfy even Shifters.”

“Plus she has cable. Luxury.”

Dylan stopped, his eyes quiet. “I don’t mind anywhere we stay, as long as I’m with you, my girl.”

Glory felt the mate bond for him wrap around her heart, and she nearly dissolved with its warmth. Taking a mate for the second time would be different, but the love would be no less intense. She understood that now.

She leaned into Dylan. “I’m feeling a bit of that mating frenzy coming on myself. Think anyone would notice if we slipped away?”

“I’m thinking they wouldn’t miss us.”

The smile Dylan slanted her was primal, and Glory’s excitement doubled. She slid her hand to his fine ass as they walked around the house to his truck, and then she leaned her head on his shoulder while he drove her across Austin and up into the hills.

Sean and Andrea didn’t make it upstairs before their clothes came off, pieces scattered down the stairs like a breadcrumb trail. Then Andrea was under Sean on her bed, right where she wanted to be.

The lovemaking was intense, Sean sliding into her while she opened to take him deep. Andrea knew in her heart a cub had already begun forming inside her, knew it with the tingle of warmth that was an extension of the mate bond.

She’d tell Sean later. Right now, he was pressing into her, his eyes flickering from blue to white and back again, the Collar gleaming on his bare throat. She arched against him, loving the feel of his strong chest on her breasts, stirring more and more fires.

He was hard, he was big, and he was driving Andrea into the bed for all he was worth. Sean’s hands turned to claws as the frenzy drove them on, and so did hers, both of them growling as they suppressed the change to keep on doing this.

As the night moved on, Sean and Andrea kept loving each other, the mating frenzy claiming them, the mate bond winding them tightly together. Their bodies were drenched in sweat, their lips raw with kissing, their bodies twined so close that Andrea didn’t care whether they ever came loose.

Eventually, as cold night warmed to day, their raw, frantic sex wound down into tender, gentle sex. That in turn wound down, more slowly, into sleep. They drifted off, cuddled against each other.

When Andrea woke again, the sun was high, and Sean and she lay together in a tangle of warm limbs.

It was quiet outside now, all of Shiftertown sleeping off a collective hangover. Mate blessings were few and far between, and Shifters didn’t have much to celebrate in this world of captivity. Last night they’d celebrated both the mate blessing and the conclusion of a damn good fight, so they’d gone at it double force.

The sun warmed the window as Andrea watched Sean sleep, her heart full of love. Sean was a hot, hard-bodied male, and he belonged to her.

Sean opened his eyes, which were deep blue and clear of sleep. He gave her a smile. “I didn’t have time to give you your gift last night, love.”

“Gift?” Andrea grinned back. “You mean all that sex wasn’t a gift?”

“Oh, aren’t you the amusing one?” Sean kissed the tip of her nose, rolled away, and took a tissue-wrapped package from the nightstand drawer. “For you.”

Andrea took it, feeling something soft beneath the paper. “I didn’t get you anything.”

Sean’s eyes warmed. “Yes, you did.”

Andrea paused to give him a long, satisfying kiss, then she tore off the tissue and lifted a pair of lovely black silk panties between her fingers. On the back of the panties, bright red script spelled out Smart Ass.

“Goddess, Sean, these are great. Where did you find them?”

“Same place you found mine. The girl there was happy to help me out.”

Andrea remembered the young clerk in the store, the one friendly to Shifters and interested in Connor. She’d probably had a blast helping Sean pick them out.

Andrea swung the panties around one finger. “I’ll have to wear them. But not, I’m thinking, just now.”

Sean’s look was wicked. “No, we definitely aren’t needing any panties right now.” He took them from her and dropped them to the nightstand as he pushed her back down into the mattress. His kiss was warm and languid but held an edge that said more wild lovemaking was to come.

They were deep into the kiss when Andrea heard a car door slam, and Sean raised his head again.

“My second gift has arrived,” he said.

Much as she liked gifts, Andrea wasn’t sure she relished the interruption. Gifts could wait. “How many did you get me?”

“Only as many as I know you need.” Sean’s eyes held a mysterious glint. “Don’t you want to see what it is?”

With Sean lying on top of her all naked and fine? Andrea wet her lips. “They can leave the package on the porch.”

Sean lifted away from her, removing his delicious warmth. “No, love. This is something you have to get yourself.”

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

Andrea gave him an impatient look. Why would a mate-frenzied male insist his mate get up and answer the door? He had to be insane.

Andrea rolled out of bed, groaning a little as she realized how sore she was. “All right, if it makes you happy.”

She pulled on a T-shirt and the new panties and slid jeans over those. Stretching, she went to the window, looked down, and uttered a strangled cry.

Her stepfather stood on the driveway below, he and Dylan having just stepped out of Dylan’s pickup. Terry Gray saw Andrea in the window and stopped.

“Andrea,” he said. “My daughter.”

“Father,” Andrea choked out the word. “What are you doing here? No, wait, don’t move, I’m coming down.”

She spun from the window to find Sean behind her, dressed in jeans and nothing else, his Collar gleaming at his throat. Her libido took in what a delectable picture he made while she pointed at him with a shaking finger. “You did this. You brought him here.”

“That I did.” Sean gave her a quiet nod, a Shifter who didn’t need to shout for everyone to understand how powerful he was. “It’s all very well that you found Fionn, but I knew you’d be still be missing your dad.”

Andrea felt the tears coming, but she smiled at Sean with all her heart. “I love you, Sean Morrissey.”

He drew her into his arms and gave her a kiss that was at once gentle and full of fire. “I love you too, Fae-girl. Go on now.”

Andrea kissed him one more time, then she dashed out of the room, nearly flew down the stairs, and burst out the door to be swept into the arms of her stepfather.

Sean watched out of the window as Andrea hugged her stepfather, his heart at peace. He caught the gaze of his own father, who leaned against his truck. Sean and Dylan shared a look that was full of understanding. Damn, it was good to be a Shifter today.

Across the room, the Sword of the Guardian gleamed in the sunshine, softly singing its happiness.