Beast Untamed: Beasts of Bodmin Moor, Book 3 (20 page)

And everything was what Erin would give Nathan. Every single part of herself.

Body, heart and soul.

Epilogue

Erin managed a quick glance out of Nathan’s bedroom window before she was whisked around to face her friends’ mock-stern expressions.

“No peeking,” Naomi admonished, breaking into a smile. “Focus on getting yourself looking drop-dead shaggable for that man down there. You know the one,” she said, adjusting the lace of Erin’s white bustier. “He’s the guy walking around with that smug grin and slapping every other male on the back as if he’s sorry they had to make do with the consolation prize.”

Talia stepped behind, busying herself with the fastenings of Erin’s undergarment. “As far as Nathan’s concerned, they did.”

“Oh, stop it, you two.” Erin took in a breath and placed her hand on her stomach, both from nerves and the extra-tight fastening that Talia chose. “Caleb and Tynan can barely take their eyes off you.”

“True,” Talia said with a heartfelt sigh. She stepped beside Naomi, and together the women admired their work so far. “This reminds me of my own mating day. The one to Caleb, I mean.”

Even as she stood there feeling like a prize cow being examined before market, Erin smiled. Since she’d found out about the pack’s existence two months ago, she’d spent many a girls’ night with Talia and Naomi, finding out more about them and their experience as members of this remarkable community to which she now belonged. She’d heard the story of how Talia met Caleb while she was married to Caleb’s half brother, and how they’d first met on the moor when Talia was a young girl.

“You fought being mated to Caleb all the way,” Naomi teased, folding her arms and continuing to survey Erin. “Virtually kicking and screaming as I remember it, even as Tynan arrived and dragged you off to Caleb’s wedding chamber.”

Talia laughed, mirroring Naomi’s posture as she scrutinized Erin. “And you wouldn’t have anything to do with Tynan, giving him the evil eye for months after that.”

When both women sighed, Erin rolled her eyes. “Listen to you. You’re both so ridiculously in love, it’s nauseating.”

“Have you looked in the mirror lately?” Talia adjusted Erin’s lacy garter belt. “Your grin is almost as smug as Nathan’s.”

As if to give weight to Talia’s comment, Erin smiled widely. “I can’t help it.”

“At least you’re not blubbering,” Naomi said, walking to the bed and carefully gathering up Erin’s knee-length ivory dress. “Which is a good thing, since we haven’t got time to redo your makeup.”

Erin stepped into the dress and let her friends do more fussing and primping. “What does it look like down there? Did the archway fit over the terrace okay?”

“You’ll soon see for yourself. That is if you can tear your eyes away from Nathan long enough.” Talia fetched the ivory shoes out of the box on the bed. “It was a great idea of his to have the mating ceremony here. The moor is gorgeous right now, and it makes a perfect backdrop. And the patio and terrace are big enough to seat everyone.”

Which was just as well, Erin thought, slipping into the shoes. Virtually the whole pack would be in attendance. None of what Erin called her
civilian
friends would be here, seeing as it was a private ceremony specifically for the benefit of the shifter community. It had been hard keeping it secret, but she had tried to focus on the civil ceremony in ten days’ time, which Kay, Sandie and her other human friends would attend.

It was the mating ceremony that was the really big deal. No sooner had the Council of Principals given their permission for Nathan and Erin to mate and for Erin to be accepted into their community than Nathan had started arranging the ceremony.

Erin’s mind flashed back to the moment she had stood before the Council and been subjected to a questioning that rivaled a High Court trial, with her being the defendant. Being confronted by two dozen grim and formidable males and being asked highly personal and probing questions wasn’t on her list of favorite things to do. Bereft of Nathan’s support, since he’d been relegated to a side room while the Council questioned her, it was only Caleb’s and Tynan’s comforting presences that kept her from totally freaking out. That, and the thought of the prize at the end of the ordeal—spending the rest of her life with the man she loved.

“You look fabulous.”

Naomi’s hushed compliment brought Erin back to the moment. She glanced down at the dress and smoothed her hands over the lace overlay bodice and straight skirt. She
felt
fabulous. How could she not? This was the happiest day of her life. And sharing it with her two favorite women was icing on the cake.

“Thank you both for everything.” She reached for their hands. “You’re such amazing friends, and I love you both so much.”

After a moment, during which the three women squeezed each other’s hands and smiled, Talia sniffed. “Oh God. You’re going to start me off.”

Naomi dabbed her eye. “Me too. I’d say let’s do a group hug, but we’ll crush your dress. Oh, who cares. Group hug.”

Amidst laughter and sniffles, the women embraced and only broke away at the light tap at the door. When Talia opened it, Caleb stood there.

He gave his wife a sexy wink, then looked at Erin.

“Ready, beautiful?”

As pack leader, it was Caleb’s place to escort the female to be mated into the presence of her chosen male. Erin wondered if she’d ever get used to the way they referred to each other as males and females, or to the hierarchical gender structure of the shifter community that gave the men an almost primitive status as the hunter/gatherer and protector of their females. Their ways might be different, but she’d never been so embraced by people as she had here in Bodmin. She’d certainly never felt so accepted and valued. These people were now hers, and in turn, she accepted and valued them.

Nathan’s highly possessive and masterful nature also gave her pause on occasions, probably because she was still dealing with some residual aspects of her past experience with a domineering man. But Nathan wasn’t tyrannical or cruel. Oh, he was often high-handed and bossy, and he almost always wanted his own way. Erin was fully aware she would never quite be able to tame her beast, but she knew how to handle him. In all the ways that counted, Erin was an equal partner in their relationship.

With Nathan, she never felt controlled, she felt…cherished.

Taking the small spray of wild flowers Naomi handed to her, Erin stepped toward Caleb. “I’m ready.”

Minutes later, Erin walked out onto the enchantingly decorated patio and terrace. She had a brief moment to admire her colorful surroundings and the smiling faces of their guests, then her gaze locked on to the man standing beneath the flower-strewn archway.

Nathan, so breathtakingly handsome in his dark gray suit, looked back at her. His eyes gleamed, and Erin guessed that when she got nearer, she’d see that familiar ring of gold around his irises. The one that he was at liberty to show now they were to be mated, and which he almost always displayed whenever he looked at her.

Tynan stood to Nathan’s right, and to his left sat Willa, obedient and looking so pretty with a huge pink bow tied around her neck.

Laughing, Erin began walking with Caleb toward the man she loved.

Since his tongue was currently halfway down his throat, Nathan found it hard to swallow. But shit, the sight of Erin walking toward him made his mouth water and his breath back up in his lungs.

She was simply the most stunningly beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and he still couldn’t quite believe his luck that she’d fully, and so damned easily, accepted the truth of who he was. Which, to his mind, confirmed that the depth of her love for him matched his for her. Shit. He was a lucky bastard.

Erin had accepted her place in the community too, and had been adamant that she planned to demonstrate her appreciation at being welcomed into it. She’d started by vehemently refusing to move in with him before the mating ceremony, and by forbidding him to mark her until the ink had dried on their bonding certificate.

Knowing she wanted to do things by the shifter book and not flout their rules and regulations, Nathan hadn’t pressed the issue. He sensed a lost cause when he saw one.

But all that would change tonight. Tonight she would be his. He would put his mark on her, and she on him, binding them together for all time. He couldn’t bloody wait.

He smiled as she walked toward him, enjoying her laughter when she spotted the big pink bow he’d placed around Willa’s neck. What she didn’t know yet was that in his jacket pocket, he had the paperwork declaring her Willa’s legal owner. He was planning to present it to her the moment they were officially mated.

It had been an easy fix, getting that prick Meers to assign Willa to Erin. All it had taken was a threat to charge him with two counts of assault, plus a promise to blow the lid on a real estate deal Meers was involved in which, Nathan had discovered, featured dubious funding streams. The bastard had crumbled. Of course, the man’s easy acquiescence might have had something to do with the fact that Nathan’s fist was pressed to the asshole’s throat at the time. The prick had whimpered like a baby, spluttering how sorry he was and that he’d leave Erin alone. Nathan had given him an added incentive by threatening to tie his sorry ass to a fucking tree in the middle of the moor if he ever so much as came within spitting distance of Erin or her dog again. Much the same threat he had issued to the man who, at Meers’s bidding, had stolen Willa and left her to perish on the moor.

Nathan gave himself a mental shake. Thoughts of the past had no place in the present, so he pushed them away. It wasn’t hard to do, since Erin filled his head and his vision.

When she was a foot away from him, he reached for her hand. Her fingers curled around his, and he held tight. Shit. He wasn’t ever letting go.

“Hey,” he said drawing her to his side, so only she could hear. “You take my breath away, sweetheart.”

“You look so handsome, I’m having trouble breathing myself.” She squeezed his hand, her smile warming every cell in his body. “This all looks so lovely. Thank you. It’s more than I ever thought possible.”

“There’s a whole lot more to come,” he promised. “I’ll always do everything in my power to make you happy.”

She glanced at Willa, then looked back at him, her eyes dangerously moist. “You’ve given me all I ever wanted, Nathan. You’ve made my dreams come true.”

And, as they spoke their vows aloud in front of the whole pack, Nathan knew he felt the same way. Erin was all he’d ever wanted too. She was the dream he hadn’t even known he’d had, but now couldn’t imagine ever living without.

Nestled between them, Willa gave a joyous bark, making everyone laugh.

“I think she approves,” Nathan said leaning close to Erin. “Or maybe she’s just anticipating all those runs she and I are going to enjoy in the future.”

“The future.” Erin smiled, and tilted her mouth up to his. “I really like the sound of that.”

“Me too, sweetheart.”

And to prove it, Nathan drew her in for a long and lingering kiss, just to make sure she could be in no doubt.

About the Author

Faye Avalon enjoys writing sexy stories about strong men and the savvy women who rock their world. She has taken a roundabout journey toward her writing career, working as cabin crew, detouring into property development, public relations and education, before finally finding her passion: writing spicy romantic fiction.

Faye lives with her super-ace husband and one beloved, ridiculously spoiled dog. They regularly expand their family by boarding puppies destined to become guide dogs. Between writing, reading, running around after manic puppies and grabbing some quality time with her husband, Faye enjoys a challenging yoga session or a night at the movies.

Visit her at
www.fayeavalon.com
, or on Twitter and Facebook.

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To protect his pack, he must guard his heart.

Beasts of Bodmin Moor
, Book 1

Lost on Bodmin Moor, twelve-year-old Talia Summers was cold, hurt and terrified, before being saved by a black panther that materialized out of the night.

Years later, Talia returns to the moor in search of that magnificent beast, but instead finds a man leading a clan of shape shifters. Yet the connection she remembers is strangely absent. She despairs of ever finding it again—until a stranger steps into her shower.

Back to claim his rightful place, Caleb McLeod’s fierce attraction to his half-brother’s female is tempered by the fact she’s a human. Worse, a journalist. He’ll not have his people’s survival threatened by a human female who continually pushes the boundaries of pack rules.

His solution? Mate with her. Control her. And if his brother doesn’t like it, they’ll simply have to share. For now.

But suspicion and lies threaten the growing bond between Talia and Caleb, and the past has a way of catching up. A way of destroying the bridge built between two worlds…between two hearts.

Warning: A red-hot panther shifter with an over-the-top possessive streak, a human reporter trying desperately to retain her independence, and enough sexual heat to set fire to the moors of Cornwall.