Dark Refuge (30 page)

Romy and Jace were next. Adam stood with Jace and Liana, his mom, with Romy. Romy had admitted to Em that with Jace she’d also gotten the family she’d never had, that Liana reminded her of the mother she’d loved but lost so long ago. Adam was merely an older version of his son. Most of the time, though more often than not it was Jace who was the adult. As she’d confided to Gabe and Em, “What’s not to love?”

Their promises were made and they walked back to join the crowd. Gabe took Em’s hand while her father held his arm for her. Mei stood beside her husband, and already tears were streaming from her eyes. Em shot her a teasing glance. “Mom! You promised me you wouldn’t cry.”

“I lied. Now let’s get moving.”

Gabe saluted—even Mei had to laugh at that—and they walked around the pond to stand in front of Gabe’s dad.

Anton looked at them and then shook his head. “If you’ll recall, Gabriel, I wept through the entire ceremony for your sister. I thought it wouldn’t happen with yours. You are my son, after all. Father’s don’t cry over their sons’ weddings. Well, I was wrong. I thought I should warn you.” He whipped out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes and then glanced at Keisha standing beside him, smiling. “Your mother always has been the tough one.”

Keisha kissed his cheek and said, “While he’s composing himself, who gives this woman in marriage?”

Oliver leaned over and kissed Em’s cheek. “Her mother and I do.” Then he stepped back and took hold of Mei’s hand. She handed him an extra tissue.

Anton made little shooing motions at Keisha. “I can handle this now.” He smiled at Gabe, and his eyes still sparkled with tears. “Gabriel Fane Cheval. You and Emeline Isobelle Cheval have already mated. Why do you choose to wed?”

Gabe took Em’s hands in his and looked into eyes as green as new growth on spring willows and knew he would love her forever. “Because I finally know what love is, because of Em. Because I have found a woman who is brave and resourceful, strong, compassionate and honorable. A woman who makes me a better man. I could not ask for more in a mate, but I realized I wanted even more of her, and so I asked her to be my wife, to stand before our pack, our family, our goddess, so I could swear my undying love in front of the people who mean the most to me. Will you marry me, Emy? Will you take care of me when I’m ill, be with me when I do stupid things that make you crazy, will you love me even if I sometimes screw up and you’re ready to murder me in my sleep?” He chuckled softly at the grin spreading across her face. “Will you love me as much as I love you?”

“I will, Gabe. And I promise not to murder you in your sleep.”

He turned to his father and said, “You notice she left open the option of when I’m awake?”

“I did. Smart woman. Emeline Isobelle Cheval, you and Gabriel Fane Cheval have already mated. Why do you choose to wed?”

She glanced at their clasped hands, and her smile spread across her face. “Because I love him. Because my life was filled with darkness and he found a way to bring me light. He offered me a refuge when I thought I didn’t deserve love, and when he finally found my demons, he fought them, every single one of them, until they were gone.” She glanced at her parents and her tears were running as freely as theirs. Gabe wanted to hand her a tissue, but he wasn’t about to let go of her hands.

She trembled, and he felt the emotion welling up inside her. “I was estranged from my parents for many years and I didn’t know how to close the gap between us. Gabe found a way, and once again I have my mom and dad back in my life. For that alone, I would love you forever, Gabe, but there is so much more. You’re funny and sweet and serious and smart. You make me laugh and you make me better than I ever thought I could be. I love you so much.”

She was sobbing now, but she smiled through her tears, and then she laughed. “And it’s been almost three weeks and you haven’t called me EmyIzzy once. For that alone I could love you. I do love you, Gabe. I really do love you.”

It felt as if they were the only two in the cavern. Gabe wrapped his arms around Em and lifted her off her feet and then lost himself in the most beautiful kiss he’d ever known. Then his dad was pronouncing them man and wife and Em’s mom and dad were there, hugging them, and then his mom. His dad hugged and kissed Emy, and then grabbed Gabe as if he didn’t want to let him go, and he was crying every bit as much as Em was. As hard as Gabe was crying. But Gabe’s heart was so damned full, and Em was his. Forever.

He lifted his head, and Eve smiled at him. Then she waved and the doorway into the astral faded. But Em was still in his arms, and his mom and dad were beside them, laughing and crying, and the pack was all around.

As he watched, his dad broke away from his mom and went to Oliver. They’d also been estranged for far too many years. Friendships can’t endure with lies between them, but Anton pulled Oliver into his arms and their embrace was heartfelt and filled with meaning. Gabe glanced at his mom, and she was watching her mate with an arm looped through Mei’s.

It was all so damned good. It made him think of something his father had said to him once, how a stone thrown into a pond sends out ripples to roll up against the shore. He and Em had been the stone, and the ripples continued to spread. He picked Em up and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He carried her away from their parents, away from the pack, beyond the pond, toward the tunnel that led out of the cavern. The party would go on far into the night, and he doubted anyone would miss them, but there was something even more important waiting.

A cottage, set aside for the two of them. He’d seen to the fire himself, the refrigerator was stocked, and he figured they wouldn’t have to come up for air at least until Christmas.

“I love you, Em. I never dreamed anything like this. My dreams were never this good.”

“Forever, Gabe. I will love you forever.”

He paused long enough to kiss her. “We’re Chanku, sweetheart. Thank the Goddess, forever really can last forever.”

Keep reading for an excerpt from

the first book in the

Spirit Wild Series,

Dark Wolf
,

available now!

Chapter 1

Crickets chirped. An owl hooted. A dusting of starlight shimmered faintly against granite peaks, but here at the forest’s edge, all was dark. Shivering slightly in the cool night air, Sebastian Xenakis stood beneath the gnarled oak, just one more shadow among many. With great humility and as much confidence as he could muster while standing naked in the darkness, he raised his arms, drew on the magic coursing through his veins, and once more called on the spirit within the tree, one he affectionately thought of as
the lady
, humbly asking for her strength.

Nothing.

“Damn it all.” He exhaled, accepting the rush of air for what it was—a huge blast of frustration at the serendipitous nature of his magic. He stared at the massive tree towering overhead and methodically emptied his mind of all thoughts, all distractions. He put aside anger and frustration, fears and hopes, leaving room for nothing but
here
and
now
. Focusing everything within, he opened his heart to possibilities, and waited.

A few long, frustrating minutes later, he felt her warmth envelop him. An unexpected frisson raced across his bare shoulders, along his arms. It caressed his naked buttocks and swirled over his belly, lifting the dark line of body hair that trailed from navel to groin. Then it slithered along his thighs, circled his calves and tickled across his bare feet. His cock, flush with hot blood, swelled high and hard against his belly, giving homage to the gift of power.

Then, sliding away as soft as a whisper, the intimate sense of touch, of sentient communion, bled off into the damp loam and returned to its source through thickly tangled roots. Sebastian sighed, a shuddering acceptance of sensual pleasure, the gift of contact with such a powerful force.

The lady of the oak.

His erection remained, strong evidence of her touch, the visceral connection he’d made with a spirit ancient beyond recorded memory. His body thrummed with her life force, with her power, until Sebastian felt each and every one of her thick and twisted branches spreading far and wide, until he bowed beneath the age and innate wisdom of the ancient tree. This mother oak must have stood here, a silent sentinel of the forest since long before the dawn of modern history. A few heavy branches had fallen over time, but he knew her roots were strong, her branches healthy. As if challenging time itself, the graceful beauty and symmetry of the tree remained.

He remembered the first time he saw the oak, recalled the sense of life, the sure knowledge of the tree’s spiritual power. It was on that day he’d learned his father wielded the kind of power Sebastian had quickly grown to crave.

Standing just beyond the reach of the great branches, unsure of his relationship with a man he barely knew, Sebastian had watched Aldo Xenakis call lightning out of a clear, star-filled sky—call it and control it with the deft hands of a master.

He’d been seduced so easily, so quickly by that flashy show of fire and magic. Of power. Immeasurable power. So thoroughly seduced he knew he might never break free of its siren call.

Might never break free of the man he’d consciously sought, despite his mother’s warning. Now it was much too late. His die had been cast, commitments made, and he was almost glad his mother was dead.

Glad she couldn’t see what he’d become.

Sebastian quickly shoved thoughts of his moral weakness, his failures—and his father—aside. There was no need to mar the beauty of this night. He took a deep breath and then, almost as an afterthought, cleared his mind of all obstructions and drew more power to him. Pulled it from the earth, from the sky, from the water of a nearby stream, from the mountain itself. The fire must come from within, but he called on that as well and felt the power build.

Then he buffered the swirling energy with the strength of the oak until it was entirely under his control. Until he was the one holding the power.

Unlike his father, unwilling to display or even acknowledge such arrogance, Sebastian turned and bowed his head toward the oak, giving the tree’s spirit his grateful thanks for her help. Then, spreading his fingers wide, he consciously breathed deeply and opened himself to the energy flowing into him from all directions. A brilliant glow surrounded him, but it wasn’t lightning that lit the dark night.

It was power. Raw power he’d pulled from the earth, from the air and water. From the spirit in the tree, and the fire burning in his soul.

Within seconds, the light blinked out. Gone as if it had never existed at all.

As was the man. In his place, a wolf darker than night raised its head and sniffed the air. Then it turned away and raced into the forest.

• • •

“Lily? Have you seen this morning’s news?”

Lily Cheval fumbled with the phone and squinted at the bedside clock in the early morning darkness. Blue numbers blurred into focus. Her best buddy looked at her out of the screen on her phone. “Alex, it’s six fifteen in the morning. On a Sunday. What can possibly be important enough to . . .”

“There’s been another one, Lil. Just inside the entrance to the park this time.”

Lily bit back a growl and sat up. The last body, discovered less than a week ago, had been found along the highway leading into Glacier National Park in Montana. Much too close to the Chanku pack’s main residence. The one before that had been on the outskirts of Kalispell. “What have you got?”

Alex sighed and wiped a hand across his eyes. Poor Alex. How he’d ever ended up as the pack’s liaison to the Flathead County sheriff’s department was beyond understanding. He might be brilliant and charismatic—not to mention drop-dead gorgeous—but he was not cut out to deal with, much less deliver, bad news, especially early on a Sunday morning.

She wondered if he’d even made it to bed the night before. His eyes looked bloodshot, and Alex did love his social life on a Saturday night.

Even in Kalispell.

“Same as the last seven,” he said, pulling her back into the conversation. “Young woman, beaten, brutally raped. Throat torn out. Just like the others, probably killed somewhere else and dumped. A park ranger found her body beside the road.”

“Shit. I hope you’ve got an alibi.” She hated having to ask, but with public sentiment the way it had been heading . . .

“I was with Jennifer last night. I got the call on the way home this morning.”

Jennifer. Poor choice of woman, but at least she could account for Alex’s time when the attack occurred. Frustrated, Lily dug her fingers into her tangled hair and tugged. Anything to help focus her thoughts. “Let me know what you find out. Check with the pack, see if they’ve got any new leads. I’m stuck in San Francisco until after the reception, but I’ll try and get up there by the weekend.”

“Okay. Sorry to wake you, but I just wanted to warn you. Be careful. Whoever’s behind this, they’ve hit the Bay Area just as hard. I’ll find out what I can. Thanks, Lil.”