Authors: R.E. Butler
Marking Melody (17 page)
Melody and Tristan clinked glasses with him, and they drank the ice cold, fruity drink. As they ate cold fried chicken, potato salad, and cut watermelon, they talked about their future and what they all wanted. Melody wanted to start up her photography business again. She already had one customer, because Callie wanted pictures taken of her three children. She’d made arrangements to do a session outside of the converted apple barn they lived in the following week. Tristan and Micah were going back to work on Monday, and it was going to be difficult to leave her after spending so much time together, but they needed the jobs to support her and their future kids. Micah watched her kiss his brother and smiled at the thought that they’d soon be proposing to her, and by the end of the night, she’d be their fiancée. One word had never sounded so sweet in his mind.
She was perfect. If he’d sat down to compose a list of the qualities he would have wanted in a mate to share with his brother, she would have been the epitome of everything he wrote. She was protective and had proven it by doing what she did during their capture. She was loving and gave herself freely to them without restraint. He could see the love she had for them in her pretty blue eyes. She was warm, sweet, and kind. And the fact she was a lioness didn’t really matter, but he was thankful in some ways that she was. Just by being raised the way she was, she proved that females
could
be different, and not just by being mated to their truemates the way that Jilly had been.
Tristan glanced at his watch and made eye contact with Micah, whose heart sped up with excitement. It was time!
“Guess we should head back,” Micah said as nonchalantly as possible. Tristan made a face at him, and Micah guessed his nonchalant tone was not very good. But if Melody thought anything was strange, she didn’t say anything.
They packed up the remainders of their dinner and walked back to the boarding house, hand in hand. Micah said, “Are you happy here?”
“What, in the woods?” she asked.
He squeezed her hand and laughed. “No, sweetheart, I mean the boarding house.”
They’d chosen to move into Tristan’s bedroom that was slightly bigger than his. The king bed was topped with the comforter that she had brought, what Tristan called a
purple floral nightmare
, but it hadn’t stopped him from smoothing it on top of the bed. Her small furniture items — her father’s recliner, a wooden plant stand, and a tall oak bookcase — fit in the room easily. It had taken some maneuvering to fit all their clothes into the closet, but after some finagling, they’d managed it. Micah liked seeing her clothes hung with his and Tristan’s. Purple and white striped towels replaced the faded beige ones that Tristan had in the adjoining bathroom, and the edge of the tub was now filled with body wash and soaps that made everything smell sweet.
Melody said, “I do like it. It’s been fun helping to make breakfast with Tristan and Sam in the mornings and playing with the kids outside. But I think the best part is going to sleep between you two every night.”
“That’s my favorite part, too,” Micah promised, and Tristan echoed the sentiment.
John and James sat inside the screened-in back porch and greeted them.
“Melody?” John said. “Do you mind taking some pictures of the kids? They’re out front playing, and I’d like some pictures for my wallet.”
“Sure! I’ll grab my camera and be right out.”
Tristan stowed the picnic basket on the kitchen table, and he and Micah dashed out to the front of the house to make sure that everything was in order. The entire pride was there, and Micah knew that they’d surprised Melody when she came out of the house adjusting the strap on her camera and froze in her tracks.
“What’s all this?” she asked, her brows furrowed.
The five youngest children in the house stood in a row on the grass with the pride around them in a semi-circle. They each wore matching blue shirts, and their backs were turned to the porch as they faced the adults.
Micah and Tristan stood on either side of the kids, and with a soft word from Micah, each child turned around slowly and revealed the front of his shirt. One word, printed in bold white letters, was on the front of each shirt and read:
Will. You. Marry. Us. Melody?
As the last child turned around, Micah and Tristan dropped to their knees and pulled out the ring boxes they’d grabbed from where they’d been hiding in a drawer in the kitchen from the moment that Micah purchased them. He and Tristan picked out the rings on a jeweler’s website, and Micah picked them up on Friday when he’d been out picking up the shirts and picnic supplies.
Melody gasped. Her hand tightened on the strap on her camera, and she looked at each of them for a long moment before she said, “Yes!”
The word came out as a mixture of a laugh and sob, and tears flowed down her cheeks as the pride cheered. Micah and Tristan stood and joined her on the porch. The rings were matching diamond bands with channel cut stones, and Micah slipped his ring on her left ring finger first and then Tristan slipped his in front of Micah’s. Many of the males chose to put the bands on both ring fingers, but he and Tristan decided to honor their mutual mating by putting the rings on the same finger.
“I love you,” Micah said. He pulled her into his arms. She melted into him with a soft purr, and as their lips met in a kiss, the world dropped away. She was his in every possible way, from the top of her golden blonde head to the bottom of her feet, and every delicious part between.
“I love you, too,” Melody whispered against his mouth before turning in his arms to kiss Tristan. The pride’s cheers turned into a celebration, and Micah, Tristan, and Melody joined in.
John Fallon stood in the bedroom next to the one his nephews, Owen and Ben, shared. Jilly slept on the couch in John’s bedroom, but she needed a room of her own. She’d chosen this one instead of the room next to Henry’s on the third floor. Many of the males lived on the third floor, but all the younger kids stayed on the second floor, along with Aaron, Grant, and their mate Sam, and James, who had a room down the hall from John’s.
He took Jilly to pick out paint on Wednesday, and she’d chosen a light purple color, her favorite. He, James, and Henry painted the room on Thursday and let it air out so the fumes didn’t bother her sensitive nose. He’d chosen furniture for her that was a little more mature than she’d had in her childhood home. It was difficult for him to think of her as almost an adult, but she was definitely growing up. And the twin panthers who were sticking to her like glue were proof of that as well. He didn’t feel anything but genuine appreciation for the young males, since their aggressive natures had allowed Jilly’s true mountain lion nature to be revealed. Without their sharing of blood with her, the lions might never have known the truth of their history. And he wouldn’t have his daughter back in his life.
John had asked Wyked and Fate’s dad to help him put together the new furniture for Jilly’s bedroom. While they worked on Thursday, attaching full-size head and footboards to the new mattress and box spring, and making a desk, nightstand, bookshelf, and dresser that matched, they talked. He wasn’t sure that he’d ever spoken to a man who was not a lion for such a long time. Dag explained the nomadic nature of the panthers.
When John asked why he hadn’t chosen to settle down when he married Dionne and raise their family, he had paused in tightening a bolt on the dresser and said, “If she’d wanted to, I would have. Her family was part of a really large clan that traveled through the south mainly. So this life was all that she knew and what she had grown up wanting. I was the same way. I can already tell that Wyked and Fate want to settle down here in Ashland permanently because they know how important the pride is to Jilly.”
John smiled. “Isn’t the clan as important to them?”
Dag chuckled. “Wouldn’t you do anything to make your mate happy?”
Nodding, John said, “Absolutely.”
“It’s the same for us. I’m happy traveling because Dionne loves the life. She has a cousin who mated to a human male who didn’t want to live on the road. Everyone’s lives take them in different directions at one point or another. When the kids are mated, we’ll move on ourselves and stop in every time we’re in the area.”
“And that’s not for three years?” John asked, wanting confirmation that he didn’t need to plan a wedding for his seventeen-year-old daughter. Yet.
“That’s correct. They will need to perform a bonding ceremony. Our males ink their clan name and their mate’s name on their backs when they join together. Think of it like a permanent engagement ring. They’ll promise to mate her when she turns twenty-one. Until then, it’s a reminder to everyone that they’re all taken. And no, Jilly won’t have to get inked. It’s strictly a male thing.”
Turning their attention back to the furniture, John smiled inwardly. He was glad that Jilly had found her mates and they were honorable young males. When he was nineteen, the last thing he would have wanted to do was wait to marry the woman who was his truemate. Jilly had missed out on a lot because of the curse, and he intended to give her every experience she wanted so she could live the next three years without regret.
The following afternoon, Aaron hung the curtains Sam had picked out. They were white lace adorned with purple ribbons. The comforter and decorative pillows matched, and Grant took the boys to the mall and they’d each made her a stuffed animal from the make-a-buddy store.
“I have a question,” Sam said, holding the ladder Aaron stood on with one hand but turning her attention to John as he plugged in a small lamp on the nightstand.
“What’s that?”
“Why didn’t you go to the police? Jilly was a minor. You could have accused the females of kidnapping or coercion or something. Why did you let her go? And how did she get out of school, get her license, and get her GED if you’re her dad?”
John sat on the edge of the bed. “There was a male in King who had a daughter who was a few years older than Jilly. She shifted for the first time a few months into her sixteenth year. The following morning, a group of females showed up at the house and she packed her bag. Her dad stood in her way, tried to keep her from leaving, but she got out any way. He called the police to file a report, and the girl came back that night, but with a note from the females. It said that if he didn’t let her go where she was supposed to be, that they would kill him, his two sons, and then her.”
Sam’s mouth dropped open on a soft gasp. “Oh no!”
Nodding, John said, “Of course he let her go. He was terrified for all of his kids’ lives and with good reason. The females can be vicious, even with their own females. Jilly said the females called her a traitor for trying to free Melody and Micah and was certain they were going to kill her, or what they called
putting her down
.”
Aaron stepped off the ladder and put his arm around Sam, comforting her. John’s heart panged a little. He’d never had a woman to hold and comfort.
Shaking the morose thought from his head he said, “Jilly took her birth certificate with her when she moved out. I found out through a teacher in Ashland that she had come in with a woman who claimed to be her mother and withdrew from school. I’m assuming that the females had false identification of some sort that allowed them to fill out the appropriate paperwork for her to quit school, get her license, and get her GED. They didn’t want any of the younger females to go to school and be exposed to any other were-groups or humans.”
“Another way to control them,” Sam mused.
Aaron nodded. “It’s crazy how different Jilly is. I’m so glad she was set free of the curse and she’s back in the pride where she belongs.”
John was glad for that, too.
“It looks wonderful in here. A perfect room for a young lady.” Sam looked around the room and smiled.
“I hope she likes it,” John said, but knew in his heart that she would.
After dinner on Friday, the kids hurried up ahead of Jilly to her new bedroom and Henry opened the door for her. She stepped into the room and turned in a slow circle, taking it all in.
“Oh, Daddy,” she said with a thick voice. Her mouth turned down, and tears filled her eyes.
He hugged her tightly. “Do you love it, baby?”
“I do, so much. Thank you.” Her hands balled against his back, and she shuddered as she cried, but she never pulled away from the hug. For so many years he had never been able to really hug his daughter, and it was a balm for his soul. She’d been a missing part of his life, and she was here now. Home, where she belonged.
“I’d do anything to make you happy, baby. I’m so glad you’re home.”
“I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
*Nine Weeks Later*
Tristan bent Melody back and kissed her soundly. She laughed, throwing her arms around his neck. The music from the stereo on the back porch filled the air, along with the laughter and chatter of their wedding guests.
“Are you happy, Mrs. Harrison?” Tristan righted her and spun her in a circle, releasing her into Micah’s waiting arms.
“Very,” she said and grinned.
Micah kissed her, too, but instead of bending her back in a grand show, he simply cupped her cheek and kissed her. She loved how different they were. Hard and soft. Aggressive and sweet. Will-kill-anything-creepy-crawly and scared-to-death-of-spiders. She giggled inwardly at the thought. She’d never met a grown man who was afraid of spiders, but Micah froze up like an icicle at the sight of any eight-legged creatures.
He told her – one day when he was flame-red from embarrassment at freaking out over a spider in the kitchen – that when he was a kid, he’d been canoeing with his dad and Tristan and they’d turned a sharp corner in a creek and run against a tree. The tree was home to thousands of spiders that dropped from the limbs and scurried over all of them. Micah had been just young enough to be traumatized completely. Tristan never teased his brother about his fear and Melody didn’t tease him either. Spiders didn’t bother her. But snakes? She’d run for the hills if she saw a snake.
“We’re married, sweetheart,” Micah whispered in her ear, and she shivered as his voice trailed down her spine.
“I thought the day would never come,” she said and smiled.
Which was very true. Her uncles had seemed to take forever to tie up their affairs in King, but had finally moved to Ashland the week before. They’d set a tentative date for their wedding for the third Saturday in September. She’d been worried they might not make it out in time and they’d have to postpone, but she was thrilled when they finally showed up with their moving truck packed full of all their belongings.
She moved into Tristan’s room with Micah. They shared the third floor with Ray, Wesley, Chase, Dylan, Hunter, and Henry, who each had their own rooms, and Lachlyn, Jericho, and Alek who shared a room. There were two empty rooms on the third floor. The second floor held the younger kids and now Jilly, along with her dad, John, James, Aaron, Grant, and Sam. Her uncles decided to live on the second floor and took two of the empty rooms for themselves.
She hadn’t known how busy the boarding house would be, but it was a haven of activity all the time. In August, the entire pride went camping, and Melody spent time with Jilly, Lachlyn, and Sam and got to know the ladies. She liked the sweet music teacher, the fun loving she-bear, and the young teen a lot and was looking forward to getting to know them better.
In August, she and her mates went to Bent Creek for a long weekend and hung out with Scarlett and the wolf pack. The kids headed back to school at the end of the month, and the house was suddenly calmer.
Melody’s photography business was booming. There were no professional photographers in Ashland, and once her pictures of Callie’s kids appeared in frames on Eryx’s desk in the police station, requests rolled in like crazy. Ray, who was very good with computers, designed a website for her, and Chase who had an accounting degree set up her billing and finances. She was booked solid through the following spring.
She was itching to take pictures now at her own wedding, too, but instead of her being behind the lens for the most special night of her life, she hired a professional photographer from another town. It had allowed her to just enjoy the night. From her uncles walking her down the makeshift aisle in the backyard to where her mates stood with Pastor Gisele under an arbor full of tiny white roses, to the monster wedding cake, to the way that she was dancing now with her mates.
“What are you thinking about, sweet wife?” Tristan nuzzled her neck from behind and kissed her ear.
“Taking pictures.”
“Ooh, of our wedding night?” He snickered.
She swatted at the arm he hooked around her waist. “Of course not, you naughty cat.”
“Well, I’ve got it on good authority that the photographer has been taking hundreds of pictures, so I know that your special day will be well documented.”
She sighed happily.
James tapped his spoon against his champagne glass once they had been passed around to everyone, the kids drinking glasses full of white grape juice. “I’m so happy to see our pride come together for such an important event. The finding of truemates should be celebrated and honored. To Melody, Micah, and Tristan. May your love grow stronger every day.”
He raised his glass and the pride raised theirs. Melody, Micah, and Tristan clinked glasses and drank a toast to their future.
An hour later, Sam helped Melody out of her wedding dress, a simple white capped sleeve dress with a full skirt. Callie unzipped the bag for the wedding dress, and while Lachlyn helped maneuver the dress into the bag for safekeeping, Lisa held up the navy blue, short sleeved sweater dress Melody had picked out to wear after the reception.
“Have they told you what you’re doing yet?” Lisa asked, handing the dress to Melody.
“No. I kind of have the feeling they don’t know, either, though. They told me to pack for three days, so I guess wherever we’re going we’ll be back on Tuesday.”
Callie made a soft sound, and Melody realized she was holding back a laugh. “Do you know?”
“Who, me?” Callie’s eyes widened with mock surprise.
“Oh, tell me!” Melody demanded.
“Sorry. My lips are sealed under threat of punishment from my mates. I don’t mind teasing them, but I don’t want to piss them off outright, and it would if I spilled, so no way.”
“Oh, fine.” Melody stuck her tongue out at Callie who laughed heartily.
After she ran a brush through her hair and checked her makeup, Melody and the ladies left the bedroom that she shared with Micah and Tristan and walked downstairs. Her uncles were waiting at the bottom of the steps. Callie, Lachlyn, Lisa, and Sam scooted around Melody and walked out to the front of the house.
Jax took one hand and Holden the other, and both looked at her with faces shining with happiness. “Your dad would be so proud of you, baby girl,” Holden said with a thick voice. “I’m so happy for you.”
“We’re proud of you too, honey,” Jax said. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to our family, and we’re glad to be here with you and share in your new life.”
She hugged and kissed them, thanking them for their support and love. They walked her to Micah and Tristan who stood at the front door.
“Are you ready for our honeymoon, baby?” Tristan asked, taking one hand.
“Yes. Are you going to tell me where we’re going yet?”
“We don’t know,” Micah chuckled lightly. “It’s a surprise to us, too.”
The three of them maneuvered through the front door holding hands and stopped on the front porch. The pride was gathered on the lawn, the males looking handsome in suits and the females in pretty dresses. Scarlett, who had been her Maid of Honor, stood between Ray and Wesley, who had taken an instant liking to her sassy friend. Micah and Tristan’s dad and uncle had come for the wedding, and Jilly’s twin mates stood with her next to her dad. The kids were all adorable in their little suits. The excitement of the party colored their cheeks.
For most of her life, she’d never been around other mountain lions except her father. She hadn’t felt as though she’d missed out on anything because her dad had loved her so greatly. But now that she knew how amazing the pride was, she sent a prayer of thanks heavenward to her dad, for walking away from everything to give her a chance at a normal life.
James stepped forward and said, “The pride wanted to give you a present that expressed how much we care for the three of you. It wasn’t easy, but we managed to keep the location of your honeymoon a surprise,” he glanced towards the kids and smiled, “and we hope that you enjoy yourselves.”
He stepped up onto the porch and gave them an envelope. As Tristan took it, James said, “We’ve paid for two nights at the Yellowwood Lake Cabin Resort. My boys and Callie spent their honeymoon there, and I have it on good authority that it’s amazing.”
Melody looked down at Callie, who smiled broadly. “Thank you,” Melody mouthed to her friend, and Callie nodded, hooking her arms through each of her husband’s arms and leaning her head against Eryx’s shoulder.
Tristan thanked the pride for their gift, and they cheered as the three of them made their way to the truck Tristan purchased a few weeks after they’d come back to Ashland. The navy blue truck was now covered with white silk flowers and ribbons, and someone had written on the back windshield with white paint,
Just Married
.
“Oh good grief,” Tristan said, chuckling when he saw his truck. He opened the passenger door and scooped Melody up in his arms. “Think people will know we’re married now?”
“I think they’ll figure it out,” she said, kissing him.
He set her in the middle of the bench seat and walked around to the driver’s door while Micah climbed in next to her. When both were buckled in on either side of her, Tristan started the truck, and they waved to the pride watching from the front lawn. Tristan honked twice as he pulled away from the boarding house.
“Two nights is going to go really fast,” Micah said, putting his arm around her and hugging her close.
She peeked up at her sweet mate, and he looked down at her with his caramel eyes brimming with love. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, sweetheart.”
She took Tristan’s hand from her knee and kissed the top. “I love you, too.”
Tristan glanced at her with a smile and told her that he loved her. As they left Ashland and headed towards their honeymoon cabin, she smiled. For a long time, she thought she’d lost everything when her dad died. But having Micah and Tristan in her life — finding them, mating them, marrying them — had given her back her heart and her spirit. She missed her dad terribly, but his memory would live on through her, and she would be sure to share everything about him with their kids, so they would know their grandfather.
One night she’d tried to save the pride against a threat, but the pride had saved her in the end by giving her the two most precious males in her life and helping her to reconnect with her family. No matter what else came their way, she and her mates had each other and the pride, and there wasn’t any storm that could destroy their love for each other.
The End
* * * * *
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* * * * * *
Wiccan-Were-Bear Novella Series
A Curve of Claw
A Flash of Fang
A Price for a Princess
A Bond of Brothers
A Bead of Blood
A Twitch of Tail
A Promise on White Wings
The Wolf’s Mate Series
The Wolf’s Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence
The Wolf’s Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel
The Wolf’s Mate Book 3: Callie & The Cats
The Wolf’s Mate Book 4: Michael & Shyne
The Wolf’s Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika
The Wolf’s Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna
The Necklace Chronicles
The Tribe’s Bride
The Gigolo’s Bride
Ashland Pride Series
Seducing Samantha (Ashland Pride One)
Loving Lachlyn (Ashland Pride Two)
Marking Melody (Ashland Pride Three)
Hyena Heat Series
Every Night Forever (Hyena Heat One)
Every Dawn Forever (Hyena Heat Two)
* * * * *
Coming Soon…
Redeeming Rue
(Ashland Pride Book 4)
As an albino black panther banished by her people, Veruka Jennings knows if her clan discovers she had a child, it would mean death for them both. Labeled an abomination and forbidden from having cubs, she's spent the better part of her life as an outcast, believing she is worthless because of the color of her fur. After secretly overhearing traveling clan members discuss a bonding ceremony in Indiana, she decides to spy on the proceedings for one last look at the people who treated her like trash.