Submitting to the Shadow (Kindred Tales #27) - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,85

the bastard who attacked me,” Sammi pointed out. She shivered. “I won’t deny it was an awful experience and I’ll probably need some therapy to get over it completely. But right now, what I mostly need is for the two of us to be together. If…” She looked up at him, suddenly shy. “If you really want to be, that is.”

“If I want to be?” Roark repeated, his eyes widening. “Samantha, have you not heard anything I’ve said? Of course I want to be with you—I just don’t deserve you!”

“None of us is deserving of grace, and yet grace is what the Goddess offers us,” the Elder Priestess said quietly. “I think, Warrior, that this female was sent for you to love and protect. And I think she will offer you forgiveness along with her heart if you will only offer her yours in return.”

Sammi looked up at him, waiting to see what he would say. But instead of speaking, Roark dropped suddenly to his knees before her.

“Samantha,” he said, reaching for her hand with his un-bloodied one. Sammi gave her hand willingly and looked into his eyes.

“Yes, Roark?” she whispered breathlessly.

“Samantha,” he said again. “I love you with my whole heart and I pledge to spend the rest of my days loving and protecting you and our children. Will you Join with me now, in the presence of these witnesses and of the Goddess herself—the Mother of All Life—and pledge to spend the rest of your days with me?”

Sammi felt like her heart might burst with joy.

“Yes, Roark,” she whispered, her newly healed voice tight with tears. She sank to the soft grass, on her knees, still holding his hand. “Oh, yes I will! With all my heart I’ll Join with you.”

“Thank you. I swear you’ll never regret it.” Roark pulled her to him and Sammi buried her face in his broad chest and breathed in his deep, spicy scent—the scent of safety and love and home.

“Oh my children!” There were tears in the Elder Priestess’s green-within-green eyes and she had to blot them on her long sleeves before she could continue. “I am so happy! This Severing has now turned into a Joining Ceremony.” She looked at Sammi. “Do you wish to call anymore witnesses to partake in your joy?”

Sammi looked up at Meg, who had an uncertain expression on her face.

“I have my best friend right here with me,” she said, smiling at Meg. “As long as she can see that I’m happy, I’m fine with that.”

Reluctantly, Meg began to smile.

“All right, Sammi,” she said, nodding. “I just want what’s best for you.”

“Roark is what’s best for me,” Sammi assured her.

“I vow to do everything in my power to keep your friend safe and happy and to love her for all my days,” Roark added.

Meg’s smile widened.

“Well then what are we waiting for? Let’s get this Joining Ceremony going!”

Laughing and crying at the same time, Sammi got to her feet and Roark did as well. They turned to face the Elder Priestess, who was still blotting her own tears and the ceremony continued—not as a severing of their lives, but as a joining of their love and their souls forever.

Sixty-Four

“I don’t care if we can form a full soul-bond or not—I love you no matter what,” Sammi told Roark as he paced anxiously in front of the bed. “Besides, do you really think the Goddess would have come down to the Sacred Grove and healed my voice so I could tell you what a big mistake we were making if she didn’t intend to let us form a full-fledged bond like all the other Kindred have with their wives?”

It was their wedding night—well, their Joining night which amounted to the same thing—but Roark, who was usually so sexually dominant, was uncharacteristically nervous about sealing the deal.

Sammi was wearing a brand-new black lace teddy that tied right between her breasts and had tiny black lace panties to match to entice him. The outfit left almost nothing to the imagination—it clearly showed the pink points of her nipples and the panties showed the cleft of her pussy—but still her new husband hadn’t come to bed.

Roark himself was wearing nothing but a pair of long black sleep trousers, made of some heavy, satiny material. They hung around his narrow hips and showed off his broad bare chest and back beautifully. Sammi tried not to drool as she looked at him.

“Everything is going to be okay,” she told him. “You don’t