Alpha’s mark he’d just branded me with. There was no pain. Only pleasure. And I knew our bond would never break.
24
Phaedra
I married Archer two months later in a grove of apple trees, deep in the Durness wilderness with the entire coven in attendance. A healthy contingent of wolf shifters arrived as well. Most were lone Alphas and betas, driven from pack lands to our Oasis Territory. But they were freer now. The Ring had retreated from the entire state of California in the wake of what happened at the Golden Taurus.
No official reason was given. The government called it a new policy aimed at reconciliation as espoused by the new administration. So now, with the exception of the greater Los Angeles area, California itself was an Oasis Territory. The ink on the new treaty had just been signed.
It was progress. But we still had a long way to go.
My father gave me away. My uncles Gideon and Xander came with their families. I hadn’t seen my cousins Cassia or Mia in ages. They’d claimed mates of their own and it was so good to see them. I missed them. But there was someone else I needed a moment alone with.
As our post-wedding picnic got underway, I found my grandmother waiting for me. She’d gone to the site of our new house. We’d had the foundation poured a few weeks ago and the framing just went up. The house would take the style of a huge log cabin with exposed beams and lots of windows. Our bedroom would overlook Mount Shasta and the winding river below.
“You picked a good one,” Avelina said. I wasn’t sure if she meant my house plans or my husband. I smiled, realizing she probably meant both.
I stood beside her, facing the mountain. “He still carries a lot of guilt. The shadow of Able Valent is a long one.”
“He’s not his father,” she said. “And before Valent became what he was, he had good in him. Archer has that too. Will he take his name?”
“No,” I said. “He’s taking his mother’s name instead. Wilder.”
“Phaedra Brandhart Wilder,” she said. “It’s perfect.”
I looked up at her. Beautiful wasn’t an adequate enough word for what my grandmother was. Avelina Brandhart had lived over a thousand years. Her hair had grown platinum white. She had deep lines around her eyes, but cut a striking figure. Never mind her Dragonfire, the woman could cut you down with one cold stare.
She put an arm around me. “Now, don’t you think it’s time you told me what it was you saw in the fire?”
I took a breath. Archer felt it too. He hadn’t asked me point blank like this. But he knew something was different about me.
“The Source,” I said. “It...gave me something. Part of it is my connection. I’m stronger. My fire feels, I don’t know, closer. But it showed me something. Something I don’t know how to interpret.”
“Maybe because you aren’t supposed to,” she said. “Maybe it was just a message you were supposed to convey.”
“Yes,” I said, the word coming out in a rush.
“So tell me,” she said. “Or show me.”
She took both of my hands and faced me. The wind picked up and my grandmother threw her head back, closing her eyes. Waiting.
I let my breath out and with it my fire. It tingled through my veins. Fire. Ice. My grandmother received it. She drew in a sharp intake of air, then a slow smile spread across her face.
She waited a moment before opening her eyes. When she did, I saw an expression on her face I’d never seen before.
Avelina Brandhart. Thousand-year-old dragon-mother and final survivor of the Great Shifter War...was shocked.
“I’ll be damned,” she said.
“What does it mean?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I only know what that power felt like.”
We said it together. “Ice fire.”
“Ice fire,” I repeated. “You don’t mean...They aren’t…”
“I don’t know,” she said. “The Source has always been a fickle bitch. And a shitty oracle. But it gave you ice fire. Maybe not forever. Maybe just long enough to show it to me. Maybe just because it wanted a place to put it.”
“But maybe…” I said, my voice trailing off. “Maybe you aren’t the only kind of dragon to have survived extinction.”
She put her arm around me and turned me away from the house.
“Nothing to worry about,” she said. “You’ve earned your little slice of peace, Phaedra. Take it.”
She let me go just as Archer came over the rise, looking for me. My heart flipped. He was so handsome in his tux. I wore a simple, white sheath dress with daisies in my hair.
I turned, “Grandmother…” But she was already gone. Only a warm breeze marked her presence.
“Who were you talking to?” Archer said as he came to me.
“Just Avelina,” I answered.
“Ah,” he said. “I figured. She was looking at you funny the whole ceremony.”
I laughed. It was an odd way to describe her.
“God. I’ve been waiting for this all day,” he said. The sky changed color, going from blue to pink. We’d be able to watch it set behind the mountains every single day for the rest of our lives.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you more,” he answered. “But dammit, woman, you look good enough to eat. I’ve been waiting for that all day too.”
“Don’t we have to get back to the picnic?” I asked, gasping with pleasure as he pulled me to him.
“They’re busy,” he said. “Your mother put out enough food to feed the whole state of California. Mexico too.”
His hands roamed, finding my ass. He squeezed me there, getting a delighted squeal out of me for his efforts. He grew rock hard against me. My body responded in kind. God. He could do that to me. Just a look. A single touch and he had me wet and ready every time.
“Come on,” he said. He swooped me into his arms and carried me to what would someday soon be our threshold.
“Aren’t we supposed to wait until we have an actual door for that?” I laughed.
“Fine,” he said. “You want me to stop?”
“God, no!” I said. “Never.”
So, he didn’t. Archer carried me to the spot where we would someday have a bed. He laid me down in the grass.
“Get that dress off,” he growled. “If I have my way, when it’s just the two of us you’ll never need a stitch of clothes, woman.”
“Promise?” I gasped, new heat flaring through me. God. I wanted that. I wanted this man to ravish me every day for the rest of our lives.
“Promise,” he answered as he made good on another when he said I was good enough to eat.
Then, my Archer claimed me once more as the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon brought a different promise of the life we would build together.
Fire. Ice. Wolf. Witch. A perfect union no element could ever divide.
Up Next for the Dragonborn Daughters
CLICK COVER FOR MORE INFO
Being half dragon is the least of Nell Brandhart's secrets. When the world's most ruthless shifter bounty hunter sets his sights on her, he bites off far more than he can chew. Fur flies when opposites attract and Nell unleashes her true nature.
Don’t miss, Called by Flame the next smoldering book in the Dragonborn Daughters series. https://kimberwhite.com/dragonborn-daughters/called-by-flame/
Books by Kimber White
Dragonborn Daughters Series Page
Bitten by Flame
Touched by Flame
Cursed by Flame
Called by Flame
Loved by Flame
Dragonkeepers Series Page
Kissed by Fire
Tempted by Fire
Marked by Fire
Claimed by Fire
Freed by Fire
Wolfguard Protectors
Shift of Fate
Echo of Magic
Kiss of Midnight
Heart of the Wolf
Secret of the Fae
Mammoth Forest Wolves Series Page
Liam
Mac
Gunnar
Payne
Jagger
Wild Ridge Bears Series Page
Lord of the Bears
Outlaw of the Bears
Rebel of the Bears
Curse of the Bears
Last of the Bears
Wild Lake Wolves Series Page
Rogue Alpha
Dark Wolf
Primal Heat
Savage Moon
Hunter’s Heart
Wild Hearts
Stolen Mate
Claimed by the Pack Series Page
The Alpha’s Mark
Sweet Submission
Rising Heat
Pack Wars
Choosing an Alpha
The Complete Series Box Set
About the Author
Kimber White writes steamy paranormal romance with smoldering, alpha male shifters and kickass heroines (doormats need not apply). She lives on a lake in the Irish Hills of Michigan with one neurotic dog, her sweet, handsome son, her fire-breathing warrior-princess of a daughter, and the most supportive husband any writer could hope to have (seriously, he just took said son, daughter, and dog out for a boat ride so she could finish this book in peace!).
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