eased back but remained a breath away while she rubbed against the delightful hardness of him.
“It’s warmer inside,” she whispered.
“More cubs in there,” Stuart pointed out.
A cold wind poured down the porch, making wind chimes sing. Peigi shivered. “I think we should risk it.”
“Nuff said.” Stuart rose, lifting Peigi so he cradled her in his strong arms.
They laughed when he navigated the doorknob with his arms full of Peigi, then he set her on her feet in the kitchen. Another kiss there, this one body to body, the two tightly against each other. Then they moved as silently as they could down the hall and into the dark bedroom.
Stuart firmly shut the blinds. “No dragging us back to Faerie tonight.”
“No.” Peigi cupped Stuart’s face when he came to her again. “Someday, though. They’ll need you.”
“Crispin promised to keep open communication with Ben and Cian. But right now …”
“Right now …”
Right now, she was with Stuart, the man who’d woken her from the stupor in which she’d existed for years, who’d taught her how to live again. The cubs snored down the hall, and bright moonlight leaked around the blinds, the Goddess bathing Peigi in cool radiance.
They undressed each other in the silence, hands and mouths seeking, bodies entwining as they fell to the bed. The mate bond snaked around Peigi’s heart as Stuart began to love her, a bond she gathered to her with gladness.
The last of the chains of fear and loneliness fell away, and Peigi welcomed Stuart with love, wrapping herself in the mate of her heart.
Epilogue
How all the Shifters from the far ends of the country managed to arrive in time for the full-moon ceremony, Stuart didn’t know, but come they did.
Bowman and Kenzie from North Carolina with Kenzie’s formidable uncle, plus a Fae woman who stayed near him. The entire Morrissey clan from Austin, along with Liam’s trackers: Spike, Ellison, and Ronan and his mate and extended family. Tiger came with his mate, Carly, their baby son, Seth, and the wild young tiger woman he’d rescued. Mason McNaughton and his brothers brought their mates, including Jasmine, the woman who owned the haunted house.
Jaycee and Dimitri traveled with Kendrick’s family, and Angus and Tamsin had hitched a ride with them. From Montana came Zander, the giant polar bear who was a healer, with his mate Rae, her Guardian’s Sword glinting on her back.
Of course, the entire population of the Las Vegas Shiftertown showed up to make sure Peigi and Reid got themselves mated. The members of Eric’s household, Graham’s, and Nell’s mingled, with Diego’s brother Xavier pairing up once more with Lindsey, a lynx Feline.
Ben had stepped through the ley line earlier that day, emerging in Kurt’s basement, to that Lupine’s supreme annoyance. Ben had softened the blow by bringing Kurt a keg of dokk alfar ale.
The karmsyern was coming along, Ben assured Stuart. Tricky, but doable. Cian was proving a good host, and Ben, to his surprise, found he was enjoying the visit.
“Not forever, though,” he said, fondly taking in the vast dry desert running northward out of Shiftertown, the bright sky, the Shifters already partying hard. “I like this crazy, fucked-up human world.”
Stuart had to agree.
Cubs ran everywhere, with Peigi’s and Stuart’s bunch pleased to act as hosts. Noelle told the story again and again of how Peigi and Stuart fought valiantly inside Faerie and how she and Matt and Kyle had helped rescue them.
Stuart barely saw Peigi all day, as she was pulled from one family to the other, congratulated, hugged, kissed. She laughed, and wept too, discovering how many Shifters from multiple Shiftertowns had her in their thoughts.
Eric had performed the sun ceremony earlier that day, completing the first half of the mating ritual. Peigi had been whisked away immediately afterward by Nell, Cassidy, Iona, and Misty for whatever female bonding they did for the rest of the afternoon.
As much as Stuart longed to be with Peigi—in private, celebrating their own way—he didn’t see her again until the full moon was well up, and the Shifters gathered in their circles for the second part of the ceremony, the most important one.
Dylan had taken the opportunity during the down time, of course, to ask Stuart all about what had gone on in Faerie and about Ben and the karmsyern. Plus whether Cian would be amenable to form an alliance with him. The hoch alfar would move on Shifters sooner or later, and if the hoch alfar had a Tuil Erdannan on their side …