He looked back at the assembled crowd and smiled. His sister Jillian sat, flirting with her date. His father looked at ease as he sat with his arm around Ben’s mother’s shoulders. Ben didn’t know what had transpired at the meeting but within the following forty eight hours, his mother showed up on his and Tegan’s doorstep and they’d begun a tentative move toward acceptance. His mother wouldn’t talk about the coffee date and Tegan’s grandmother was equally tight lipped. He wondered if the old woman hadn’t done some sort of witchy magic on his mother, but he supposed whatever worked was fine with him. His parents were there to share his happiness with him and it made Tegan happy to know that too.

He’d warned them, as well as Benoit, who also sat in the crowd, that there’d be some wolf type stuff going on. There’d be a ceremonial spilling of his blood on the ground along with Tegan’s. Marking it with his scent so to speak and mixing his blood with the Pack’s.

Two large wolves sat on the ridgeline high above the group, watching and guarding—Nick and Gabe, his soon-to-be brothers-in-law and Tegan’s baby sister, Tracy’s, husbands. Several Pacific Pack wolves, Tracy’s Packmates, had taken over guard duty for the afternoon and had spread through the surrounding forest.

Every once in a while he heard a howl, answered by several more in order as they checked in. As Lex didn’t look alarmed when that happened, Ben just assumed everything was status quo.

An arbor marked the space where they’d stand and the trees surrounding the area were strung with white lights that cast a soft glow on the spot. It felt magical.

The hair on the back of Ben’s neck stood up and Lex tapped his arm. Ben turned to catch sight of his woman walking down the path toward them.

Her hair was loose, beautiful strands of red blowing in the soft breeze as the deepest blue of twilight settled in. The dress she wore was the same deep green as the robe she wore for him several nights a week. Only this dress moved about her feet like the ocean as she walked. The front dipped low, the necklace he’d given her resting between her br**sts and the sleeves were tight, buttoned from her wrists to her elbow.

Once she’d gotten close enough, he saw her hair had green ribbons and shiny things woven through it. She looked like a faery queen or a goddess. His red wolf.

“Wow. You look amazing,” he murmured before kissing her softly.

She smiled and be caught her blush. “Thank you. So do you. I like you in this gray color. I’m glad you went for a tux, very sexy.”

Tegan didn’t remember much of the ceremony once she’d rounded the corner and saw Ben standing there with her brothers. She’d done this once before with Lucas.

They’d been young and of course both of them were wolves so the ceremony was different. But this time, it felt like she’d been away from home for a very long time and just seeing Ben there, his blue-black hair trimmed just for the ceremony, all buff and hard in that tux, a total sense of relief settled in. She was home, he brought her back from the edge.

As she’d been walking from the house, she caught sight of a gold wolf running across the path. Lucas had been a gold wolf. None of the Pacific wolves were gold like that. She’d stopped and her grandmother had hugged Tegan to her side a moment.

“You saw?”

Her grandmother nodded. “It’s his way of saying goodbye. He’s giving you his goodbye.”

But she wasn’t sad. It made her happy instead. She missed him, she always would, but he held only happiness for her now.

The night was clear and the stars winked overhead as her grandmother and their local pastor had said the ceremony and blessing. When Ben’s blood met hers on the ground, she’d felt him weave his way through the Pack consciousness at the back of her mind. He was Cascadia now. It made her proud.

Her grandmother spoke words older than Latin over their hands where their rings touched. Tegan knew when she changed into her wolf skin, the ring would go somewhere else but be back on her finger when she let her human surface again. Her grandmother explained Ben would feel it when she changed and changed back through the ring on his finger and he’d loved that, knowing he’d have a way to feel her when they weren’t together. She’d also done her thing on the necklace, which had eased Tegan’s worry about losing it.

The pastor had them sign the paperwork after he’d announced them husband and wife, and his grandmother had done her magical mojo and suddenly, they were married under human law and joined in the eyes of the Pack.

The party was lovely. Jillian had outdone herself with the gorgeous little appetizers.

The cake was fantastic and plenty of wine and champagne flowed for the guests. They danced under the stars, laughed, kissed and loved.

Ben’s mother even stayed until midnight, which surprised Tegan but made her very happy for Ben’s sake. The woman had been trying in her own way and while Tegan was pretty sure they’d never be very close, she was relieved not to come between him and his family.

Layla pulled her aside later and hugged her tight. “I’m so happy for you. I wondered if I’d ever get you back, if I’d see that look on your face again. The Tegan who belonged to someone. You’re just gorgeous tonight and Ben is spiffy and you both look so good together it makes me almost want to have another baby.”

Sid had approached and put one arm around his wife and another around Tegan.

“Ah, my womens. Did you let Ben know he had to share you with me?”

Tegan had to admit the men each one of her sisters had ended up with were pretty amazing and all totally different. Sid was a laid back rock and roll artist type but he adored Layla and had never blinked an eye when Tegan ended up in their guestroom for months after Lucas died.