Page 91 of Psycho

I smiled as I saw Nera’s mother standing in the corner talking to her brother. They’d arrived in town a couple of days ago and were staying at one of the empty homes on the compound. They hadn’t been very happy to learn Nera was mating with a wolf, but they had no choice but to get over it. They seemed to be better now, but it had stressed Nera out, and talking with her therapist seemed to help.

“If everyone is here, let’s get started,” Barney, the officiant we’d hired, said. He was an old wolf with lots of mating ceremonies under his belt.

Trigger and I stood next to him while we waited for Nera. Her brother scrambled into the restroom area and escorted his sister out. She took my breath away in a simple floor-length cream dress and a tiara tucked into her short white hair.

When my eyes locked with her purple-blue ones, it gave me such contentment and peace. I knew she was the one, of course she was, or else I wouldn’t have marked her.

She stared at me the whole way down from the side of the bar, and when she reached me, Alec shook my hand and handed her off to me.

Barney started the ceremony, but I hardly listened. I just wanted to take Nera home and get her into my bed.

“Sheppard and Nera, you two are fated to be together. The goddess has chosen you as mates. Do you vow to be each other’s mate until one of you passes onto the true and final death?”

“We do,” we said together.

“Do you vow to honor and protect the bond with the pack?”

“We do.”

Since we decided to combine the mating ceremony with the legal wedding, Barney continued.

“By the power bestowed upon me by the Great Goddess, and also state of Louisiana”—he smiled, putting up one finger—“I now pronounced you husband, wife, and mates for life.”

I slid the two carat diamond onto her finger, and she slid the titanium ring on mine. I put my finger under my wife’s chin and tilted her head up, giving her a firm kiss, which she returned.

My entire pack cheered, and with our hands linked, we held them up.

Nera’s mom rushed up to us and hugged her daughter, then looked at me. “Oh, Shep. I’m so happy to have a son-in-law. You be good to her, okay?”

I smiled. “I will, Sandy. You don’t have to worry.”

Trigger shook my hand and congratulated me, and I looked over to see the rest of my pack—Menace, Strife, Wizard, Cutter, and Chaos waiting to do the same. Charlie, Metal, and the other prospects smiled at us as well. This was truly a day I would never forget for as long as I lived. I put my arm around my wife and stroked my mating mark on her shoulder with my thumb, as if to make sure it was still there, and felt her slightly shudder under my touch. This ceremony was nothing but a formality for us. For our pack to witness, for our families to be here.

My mom had come down for it, and I watched as she slowly approached me. “Sheppard, sweetheart, I’m so happy you found your mate.” She looked at Nera and grabbed her hand, “Honey, you be good to my Shep, okay?”

She laughed. “Of course I will. I love him. He’s mine.”

“Good. Now you guys don’t waste any time giving me some grandkids. You’ll need to have at least four pups.”

Nera gasped. “Four? Oh, no, Ms. Madden—”

“Call me Angela, sweetie. And yes, four. I only got to have the one child, so I’ll need lots of grands.”

I laughed and hugged my mother. “I love you, Ma. Thanks for coming.”

She looked around, then up into my eyes with brown ones identical to mine. “I had to lie to Jimmy about where I was going.” She shook her head, her salt-and-pepper hair styled nicely. “He’s been on one since you left. Saying you need to come back. I told him to leave you be, that you were happy here, having your own pack and your MC. He seems jealous. He’s always been a stubborn asshole.”

My mother didn’t know the half of the abuse we’d suffered at his hand, and I didn’t want her to know Uncle Jimmy had been threatening us, but I did say, “He’s expressed concern about me being here and wants Jake and me to come home, but I hope he can take no for answer.”

She shook her head. “He usually doesn’t.”

“Ma, ignore him, okay? Better yet, why don’t you let me move you down here? The weather will be better for your lungs and it doesn’t get cold or snow, and it’s a couple hours’ drive to some nice beaches. I’ll set you up in your own house. What do you say?”

She furrowed her brow. “I don’t know, Shep. Let me think about it, okay?”

“Okay, Ma.”

The DJ started to play some music, and I was dragged to the dance floor by Nera to dance to our first song.

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