Page 15 of Remy & the Wildcat

She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“Do we need to mate and mark each other right away or by a certain time, or can we just go with the flow and do it when we’re ready?”

Well, Remy and his wolf were ready right the hell now to find out how many times they could make Thyme scream his name. However, he knew they were truemates and he didn’t want to rush her. It wouldn’t kill him to wait a while to mate her while they got to know each other. He was pretty sure, anyway.

“Well, it would obviously have to be before the full moon, because that’s the deadline. But as far as when, we could anytime. Once you and I mate and mark each other, then we’d have the joining ceremony in front of the pride, which will make us the official interim alphas, and we’d spend the rest of the time before the next full moon shadowing the elders, since my father passed away and we can’t shadow him. Then there’s an ascension ceremony on the full moon, when the position becomes ours to share.”

“I’ve never heard of an ascension ceremony, sounds mystical.”

“It makes it official for the pride to pass the torch, so to speak, from the alpha to his heir. But in our case, it would be the elders passing the torch.”

He’d been so sorry to hear about her dad passing away. Add that to the way she’d felt like an outsider with her stepmom and half-brother, and she had a lot to be pissed about. But she had a great attitude and clearly cared very much for the pride. “That’s pretty cool.”

They left the RV and headed into his parents’ home.

“Hello?” he called.

“In the kitchen, honey, come on in,” his mom called back.

He heard the soft, excited murmurings of his sisters and glanced at Thyme. “I hope you like getting hugged a lot.”

Her eyes went wide.

Then he heard the pounding of feet and his sisters burst down the hall, squealing and giggling.

“Yay! A new sister!”

All three hugged Thyme at once. She seemed too shocked to move and then she hugged them back with a laugh. “And new sisters for me too. Hi!”

They spoke at once, sharing their names.

“Oh gosh, I hope I remember them,” Thyme said. “I’m not the best with names.”

“I’ll help,” Remy said. “Come on you weirdos, let me get my mate to meet Mom and Dad.”

“Lennox isn’t home, he stayed at Gideon’s,” Kendall said. “He’ll be around later, but you’re probably taking off? When are you leaving?”

“We’re going to check in with Alpha Jason and then we’ll head down to Marin.”

“Marin? That’s close,” his dad said when they walked into the kitchen.

“Just a half hour,” Remy answered. “Mom, Dad, this is my truemate Thyme Olson. Sweetheart, these are my parents: Linus and Karly. You met the giggle bunch over there already.”

Karly stepped up for a hug and Thyme gave Remy a sweet awe-filled smile as they embraced. “Oh, you’re just so lovely! Welcome to the family.”

“Thanks so much,” Thyme said, shaking Linus’s hand.

“Girls, grab the rest of the dishes and let’s eat and get to know the newest member of the family.”

They sat at the table while his sisters set various breakfast dishes down. Coffee mugs were filled, juice glasses were brought out, and the smells of every good thing his mom baked filled the air.

“Oh wow, is this how you usually eat after the full moons? It could feed an army!” Thyme said, her eyes comically wide.

“Pretty much,” Linus said. “Karly runs the Lonestar restaurant and is a whiz in the kitchen. We’re pretty spoiled.”

“Do you like to cook?” Karly asked.

“I do, but I don’t make anything fancy, not like this.”

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