Page 34 of Huntress and the Splintered Court
“You’re my daughter.”
“And he’s going to be your son-in-law.” I didn’t even register what I had said until Gideon and my father both whipped their heads in my direction.
“Son-in-law?” Gideon asked with a raised brow.
“Uh…I meant…” I floundered.
“You’re so cute when flustered.” He grinned. “You’re my mate. While the mating ceremony is more for me, I understand if you want the human ceremony too. We can handle that at city hall before the mating ceremony during the next full moon.”
I stared at him unblinking. “Did you just ask me to marry you?”
“And to officially be my mate which would mean stepping up into your role as Luna of the pack.” Seeing the blank stare I was giving, he quickly added. “Unless these aren’t things you want or not right now…”
“Shut up,” I lunged at him claiming his lips with mine. The crowd around us laughed and clapped like we weren’t sitting on a battlefield. “I love you, Gideon. Of course I’ll mate you, marry you, live in sin.” I shook my head. “I don’t care. I’ll take you however you’ll have me.”
“Good,” he sighed in relief before grinning. “Because I just saw Eleanor run inside to get started on the planning.”
I chuckled before wrapping my one good arm around his neck pressing my lips to his.
Epilogue
Lying in a field of grass, basking under the moonlight, the silver light coated my exposed flesh as the cool blades covered in dew licked at my skin. Echoing howls called to each other in the distance. The sound of rustling drew my attention, but I didn’t move. There was a little piece inside of me that flared to life alerting me to his presence.
“Took you long enough,” I muttered glancing up to find an incredibly naked Gideon. His nudeness wasn’t what surprised me but the fact he was entirely human. The moon was whole tonight lighting up the dark sky.
He plopped down beside me kissing me chastely. “Surprised?”
“A little. I was expecting…”
“My other half?”
Since our mating ceremony, I spent the full moon with the pack. Gideon and his wolf both felt that I needed to immerse myself in pack activities. So on the full moon I’d slip out of my clothes like everyone else to run with the pack. I refused to be completely naked though drawing the line at my underwear. Bras weren’t really my things, but on the full moon, I was sure to be wearing one. It was also the one night Gideon’s wolf had me to himself. While they both occupied the same body, his wolf demanded his own time with me. I was his mate too, even if I didn’t shift. We’d run with the pack then as dawn approached, we’d slip back into the manor. Since taking the wolf’s virginity, he’d not let one moon pass where he didn’t end up inside me. It made Gideon’s completely human appearance that more puzzling.
“Are you disappointed?” he asked nipping at my jaw. He tried to be a good sport about sharing me, but we both felt sometimes that we were in a polyamorous relationship between his wolf and us.
“Confused, but not disappointed.” I loved Gideon, if the fact that I was mostly naked running around outside didn’t give that away. Never in my life would I have done this for anyone else.
Our mating ceremony had only occurred recently. After the battle, Gideon and I both needed time to recoup. While I healed faster than a human, thanks to being a hunter, and even faster yet due to my mating to Gideon, it still took over a month to heal from the gunshot. The bullet had pierced the bone and had been a through and through so there wasn’t much I could do but wait.
While that didn’t stop me from indulging in my mate, it did put the ceremony on hold until I could participate. By participate, I meant run. I was given a five-minute head start before Gideon was set out to find me. He had to find and “claim me” within the hour or he was not a worthy enough male to mate. He found me in ten minutes and I had really tried to hide. The pack had surrounded us, watching him claim me. Apparently, it was another important part of the ceremony. They needed to witness the actual claiming in case anyone ever challenged our union.
It had only been two months that I’d officially been Luna, but they had been the best two months of my life.
“Gideon,” I moaned as he pinned my hands above my head. “The pack?”
“Is a half a mile south of here. If you can be quiet, they’ll never know what we’re doing.”
I smiled but didn’t stop him as he kissed down my body. His hands followed the path his lips made. The glint of metal caught my eye as I stared down at him eagerly watching his descent. The ring he wore on his left finger was a matching version of mine. Gideon claimed that once he put it on, he never wanted it taken off, which meant we needed something that would work during his shifts. While Gideon maintained his fingers, they did expand. A special jeweler, one skilled in magic, and costs five times more had been able to fulfill our needs.
Even though we’d been mated and married long before our official mating ceremony, we waited until then to slip the rings on. Our marriage had occurred just as quickly as Gideon had hinted. My arm was in a sling as I stood before the justice of the peace in city hall promising to love Gideon forever. Once it was official, we wasted no time consummating our marriage.
“Sir,” the driver called out just cracking the privacy window. “We’re arriving at the manor.” Gideon was still wearing his suit, mostly, while my dress was a bundle of fabric at my hips. My husband hadn’t bothered removing it when I climbed into his lap, just simply unzipped it and slid it off my shoulders to give him access to my breasts. Soon we had found ourselves lying on the carpeted floor, his body pistoning into mine, our hands clinging to each other.
“Drive around until I say,” Gideon bellowed. He could feel how close I was.
“Yes, sir,” the driver stated. The glass was barely secure before I screamed out my pleasure not caring who all heard.
Blinking I came back to the present as Gideon beckoned me to lift my hips. I knew I could tell him no and he’d take me inside to make love to me in the privacy of our room, that had completely been renovated since the vampire attack. But the idea of being naked outside with him, to feel the cool breeze brush against my most intimate parts had me raising my hips for him to tug my panties down.
