Page 49 of Stolen Mate

A man who looked far more like his nephews than their sire, approached, walking down the dock to join them. “No need to fetch Maurice. When I heard what was going on, I figured someone would figure out the more ways we have to trap Henry, the better we are. So,” Derek’s uncle said, taking Tess’s hand in his, “you are the fated mate of my nephew. I have to say, Henry’s sons know how to pick them.” He turned to Derek. “Do you have a ring?”

“It’s kind of last-minute,” explained Derek.

“Well, you can’t get bonded without a ring. But I’ve got just the thing. My parents were fated mates. I’ve been carrying their rings with me since the day they passed. I knew Henry would run me out. I wanted something to carry with me to remember them by. I can’t think of a better use for them.”

Maurice reached up behind his neck and unclasped a silver chain before withdrawing the rings from beneath his shirt and handing them to him and Tess, who appeared as dumbstruck as Derek was.

“I can’t possibly…” Tess started.

“Of course, you can,” Maurice chuckled. “It’s not doing any good hanging around my neck. Besides, I’m sure Henry will recognize them, and that really ought to set him off.”

“If you’re sure,” Derek said, echoing his uncle’s tone.

“Well, then, it’s settled. We’ll do this up right when we’ve settled things with the Council and the Shadow League.” He pulled a piece of cloth out of his pocket.

“Do you always carry a bonding sash with you?” asked Annie, incredulously.

“Yes, ma’am. You never know when you’re going to need one. Like right now—if I didn’t have it with me, I’d have to be cutting a strip from someone’s clothing.” Maurice leaned over to Tess. “You’re okay with this, right?”

Tess smiled, her face lighting with happiness. “I’ve never been more okay with anything in my life.”

Annie leaned over and whispered something in Tess’s ear.

Maurice pulled out a knife and cut a slash across each of their palms. Tess winced a little, but she didn’t pull back and she didn’t protest. Maurice clasped their hands together, using the bonding sash to bind them before looking at Derek.

“Blood of my blood,” Derek said solemnly, slipping the diamond and sapphire ring onto her finger, only mildly surprised that it fit her perfectly. “You are my fated mate. I will be with you until we pass into the last sunset together. Will you spend eternity with me?”

He could see tears welling in her eyes. “Blood of my blood,” she said, placing the ring on his finger, which again fit—fate, surely. “I do.” Annie must have whispered the proper words to her.

“Then with the blessings of our ancestors and those that will follow, I declare you to be bonded and fated mates. Derek, give your mate a kiss and then go kick the Council’s ass.”

Maurice didn’t have to tell him twice. Derek hauled Tess up against him and brought his mouth down on hers in a hard, searing kiss that she returned in kind, her hands fisting his parka.

“Let’s go, little brother,” said Zak. “Daylight’s wasting. Wyatt? Deke? Keep my people safe.”

Both men nodded as he and Zak got on Zak’s boat, untied it from the dock, and then moved out into the open water, carefully navigating through the orcas who formed a kind of aisle between them that stretched as far as the eye could see. They rode in silence to Mystic River, where Colby Reynolds was waiting for them at the marina.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” said Colby. “It would seem you’ve got our Council in quite a snit fit. They’re convinced—or at least they say they are—that Tess’s mother was a she-devil and spawned the same, and that the sister that she trusted with our most sacred secret isn’t much better. I’ve met both of those girls and they’re lovely.” Colby pointed to the ring. “Well-played. Think the sister might care to be a lynx?”

Both polar bear-shifters growled. Colby chuckled. “I just thought I’d ask.”

“How do you know they’re ‘lovely?’” asked Derek. “Was it your people who were following Tess in Seattle?”

“Not mine, specifically, but those I work with. She lost them, by the way. They got so turned around, they had to use their nav unit to get out of downtown Seattle. Now, let’s go get the Council set right. Mark says they’re ready to roll if we need them.”

The three men walked up to the town hall where the Ruling Council for North America was waiting. Colby faded back into the shadows and Zak and Derek took their place before the raised dais.

“You know why you have been called here?” asked the leader of the Council.

“We know why you called us but dispute your right to do so,” said Zak.

“Where’s the girl? And her sister? They should be here,” snarled Henry from the sidelines.

“Both my bonded mate and her sweet sister are back at the lighthouse compound where they are safe from the ravings of my lunatic sire,” said Derek as a plan started to form.

“Your mate has broken our most sacred law, as did her mother before her.”

“No one knows what Teresa Travers said or did. Four of the five are dead, and my mate was still a baby. But it is safe to assume that Teresa chose to save her child, trusting those who had shot her believing her to be a purebred. Teresa made the choice to save her baby, for which I am eternally grateful. What we do know is that my sire endorsed the kidnapping of a human girl and her forced turning, bonding, and breeding. Teresa Travers was given no choice in the matter.”

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