Chapter 16

Chapter

Sixteen

S he refused to look back. That was no longer where her future lay. Instead it was with the man beside her, flying them toward her new home. After checking that she was comfortable flying in a small plane, he banked to the east to fly down the coastline of Scotland and Northern England. The scenery was breathtaking and not only was Bran an exceptional pilot, but he was also a pretty good tour guide.

"I got to thinking when I was loading the trailers. If you don't mind leaving your horses for a while, maybe we ought to take a year off and go find a dig. Or maybe even start one of our own."

"But you're a professor at Oxford," said Renata. "Can you be gone that long?"

"I am due a sabbatical and if we're going on a dig, I know they'll approve it. As I recall, you're a gifted archeologist as am I, but you write better. We could publish a paper, maybe even a book."

"Bran, stop worrying. I don't feel like you're forcing me to give up anything. I was up there hiding from you. So we can go on a dig, live in Oxford, or move to Ravenscar. I don't want to waste another minute not being together. But don't get any of those alpha Dom ideas about leaving me behind when you go to fight the Darkness."

"I wish I could," he said truthfully. "But I think we're going to need your magick to finish it off."

"Piper seems to think so. She thinks it will require a combination of a magick wielder and a different kind of wolf."

"Yeah, Rémy mentioned that. Seems the Wolf Meadow pack is descended from the prehistoric dire wolves. Alpha wolves from their pack can call to their fated mates to combine into a dire wolf. Sounds fantastical to me, says the man whose mate can literally create a tempest in a teapot. Speaking of which, you don't strike out, magickally or otherwise, without getting my okay."

"I didn't hurt Joel, just knocked some of the arrogance out of him. You were right, I could have put him into the side of the barn."

"I get that, and I find some peace of mind in knowing you can take care of yourself so well. But you are my mate, and you will behave or ..."

"There will be discipline," she finished for him with a laugh.

Finally, they made their final approach to Ravenscar. The seas below were churning, and the light was fading quickly.

"Is it safe to land in the ocean?" Renata asked.

"I could if we had to, but this is an amphibious plane, which means it can land on the water or on a runway."

Just as Bran finished speaking, the landing strip below them lit up. Bran performed a textbook landing and as they taxied toward the end of the runway, they noticed several cars waiting for them. Bran brought the plane to a halt and the crew chocked the wheels while he let the stairwell down.

"What if they don't like me? There's bad blood between wolves and magick wielders."

"I'm telling you they're going to adore you," he said.

"Another woman in the house," she said thoughtfully.

They got out of the plane and Branson stood next to her, stretching and laughing. "The men in this family are badly outnumbered. I'm going to tell my father he needs to start marrying off my sisters—all of them."

Renata smacked him. "That's a terrible thing to say."

"Yes," said a gorgeous older woman who seemed to appear out of nowhere and smacked Bran upside the head. "It is terrible. You'll have to see if you can knock some of that alpha crap out of him. God, they're obnoxious beasts."

The woman, who could only be Bran's mother, pulled Renata into her arms, hugging her close. A faint shadow had briefly crossed the beautiful woman's face, but when the Madonna of the North released Renata, it was gone.

"Yes we are," agreed Bran's father, who came to stand with them. "We're also grateful to have mates who understand that and love us anyway. Renata Valor, I am James Norris, Alpha of Ravenscar, mate to the magnificent creature who's squeezing the life out of you, and father to this one." He turned to his son. "Took you long enough to find her. How did you let her elude you for so long? I caught your mother much more quickly."

"You had the advantage of my having been locked in a cage and shot full of aphrodisiacs," said Branson's mother. "It wasn't much of a challenge for you." She turned back to Renata, pulling her into another hug. "You come with me. The alphas of the pack can take care of this. The others are down at the house, and we waited dinner on you."

"I'm not really dressed for dinner," stammered Renata.

"Nonsense. We aren't a very formal pack. Even if we were, no one would care. It's plain to see that my son is completely besotted with you." As they put distance between them and the men, Bran's mother whispered, "If you aren't all right with what's happened, son or not, I'll get you away."

She didn't think she could love Branson's mother any more than she did at that moment.

"Too late, he's already knotted me."

"Damn. That does tend to make one see things more clearly. Well then, welcome to the family."

They rode together to the house in a golf cart. Shea pointed out various things around the estate as they went.

"I haven't been around wolves much before," admitted Renata.

"Neither had I until I got snatched by DeMoncada."

"I don't know what to call you. Shannon? Shea? Madonna?"

"Oh good God, don't call me that. Catherine, that's my sister who is married to the Alpha of the DeMedici Pack, loves it, but it drives me batty. My friends and most of the pack call me Shea. You can call me that until you hopefully get comfortable with mum."

Renata could feel tears welling in her eyes. "Thank you."

"I mean it. We're so happy you're here. I'm not trying to make you feel guilty, but he has missed you so much."

"And I him. But I was raised to not trust wolves and to be ashamed of that side of my nature."

Shea nodded. "James said you were a sorceress, which I think is fascinating, but there's been a lot of bad blood spilt between wolves and magick wielders. Who knows? Maybe we'll teach wolfen society a thing or two. You are Ravenscar now. Your pack will love and defend you. You will never be alone again, although it could be a bit overwhelming for someone who isn't used to a large meddlesome family. No matter. I see he's marked you, and you mentioned being knotted. You're committed. Luckily, so is my son. He never stopped loving you, never stopped looking."

Electric lanterns had been set out all along the sweeping drive and throughout the landscape, and when they arrived at the manor house, light spilled from every window.

"It's gorgeous," whispered Renata.

"Isn't it? It never fails to take my breath away. The site itself was a fourth century Roman signal station. It was part of a chain of them that the Romans built all along the Yorkshire coast. In the sixteenth century there was a large farming estate here and then in the eighteenth century the house you see here, Raven Hall, was built. It's been in the Norris family since then."

As they rolled to a stop, the enormous double doors opened and Piper, Skylar, Kat, and Mariah ran down the steps to greet Renata. Shea stepped back and let her newest daughter be absorbed and escorted into the house by her friends.

"Are you okay with everything?" whispered Mariah.

"I am," Renata whispered back. "Are you?"

"Deliriously happy," replied the new Mistress of London.

"I need a drink," snarled Piper.

"Piper, that's enough," scolded her older brother Travis as he joined them.

"It's either that or barf from all this mushy stuff. If one more of my friends goes all rhapsodic about love after being mated, I will simply drink myself into oblivion."

Travis started to say something else, but Skylar intervened. It was fun watching the beautiful blonde cop handle her chef husband. Renata looked around her at all the wolf-shifters she'd gotten to know in such a short time. They were all interesting couples. On paper they shouldn't have worked, but it was obvious just by watching them, that they did.

She could feel Bran's approach before she heard the quiet rumble as he entered the house. He joined the group and wrapped his arms around her.

"Come along, everyone," said James. "The pack is most anxious to meet its newest member. Plus, I'm starving and if we ruin Franco's dinner, we'll never hear the end of it."

When they entered the cavernous dining hall, a rousing cheer went up amongst numerous howls.

"Don't let them unnerve you," whispered Bran to his mate.

Renata looked back over her shoulder at him. "Unnerve me? Are you kidding? This is great!"

Renata felt warmth and love emanating from the pack, and she understood the truth of what Bran and his mother had told her. These wolves, her pack, didn't care that she was a sorceress or that she didn't have some impeccable lineage. She was Bran's fated mate and that was all she'd ever need to be.

They sat down to a meal of seafood, pasta, fresh vegetables, roast pork and assorted side dishes. Each and every one was incredible. She now understood why Bran was such a great cook—he'd been taught by someone with deft skills.

"I feel so bad for those we left up in the Hebrides. I'm not a bad cook, but if this is what they're used to, lamb stew must have seemed anticlimactic." She looked at Bran. "How about we do what we did in Israel? You do the majority of the cooking, I'll clean the kitchen."

"That's how we do it," said Skylar, "Of course, I have the good fortune to be the fated mate of a Michelin-starred chef."

"Poor Kat got stuck with a businessman," said Jed Steele.

"Yes," said Kat, "but one who's aunt is also a Michelin-starred chef and made sure he knew how to feed himself. I grew up in Franco's origin pack, so I've loved his cooking for a long time. I really am going to have to get his recipe for pesto. It's amazing."

"I was thinking the same thing," said Travis.

"Lord Howard here can't boil water and I hate to cook," said Mariah, weighing in on the subject.

Simon laughed. "Her father told me she uses a blow torch to heat tins of soup."

"Hey," said Mariah, her eyes dancing. "Don't knock it until you've tried it."

Everyone looked at Piper. "Don't look at me. I raise the beef, I don't cook it."

"But she makes the most amazing desserts," said her brother Travis. "She makes a key lime cheesecake that will make you think you've died and gone to heaven."

They finished their meal and Renata was filled with optimism. Her new life was going to be more than she'd ever imagined. If she was needed to fight the Darkness to protect her mate, their pack, and their friends, then it better be preparing itself for a fight. She meant to help defeat it once and for all and ensure that nothing wicked ever touched any of them.