Chasing Cristabel (Ashland Pride Six) (19 page)

Chase hadn’t teared up in a long while, but
watching Cris hug her parents was just about his undoing. It was
easy to see how relieved Cris was that her parents were there and
had approved of their mating, but it had come on the heels of a
very serious situation that could have ended terribly.

It wouldn’t have mattered to Chase if her dad
had brought a dozen males he wanted to match Cris up with. She was
theirs, and no amount of parental meddling was going to change
that. The hardest part had been watching Cris’s devastation at her
dad’s actions and her mom’s silence.

Cris parted from her parents and returned to
her mates. “This is
so
not how I pictured this day going,”
she said.

“It’s got a happy ending. For everyone,”
Dylan said.

“I want you to officially meet my parents,
Gustav and Leandra. Mom and Dad, these are my mates – Hunter,
Chase, and Dylan Hall.”

A heartbeat of silence stretched between them
and then Gustav and Leandra closed the distance between them and
shook their hands. Leandra hugged them.

“I understand that you were planning to have
a mating ceremony tonight,” Gustav said.

Hunter nodded. “Cris said her cat was unhappy
because we weren’t marked in the way of your people.”

“Our kind of lions are particularly sensitive
to traditions. It’s no excuse really, but it’s why I wanted her to
be mated with someone like us. I can see that she’s happy with you,
and I should have understood that all that mattered was her
happiness. I walked away because I was furious at being rejected,
but after my temper cooled, I was able to see how wrong I was.”

Leandra cleared her throat.

Gustav chuckled. “With some help from my
tenderhearted mate.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Cris said.

He nodded. “I’d like to oversee the ceremony.
If you’d be willing to let us be part of it.”

“Oh, Dad, I’d really love it,” Cris said.

“Where were you planning to have the
ceremony?” he asked, looking around.

“Here, where we live,” Hunter answered. “It’s
only temporary.”

“What is?” Leandra asked.

“The boarding house. Most of the pride lives
in the house, but we’re looking for a place of our own,” Hunter
said.

“Well, whether permanent or temporary, the
mating ceremony’s location isn’t as important as the bond between
mates,” Leandra said.

“If you’ll follow us, we’ll introduce you to
the pride and show you where we were planning to have the
ceremony,” Dylan said.

Chase linked his fingers with Cris’s as they
walked toward the front door. “Are you happy, sweetheart?”

“I was already happy because I have you three
as my mates. But I get to have my parents here and they’ve accepted
us. It makes it even better. Like butter pecan ice cream with extra
pecans and a waffle cone. How do you feel?”

“Like I’m getting everything I ever
wanted.”

She beamed at him, stopping to rise onto her
toes to kiss him. “Me too.”

Chapter 15

Cris used the flat iron to straighten her
hair. Her mom stood next to her, holding up a section of already
straightened hair so Cris could get to the slightly wavy locks
underneath. She still wore her robe, not wanting to put on the
outfit she’d chosen for the ceremony until it was the right time.
She was in their shared bedroom, and her mates were getting ready
in Dylan’s old room.

She glanced at her mom and then turned her
attention back to her hair.

“You can ask me, you know,” her mom said
softly.

“Ask what?”

“About what happened earlier.”

Cris frowned. “I know you were just doing
what Dad said.”

“Yes, but I also thought he was right.”

Cris’s hand stopped moving the iron on her
hair, and she stared at her mother’s reflection in the mirror for
long enough that her hair started smoking. “Oh, shit!” she yelped,
pulling the iron from her hair. Waving the smoke away from her
hair, she inspected the place where there were indents in her hair
from the iron, but she decided she hadn’t entirely ruined her hair,
so she put down the iron and turned to face her mom.

“What do you mean you thought he was right? I
thought you of all people understood and respected my desire to
make my own way.”

Her mom’s head tilted as she smiled sadly. “I
was like you, once upon a time. When my father talked about
choosing my future mate, I envisioned running away and mating
whoever my heart chose instead. I never had the nerve to follow
through. When my father brought Gustav to me, I put away my
childish yearnings and embraced being with my arranged mate. Your
father and I fell into a natural love. It wasn’t love at first
sight, but my cat adored him from the start because he was the
strongest male we’d ever known. He’s fierce and determined, and he
only wants the best for those he loves.”

“Do you think you would have picked him on
your own, if you’d had the chance?”

“I don’t know. It’s hard to say what life
would have brought my way if I’d left the pride and struck out on
my own.” She wrapped a lock of Cris’s hair around her finger,
rubbing the strands with her thumb. “I encouraged your dad to let
you go away to college. He wanted to pull you back, to forbid you
from leaving the pride. I knew you might never come home, but there
was a part of me that hoped you would return to us and embrace our
traditions.

“When you called to tell us that you had
chosen three mountain lions for mates, your father was so furious,
and he blamed me for encouraging him to let you spread your wings.
Contacting Salem was my idea.”

“What?”

She shrugged with a sheepish smile. “He was a
handsome young male with a strong character. Your father agreed. We
thought you might see him, and your cat would realize that choosing
a lion like us was more important than following the longing of
your heart. I feel foolish now, though. It’s easy to see that your
males adore you.”

“Why didn’t you just talk to me? If you’d
asked me how I felt about Hunter, Chase, and Dylan, I could have
told you the truth. You…could have ruined so many things. What if
Salem had wanted to fight for me, or what if Dylan hadn’t stepped
in when Salem and Dad were acting like overgrown apes fighting over
a banana?”

“My life is built on the traditions of our
kind, Cristabel.
You
exist simply because I let my father
arrange my mating. I wanted your fate to be like mine. What kind of
mother would I be if I didn’t want the best possible outcome for
your future?” She shook her head. “The moment we came into the
parking lot and saw you with your males, I started to cry. I knew
in my heart that you were with the males who were the right ones
for you. You practically glow with happiness.”

“How did you even know where we were in
Ashland? Were you tracking my cell?”

“We looked up Lily’s address. I thought you
were still staying with her. After we left the apartment parking
lot, we parked down the street for a while. When your father cooled
off, we talked about what had happened. We saw you and your mates
leave and followed you.”

“I moved into the boarding house quickly.
It’s a huge place, but it feels small sometimes.”

“How so?”

“Well, we can’t have privacy unless we’re in
our room. At any given time, there’s someone milling around
downstairs. The kids doing their homework in the kitchen. Pride
members making meals or watching TV in the family room. It’s a neat
place to live, and I’ve enjoyed a lot of aspects of it, but we’re
hoping to find a place of our own.”

“Have you gone house hunting?”

“We saw a few places earlier this week. Chase
has been doing all the legwork with our realtor.” She turned her
attention back to her hair and finished straightening it. She
wasn’t wearing much makeup because she knew that she might tear up
from the pain of their bites, and she didn’t want to draw attention
to her discomfort. When they’d bitten her before, she’d been locked
up in a spiral of pleasure that was so deep and so good that she
hadn’t even been aware of their fangs. This time, she’d be
completely sober, not drunk on their abilities to make the center
of her body turn to liquid.

Her mother followed her out of the bathroom
and sat on the bed while Cris slid open the closet door. There
wasn’t a special mating ceremony outfit, and her mother’s outfit
had been a simple off-the-shoulder satin dress. Since she and her
mates were going to get married by human standards in the future,
she opted to leave the fancy dress for her wedding day. Tossing her
robe aside, she slipped a white crocheted cami off a hanger and
pulled it over her head. The cami was lined with satin, and her
white, strapless bra ensured that only the delicate straps of the
cami showed on her shoulders. She paired simple, black satin dress
pants with strappy stilettos.

Looking down at her pink sparkly toenails,
she grimaced. “I probably should wear sensible shoes since we’re
going to be outside. Nothing about what I’m wearing screams warmth
outside.”

After they introduced her parents and pride
members to the mountain lions, her dad had suggested they move the
ceremony from the bedroom to the backyard, and she and her mates
had agreed.

With a chuckle, her mom stood and joined her.
“You look lovely. Cold toes aren’t such a bad thing when you have
three mates to warm you up. Now, do you have any questions?”

Cris blinked at her mom. “I…no. Not
really.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t mean about
being with your mates. Trust me, as your mother, there are things I
don’t need or want to know about. What I meant was do you have any
questions about the ceremony.”

“I’m a little worried about the pain.”

“It does hurt, but like childbirth, it’s the
kind of pain that you forget, because on the other side of that
pain is something wonderful.”

“That’s sweet.”

“I’m happy for you, my little lioness. Are
you ready to be mated?”

“More than anything.”

Stopping to take another look at herself in
the mirror over the bathroom sink, she took her mom’s hand and left
the bedroom. At the bottom of the stairs, James and John were
standing, smiling broadly.

“We’ve come to escort you to the back patio,”
James said, offering Cris his arm as John offered her mom his.

“The patio? I thought the ceremony would be
out in the yard.”

James smiled. “Dylan said that he didn’t want
you freezing on top of them having to hurt you to mark you. Eryx
brought over their outdoor fireplace, so the patio is nice and
warm.”

“Your pride is very sweet,” her mom said.

“We’ve had a lot of hardships,” John said.
“Being there in extraordinary ways when our males find their mates
is one way we come together as a group.”

The lights were off on the first floor, but
someone had put candles on the kitchen island to illuminate the
space. For once, Cris didn’t hear the television going with either
a movie or a video game. She suspected the kids had been sent off
to visit friends or the pride members who lived away from the
boarding house. The door that led to the screened-in porch was
open. She and James stayed back as John led her mother outside.

James patted her hand that rested in the
crook of his elbow. “Are you glad you came to Ashland?” he
whispered.

“Yes. It’s one of the best decisions of my
life. It’s funny how one small thing – like me standing up to
tradition – made all the difference in how my life panned out.”

He glanced down with a nod. “Those single
decisions are often the crux of our new lives. I’m honored to have
you as part of the pride, and I wish you and your mates the
sweetest of lives.”

Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them
back.

“Ready to start the next chapter of your
life?”

“Yes,” she said, staring out at the porch
where firelight flickered along the screened wall.

As she moved with James out onto the porch,
the scent of snow mingled with burning wood and made her cat purr.
It was their mating night, when her cat and their traditions would
be honored. She wouldn’t change a thing, except to wish she’d come
to Ashland ages ago so she could have met her sweethearts even
sooner. But like everything in life, things happened for a reason
and in a time that was out of all of their hands. She had three
males who were perfect for her, each with his unique strengths,
ready to fight for her, protect her at all costs, and love her
until they parted ways in death and met in the great beyond.

It was more than she’d ever hoped for in her
wildest dreams.

* * *

When Cris walked onto the porch, Dylan wanted
to roar in happiness. She looked amazing, but he wasn’t surprised
because she always looked good enough to eat. His cat bristled with
pride, purring and prancing in his mind. Hunter stood between him
and Chase, near the ceramic outdoor fireplace that emitted shafts
of amber light around the enclosed space. He and his cousins stood
in dress pants and shoes, but bare chested. Gustav had told them
that it was tradition for the males to be shirtless. Beyond the
screened porch, the grounds were covered with fresh snow, and the
moonlight glinted off the ground, making the entire yard look as if
diamonds had been scattered on the surface. It was fitting to have
such a lovely backdrop for the ceremony.

Next to them stood Gustav, who silently
watched James escort Cris to the center of the room. James patted
Cris’s hand and then stepped away, leaving her facing her mates and
her father.

Because it wasn’t a long ceremony, there
weren’t chairs set up, so the adult mountain lions and African
lions formed a U-shape several rows deep to watch. They were
reverently silent, an encouraging wall of family and friends who
approved of their joining. Dylan hadn’t realized how important
traditions were to Cris until she’d had a breakdown at the bar
because of them. Mountain lions didn’t have a whole lot of
traditions. The males marked their mates privately, and then when
they were ready to be married by human standards, the pride would
join in the celebration. He liked the idea of a mating ceremony to
cement their mating in the eyes of her people, but he also liked
the idea of making this part of their family traditions, to
encourage their future children to follow suit.