Fox Mate (Madison Wolves) (37 page)

I turned to Angel. "If that is the custom, I understand. But if it should be a proper howl, please show them a proper howl."

Angel grinned, lifted her nose, and began to howl at her full volume. Elisabeth joined her immediately, and the remainder of the pack added their voices.

The sound was well above what I could tolerate, and it hurt. I stood there, smiling at them and listened to them howl. The only display of my discomfort was the way I squeezed Lara's hand. If she'd been human, she would be grimacing.

And then Chloe raised her hand, and they stilled. Chloe turned to Lara and me. She said something, but I couldn't hear. Then she turned away and walked to her seat.

Lara turned me to face her. She was speaking, but I couldn't hear her. Her expression grew concerned. I shook my head 'no' once, then cocked my head left, concentrating on that ear, then right. The ringing went away, and the sounds around us came back. I smiled. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you. All fixed. Your heart is pounding, Lara."

She smiled. "You are amazing."
And then she frowned.

"What?"

Karen rushed forward, pressing something into Angel's hands.

"What's wrong?"

"Look at me, Michaela," Angel said. I turned to her. "Hold still." Then she reached up both hands and pressed something against my ears.

"What are you doing?"

"Honey," Lara said from behind me. "Your ears are bleeding."

"Oh," I said. "Wow. They're fine."

Angel cleaned my ears briefly, then inspected. "You're fine. It must have stopped."

Lara turned to me and
checked my ears herself. "What's my heart rate?" she asked.

"Too fast to count. Settle down." She smiled wanly
. "I'm fine."

Lara turned to the assembled wolves. "Perhaps proper howls, but not quite that proper."

There was some nervous laughter.

"Let them howl," I said quietly. "I'll just heal it."

"You'll drip onto the dress."

"Oh," I s
aid. "Can't have that, I guess. Can we move on?"

"If you promise to stop bleeding," Lara said.

"It stopped. Sheesh. Cut a bride a little leeway here." I grinned at her.

Angel nodded, and all the
older teenage wolves stood up at the same time. They clustered together on the stage. I saw Scarlett run her hand along Angel's bottom as she passed her, and I grinned.

Derek spoke first. "Michaela, this part of the ceremony is for you. Lara knows all this, although it won't hurt to remind her."

Abigail said, "You have been surprised by our customs in the past. You have asked your friends to make sure you are not surprised again in the future."

Then Alan said, "We heard the bride ransom was a surprise, and we know it wasn't your fault. But man! That video is awesome!"

Everyone laughed.

"Which one?" I asked. "The one of me begging them to stop, or the
later one of them wishing they had?"

There was more laughter.

"Tonight," said Ava. "We are going to discuss your duties to the pack. We will let Lara discuss any duties you have to her. From the sounds we've heard from your bedroom, we think you probably already know those."

I began to blush, and she grinned at me.

"Your duty, Alpha-to-be," said Jeremy, "is to lead us. To protect us. To fight with us. To guide us."

"Your duty," Sophia said, "i
s to share your strength and your wisdom."

"Your duty," said Alan, "is to make the pack a strong family."

"Your duty," said Scarlett, "is to love us. And to let us love you."

I almost started to cry. They were done, and one by one they hugged me gently before returning to their seats. I thanked each of them quietly.

Gia and Rory stood up, taking places on the stage. Gia smiled briefly at Lara and then at me. Rory grinned.

"We represent the enforcers of the pack," Gia said, "and those who work most directly to protect the strength of the pack against physical attack. We are the serious arm of the pack, and it is only right that we begin the serious part of the ceremony."

"You are not simply two women who wish to marry," Rory said. "You are to be Alpha and Alpha. It is right that you have vows to share with each other, but it is also right that you have vows you will share with us, with the pack."

"Before we can bless this union of two women," Gia said. "We must hear your pledge to your duties to the pack. Michaela, you are omega fox, and you will remain omega fox, although I wonder perhaps whether that is truly necessary."

I smiled.

"However, you are Alpha-to-be, and soon you will be Alpha, to stand beside Lara, neither in front of her nor behind her, but at her side. And so, we ask you, will you accept your duties? Will you fight with the pack? Will you protect our young, and our old, and our weak? Will you offer aid to those in need, and guidance to all? Will you be our friend, or mentor, our leader? Will you be our alpha?"

I glanced over at Lara. She was smiling expectantly. I faced Gia but raised my voice so it would carry to all, as best I could.

"The duties you list are the duties of everyone here," I said. "We all protect the pack. We all offer our gifts of strength or wisdom or knowledge. That is what it means to be pack. And these duties I do wholeheartedly vow to fulfill."

I glanced at Lara. "For this next part, I believe that less than one day ago, I suggested perhaps I should be made aware of any particular customs I may need to know prior to needing to know them."

"Oh shit," said Angel.

I reached behind me and squeezed her hand.

"And so, I will say this. I will stand beside Lara. But any authority I hold is due to my position as a teacher of our young, as an adult of
the pack, or as granted by the alpha. I will stand beside Lara as Alpha, if that is what she wishes, and what you wish, for as long as she wishes and as long as we share our days. Any authority I wield, I wield because it is Lara's wish."

I turned to Gia. "I do not know
if what I offered is what you have asked."

"It is," she said. "Thank you, Michaela, omega fox and Alpha-to-be."

It was Rory's turn. "Lara, you perform your duties as Alpha as well as all of us could possibly hope. You give us your strength and your guidance. You lead us in directions perhaps others may not have chosen, but they are the right directions. We follow you as Alpha not because you are strongest, or because you are wisest, but because you are best of all of us to lead us."

I squeezed her hand.

"But now you have new duties, duties that are unfamiliar to you. And so we must ask you, will you ask Michaela to stand beside you? Will you guide her as she learns her new duties? Will you share with her your thoughts and your reasons? Will you accept her guidance and her wisdom? Will you vow to help Michaela become the best Alpha she possibly can?"

"I will!" she said firmly. She pulled me against her.

"Enforcers!" said Gia.

"Pack leaders!" said Rory.

"Will you bless this joining?" Gia asked them.

All the enforcers, including Gia and Elisabeth, and all the council members raised their noses and howled.

When the howling was over, Gia and Rory sat down. Francesca and Vivian stood up and took their places.

"It is tradition," Vivian said, "for this next part to be officiated by the alpha or a senior male member of the council. Due to the somewhat unusual aspects of this joining, we have chosen a somewhat unusual pair to officiate."

"I hope you will all accept us," Francesca said with a smile. "Michaela and Lara, you have expressed your desire to wed, if not in the eyes of the foolish human authorities, at least in the eyes of all present here."

"You have each prepared vows you wish to offer," Vivian said. "It is traditional for the bride to begin. Frequently it is found her vows are lengthy and moving, and listening to her recite her vows gives the male a chance to become exceedingly nervous and to try to make up something longer than, 'I want to marry you'."

I laughed at that, and I wasn't alone.

"But today we have two brides," Francesca said. "And so we have no tradition to respect."

"So we ask, Michaela, omega fox, Alpha-to-be, do you wish to offer your vows first, or do you rather hear your mate's?"

I looked at Lara. She smiled at me, not offering a clue what she wanted. "I believe I would prefer to go first," I said. "If Lara agrees."

"I do," she said.

We turned directly to face each other, and Lara took both my hands in hers.

"Lara, I love you with all my heart. And I have much to promise you. I am not only marrying Lara, the woman who stands before me, but I am also marrying Lara, alpha to these wolves sitting here today. And so my vows are not only to you, but also to them."

She smiled at me.

I took my hands from hers and turned to face the assembled wolves, walking slowly back and forth in front of them. "I have lived in your extended territory for nine years. I would, from time to time, come to greet some of you on the streets near my home. In other times and other places, I was given much reason to distrust wolves, and I approached all chance encounters with you with the greatest of caution and a healthy amount of terror."

I looked around and looked at Lara. "
A year ago I had my first conversation with a wolf that was not based on ill will. Lara came to my doorstep, along with four other large wolves-"

"I was on your grass next to your house!" she said. "Just
to clarify."

I laughed. "Fine. You came to my home, and you invited yourself into my life. I was at the time, unwilling to accept your invitation." I turned to face the audience. "Lara can be very firm in her position, and
for that I am deeply grateful. That day marked the day that my life turned, and I will never forget."

I walked to the other side of the stage and stood there for a moment.

"You have all invited me into your pack and have shared your customs. And now I am invited to become Lara's wife and, surprisingly, a leader to all of you. And so, I have promises to make."

I returned to Lara. "Lara, you are the love of my life, the love I never thought I could ever have. You are my greatest friend, my love, my protection, my strength. You are where I turn for safety, for comfort, for joy, for pleasure. I love you. I love you. I love you. I am your mate, and now I am to be your wife, and so I make these promises to you."

"I promise there will be joy. I promise there will be sorrow." I moved away from her. "I promise there will be disagreements and misunderstandings. There will be fights and heated words." I returned to face Lara. "And to you, Lara, and only to you, I promise there will be the most amazing make-up sex after the fights are over."

That earned a smile from her and laughter from others.

I turned to them. "To all of you, I promise you will most certainly know there has been fabulous make-up sex."

That earned me
more howling, and I felt my ears pop again.

"Oh hell," I said. "Knock it off, you guys." I walked over to Angel. I couldn't hear anything again, so I concentrated, healed my ears one after another, then asked, "Are they bleeding?"

"Not this time," she said after checking.

I turned to the wolves. "I don't mind if you blow my eardrums out doing that, but just understand you're making this take longer, and now I forgot where I was."

They laughed.

"You were talking about make-up sex," Lara said. "I'm looking forward to that."

"Right. I am not wolf. I will never be wolf. And there are things about being wolf that a fox can never understand." I crossed over to stand in front of Angel when I said that. "I promise to try. I will expect all of you to understand, I may not understand. But I will try. And when I do not understand, I will still try to remember you all love me."

And Angel began to cry.

"I promise you friendship." I hugged her and stepped away, then I looked at Gia, Scarlett and others. "I promise you playfulness. I promise you surprises and unpredictability, unpredictable unpredictability."

I walked back to stand in front of Lara, and I took her hands.

"Lara, I love you with every fiber of my being. I promise you my body. I promise you my heart. And these are yours, and only yours. I promise you that I am yours, and only yours. But I also promise you friendship, and I promise you my love, but these, you must share."

I turned around and hugged Angel and then grabbed Elisabeth and hugged her.

I took a breath. "I am almost done. Do we need an intermission? You could all howl and pop my ears again, but if you do, I might need food before I can heal them."

"I think we're fine so far," Francesca said. "But if Lara intends to be as eloquent as you have been, we may need a short bathroom break."

She got the laughter she was expecting.