Loving Lachlyn (Ashland Pride Two) (18 page)

The others lifted their glasses and toasted the pride.

Lachlyn clinked glasses with Jericho and Alek and said, “To us.”

He and Alek echoed her words.

“To us.”

Chapter 21

Wednesday afternoon, Jericho and Alek left Lachlyn alone to run errands.  She took the opportunity to pack. They were heading to Virginia so they could drop off the camper, pick up Jericho’s truck, and, hopefully, get her possessions that had been at her grandmother’s home.  Then they were going to Georgia to pack up her place and pay her bills.  They were leaving Ashland Saturday night and going to be gone a few days.

Because she grew up as an only child and lived by herself for so long, she found the boarding house to be a welcome haven, albeit a mostly noisy one.  She loved to spend time with the kids, tossing a ball around outside or playing board games in the house.  She already loved her new uncles and Alek’s dad, James, and she considered the other males in the house as brothers.  Fraternal twins Ray and Wesley were polar opposites — Ray outgoing and Wesley shy — but they were sweet and friendly, and she was slowly getting better at the video games that they invited her and Jericho to play with them.  The three cousins, Dylan, Chase, and Hunter, had invited them to Kickers the night before.  It was the only bar in town and all three worked there.  It had been good to get out of the house and really relax, and she’d enjoyed getting to know them.

She already missed Micah and Tristan.  It was sad that the males had been so intent on finding out what Melody knew about the other females that they didn’t realize the truth of what she told them.  She hoped that Melody would come back with Tristan and Micah and stay at the boarding house so she could get to know her.  And thank her in person.

Turning her attention to the bag, she folded a few pairs of shorts and laid them on top of the shirts and then tucked in a pair of sandals.  She was anxious to go back to Virginia but excited to pack up her apartment in Georgia and close that chapter of her life.  She’d been fortunate to have enough money in her checking account to cover her auto-withdrawal bills for the ones she hadn’t been able to suspend while they were in hiding.  She had thought they might be hiding forever from Jericho’s dad, never able to get married or be free.  Although the situation had caused Jericho to confront his father, it would have happened eventually.  She’d been worried that he would just take off on his own to meet Detroit.  Whatever part the females had played in getting the bears where they were, she didn’t know, but she was grateful for it.

She paused, her mind zeroing in on the females.  How
had
they known that she was in Ashland?  She dropped the toiletry bag onto the bed and rushed downstairs.  Aaron and Grant were in the kitchen cutting up vegetables.

“Did anyone ask how the females knew that I was here?” she asked, trying to catch her breath from the quick dash downstairs.

Grant shook his head.  “No.  Why?”

“They must be monitoring the town.”

Grant and Aaron froze and stared at her.  “Doesn’t it make sense?  They’re somewhere in Canada but this is the second time that they knew something about what’s going on here in Ashland, right?  First with leaving the kids on the full moon, and now with me.  They didn’t just hear that a woman was hanging around the pride, they figured out who I really was and connected me to the den in Virginia.”

“Shit,” Aaron said as he put down the knife.  “Cameras.  They must be using cameras.”

“In the house?” Grant asked.

“I don’t think so.  I’m thinking they hacked into the traffic cameras.”  He dried off his hands on a kitchen towel and said, “I’m going to the station to call the tech guy.  Thanks, Lachlyn.”  He kissed her cheek and hurried out the front door.

Grant growled.  “They’re smart, that’s for sure.”

She picked up the knife and took over.  “Why can’t they just move on and let you guys live your lives?”

“That’s the million dollar question, Lachlyn, and I’m afraid we may never know the answer.”

* * * * *

After dinner on Thursday, Lachlyn stood and lifted her plate to take it to the sink.  Alek put his hand on her arm and said, “Let’s go for a walk, love.”

“What about the dishes?”  Everyone in the house took turns with the meals, and it was her and her mates’ turn that night.

“Gotcha covered,” Ray promised with a wink.

“Oh, okay.  Thanks.”  She smiled and went upstairs to put on a pair of tennis shoes.  Alek and Jericho met her at the backdoor, and they said goodbye to the pride and walked out of the house and into the woods.

She walked between her two men, holding their hands, and enjoying the noise of the woods — the birds singing, the insects buzzing, the underbrush cracking under their feet as they walked.

Alek and Jericho each told her about their day, and she shared the trip to the park that she and Sam had made with the kids.  Conversation dropped off and they walked in comfortable silence until they apparently reached their destination.  Except for a fallen tree that blocked their path, it appeared like any other place in the woods.

Jericho urged her to sit on the tree and she did, looking up at them in curiosity.  She thought they looked nervous as they stood before her.  She was about to ask what was going on, when they both went to one knee in front of her and her heart skipped a beat.

They each took one of her hands in theirs.

Alek smiled at her, his blue eyes shining with happiness.  “I never thought I’d find love, Lachlyn.  I wasn’t even sure if lions were meant to have mates.  I know now that there isn’t anything on earth better than finding my mate, and I believe that everyone deserves to know the same happiness that I’ve found with you.  Will you marry me?”

He pushed a ring on her left ring finger as she said, “Yes.”

Alek straightened and kissed her, cupping her face gently and pressing his lips to hers.

He settled back on one knee and kept her hand in both of his.  Jericho grinned when she looked at him.

He played the ring in his fingers around the tip of her finger.  “You’ve always been my sunshine, Lachlyn.  There’s never been anyone who has meant as much to me as you do, and I can’t think of a better way to spend the rest of my life than showing you how much you mean to me.  Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” she said, laughing as Jericho pushed the ring onto her finger.

Both men pulled her down from the log so she was sitting on Alek’s knee and Jericho seized her mouth with his own.  Alek’s arms wrapped around her waist, and she shivered at having both of their hands on her at the same time.

She traded kisses with Jericho and Alek for a long time, until the sun began to set and the urge to do more than kiss overtook them.  Back in their room, they made love, and she fell asleep admiring the rings they had chosen.  Both bands were yellow gold.  Jericho’s had a round sapphire in the center of a twisting vine of tiny leaves dotted with diamonds.  Alek’s was a round solitaire surrounded by tiny sapphires.  She liked that they were both different but still matched.  And she especially liked that they were now engaged and moving on with their lives.

Jericho took her to get her driver’s license in the morning so that it would be the legal one, and he got his as well.  Then they met Alek at the county clerk’s office to apply for their marriage license.  As they stood in line, she leaned against Jericho and held Alek’s hand.  When the clerk called for them, she and Alek stepped up, and Jericho kissed her cheek and went to apply to change his last name.

The clerk asked them a few questions, and Alek paid the fee and they were given their marriage license.  He waited with her while Jericho handed in the form he had filled out requesting the name change from Knight to Fallon.  His court date wasn’t until August, and he had to put notices in the newspaper about his upcoming name change.  She wished that it were as simple for him to change his name as it would be for her to change hers after she married Alek.

“Now that we’re engaged,” she said as she turned in the seat and linked fingers with Alek.

“Yes, love?”  Alek looked amazing in his uniform.  It made her want to undo the buttons with her teeth.

She shook her head a bit to recall why she was asking him a question when all she really wanted to do was strip him naked and grind him into the floor.  “Did you want to set a date for the wedding?  Or are you going to be one of those guys who wants a long engagement?”

His eyes twinkled with mirth.  “I’d marry you right now if my dad wouldn’t skin me alive for making him miss out on his remaining son’s wedding.  So you tell me, sweetheart, when do you want to get married?”

“As soon as possible.  I’ve never wanted a big wedding or any of the hoopla that goes with it.  Just your family and the pride, a dress, and a cake.  That’s all I need.”

“Would you like to include Jericho in the vows?”

“I’d love that.”

“Love what?”  Jericho came up to them, pushing his wallet into his back pocket.

“To include you in the vows when we get married.  I rather like the idea of you both obeying me.”

Jericho grinned wickedly.  “The vows go both ways, Sunshine.”

After dinner that night, she was surprised when Alek suggested they go out for ice cream.  She asked if the kids could come, and all six boys shook their heads and left the table quickly.

Alek said, “Just us, love.”

“I like the sound of that,” she promised.

They drove to Molly’s Ice Cream Parlor in Bracks, and she ordered a waffle cone filled with butter pecan ice cream.  They sat on a picnic table outside of the small store and ate.  She listened to Alek and Jericho talk about the drive to Virginia and having her car shipped to Ashland so they didn’t have to drive separately.  She was looking forward to having her car again.

Alek offered her a bite of his peanut butter chip ice cream, and she switched with him, trying out first his and then Jericho’s mint chocolate chip before deciding that she liked the butter pecan the best.

When they’d eaten their fill of ice cream, they drove home, and Alek once more suggested they go for a walk.  The sun was starting to set and she liked the idea of walking with them in the woods at this time of the day.  This walk was much shorter than the one the night before, and where before they meandered and took their time, this time, they walked with purpose.  Before long, they stepped out into the clearing where they had spent the night of their mating, and her mouth fell open.

The entire pride, and her Uncle Don and his family, were standing in a big circle in the clearing.  Glowing paper lanterns had been hung from the tree limbs, and each member of the pride held an electric candle in his or her hand.  A woman Lachlyn didn’t know stood in the center of the circle with James.  Everyone was dressed in formal attire.

Alek looked down at her and smiled gently.  “It’s our wedding day, love.  Are you ready to be married to us?”

She looked down at her shorts and tank top.  Jericho chuckled and she glared at him.  “Don’t shoot daggers at me yet, Sunshine.  We’ve got you covered.”

Sam, Lisa, and Callie left their candles with their mates and pulled Lachlyn with them back through the woods.  “We’ll be back in ten minutes,” Sam said, hurrying Lachlyn along.  A chorus of “Yeah right!” carried through the woods, and she heard the men all chuckling.

When they were far enough away from the clearing that they couldn’t be seen, Lisa opened a duffel bag and pulled out a blanket while Callie pulled out a dress and Sam opened a makeup bag that had been tucked inside.

Lisa held the blanket up so that it acted as a barrier between them and the clearing and afforded her some privacy.  She didn’t hesitate to begin taking off her clothes.  As she stepped from her shorts, she wished she was wearing something sexier than her plain cotton bikinis.  A white lace thong appeared in front of her, dangling from Callie’s fingertips.

“They wanted it all to be a surprise for you, but us girls know that you can’t get married in your plain undies,” Callie said and smiled.

Lachlyn breathed a sigh of relief, stripped completely and put on the thong and a matching corset that laced up the front.  The dress that they had brought for her was a simple white sundress made of eyelet lace.  A sapphire blue satin sash was tied around her waist.  She slid into a pair of white sandals while Sam applied fresh makeup and Callie brushed her hair.

Lisa folded the blanket and drew out a short veil attached to a circlet of tiny white roses that she pinned to Lachlyn’s head.

The women repacked the items and stood together, looking at her.

Lisa said, “Tonight you’re joining not only to Alek and Jericho, but also to the pride.  As women, we’re in a position to love these males in a way that they’ve never been loved before.  Not only as wives love their husbands, but also as friends and confidants.  Cherish Alek and Jericho the way that they already cherish you, and you’ll never be lonely.”

Sam sniffled and said, “I’m honored to be your friend and to welcome you into the Fallon family and the pride.  I’ve seen how much you love Alek and Jericho. I know that you’ll be a loving wife, an amazing mother, a wonderful cousin and niece, and a great addition to the pride.”

Callie stepped forward.  “In the tradition of human marriages, your something new is your dress, and your sash is blue.  This ring was bought by Alek’s grandfather for the female he wanted to marry.  Unlike us, she rejected the opportunity to find love.  Eryx and Ethan gave this ring to me, and I’d like you to use it tonight as your old and borrowed item.”