After they quieted, Angus propped himself up beside her, skimming his fingertips over her soft breasts. “What do we do?” he asked quietly. “Keep following the carnival? Or head back home? To my home, I mean, in Shiftertown.”
Tamsin blinked up at him, her eyes full of sleepy contentment. “Is that even possible? I’m not Collared.”
“And you never have to be. I talked a lot to Dylan before we left Shreveport. I called him to tell him that the weapons cache was gone, so he could leave you the hell alone about it. Not only did I get him to promise to make a fake Collar for you, but he and Sean can manipulate records so it looks as though you were always in my Shiftertown and never had anything to do with Gavan. If Haider is still fuzzy about you, he’ll leave you alone. Dylan is making sure of it.”
“Dylan would do that?” Tamsin asked in surprise. “He’s not pissed off at us for destroying the arsenal?”
Angus shook his head. “He never wanted the arsenal. He wanted to know where it was, yes, but he wanted to destroy it too. So he told me. He was interested in you not only because you knew where the stash was, but because you were different. He’s met another fox, and wants to learn about fox Shifters—without the torture and dissection Shifter Bureau had in mind.”
Tamsin huffed. “You mean I dove out the window of that motel in Texas, jumped a barbed-wire fence, and ran through a muddy, plowed-up field for no reason?”
“Not necessarily. Dylan’s tricky. But I made him understand that if you help him, it will be on your own terms. And you’re protected now by me, as your mate.”
Tamsin slid her hand along his bare arm to his shoulder. “I like that.”
“So it’s up to you, love. Do we continue the life of the carnival? Or do you move into Shiftertown with me? I know it’s not much of a choice. Maybe one day I’ll be able to offer you more, if Shifters ever get free.” Angus touched her lips before she could speak. “There’s another choice, you know. Go your own way. Live as you like. As you did before we met.”
“That’s off the table,” Tamsin said immediately. “I stay with you, Angus. You know we have the mate bond. Being without you is no longer an option.” Her big smile shone forth. “Besides, I’ll need your help. Wherever we decide to live, you’ll have to help our cub, if she’s a fox, understand what being a fox Shifter means and what she might be able to do. And if she’s a wolf, she’ll need your guidance. And Ciaran’s.”
Angus gave her a nod. “If cubs come along, yes. Why do you say she? The first might be a male.”
“She’s not. And I mean when, not if.”
Angus stared at her as the meaning of her words penetrated his brain. As he froze, his heart ceasing to beat, Tamsin laughed.
“Tiger told me last night, when we stopped in Dallas. He knows I’ve started a cub. And he knows it’s a she. I told him there was no way he knows I’m preggers when even I don’t, but he insisted. He says he can tell these things far in advance of anyone else. I believe him. Angus?” Tamsin lost her smile and touched his face. “You all right?”
Love, hope, fear, excitement, joy swelled up hard in Angus’s body and wedged in his throat. Any words got tangled in his brain, and he could only stare down at his mate, his eyes burning.
Then he threw his head back and let out a howling roar, the triumph of a wolf who has found his heart’s desire. Tamsin laughed at him and enfolded him in her arms.
In a few minutes, Angus heard small, swift steps, and the door of their trailer banged open, Ciaran appearing on the doorstep in his pajamas.
“Dad,” Ciaran shouted. “What’s wrong? What the hell?”
Angus was too joyous to admonish him for running from Dante’s care. His voice filled the RV. “You’re going to have a baby sister, son!”
“Really?” Ciaran sounded dubious, then his tone changed to excitement. “Really? Cool!” He jumped high and punched the air, then started dancing around the trailer.
The RV rocked, and Tamsin continued to laugh. The moon shone brightly through the curtains, the only light now that the carnival had died down, the Goddess joining their celebration.
Angus pulled the sheets high over them and tugged Tamsin into his arms, kissing the mate of his heart while his son cavorted and cheered in celebration of new life.
EPILOGUE
Tamsin chose Shiftertown.
She amazed herself, but she decided she did it for Ciaran’s sake. And Angus’s. All right, and maybe for hers as well.
Tamsin had thought she’d fall down into depression and be unable to move as soon as she set foot in a Shiftertown, especially with a false Collar around her throat, but to her relief, nothing so dire happened.
The New Orleans Shiftertown—which was about fifty miles west of the city—was an area of brick houses and lush green grass on flat land under a wide sky. Some houses had trees towering over them, planted long ago. No fences ran around the town. This Shiftertown was separated from the rest of humanity by a road on one side, a winding bayou on the other.
The Shifters in Angus’s Shiftertown, instead of gazing at Tamsin in suspicion, as she’d expected them to, welcomed her with enthusiasm.
“About time Angus got a life,” Reg, the tall Feline, said. He gave Tamsin a hard hug when Angus brought her to the outdoor gathering where she met the entirety of this Shiftertown, and kissed her cheek. “He picked someone cute to do it with too. I kind of figured when I saw you two together it was real.”
Reg didn’t seem bothered about having to get himself to Lake Charles to retrieve the SUV they’d left there. He was happy he’d been able to evade Shifter Bureau and help them out, he said.
The Shiftertown leader, Spence, welcomed Tamsin as well. Spence was a Lupine in Angus’s clan, his eyes a bit darker than Angus’s and his hair starting, like Dylan’s, to go gray.
“Thank you for bringing Angus home,” Spence said to Tamsin when they were formally introduced. “I can already tell you’re good for him. He’s been through too much tragedy.”
“Being rejected by his Shifter leader didn’t help,” Tamsin said pointedly. “But you probably knew that.”
It was none of her business what Angus’s Shifter leader had decided in the past, but she hadn’t missed the bleak look in Angus’s eyes whenever he’d talked about losing his place as second. His position had been taken from him by his brother’s actions and through no fault of his own.
Spence acknowledged her hit with a nod. “I’m sorry about that,” he said. “They backed me into a corner and gave me no choice. But now that so much time has passed, and Angus has proved he had nothing to do with Gavan’s group . . .” He trailed off and shrugged. “Who knows what might happen?”
They had to leave it at that.
Angus had taken her straight to the gathering upon their arrival in Shiftertown. Tamsin understood—she had to be accepted into the community by the Shifters, as a newcomer in their territory. No matter how easily Dylan and Sean tucked her into the database, no matter what Shifter Bureau thought, the real test was whether the Shifters would welcome a stranger into their midst.
When she’d been greeted without hesitation by Spence—and he’d embraced her—and even more enthusiastically by Reg, the other Shifters grew more interested in her. Tamsin met many people that afternoon, received many hugs, and panicked a little about having to remember all their names. But she’d be living here a while. There would be time.
Her excitement grew as Angus walked them from the gathering in the tree-studded field to Angus’s house. His home.
Dimitri’s semitruck, restored to gleaming black now that the magnetized carnival curlicues had been removed, rested in the street in front of the house. Dimitri, when Angus had called him to announce he was ready to give it back, had said he’d fetch it when he came for their sun and moon ceremony.
Angus’s house was small, one-story, and square, with large leafy trees
shading it from the bright sunshine. Angus unlocked and opened the front door to reveal a simple interior—living room with a kitchen beyond in the front of the house, a hall to bedrooms on the left.
Tamsin stood in the middle of the living room and took in the comfortable, worn furniture, a plain kitchen with table and chairs, and oval rugs on the floors. Ciaran had left toys on a table next to the couch, and one of Angus’s jackets lay over the arm of a chair.
Tears sprang to her eyes. Though Shifters didn’t own their houses in Shiftertowns, the touches of Ciaran and Angus branded this a home, something Tamsin hadn’t had in more than twenty years.
“Not much to it,” Angus was saying. “I don’t have a lot of stuff. You can fix it up however you want.”
Tamsin put her hands to her cheeks. “It’s perfect.”
Angus looked perplexed, but she wasn’t talking about the decor. This was Angus’s home, and now hers, where they’d live, love, and share their lives.
“Come and see my room!” Ciaran shouted. He grabbed Tamsin’s hand and pulled her down the hall before she could protest. Not that she wanted to resist. He took her to a bedroom that was neat for a kid’s. Bookcases held books and numerous toys, mostly trucks and soldiers.
Tamsin listened while Ciaran showed her everything important to him—a favorite book, a toy semitruck like Dimitri’s, cards he was learning to do tricks with.
The bedroom across the hall, which she entered when Ciaran became absorbed in his book, was Angus’s. And now hers.
Tamsin hung up her few clothes in the side of the closet that Angus quickly cleared for her, and smiled when he blushed about moving his underwear from one drawer to another. His bed wasn’t wide, and was covered with a plain bedspread. He only had one picture on the wall, a recent school photo of Ciaran.
The room was barren, but at the same time, so like Angus that she went to him and enfolded him in a tight hug.
Making love under the moonlight in Angus’s bed made Tamsin cry again.
“Shh,” Angus whispered, kissing her face. “What is it, love?”
“I can be happy here.” Tamsin lay against him, listening to the quiet of the night, the soft snores of Ciaran across the hall. “I never thought I’d find a place like this.”
“You bring happiness with you.” Angus smoothed her hair with a strong hand. “The house has been brighter all day, with you in it.”
Angus, the man of few words, always knew the right ones for Tamsin.
She kissed him as Angus slid himself over her and inside her once more. Tamsin didn’t mind the small bed, because she and Angus fit together perfectly in it.
* * *
• • •
The full moon was due to rise three nights later, and in the bright sunlight of that afternoon, the New Orleans Shiftertown Shifters gathered for a sun and moon ceremony, the official mating of Angus Murray and Tamsin Calloway.
Angus watched Tamsin dance after Spence recognized and blessed the mating under the light of the Father God, the sun. Tamsin was quickly making friends with the other Shifter women, and their cubs liked her too.
Dante had arrived, answering Tamsin’s invitation, with Celene and Brina. Dante had worn his feathered hat for the occasion, and its feathers tickled Angus’s cheek when Dante pulled him into a full embrace after the mating was declared.
“Lucky bastard,” Dante declared, thumping Angus on the back. “But remember, anytime you want to shuck this life for the carny, you call me.”
Dante had found himself a fake Collar, courtesy of Tiger, who’d arrived with it. Dante kept fiddling with it, but as there were no humans here to notice, Angus didn’t admonish him.
Brina and Ciaran had a loud reunion, and Brina was soon playing with Ciaran and his friends.
Dimitri and Jaycee arrived, both mercilessly teasing Angus and Tamsin, but it was clear they were happy for them.
Tamsin grinned under their banter. She danced with them as music blared from speakers strung through backyards, her body gyrating in the skirt and midriff top she’d chosen for the ceremony.
Zander and Rae were there as well, Zander showing off and dancing like a wild thing, as usual. Rae, when she greeted Tamsin and Angus after the sun mating, revealed that she was also carrying a cub, as Zander had speculated. She and Tamsin spent a long time comparing notes.
Dylan had come with Tiger, who’d brought his mate and baby cub, but Dylan assured Angus he wouldn’t pin Tamsin down to question her, at least not today.
“There will be time,” Dylan said after sipping from a bottle of beer Angus handed him. “Will she be joining us?”
Dylan had invited Tamsin to participate in the army he was building to fight the Fae when the time came. Tamsin had promised to think about it.
“She probably will,” Angus said. “But I think she’ll have our cub first.”
He warmed every time he thought of it. What would it be to hold their daughter, born from the true mate of his heart?
Dylan only nodded and left it at that.
The special surprise Angus planned arrived just before the moon ceremony was about to take place. Shifters had been partying and drinking all day, and by the time Tamsin and Angus stepped together into the moonlit clearing, excitement was high.
Half the Shifters assumed animal form, and some in human form had thrown off excess clothing to make shifting easy. Mating frenzy was in the wind, and Shifters were already pairing off in the shadows.
A sun and moon ceremony woke the ferocity in Shifters, the need to be with their mates, or to chase mates if they didn’t have one yet. The younger Shifters just off their Transitions were growling and impatient, the mating frenzy strongest in them.
Spence sought Angus before he began the ceremony. “Tamsin is right,” he said. “I really could use another second. Reg can’t do it all. It’s been long enough since Gavan—the Shifter Bureau shits can let up and allow you to help me again. I’ve already spoken to them.”
Angus blinked in amazement, but he saw the triumphant look Tamsin shot Spence.
He weighed the idea of tracking for Spence again, which meant staying in Shiftertown most of the time, though he’d be sent out on dangerous jobs when needed. He put that against his job at the club—which his boss there had told him he still had if he wanted it. Night after night of boring work, making sure drunk humans and Shifters didn’t hurt one another. But neither would he have to track danger, nor deal with Shifter Bureau, nor be sent out to protect Shiftertown from any threat.
“I’ll think about it,” Angus said. He knew he’d pick being a tracker again, doing what he was made for, but he could let Spence sweat a little.
Spence shrugged, pretending it didn’t matter, and returned to his spot to begin the moon, or Goddess, ceremony, the more important of the two. “My friends,” he began.
He didn’t finish, because the surprise for Tamsin arrived just then. A woman walked around Angus’s house and down the stretch of yards to the open field. She was a Shifter, tall and straight, her short hair, which was pale in the moonlight, sticking out here and there like the tufts of a bobcat.
Tamsin’s body went rigid, her hand falling from Angus’s. Angus reached out to steady her, but Tamsin tore from him and ran to the woman, the circlet of flowers in her hair falling unheeded to the grass.
“Mom!” she shouted, and then the two were in each other’s arms, crying and hugging, holding on tight.
Angus watched without going to them, letting Tamsin greet her mother in an outpouring of love.
After a time, Tamsin led the woman to the clearing, the two arm in arm. Tamsin had retrieved her circlet of flowers and held it loosely as she and her mother stepped into the beam of moonlight. Tamsin’s mother had blue eyes rather than golden, but the shape of them was Tamsin’s, as was her look of sharp assessment.
“Angus, this is my mother, S
heila Calloway. But you knew that. You brought her here.”
Angus gave her a nod. “I did. With Dylan’s help.”
Tamsin bent a glare on him. “And you didn’t tell me!”
“I wanted it to be a surprise.” Angus shrugged. “A mating ceremony present.”
“You . . .” Tamsin smacked the circlet of flowers to his gut. “You shithead. You wonderful, wonderful shithead.”
She threw herself at Angus, who caught her up against him. The mate bond warmed him through, as did her kiss. Moonlight surrounded them, the Mother Goddess blessing their union.
The white light danced and sparkled in Tamsin’s eyes as Angus lowered her to her feet. He helped adjust the circlet of flowers on her bright hair, and in the next moment Spence shouted, “Under the light of the moon, the Mother Goddess—I proclaim you mates!”
The Shifters exploded into insanity, cheering, dancing, howling, roaring. Tamsin went very quiet, touching Angus’s cheek before she kissed his lips.
“I love you, mate of my heart,” she whispered.
“I love you, Tamsin,” Angus said, everything he was in his words.
“Thank you for catching me.” Tamsin sent him a sly look, and then she tore the circlet from her hair and tossed it high, laughing.
The musical sound of her laughter rippled into the night, merged with the mate bond, and wrapped around his heart.
Turn the page to read an excerpt from Jennifer Ashley’s new Kat Holloway mystery
SCANDAL ABOVE STAIRS
Coming soon from Berkley
MAY 1881
The clatter of crockery on the flagstone floor broke my heart. I knew without turning that it was my platter of whole roast pig, the crowning glory of the vast meal I’d spent days creating for the supper party above stairs in this grand Mayfair house.
A less capable cook would have buried her face in her apron and sunk down into wailing, or perhaps run out through the scullery and shrieking into the night. I had a better head on my shoulders than that, even if I was not quite thirty years old, and so I stayed upright and calm, though stoic might be the more appropriate adjective.