Liam cleared his throat. “Since you like her so much, Broderick, you’re in charge of her,” he said. “I don’t want her talking to the police, or going anywhere or doing anything without me knowing. Got it?”
“Sure,” Broderick said. “Lighten up, Liam.”
Liam blinked again. Deni saw Liam deliberately let Broderick’s admonition go before he gave Joanne a slow nod. “We’re going to help you find out what happened to your sister. But you behave—understand?”
Joanne was bewildered—she must have thought the Shifters would kill her, or at least imprison her and do terrible things to her—but she nodded. Broderick stayed protectively in front of her, and Liam ended the meeting.
“I think he’s smitten,” Deni said to Jace as they walked back to her house across the street. “Broderick, I mean.”
They mounted the porch steps of Deni’s house, and Jace pushed Deni against a porch post. “So am I. Smitten is a good word for it.”
His kiss stirred fires that hadn’t gone out. Deni wound her arms around his neck and enjoyed him for a moment.
“I meant what I said,” she murmured as their mouths drew apart. “About the Collar. I’ll let Sean do what he needs to. I want it off.”
“I do too.” Jace touched the chain on her neck. “I’ll be with you, Den. And when you’re free, we’ll do some celebrating.”
“Why wait?” Deni smiled into his face, and Jace’s serious look dissolved into a wicked grin.
“Wild woman,” Jace said.
“Always.”
Jace led her into the empty house and to the basement, the two of them laughing as they stumbled down the stairs. Jace kicked the door closed at the bottom as he kissed her again. They waltzed their way into the bedroom they’d been using, hands stripping off each other’s clothes while their mouths locked into long, hot kisses.
“I love you, Jace Warden,” Deni said as they went down onto the bed.
“I love you too, Deni Rowe. So much.” Jace drew her up to him, stoking the fires inside her. “Thank you for finding me.”
“You found me,” Deni said. “Healed me too.”
“Mmm.” Jace closed his eyes as he slid inside her. His voice went low. “You healed me. We healed each other.” He put his hand on hers, the streak where the bracelet had burned him already closed to a red scar. Their fingers touched, spread. “You and me. One.”
Jace laced his fingers through hers, and Deni closed their hands together. “One,” she said, then she let out a cry as Jace thrust into her with a firmer stroke. “Always.”
“Always,” Jace said, and then there was nothing but the sounds of lovemaking, and happiness.
Sorrow fled, and Deni proved to herself what a beautiful thing it was losing control in the arms of the Shifter she loved.
Epilogue
Deni and Jace were mated in the full-sun ceremony the next day, bringing down the blessings of the Father God on the union. The full-moon ceremony, the final sealing of the mates, happened a few nights later, after Deni had had her Collar removed, at her insistence.
It was severely painful, and how Sean got the remaining gold from the bracelet to blend with the Collar and loosen it, Deni wasn’t quite sure. She only knew that the Collar had come off, link by slow link. It had hurt, yes, but Deni knew her release had come with nowhere near the agony that had suffused Jace when they’d tried to take his Collar off him. She’d also not felt the need to shift to her beast to give in to her feral instincts, as Jace had. The Fae gold made the difference.
Jace had been there, right next to her, snarling at a nervous Sean every minute. When Sean had lifted the Collar free and Deni took a long breath, Jace had pulled her hard into his arms, his eyes wet.
Deni, now fitted with a fake silver Collar, stood with Jace in the grove behind the houses under the moonlight, with Eric and Liam in front of them. Both had decided they’d jointly perform the full-moon ceremony—Liam because it was his Shiftertown and he was fond of Deni; Eric because Jace was his son.
Shifters gathered in circles, the chanting already beginning. So was the drinking and partying. Ellison stood next to Deni, proud and grinning, Maria on his arm smiling her sweet smile. Behind Deni were Jackson and Will, deliriously happy for their mother, but plenty willing to tease both her and Jace.
Iona had come, standing next to Eric, with Eric’s sister, Cassidy, and her mate, a human named Diego, next to her. Marlo, recovered from his bang-up but lamenting about the loss of his beloved plane, had also come.
So had the young woman called Joanne, who was being looked after by Broderick and his brothers. She’d relaxed a bit around Shifters, at least around Broderick’s gruff family. She was still worried about her sister, but Dylan already had things in motion. They’d find her.
As the moon rose, its cool light flooding the clearing, Liam held up his hands for silence. He and Eric stepped forward, Eric smiling in his warm way.
“By the light of the Mother Goddess,” Liam began.
“I acknowledge this mating,” Eric finished. “The blessings of the Goddess go with you, Son.” He put his arms around Jace. “And Daughter.” Eric turned and embraced Deni, Jace’s hand on Deni’s back as she hugged Eric in return.
And then there was laughter, many more hugs, with Deni almost squashed by the enthusiastic ones her sons gave her. Ronan’s giant bear hug competed with Will’s and Jackson’s for force. Tiger even hugged her, then gave her a nod, as though satisfied she’d finally wised up and done the right thing, bringing Jace home.
Shifters whooped, howled, screamed. The mating ceremony was a fertility feast, and Shiftertown would be fertile tonight.
Deni hadn’t felt the dizziness or beginnings of nausea that had triggered her episodes of near-madness since Jace had been brought home safely to Shiftertown. She’d made a breakthrough, she thought, out in the wild, choosing to give in to her instincts, which had helped her find her mate. The fact that she’d been able to pull herself out of the instinctive state once she’d found Jace, and hadn’t gone insane, had restored some of her confidence. The mate bond also helped erase her fear, and so had the removal of the Collar. Deni didn’t know exactly when she’d been healed, but she knew the process had begun when she’d met Jace that night at the fight club.
Music poured into the night. Deni danced with her sons, then Ellison, Liam, and Eric, with a circle of girls—Andrea, Kim, Iona, Glory, Elizabeth, Myka, Carly. The cubs ran around, undisciplined, shouting and screaming in their own games.