She blinked.“Well, I don’t feel that with my parents.But I know what it’s like to feel that.Yeah.With my granddaddy, when he was alive.”
He reached for her hand and squeezed her fingers.“It’s like that.The feeling of coming home and acceptance all at once.It was a pretty intense feeling.It certainly sobered them up.”
“Wow.That was definitely kismet playing a hand in things, wasn’t it?”
“Without a doubt.It’s not like I went to Amsterdam often, and Marc and Trip were living there at the time.”
“That’s crazy!”
“I know.”He grinned.“Tell me about it.”
“We had to go to our individual Prides for this ceremony.Trip’s in Holland, Marc’s in Pennsylvania, then here.But that’s when the trouble started.When I came back, the leader knew how strong I was, and because I was in a Triad now, knew that I would only grow into my powers even more.”He sighed.“Before I knew it, I was leading the Pride.”
“That sucks.”
“I know.”
She sighed, leaned her head on his shoulder.“I’m sorry.”
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head.“Don’t be.It’s not necessary.Though things piss me off from time to time, I’m grateful for where I am.I have a lot of opportunities to do good, and that’s all that matters.When we’re around for as long as we are, that’s definitely what counts.”Before she could answer, he pointed at the sky.“The moon’s high.It will start soon.”
“Don’t you set things off?”
He shook his head.“No.”
She watched, a little in awe, as the Pride as a whole looked up at the sky as Ryan had done, and still was.
The moon was heavy in the night sky, and even though they weren’t exactly away from the night pollution, there were still some stars evident.They twinkled and sparkled, but they were over shone by the bright globe of the moon.
It was white and luminescent, and so damn beautiful she wondered why she’d never noticed that before.Not really.
With a frown of amazement, she cast her gaze to the crowd and watched in more bewilderment as they parted ways.Some stepping to the left, others to the right.It astonished her, actually.Because they all seemed to know where to go.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, three paths emerged from the mass of people.
Three separate entities formed by members of the Pride.
Members she’d yet to meet.
Before she could worry over why Ryan wasn’t introducing her to his people, she saw three men walking down the pathways forged by Pride members.
They were naked save for a swathe of fabric around their hips.It was like the male version of a toga, but theirs displayed the entirety of their torso.They seemed to be walking to a beat of their own.Like there was an internal song playing that nobody could hear but them.
It reminded her of when a bride stepped to the beat of the wedding march, but these guys were the only ones who could hear it.Though they couldn’t see one another, not through the thickness of the crowd parting the pathways, they were all in line.Utterly in tune with one another.
The movements were somnolent, and she found herself swaying in time to their steps, like they were all in on the internal humming now.
Though she frowned at the realization, it didn’t stop her from swaying to the beat.With a sigh, she sank into the motion and watched as the men finally came to a halt before the dais.The people who had parted them, dispersed, retreated.Circling the dais loosely so that everyone could see the clearing they’d made and the men standing there.
There was something about their eyes that made her think they were high, and she made a mental note to ask Ryan or one of the others why that was.But Ryan surprised her by pulling gently away from her and getting to his feet.He held out his hands, palm face down, and she watched as the three placed their pointer fingers on the backs of his knuckles.
It was a weird moment.It felt holy.Sacred.Which was bizarre enough.But it was just surreal to be a part of the whole procedure.
Blinking, she watched as he closed his eyes and when he reopened them, all of a sudden, the gold lines were there again.It was actually kind of strange seeing them attached to other people.It was then that she realized he could focus and concentrate those lines on specific people because in less time than it took to blink, he was linked only to the three men in front of him.
Sure, there was something very 1960s Star Trek about this whole thing, but it was still cool as fuck.With a sigh that spoke of how impressed she was at that moment with her mate’s capabilities, she watched in awe as the gold bands, still separate entities, slowly began to coalesce together into a single unit.
Was this how it was between her men?
