They talked about the mating ceremony, about joining together as mates under the full moon, and the pack celebrating with a shift and hunt in the woods.
Cinder assured her it was a magical time, and Mira was certain that was true.
Everything had been magical for her since she met Leo.
She’d had another first in her life now as she sat with the females and laughed and talked: she didn’t feel like an outsider.She felt well and truly part of the pack, standing on the threshold of something amazing.
Tonight, she and Leo would shift together with her family in the pack territory.And the night would be theirs to enjoy.
And later?They‘d enjoy other things.Because her mate was a sexy male and knew just how to make her world spin.
Life was pretty dang good for a girl who thought she was a dud psychic and turned out to be a unique female gryphon.
Pretty.Dang.Good.
ChapterSeventeen
Leo and Mira waited on the front porch of Adam and Cinder’s home on Sunday evening.He was excited for the planned shift and hunt with her family, but clearly not as excited as his mate.She was bouncing on her feet and watching the road for her family.
“They’re on the way,” Leo said with a chuckle.
“I know!I’m so excited!”
He put his arm around her and drew her close, smiling before he kissed her.“Me too, sweetheart.”
“Not just for the shift and hunt, which is already very cool, but talking with them and the alphas about them sticking around.”They knew her family planned to stay in Thorn Hollow, but the details were sketchy at the moment, and they were both looking forward to getting things finalized.
Engines sounded in the distance, drawing close, and after a few minutes, two trucks appeared, parking in front of the house.Mira hopped down from the porch and greeted her family, hugging her mom and sister.
“Welcome,” Leo said.“Adam and Cinder are waiting in the house for us.”
Mira joined him on the porch, and they led her family inside the large home to the family room, where Cinder and Adam were sitting on two chairs.Drinks and snacks had been set on the coffee table, and more chairs had been spread out around the couches so everyone could sit.
After the greetings, they all sat, and Rami said, “Thank you for inviting us into your home and territory.”
“You’re Leo’s family by mating, and that makes you welcome here,” Adam said.He glanced at Cinder, who gave him an encouraging smile.“We know you’d like to get to the shift and hunt, so we’ll cut through the chitchat and get right to it.Officially, we would like to extend an offer for you to join our town.You wouldn’t be pack members, but you would be allies.That gives you access to our hunting grounds, protection through the security team, and a say in the things that happen in the town that affect everyone.You’d still be your own clan, but allied to us, and vice versa.We have two homes that are available on a street near Leo and Mira’s home, and in exchange for utilizing them as living quarters, you’d be working at the garage and dealership, and part of the security team in various capacities, with a salary provided from the pack’s general fund.”
While Adam shared the rest of the details with the clan, Leo held Mira’s hand, quietly marveling at how quickly her biological family had changed their nomadic ways to stay close to her.He’d never had family want to change everything for him, although his friends would in a heartbeat.
“The spell kept us apart from our daughter far too long,” Auron said.“Now that she’s free of it and we’re together, we will happily step into life in Thorn Hollow in every way that we’re able.”
“You’ll be a great addition to our town and ally of our pack,” Cinder said.
Loose plans were made for Leo and Mira to officially become mates in the eyes of the pack during the September full moon, at which time she’d become a pack member.The clan discussed their preferences for work—such as her mom and Selene working around town and helping pack members who needed assistance with cooking and cleaning, and the males working both at the dealership and around the town in security and other areas.
He hadn’t realized how much he wanted her family to stay until they’d agreed to it and things were settled with the pack.Mira was over the moon to have her biological family close so she could spend time with them.
They all shook hands on the new arrangement before heading outside.
“Having wings in the sky is going to give us a huge advantage when it comes to the security of our territory,” Adam said.Not only could Rami have wings in his human form and still fly, but so could Mira’s brother and uncles.
“You can do that too,” Theron said to Mira.“It just takes practice to be able to stop yourself from shifting all the way to the gryphon.”
“Let me figure out this flying in my gryphon form first,” she said with a laugh.“Then we’ll work on the other stuff.”
“I’ll leave you to your shift and hunt,” Adam said.“The security team is patrolling around the area as usual.But if you see anything out of the ordinary, alert them right away.”
“We will,” Rami said.
