Unlike those hand-sewn dresses, this one struck me as ancient. It vibrated with a history I hadn’t heard yet but somehow knew.
Especially when Sea said, “Mairinua, it is the full moon. Will you come with us?”
Naomi
That evening,we all walked out to the lake. Sea beside me, with Wild and Aidan following behind.
They’d told me nothing and had muted their mate bonds.
But I could feel the solemnity of the moment crackling in the air.
“Is this the place?” Sea asked Aidan when we reached the mountain after about thirty minutes of walking.
Aidan nodded, his face just as grave as Sea’s and Wild’s, despite his many claims that he was a proud City Wolf who didn’t believe in any of that prophecy and scroll bullshite. “This is where I found her, right over there.”
Wild glanced around with an approving nod. “And this is a good place for it. We can all see the moon overhead.”
Sea turned to Aidan. “You may go first since this is technically your territory as the predecessor of Belfast.”
Aidan nodded and took a deep breath before turning to me.
“Okay, hopefully, I’m not messing this up. I’m not a great memorizer of things, I’ll admit. Couldn’t even be taught to sight-read music. Ah, my heart is beating so fast, but here goes…”
Tears pooled in my eyes when he began the Irish Gaelic vow he’d refused to say to me two weeks ago, right after I went into heat. As Aidan spoke, I couldn’t help but think back to when I met him. So much had changed since then — my understanding of intimacy, loyalty, and what it truly meant to be bound to someone. By the time he was done stuttering his way through it, tears flowed down my cheeks.
“I wish I had declared that to you two weeks ago. I will always regret not saying yes to you from the moment we met. These two weeks have been…” He took another deep, audible breath. “They’ve been everything to me — even if I’ve had a hell of a time remembering not to call you by your true name. Speaking of which, my true name is Aidan. Aidan, King of the Norman Wolves and Ruler over the kingdoms of Belfast and Dublin. Will you take this light and blow it out, trusting that I will always lead you through the darkness?”
He extended the candle to me, and I took it. But before I blew it out, I had to tell him something, “I resisted and resisted, but I think the moment I met you, I knew everything Wild and Sea had told me was correct. It was love at first sight. I couldn’t say it — couldn’t admit it then. But I loved you from the start. I hope that’s okay to tell you.”
Now, Aidan’s eyes were glistening with tears. “More than okay, babes. And I love you, too, Dublin Queen.”
The moment ticked between us until he grimaced to remind me, “But you still have to blow the candle out. You know, for ritual’s sake.”
“Oh!” With a little laugh, I blew it out without reservation. Then I asked with a hesitant tone, “Am I supposed to tell you my name, too?”
“Not yet,” Sea answered for him. “Wild, you’re up next.”
Aidan took back the candle, and Wild stepped forward, though with a far less eager look on his face. “I’m shite at this sort of stuff, to be honest.” He scraped a hand over the back of his head. “I’m a devout bastard, but usually, I’m in wolf form for all the rituals, ye know.”
I dipped my head, fully understanding. “I’m excited to know your name, though.”
His shoulders slumped. “Ye already know it. Conall, King of the Wild Wolves and Ruler of all the natural kingdom. Same as me da. But don’t call me that, please. Ever.”
He looked everywhere but at me. “And if our babe’s a boy, name him something else, alright? Even one of those boring Canadian names’ll do.”
“Okay,” I agreed softly, my eyes once again pooling with tears, my heart twisting for him. “And Wild?”
“Yeah?” he asked, glancing at me with a mix of sorrow and uncertainty over the candle.
“I love you, too,” I whispered. “More and more every day, I get to know the real you.”
Wild swallowed hard, and a surge of emotion crashed over his side of the mate bond — only to be yanked back before it fully reached me. But my skin prickled with the intensity of what he’d almost let me feel.
“All right, enough of that,” he muttered, looking away as he heldout the candle. “Blow it out, will ye, so we can get on to Sea’s turn?”
No “I love ye back.” But his white-knuckle grip on the candle and the near collapse of his muted bond told me everything I needed to know.
I bit back a smile and blew out his candle.
