“Thank you,” she said, smiling at Ciara and Maeve. The women had spent the day with her while the men assisted Kael, or at least that’s what she’d been told. Ciara and Maeve were warriors’ mates and great sources of information and reassurance for Shayla. Ciara was the mate of a warrior named Marcas, and though she appeared Shayla’s age, she’d been born in 1922. Even more stunning was Maeve, who was mated to Ronan and had been alive for three hundred years.
Shayla had taken an immediate liking to both of them. They’d helped prepare her for the mating ritual and surrounded her with friendship and sisterhood, easing the pang in her heart that no one from her family could share in the ceremony. Kael had explained the previous night that they would be notified and invited for a special wedding dinner soon.
She was the only human who could attend the mating ritual.
Ciara helped her put on the velvet cloak over the rich silk gown she wore. With its plunging V neck and thin lace straps, it was more lingerie than gown, but it was gorgeous, bejeweled with glittering beads along the neckline, empire waist and bottom hem.
“Lower your head,” Maeve said. Shayla stooped down and bowed her head. Maeve and Ciara lifted the cloak’s hood over the bridal circlet, careful not to muss the intricate braiding and bejeweling of her hair.
“Now, remember,” Ciara said with warm smile, “that should be the last time you bow your head to anyone, save your king. In an hour’s time, you will be queen.”
The very idea made Shayla’s head spin. Flustered, she tried to speak but no words came out. She didn’t know what to say. All three women fell together, laughing.
Finally, she calmed herself. “Well, my new friends, my future husband does not strike me as the most patient man. So, should we go?”
Ciara and Maeve led her through stone hallways where priceless art decorated the walls and sat atop pedestals. But Shayla’s need to see Kael was intense and she could not pay the pieces the attention they deserved. Forever seemed to pass in the time it took to arrive at the arched wooden door of the room they’d shown her earlier in the day. The Hall of the Chieftains.
Liam waited next to the door and offered her a warm smile when their eyes met.
“Liam will take you from here,” Ciara said, her expression affectionate.
Shayla nodded at her new friend and exchanged hugs with both women before they departed.
Liam turned to her and held out his left arm. “It would be my honor to escort you to your mate.”
Trembling, not out of fear but out of an urgency she could not fully explain, Shayla grasped Liam’s forearm with her unmarked hand. He opened the door and guided her forward.
Shayla’s gaze fell on Kael’s kneeling form and he was all she could see. The desire to run to him made it feel as if her insides were vibrating. She licked her lips and released a shaky breath. Her left hand tingled and she fisted against the maddening, arousing sensation.
Kael’s eyes glowed the brightest she’d ever seen. He was magnificent, regal, and more beautiful than she’d remembered after just a day’s painful separation. A fierce masculinity rolled off him and curled around her until she swore she could smell him, taste him, feel his touch on her skin.
Liam paused at the outside of the circle and dropped his arm.
And then Shayla stood before the man, the vampire, she knew without question owned her, heart and body.
They joined marked hands and she barely resisted crying out. She sucked in a sharp breath as the most wondrous current of belonging shot through her—she simply didn’t know how else to describe it. By the trembling of his hand in hers, she knew Kael felt it, too.
She sank to her knees. They were so close her chest nearly touched his. Only their clasped hands separated them.
Then Kael began to speak. She didn’t know the ancient language, but she understood perfectly well the emotion behind the words. Her heart swelled at the passion with which he spoke. Tears bloomed in her eyes at the glassiness she saw in his. Their hands clutched tighter and the feeling was simply, fundamentally right.
She was so focused on Kael she didn’t even react when he paused and the warriors chanted in a fierce yell and fell to one knee around them.
After a moment, Kael’s deep, fervent voice continued. “I am on my knees before you because we will always be equals, partners in all things. I hold your hand in mine, because we will always be together. I look into your eyes to see into the real you, and let you see into the real me. I pledge to take care of you, protect you, and cherish you for all time.” Shayla’s heart thundered in her chest. A single tear quietly rolled down her cheek. He raised their hands to his mouth and kissed her fingers.