“We ran away because we knew none of you would understand,” the rattlesnake girl said, clutching him even tighter. “But not even your hired shark can separate us. We’re true mates, like it or not.”
“He’s a shark?” Nita looked as though none of this was making any sense whatsoever. “Ma, did you have something to do with this? Who is this man?”
The question hung in the air. Finn said nothing, expression impassive as a rock, giving her the space to answer as she chose.
Martha took Finn’s hand. His rough fingers closed around hers.
And she knew that they were both where they were meant to be.
She lifted her chin proudly, smiling at her family. “He’s my mate.”
Epilogue
Martha let out her breath as a grinning Roddie swept up his bride and kissed her thoroughly, to howls of approval. “Well, that went more smoothly than I was expecting.”
“You feared they would not accept her?” The flickering light of the bonfire caught the stark planes of Finn’s strong forehead and jaw as he watched the pack gather around the newly-mated pair.
“Some of the older pack members are still having a hard time getting their heads around a rattlesnake joining us.” There were some hisses mingled in with the howls, but she was fairly certain they were coming from the snakes lurking at the edges of the crowd, and were meant kindly. “But since the youngsters are busy changing the world, all us old sticks will just have to learn to change with it.”
Finn chuckled, pulling her closer against his side. “I do not think you can cast all the blame on the young, when it comes to changes.”
She snuggled into him, the coolness of his bare skin refreshing in the hot, humid night. He was wearing his formal armor again, in honor of the occasion. Given that most of the pups at the party were haring around with their butts hanging out, shifting freely between two feet and four—or none, in the case of the snakes—his bare torso wasn’t going to raise any eyebrows. Though Martha had noticed more than one woman there sneaking a glance or three at his endless pecs.
Let them admire him. Her inner coyote was smug as a cat in cream. He is ours.
“All right, all right!” Nita leaped back up onto the impromptu platform—constructed out of a couple of planks laid across some beer kegs—in front of the bonfire. “Settle down. This isn’t the only petition tonight, after all.”
Martha felt Finn’s muscles go rigid against her. “You aren’t nervous, are you?” she murmured.
From the stony blankness settling over his face, he was. Quite a few coyotes drew back from him as he walked through the crowd. Martha couldn’t entirely blame them. Finn looked more like a man contemplating a massacre than a mating.
Even standing on the beer barrels, Nita still had to tip her chin up to look him in the eye. “Who seeks to join the Ochre Rock pack?” she asked formally.
“My name is Finn.” His rasping voice carried clearly over the expectant hush. Even the crickets seemed to fall silent to hear him. “Formerly the Master Shark, and the Voice of the Pearl Empress. In days long gone, I was the King of Teeth, ruler of all the sharks of the sea.”
A little ripple went through the crowd, from those who hadn’t heard his titles before. Nita let the murmurs die down before she continued. “And what do you offer the pack, Finn? Why should we accept you?”
“I am a good hunter. I can follow my prey halfway across the world.”
“I wish he couldn’t,” Roddie called, to scattered laughter.
“I know how to fight.” The bonfire gilded the edges of Finn’s armor as he glanced at the sm
all knot of gathered rattlesnakes. “And, more importantly, how not to fight. I know how to keep the peace, even between those who are natural enemies. These are the skills I offer to the pack.”
Nita turned to the crowd, her hands on her hips. “Well, Ochre Rock? Does he offer us enough?”
“No!” every coyote howled back gleefully.
Martha was very glad Finn had just seen Celia go through this exact same hazing, because otherwise she would have put even odds on him having a heart attack on the spot. As it was, he stiffened, every muscle knotting tight. He looked on the verge of murder—a sure sign of extreme nerves.
Nita pursed her lips. “Well then, how shall we make him prove himself?”
Celia had been challenged to demonstrate a rattlesnake’s venom by cussing out her brother. With a gleam in her eye, she’d delivered a three-minute stream of inventive invective that had blistered the alpha snake’s scaly hide and made every mother present clap hands over the ears of their offspring. Even Martha’s twin boys had been impressed.
I wonder what they’ll make him do?
“Eat a whole cow!” Martha’s grandson Manny yelled out.