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Micah waved over to Josiah. “Get married already. We need to get home.”

  Josiah turned himself and Sarah toward the minister. He smiled as he gazed at her. “Ready?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  Reverend Grop opened the book in his hand. “Do you, Josiah, take Sarah to be your wife in sickness and health, in poverty and wealth? Will you stay by her side no matter what comes?”

  “I do,” he answered.

  Grop looked at Sarah. “Do you, Sarah, take Josiah to be your husband in sickness and health, in poverty and wealth? Will you stay by his side no matter what comes?”

  “I do,” she replied.

  “Rings?”

  Josiah laughed. “Remember that I said we just pulled off the side of the road and decided to do this? We don’t have any rings. We’ll buy them when we get back to Minnesota.”

  Grop nodded at Micah. “Check your pocket.”

  Micah’s brow creased as he glared at Grop. “Why the hell would I do that?”

  “Trust me.”

  Micah dug his hand in his jeans pocket. He pulled his fist out fast and held it open. Two gold wedding bands were nestled in the center of his palm. “What the fuck. I swear they weren’t in there.”

  Sarah hugged Josiah a little tighter. He could feel her shake. Josiah swiped the rings out of Micah’s hand. He took the smaller of the two and slid it on Sarah’s finger.

  “Repeat after me, Josiah,” Grop instructed. “With this ring, thee I wed.”

  “Yeah, sure. With this ring, thee I wed,” Josiah repeated.

  “Sarah, put the ring on Josiah’s finger and repeat after me, ‘with this ring, thee I wed.’”

  Sarah took the band from Josiah and slipped it on his finger. “With this ring, thee I wed.”

  Grop beamed. “By the power invested in me by the state of Pennsylvania, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

  “That’s where the fuck we are,” Caleb interrupted.

  Josiah glared at his brother just before he pressed his lips to Sarah. Their kiss was broken by the cacophony of buzzes and ringtones from everyone’s cell phones. Each of them searched for their cells.

  Joshua studied his. “Joe, you’re heading for Maine.”

  “Our cell service is back. Our phones are no longer blocked,” Eve said.

  Littlefoot tapped his screen several times and then held the phone to his ear. He paced as he waited for it to answer. “Evelyn, are you all right?” He stopped his pacing and leaned against the nose of his truck. His face fell as he rubbed his eyes. “There’s nothing left. All the way to the ground. Tell me no one was inside.”

  He waited again. Josiah could see one lone tear slide down his cheek. “Two bodies. Charred beyond recognition. I understand. Stay in the house with my sisters and the rest of the family. I have all the boys and their mates with me. We are heading home right now. It will probably be late tomorrow night. Stay safe. See you soon.” He hung up the call and wiped his eyes again.

  “Littlefoot, what happened?” Josiah questioned.

  Littlefoot’s voice shook as he spoke. “Someone torched Sharky’s Garage. They found evidence of an accelerant around the gas pumps, a highly flammable one that is hard to get a hold of. It and the shack behind it are gone. Burnt to the ground. There were two bodies inside. They’re with the medical examiner now for identification. Nothing is conclusive yet, but it’s probably Sharky and Amos.”

  Eve, Meg, and Delilah started to cry. Josiah felt his own eyes burn with tears. Sarah held him tighter.

  Abraham whimpered. “Who would do that?”

  Henry bit his lower lip to keep from sobbing. “Take a wild guess. We weren’t there. The amulet wasn’t there. My guess is that Rock and Cort looked for revenge and took it out on Sharky and Amos.”

  Littlefoot spat out a long line of curses under his breath. “I should have told them to go to the reservation with Evelyn.”

  “How could you have known this would happen?” Micah asked.

  “We need to go now,” Josiah ordered. He looked at Grop. “Thank you. We appreciate it.”

  “My pleasure.” Grop reached between the folds of the book. He pulled free a piece of paper. “Don’t forget your marriage license.”

  Josiah took it from him without looking at it. Then he grabbed Sarah’s hand in his. “Thanks, again.”

  The two of them hurried away from the chapel without a second glance and hopped in the back seat of Littlefoot’s truck. The vehicles followed each other down the dirt road back to the highway.

  »»•««

  The late morning sunshine warmed the bedroom. Sarah stepped out of the bathroom dressed in only her flimsy white cotton nightgown. She leaned against the doorframe and smiled.

  Josiah was fast asleep on the bed, with his arm draped over his face to block the light. She studied the patterns of color embedded in his skin. The images covered his arms and part of his chest. His long curly hair was a contrast to the white pillow beneath his head. This man wasn’t the vanilla type of guy she thought she would end up with. Not by any means. And it was just fine with her.

  The seven brothers chose to hold back their change until they reached home. They didn’t have to stop that way. Those who weren’t werewolves took shifts driving through the night. Sarah took over driving Littlefoot’s truck soon after the decision was made. Being the gentleman he was, Littlefoot didn’t want her driving in the wee hours of the morning. She noticed as she drove that neither Littlefoot nor Josiah slept. They sat in silence together. She didn’t have to ask why. She didn’t know Sharky and Amos, but her heart broke for those who did.

  The first stop when they got close to home was the reservation. Littlefoot hugged Evelyn Hallow for all he was worth. Sarah watched them as they comforted each other. They seemed like the perfect couple. Why on earth weren’t they together?

  It was then that Josiah explained it to her. When Hallows mated, they mated for eternity. When one passed, the other was still connected to them. Momma was still bound to her late werewolf husband. Sarah was shaken by the answer. She could never be with anyone but him. But it seemed cruel to Momma to be that way.

  The entire family visited the remains of Sharky’s Garage before the brothers returned to the woods to change. It was unavoidable. She didn’t realize that it was the station just before the road to the camp. The seven scuffed around the ruins while wiping at their damp cheeks. It made Sarah cry to see everyone in so much pain.

  Josiah rubbed his toe against the pavement. It was so hard she thought he was going to wear a hole through the rubber. “Guys, I found a huge patch of red.”

  Everyone wandered to the patch he had cleared. The other six brothers did the same until they exposed a patch about six feet wide.

  “Fuck, blood,” Ezekiel mumbled under his breath.

  “We don’t know that,” Micah warned.

  “What used to be here, Mike? The living room of the shack. And that’s enough to be two people.”

  Josiah glanced at each of them. “The investigators aren’t going to suspect the bloodsuckers. They are going to assume murder/suicide first. Or a robbery gone wrong. That’s even if they test this for blood. This garage is in the middle of nowhere in a rural area. It’s not like we have top-notch detectives around here. We can assume Rock and Cort. Don’t expect them to.” He pointed to the sunset as it turned the horizon a brilliant orange. “Got to go, boys. It’s time to beast out.”

  Sarah kissed her new husband goodbye, as did the rest of the mated with their wolves. They watched the Hallow brothers get into their vehicles and disappear into the woods before they returned to the reservation.

  Three days passed before the full moon was over. The Hallows found their home nearly destroyed and not much had been cleaned up before Littlefoot escorted Momma, Meg, Eve, Delilah, Henry, and Sarah home. Sarah wanted to celebrate her new marriage with Josiah so bad it hurt. They hadn’t even consummated it yet. Yet clean-up took precedence over everything else. Th
e whole family pitched in except Momma, who watched over Baby Ruby while the adults put the camp back in order.

  When nightfall came, Josiah dropped his tools and scooped her over his shoulder. He didn’t put her down until he reached his bed and stripped her naked. Her butt hit the mattress one moment, and then he was moving deep inside her the next, all the while whispering his love to her against her ear. She ached for this. She needed it so much she peaked after a couple of thrusts. Then she came again so hard she nearly blacked out. She didn’t know how many times the rush dragged her under before he released. She knew she didn’t want him to stop. Lucky for her, he didn’t. She wasn’t sure when they finally fell asleep, knotted tightly around each other. She did know she had never been happier.

  Sarah glanced at the clock beside the bed. She grinned as she shuffled across the bedroom floor. She crawled across the bed until she straddled Josiah’s hips. She could feel his erection pressed hard under the comforter.

  He grinned at her as he peeked from under his arm. “Good morning.”

  She beamed back at him. “Not for long. Up and at ’em, Coach. You need to train me.”

  He rubbed the side of her bare thighs as he looked up at her. His touch and that gaze melted her into a puddle of goo. “I want to run to town with Cay, Meg, Eve, Mike, Sam, Dee, and Henry. They’re getting their ultrasounds today. They put their babies at risk to save you. To save me. I want to be there for them. I want to know everyone is okay.”

  She leaned down to kiss him. “You’re a good man, Josiah Hallow. But you stress yourself out trying to take care of everyone. It’s going to put you in an early grave.”

  He kissed her back as he brushed her long hair away from her face. “My dad left me in charge when he died. I won’t let him down.”

  “Your brothers are adults.”

  “My brothers are idiots. Plus aren’t you part of this family now, Missus Josiah Hallow? That includes taking care of you.”

  Sarah smiled as she stretched out over him to kiss him again. He first knotted his fingers in her hair. Then his hands wandered down her back to caress her butt. She arched against his erection. She couldn’t help it. His touch set her on fire.

  “We can’t do anything if you want to go with the others,” Sarah warned as she pressed a trail of kisses across the stumble of his chin bone and down his neck.

  Josiah growled. “There’s such a thing as a quickie.”

  “Do you understand what a quickie is?”

  He shoved the comforter down the best he could past his thighs. His hard, thick cock nestled against her belly. It was her turn to moan. “No, I don’t. Ride me, Sarah. I want to watch you make love to me.”

  She laughed. “Make love?”

  “Want me to use the other word?”

  “No.” She wrapped her hand tight around him and pumped her fist a few times. He bucked hard against her grip. She lifted her hips just enough to guide his tip inside her. With a sigh she impaled herself, driving him deep.

  She drove herself up and down as she stared into his eyes. He filled every aching crevice of her. She lost count of how many times she’d orgasmed the night before. With the way he stretched her apart, she shouldn’t be able to walk. But sex with Josiah was an addiction. She didn’t want the cure. She only wanted him.

  He grazed his fingers through her hair to hold her head still as he returned her gaze. He murmured how beautiful she was, how much he needed her. She whimpered as she picked up the pace. He burrowed into her soul, and it fanned the blaze in her core into an inferno. She wrapped her hands around his to pull free from his hold. Then she arched her back hard. The knot in her belly unwound, sending a sharp wave of pure pleasure coursing through her. She screamed his name over and over as she tightened around him.

  Josiah yanked his hands from hers then gripped her thighs to bring her down on him in slow, deliberate strokes. He growled out a strings of curse words as he released. Sarah teased his chest hairs with her fingertips as she watched his brow furrow, his face tighten, his lips puff out soft breaths as he came. She leaned over and pressed her mouth to his.

  A split second later he flipped her over on her back. She had no idea how he did it, but instinct demanded she hold onto him for dear life. He buried his face in the curve of her neck as he drove deep inside her. She wrapped her legs around his hips as she felt his teeth nip at her jugular. She wove her finger in his hair. She murmured nonsense. All she could do was surrender to him.

  Her whole body quaked as he stroked another rush from her. It tore through her nerves, leaving her breathless and lightheaded. He grunted as he throbbed inside her. She clenched his hips to hold him tighter as he did. It sent one last tremor through her.

  Josiah kissed the tip of her nose then her lips. His gaze met hers. She lost herself in the depths of his dark brown eyes. Was he this tender with the other women he slept with? Did she care?

  “Aww, shit. Sorry.” He pulled away from her and climbed off the bed.

  She shook herself from the daze she was in. It didn’t help. Her thoughts consumed her. “What is it?”

  He strode naked to the window. “Yep, they left. Hurry up and dress. We’ve got to go.”

  “Why did you apologize?”

  He smiled at her. “Because I’m trying my best not to cuss. I know I did when I came. You’re going to just have to give me that one. You are the best fu… sex I’ve ever had in my entire life. It’s instinctive.”

  “I am?”

  He crossed the room to his dresser. “Yes. Come on. We’ve got to get going.”

  Sarah scooted off the bed as searched for her clothes. While they were separated from the brothers, the other mates helped pack up her apartment to move in with Josiah. The move, however, hadn’t happened yet. All her essentials were shoved in a duffel bag, and it wasn’t much. She tugged out a T-shirt and a pair of shorts from the jumbled mess and dressed.

  Josiah was already tugging his boots on. He looked drop dead gorgeous in his thin T-shirt that accentuated his sculpted muscles and his tight blue jeans. He reached out a hand to her. “Ready?”

  She threaded her fingers between his. “Ready.”

  He smiled at her before he led her through the cabin to his truck. He helped her into the passenger’s seat and then strode around to the driver’s side. He kissed her one more time before he fired it on and plunged down the dirt road into the woods.

  Chapter Eleven

  The three couples had already been escorted to their exam rooms by the time Josiah and Sarah arrived at the hospital. The nurse who showed them to the waiting area explained that Delilah, Samuel, and Henry already had their ultrasound and were now seeing Noah about the amniotic fluid test he took. By the wide-eyed expression on the nurse’s face, it must have been the first time she dealt with a threesome expecting a baby.

  Instead of sitting in the chairs, Josiah leaned against the wall. Sarah crossed the corridor and propped herself against the wall across from him. Her thoughts were scrambled. Missus Josiah Hallow. That was her name now. Not to mention, the hard, cold man that she once knew was now loving and gentle. What had changed?

  That wasn’t the thing that confused her the most. Her heart had done a one-eighty. At first, she couldn’t stand Josiah Hallow. His arrogance, his non-stop cursing, the way he treated sex like it was an act for gratification only turned her off even though she couldn’t keep herself from dragging him to her bed to satisfy her.

  She stared at him. He gave her that crazy grin she used to hate when she first met him. Now it turned her heart inside out. She hoped he smiled like that at her until the day she died. She couldn’t love anyone like she did him. She’d love him past eternity.

  He cocked his head. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. She knew she didn’t need to. Her head did it without her consent. “Of course. Why do you ask?”

  “You’re staring at me like you saw a ghost. Am I sprouting a couple tufts of fur?”

  “No, of course not.”


  “Then what’s bothering you?”

  She bit her lip before she spoke. “What’s changed between us? We used to hate each other. Remember? I wouldn’t think our quickie marriage would change that. Do you even like me?”

  Josiah strode across the hospital corridor to her. In one hand he tilted her head to him and caressed her face. The other gripped her hip and pulled her against him. “Yes, you’ve infuriated me. Being on my ass about cussing? It infuriates me. Refusing to move in with me until we were married even if it would save your life? Still infuriates me. But Sarah, when I look in your eyes I see everything I ever wanted. I see my babes. I see my home. Not the cabin I live in. Home. You are my home. I see the love I want so much it hurts. You are my life, my reason to breathe. I love you.”

  She could barely catch her breath. His confession stole it from her. “I love you too, Joe. But what’s changed?”

  He sighed. “I saw you chained. I saw your life on the line. I saw a town of werewolves bear down on you. I knew then I couldn’t let anything happen to you. I stood behind my words. You are mine. I will protect you and love you and be by your side until death parts us. Beast or man, I’m yours.”

  She touched his cheek. “You almost died for me.”

  He turned his face into her palm and pressed a kiss to it. “I’d do it a million times more if it keeps you and our children safe. I mean, if you want kids. We never talked about it.”

  “With you as their dad? Yes. I want children. Lots of them.”

  The deep, sweet kiss they shared sent shivers of delight through her. This man was her husband for eternity. He was a werewolf. They shared some crazy mating bond. But he was her husband. And she wasn’t going to let him go. Ever.

  They broke apart when they heard a door open. Caleb and Meg walked out of the room closest to them hand in hand, each wearing a big smile. They stopped long enough to share a kiss before they strolled down the corridor to Josiah and Sarah.

  “So?” Josiah questioned.

  Meg looked at her mate. “The baby is healthy and right on track.”

  Caleb beamed. “We’re having a boy.”