Through the Veil (8 page)

Reggie laughed. “I’d like that.”

Nikki nodded.

“Nicolette,” a man yelled and Reggie looked up to see one of
Nikki’s mates calling to her.

“That’s Gunnar,” Nikki said. “Apparently it’s time to head
out.” She gave Reggie’s hand a squeeze. “Wish me luck.”

“Luck,” Reggie said though she doubted the friendly girl would
need it. She had a feeling that everyone who met Nikki would love her.

“I’ll see you in a few weeks,” Nikki called as she hurried
toward one of her mates.

Reggie nodded and waved before turning and heading back to
her cabin. Taggart and Jamison would be there, waiting for her. For the first
time in her life she felt treasured and appreciated, loved. Every new morning
she opened her eyes and gave thanks that she really was here, with her mates.
Her life was a dream but thankfully one come true.

“Reggie,” Jamison called as she approached the door.
“Hungry?” he asked and she could smell a delicious aroma coming from the cabin.
“Taggart is cooking.”

“Ummm,” she sighed. “It smells delicious. I’m starved.”

Jamison pulled her close and nibbled along her throat up to
her lips then took her under with his intoxicating kiss. “I’m starved too,” he
murmured. “But I guess we’d better feed you first.”

“I think you’d better,” she agreed, though truth be told it
wouldn’t take much to convince her otherwise.

“Save that for later,” Taggart said, tugging her away from
Jamison and dropping a kiss on her head before leading her over to sit at a
table that held the tantalizing aromas. She took in the scene around her. A
table filled with tempting food, a fire set and ready to go in the fireplace
and a bed with the covers already pulled back. But more importantly she took in
the two men with her. They smiled and looked at her with such love in their
eyes.

It was too soon and yet she couldn’t deny the words any
longer. Maybe it was where they were. She’d already discovered that everything
was different on this side of the veil. Without the little things to complicate
and manipulate it was just her and them. They had no fear of showing her how
they felt, no need to deny or hide. And it was that which gave her the courage
she needed.

I love them
, she admitted to herself.

We love you too.
Jamison’s voice filled her head.

Taggart just nodded. Reggie wanted to laugh. What took
courage for her to say they just accepted and returned as if their love was a
given.

But it is. To know you is to love you.
Taggart’s
voice this time.

“I love you,” she spoke aloud, needing to say the words, to
give voice to them. “I love you.”

Taggart and Jamison both just smiled at her and nodded in
agreement. Totally accepting and obviously reciprocating her love. She had to
laugh. Here it was all so simple. No games, no lies. Just an embrace of life
and love and one another. It was something she had longed for her entire life
and finally found.

“Dig in,” Taggart urged her as he moved a filled plate of
food in front of her.

And that was just what she planned to do. To dig in and
savor every moment of what her life offered now. Her gaze moved from Taggart to
Jamison and back again. She was truly the luckiest woman in the world.

* * * * *

Serena stood in the center of the clearing and listened to
the voices on the wind. It was nice to hear the joy of others all around her.
Especially since it seemed their joy was all that she would ever know. Standing
there, she drifted back to that one moment so long ago when everything had
changed for her.

“All you have to do is walk away from him,” Meryll had told
her. “You know that it is forbidden to love a shifter, especially when we have
always been promised to one another.”

“I don’t love you,” Serena tried to get him to understand.
“I’ve never felt more for you than a friend.”

“Because of him,” Meryll sneered.

“No,” Serena said. “He has nothing to do with how I feel
about you.”

“The man you love has nothing to do with your spurning the
man you are promised to?” Meryll asked with a cold smile. “How can you stand
there and lie to my face?”

“I’m not lying to you,” Serena declared. “I love Lynx. We
never meant to fall in love. It just happened.”

“Unfortunately for you it doesn’t matter,” Meryll said. “I
have already spoken with your parents and they are willing to overlook your
words as long as I am willing to still marry you.”

“And you would marry me?” Serena asked softly. “Knowing that
my heart and soul belong to another, that your bed will remain cold and empty
of your bride?”

“You will come to me and we will consummate our vows,”
Meryll stated. “You will put this shifter out of your mind and move on as is
expected.”

“I won’t,” she said just as softly.

“You will,” he yelled at her, spittle flying from his lips.
Serena had never seen Meryll so angry before.

“I love Lynx,” she stated, her voice louder this time.
“Nothing you say will change that.”

“Really.” He turned to her and, grabbing her by the arms,
shook her hard. “You think that there is nothing that I can do to change that.
Don’t fool yourself, little girl. You will uphold our promise or I will see to
it that you never see Lynx again.”

“How do you propose to do that, Meryll?” she asked with such
confidence. “Lynx will not be easily manipulated.”

Meryll smiled. “And what about you?”

“Serena,” her mother’s voice rippled through the air and
brought her eyes flying over to where the woman stood. “You shame our family.”

“No—” Serena tried to speak but her mother wouldn’t listen
to her.

“That is right,” her mother spoke over her. “You will not
shame us. You will marry Meryll and conceive a child. The continuance of our
line is important and Meryll’s family line is as old and sacred as ours.”

Never had she defied her mother. Never. “I won’t,” she said.
“I love Lynx and I wish to mate with him.”

“I forbid it,” her mother said. “You are lucky that Meryll
is willing to overlook this moment of stupidity on your part and take you as
wife anyway.”

“I will not marry Meryll,” Serena said, her voice gaining
strength. She could see Lynx in her mind, the strength and character of him.
She loved him and knew that he loved her too. Their love would be enough.

“You think to defy me and run away with your wolf?” her
mother asked calmly, too calmly.

“I don’t want to defy you,” Serena tried to explain. “But I
cannot marry a man who I don’t love.”

“Let me put it this way,” her mother said with a tight
smile. “If you try to marry Lynx you will sign his death warrant. I will evict
him from the valley and not allow him or any heirs he might conceive to ever
cross back.”

“No!” Serena screamed, shaking her head. “You can’t do that.
He’s done nothing wrong.”

“He is as much to blame for this foolishness as you,” her
mother said. “But I will leave the choice of his fate up to you.”

“So if I walk away from him then you will let him stay
here,” Serena repeated with tears streaming down her face.

“Yes, if you do not marry him or engage in any type of
physical relationship then he will be able to stay,” her mother agreed.

“Then I will agree to stay away from him,” Serena said. “As
long as I have your word.”

“You have my word,” her mother nodded. “Now we will see to
planning your nuptials to Meryll.”

“No,” Serena said.

“No?” her mother thundered.

“That wasn’t part of our agreement,” Serena said. “I agreed
to give up Lynx. I never agreed to accept Meryll.”

“Then you would choose to shame us anyway?” her mother
almost screamed.

“I would choose to remain alone rather than to accept a life
with a man I don’t love or want,” Serena stated.

“Then know this,” Meryll said. “If you don’t choose me then
there will never be another. I will hold the contract until the day we both
die.”

“So be it,” Serena agreed.

“I don’t think you understand,” her mother spoke again,
softer this time, her face showing sympathy for the first time since she’d
arrived.

“What is there to understand?” Serena asked.

“My time will pass soon and you will take over as queen of
the valley,” her mother said. “But if you do not mate and produce a daughter
then your time will never cease. Your life will be tied to the valley and if
the goddess decides your time is done then there will be no one here to uphold
the veil and protect our people.”

“Then I would suggest we all pray that the goddess does not
choose to punish me for falling in love the way that you have,” Serena said and
with her heart breaking she turned away. And never spoke to her mother again.
Not when her father passed, not when Meryll finally died.

Instead she walked alone, guarding and protecting and watching
over the valley and all its inhabitants. And never once did she think of any
man other than the one who still held her heart all these years later. Lynx.

She would continue to give her call, to woo those worthy of
crossing and entering the valley. With every call she worried that this one
might be the one to lay claim to her Lynx. But so far the goddess had heard her
prayers. She hated that he was as alone as she was and yet she knew that his
love was true and that like her, he would never take another.

With a sigh she headed out once more, the words of the love
song already floating from her lips. She couldn’t have the man she loved but
she could help the people of the valley to find love. It was the choice she’d
made over forty years ago and the one she and Lynx would always have to live
with. No one but her would ever know that the song she sang was for one crafty
old wolf who she would always love.

Also by Lacey Thorn

Bare Love
1: His Bare Obsession

Bare Love
2: Bare Confessions

Bare Love 3:
Bare Seduction

Bare Love 4:
Bare Devotion

Bare Love 5:
Running Bare

Bare Love 6: In
the Bare

Bare Love 7:
Stripped Bare

Ellora’s
Cavemen: Jewels of the Nile II
anthology

Enforced Love

Shifter’s
Veil: Into the Mist

Island Guardians
1: Earth Moves

Island
Guardians 2: Fanning Her Flames

Island Guardians
3: Washed Away

Island
Guardians 4: Breathing Her Air

Island
Guardians 5: Mystic’s Call

Marquetti
Amore 1: Merciful Angel

Marquetti
Amore 2: Seducing Sampson

Marquetti
Amore 3: Burning Dante

One Good Man
with Cindy Spencer Pape

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