Jason said, "He was never our biggest fan, but he's been in town since I was a kid, and we thought he lived in peace with us. I guess some people are really good at hiding their true feelings."

"I'm glad he's gone," Crimson said.

"Me, too. We're going to do a sweep of the area tomorrow, and I'd like you to help. It will take all day, but afterward we can visit the man I told you about and then discuss your job prospects."

Crimson smiled inwardly. "Sounds like a plan."

The night of the full moon, Crimson found himself nervous for the first time in a long while. He could stand at the front lines in battle without breaking a sweat, but the mating and induction ceremonies for the pack were filling him with nerves. He and Lindy had spent the entire day in bed, and it had been a sweet, sweet day of sharing pleasure. His wolf, far more content than he'd ever been, had reveled in the love of his mate, and he looked forward to hunting with her once more.

When it was nearly time to head to the alphas' home for the pre-hunting cookout, Lindy slipped from the bed with a groan and gave him an impish smile before walking into the bathroom and shutting the door. He quickly donned a pair of jeans and a shirt and grabbed an envelope and a small box from underneath the stack of jeans in the closet. By the time she came out of the bathroom, he was sitting on the bed once more, waiting.

Her steps slowed, and she looked at him curiously.

"Get dressed, ch.e.l.le, and then we need to talk."

Her brows arched, but she simply nodded and walked into the closet. She came out a few moments later wearing shorts and a shirt.

"My father told me once that males who couldn't provide for their mates were unworthy males, lower than the lowest scrugbeetle." He patted the s.p.a.ce on the mattress next to him, and she sat down. "Our home in the Fae Realm had been my father's before he mated my mother, and I had few needs, so I saved my earnings for the future." From inside the envelope, he pulled out a clipped stack of paperwork. "Jason was kind enough to take me to a broker who helped me exchange my earnings for the money of your realm, and I used it to buy two things."

He handed her the papers, and she looked down at the top page. Confusion flitted across her features. "This is a deed with my name on it."

"I bought the house for you."

"What?" Her eyes rounded in surprise, and her grip tightened on the papers.

"I went to the mortgage company and made arrangements to buy the house for you. These papers mean that the house is yours and no one can take it from you."

Her mouth opened then closed, and she made a soft, squeaking sound as tears glistened in her eyes. She threw herself into his arms and buried her face in his neck. "You didn't have to do this for me, Crimson," she whispered thickly, "but thank you."

He squeezed her tightly, and a small growl of contentment rippled through him. "I did have to do it. I want to provide for you and any pups we have. I don't want to be a bad mate. I want to take care of you in every way. Make you feel safe and secure in our future."

She eased away, and he brushed the tears from her cheeks. "I do feel safe with you. And I love you so much. Thank you." She sniffled. "But the deed should have your name on it, too."

"It will." He smiled. Slipping to the floor on his knees, he opened the box that contained a diamond ring flanked with rubies and emeralds and said, "Will you marry me, Lindy? Will you share my name, my future, my life? My heart is yours forever."

Fresh tears slipped down her cheeks as she let him put the ring on, fell into his lap with a resounding "Yes!", and kissed him.

His wolf growled happily and Crimson shared in the beast's excitement. Their mate was agreeing to be theirs in every possible way. Once they were officially joined by the pack and then married by human standards, she would be his forever, and he would be hers.

At one time, Crimson hadn't thought much about his future outside of his military service. Now, his future was filled with thoughts of taking care of his mate and their future pups. He couldn't wait for what would come.

Chapter 23.

Lindy's left hand trembled in Crimson's as Jason wound the mating strap around them, joining them officially as mates within the pack. She'd never been so nervous in her life. She must feel how a bride felt when she walked down the aisle, like it was a dream, and she might wake up at any second.

Crimson squeezed her hand slightly and smiled at her. His eyes were red, the same color as the rubies on her engagement ring, and she saw a hint of his fangs as he smiled at her. Jason spoke the words of the mating ceremony, and Lindy and Crimson responded, vowing themselves to each other for the span of their lives.

Crimson pulled her toward him, their captive hands pressed tightly between them, and growled, "mine" before he kissed her deeply. The pack howled and cheered, and Lindy was happy that the pack was so accepting of her mate and their joining.

Jason unwound the mating strap and gave the long piece of leather to Lindy, who folded it and tucked it into her pocket. She stepped away, joining Faith and Mac with the pack as Jason officially offered the position of Fylax to Crimson. He accepted, and the pack cheered once more. Lindy had never heard of the guardian position of Fylax before, but she was thrilled there was a place for her mate within the pack and that he was happy with it. And she was also happy that she was now one of the permanent mate guards and could join Crimson each full moon to watch over the mates, until she became pregnant and couldn't shift any longer, and then he would guard her and their pups as well.

"What are you thinking about with that silly grin on your face?" Faith asked.

"Pups."

"Man, I need to get mated," Faith grumbled, and Lindy laughed, joining Crimson as Jason called for the pack to shift and wished everyone a good hunt.

Crimson pushed her gently behind a tree and kissed her, tugging on the hem of her top. Their kiss broke, and he pulled it off her quickly and smiled with a soft growl. "You are so beautiful."

"You're not so bad yourself, s.e.xy." She grinned at his amazing upper body as he tossed his shirt to the ground to join hers.

"We have a job to do, and then we can hunt together. This time, without worry of traps."

"And then we can go home."

"Where I will enjoy celebrating our mating night by making you scream my name. A lot."

She loved his s.e.xy threats.

They stripped and shifted together, and she nuzzled the thick snow-white fur of his neck and inhaled the spicy scent of him. He was bigger than her, more like a small horse than a wolf, but he was all hers. Every gorgeous inch.

With a chuff, she followed him to where the mates stood with the other guards, and they followed them back to the alphas' house. While the mates and two small children went into the house, Crimson left Lindy at the back porch and swept the perimeter, arranging the other guards around the house. He nuzzled her neck and then loped off to the edge of the woods where he paced the length of the property, listening and watching for danger. It filled Lindy with pride to know that her mate was such a great guard, so careful in his duties. When she joined the mates in the home with her first pregnancy, whenever that would be, she would rest easy knowing her mate was watching over her. She was pretty sure there was no guard fiercer than a wulfen watching over his mate and pups.

The night sped by quickly, and when the males returned from the hunt, the guards gathered in the yard and went off to hunt together. Lindy loved racing through the woods with Crimson as he shortened his gait so that he didn't outpace her. She was pretty fast, but he had legs that were twice as long as hers, which meant he could run circles around her.

They caught the scent of a herd of deer deep in the pack's territory, and with a few simple, barked commands, Crimson and Lindy branched off as the others went a different direction. Lindy and Crimson would stalk the herd from one direction while the four others would chase the deer right into their waiting jaws. Lindy had never hunted like this before, and it was exciting. Her fur bristled, and she salivated with the thought of sharing a kill with her mate.

As they waited in the darkness, the air shimmered in front of them suddenly, a bright light seeming to rend the darkness before them. Crimson growled and pushed Lindy behind him as a portal opened and the crazy she-fairy Giwyn stepped out of the portal. Lightning sparked from her fingertips, and her eyes glowed neon blue. She was speaking a spell of some sort, and Crimson shifted into his fae form, manifesting his sword.

Just as he swung his sword down, the thundering of hooves filled the air, and Giwyn screamed in alarm as Lindy's packmates chased a herd of deer right into the she-fairy. Crimson grabbed Lindy around the torso and lifted into the air, flapping his wings to carry her out of danger. She watched as Giwyn was trampled, the lightning sparking a few times before being snuffed out as her screams were cut off, replaced with a loud, gurgling sound.

Four wolves, eyes wide with shock, stared at the broken body of the fairy. They shifted as a group as Crimson set Lindy down on the ground and she shifted into her human form. Crimson knelt and checked Giwyn's pulse and shook his head.

Tina gasped. "Who was she? We didn't see her until the deer had already knocked her down."

Crimson spat angrily, "She was the female who had my mate kidnapped in my realm. She is evil." He glanced at Lindy and stood, shielding her nudity with his body. "She was casting a spell that would have rendered us both unconscious. I have no doubt that she planned to kill us both."

Lindy shivered and hugged herself closer to him. "I'm glad she's dead, but I'm sorry she had to die so violently. No one deserves to be trampled to death."

He snarled but said nothing, resting his cheek on top of her head and pulling her even closer.

Tina said, "I'll go get Jason. We need to do something with the body."

"I'll take her to my commander, and they will deal with it. I just need some d.a.m.n clothes first."

Tina smiled, but it was shaky. "I'll bring them back for you all."

A half hour later, Lindy and Crimson went through a portal that Crimson created. The one Giwyn had come through had evaporated when she died. They left the body with Commander Fenick who would see that it was returned to her family so they could bury her. When they returned to the Mortal Realm, the portal opened in her backyard, and she stepped out then turned to watch him come through and close the portal. His wings receded into his back, and he turned and picked her up in his arms.

"I believe we had plans, my sweet mate."

"Naked plans?" she asked.

"Very naked plans."

She kissed him and snuggled closer, thankful for her mate. It seemed impossible that she had come to such a wonderful place in her life after such hardship. She'd created a life for herself where she'd been reviled by the pack and had been digging herself out of the mess she'd made when she found her mate. Now, they were both accepted, even by those who had seemingly hated her before. The younger males had apologized profusely, and while she was certain that, in part, it had been because they were afraid of her big, bad mate, she accepted their apologies with grace.

In the span of a few weeks, she'd been nearly killed by a trap, rescued by her truemate, kidnapped by an evil wizard and nearly sold into s.e.xual slavery, rescued by brownies, and mated in an amazing ceremony in front of an entire city of fae. She'd found her place in her pack as a guard, and her mate had been accepted by her packmates as one of their own. Her mate had shown her it didn't matter what form your mate was, whether wolf or human or fae, it only mattered that love was freely given.

She'd never had a place where she felt loved and safe and respected all at the same time, but Crimson had turned their modest house into just such a place. Where they loved, protected, and respected each other. She had a home now, and it was all thanks to her wulfen and the night he'd spelled for her.

Epilogue.

One Year Later Cadence pushed the pink candle shaped into a number two into the pink frosting of her daughter's birthday cake, humming the birthday song under her breath. Outside in the yard, bunches of pink and white balloons were tied onto the deck railing, and an enormous bouncy princess castle sat out in the yard. Pack members milled in the yard, finding shade under a big tent. Karly had catered the birthday party, making Lyric's favorite breaded chicken bites and macaroni and cheese and other dishes for the adults.

Shyne came into the kitchen carrying her newborn son, Micah. "That cake is freaking amazing."

"Mrs. B. is really talented. Lyric told her she wanted a wolf princess cake, and that's exactly what she got." Mrs. B., who was an extraordinary baker who worked at Lonestar's and was Karly's friend, had made the cake in the shape of a wolf sitting on its haunches, wearing a sparkling tiara, a jeweled necklace, and matching bracelets.

Micah made a squeaking sound, and Cades looked up to see Michael stride into the kitchen. "There's my boy." He grinned, lifting the little bundle from Shyne's arms. He turned and carried his son right out of the kitchen, and Shyne laughed.

"He's the best dad. I love how they are together. Yesterday I found Michael asleep on the hammock on the back porch with Micah sleeping on his chest. Too adorable."

Cades rubbed her four-month baby belly, knowing that Jason was hopeful their next child would be a boy.

"I never doubted Michael would be a great dad. They both had good influences growing up between Peter and their grandfather," Cades said.

All of the males in the pack seemed to be good dads, and it amazed Cades to think of how much the pack had grown just in the last year. Besides welcoming Crimson into the pack, Faith had mated a wolf named Liam from another pack. When Liam had brought his brother, Garrett, to the joining ceremony, Garrett and Sunny realized that they were meant to be mates. So Faith, who was an only child, got not only her mate at the joining ceremony but a brother and sister-in-law. Half the females in the pack were pregnant or nursing, and both Cades and Karly were pregnant as were Lindy, McKenna, Faith, and Jenna. Reika, whose son had been born in the spring, said she was pretty sure there was something in the water. And Cades was beginning to believe that. But according to her mother-in-law, Tina, wolf packs tended to grow in leaps and bounds in this way, with the next generation of pack members being born close together.

Since she was an only child herself, she was glad that Lyric was going to have a sibling soon and that she would soon have other kids to play with in the near future. Right now it was just Lyric and Karly's son, Remy, who was a few months older than her. They were very close, the older boy already protective of her daughter even though they were still so young, and she was glad Lyric would never know what it was like to be excluded.

The pack would be Lyric's extended family as it had become Cades, and someday her daughter might join with her mate and take over the pack, or the honor might fall to Cades and Jason's son, if they had one. But it didn't really matter. She just wanted Lyric to be happy, and she was glad to be surrounded by her friends and family in the pack.

Jason looked in the open back door. "The natives are restless, sweet."

"Coming, coming," she said and then looked around the table. "Oh, shoot, I don't have matches."

Lindy called from the deck, "Crimson can help."

"He's so handy." Shyne laughed.

Cades carried the cake out onto the porch, and Crimson, whose arm was around Lindy's shoulder protectively, just looked at the candle, and it blazed to life. She thanked Crimson and carried the cake down the steps to the tent where the pack was gathering to sing happy birthday to her daughter.

She set the cake down in front of her daughter, who sat at the head of a long table wearing a sparkling crown and a frilly pink sundress. As Cades put the cake down in front of her daughter and the pack began to sing, she smiled in happiness at her daughter and her mate and the friends and pack members who made up her extended family.

Her mate, her daughter, her baby on the way...she was one happy hybrid she-wolf and felt incredibly blessed. As Lyric blew out the candle and stuck her hand into the cake, the pack cheered, and Jason pulled Cades close. "I love you, my mate."

"I love you, too, my alpha."

The world dropped away as Jason's mouth captured hers for a kiss that made her toes curl. She wouldn't change a thing about her life, and she looked forward to what the future held for her, her family, and her pack.

The End.

Also from R. E. Butler.

Wiccan-Were-Bear Novella Series.

A Curve of Claw A Flash of Fang.

A Price for a Princess A Bond of Brothers.

A Bead of Blood A Twitch of Tail A Promise on White Wings The Wolf's Mate Series The Wolf's Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence.

The Wolf's Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel The Wolf's Mate Book 3: Callie & The Cats The Wolf's Mate Book 4: Michael & Shyne The Wolf's Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika.

The Wolf's Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna The Wolf's Mate Book 7: Lindy & The Wulfen The Necklace Chronicles The Tribe's Bride The Gigolo's Bride.

Ashland Pride Series Seducing Samantha (Ashland Pride One).

Loving Lachlyn (Ashland Pride Two) Marking Melody (Ashland Pride Three) Hyena Heat Series Every Night Forever (Hyena Heat One).

Every Dawn Forever (Hyena Heat Two) Wilde Creek Series Mate of Her Heart (Book One) The Alpha's Heart (Book Two).