Midnight Wolf (Shifters Unbound #11)(97)
They had to leave it at that.
Angus had taken her straight to the gathering upon their arrival in Shiftertown. Tamsin understood—she had to be accepted into the community by the Shifters, as a newcomer in their territory. No matter how easily Dylan and Sean tucked her into the database, no matter what Shifter Bureau thought, the real test was whether the Shifters would welcome a stranger into their midst.
When she’d been greeted without hesitation by Spence—and he’d embraced her—and even more enthusiastically by Reg, the other Shifters grew more interested in her. Tamsin met many people that afternoon, received many hugs, and panicked a little about having to remember all their names. But she’d be living here a while. There would be time.
Her excitement grew as Angus walked them from the gathering in the tree-studded field to Angus’s house. His home.
Dimitri’s semitruck, restored to gleaming black now that the magnetized carnival curlicues had been removed, rested in the street in front of the house. Dimitri, when Angus had called him to announce he was ready to give it back, had said he’d fetch it when he came for their sun and moon ceremony.
Angus’s house was small, one-story, and square, with large leafy trees shading it from the bright sunshine. Angus unlocked and opened the front door to reveal a simple interior—living room with a kitchen beyond in the front of the house, a hall to bedrooms on the left.
Tamsin stood in the middle of the living room and took in the comfortable, worn furniture, a plain kitchen with table and chairs, and oval rugs on the floors. Ciaran had left toys on a table next to the couch, and one of Angus’s jackets lay over the arm of a chair.
Tears sprang to her eyes. Though Shifters didn’t own their houses in Shiftertowns, the touches of Ciaran and Angus branded this a home, something Tamsin hadn’t had in more than twenty years.
“Not much to it,” Angus was saying. “I don’t have a lot of stuff. You can fix it up however you want.”
Tamsin put her hands to her cheeks. “It’s perfect.”
Angus looked perplexed, but she wasn’t talking about the decor. This was Angus’s home, and now hers, where they’d live, love, and share their lives.
“Come and see my room!” Ciaran shouted. He grabbed Tamsin’s hand and pulled her down the hall before she could protest. Not that she wanted to resist. He took her to a bedroom that was neat for a kid’s. Bookcases held books and numerous toys, mostly trucks and soldiers.
Tamsin listened while Ciaran showed her everything important to him—a favorite book, a toy semitruck like Dimitri’s, cards he was learning to do tricks with.
The bedroom across the hall, which she entered when Ciaran became absorbed in his book, was Angus’s. And now hers.
Tamsin hung up her few clothes in the side of the closet that Angus quickly cleared for her, and smiled when he blushed about moving his underwear from one drawer to another. His bed wasn’t wide, and was covered with a plain bedspread. He only had one picture on the wall, a recent school photo of Ciaran.
The room was barren, but at the same time, so like Angus that she went to him and enfolded him in a tight hug.
Making love under the moonlight in Angus’s bed made Tamsin cry again.
“Shh,” Angus whispered, kissing her face. “What is it, love?”
“I can be happy here.” Tamsin lay against him, listening to the quiet of the night, the soft snores of Ciaran across the hall. “I never thought I’d find a place like this.”
“You bring happiness with you.” Angus smoothed her hair with a strong hand. “The house has been brighter all day, with you in it.”
Angus, the man of few words, always knew the right ones for Tamsin.
She kissed him as Angus slid himself over her and inside her once more. Tamsin didn’t mind the small bed, because she and Angus fit together perfectly in it.
The full moon was due to rise three nights later, and in the bright sunlight of that afternoon, the New Orleans Shiftertown Shifters gathered for a sun and moon ceremony, the official mating of Angus Murray and Tamsin Calloway.
Angus watched Tamsin dance after Spence recognized and blessed the mating under the light of the Father God, the sun. Tamsin was quickly making friends with the other Shifter women, and their cubs liked her too.
Dante had arrived, answering Tamsin’s invitation, with Celene and Brina. Dante had worn his feathered hat for the occasion, and its feathers tickled Angus’s cheek when Dante pulled him into a full embrace after the mating was declared.
“Lucky bastard,” Dante declared, thumping Angus on the back. “But remember, anytime you want to shuck this life for the carny, you call me.”
Dante had found himself a fake Collar, courtesy of Tiger, who’d arrived with it. Dante kept fiddling with it, but as there were no humans here to notice, Angus didn’t admonish him.
Brina and Ciaran had a loud reunion, and Brina was soon playing with Ciaran and his friends.
Dimitri and Jaycee arrived, both mercilessly teasing Angus and Tamsin, but it was clear they were happy for them.
Tamsin grinned under their banter. She danced with them as music blared from speakers strung through backyards, her body gyrating in the skirt and midriff top she’d chosen for the ceremony.
Zander and Rae were there as well, Zander showing off and dancing like a wild thing, as usual. Rae, when she greeted Tamsin and Angus after the sun mating, revealed that she was also carrying a cub, as Zander had speculated. She and Tamsin spent a long time comparing notes.