Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Her parents, too, had been overjoyed. Her mom hugged him and smiled and then hugged him again, rocking him back and forth. Her dad gave a firm, gruff handshake and a nod before hugging his daughter, wishing her well. Good thing, because the shifters and gargoyles didn’t really see what the big deal was. As far as they were concerned, she and Austin were already mated, so what was the point of a ring?
Hence the reason Mimi was poking fun now.
“He did a really great job picking it out,” Jess said, putting her hand on Austin’s shoulder, her eyes more dazzling than the ring could ever be.
Her gaze snagged on the diamond again, and an incredible surge of love welled up through the bonds. If Austin had known how something as simple as a ring and a proposal would have affected her this way, he would’ve done it a long time ago. He wished he could propose again, actually.
She rubbed his shoulder, watching the ring, and then put her hand on her thigh, still fixated on it. In a few seconds, she moved it again, watching it the whole time like a woman entranced. That was, until she beamed at Austin, so happy, so warm. So obviously devoted.
His proposal had spoken her language. It had said “forever” in a way she’d been brought up to understand. It was a symbol of his claim. A physical item to show others what a shifter did through posturing.
Emotion kept surging through her, the effect of accepting his claim. It made him feel like they were mating for the first time all over again.
“We’re going to need to…cut the band at the bottom, maybe,” he said, following the GPS directions. “I’m not sure what’ll happen if you shift when you’re wearing it.”
“I won’t be able to wear it most of the time,” she said, giving it a little pout. “Today it’ll be fine, though.”
“I should hope so, since you brought the whole team.” Mimi’s teasing smile was a little bigger now. She did not understand the power of the ring. Different language.
The team would be stationed around the area, all under the influence of invisibility potions, to ensure Jess could safely show off his claim to all her ex-in-laws. He’d been all for it. He didn’t want anything interrupting them today.
Besides, the team had lounged around and enjoyed the holiday all day yesterday.
He thought back to it again with a smirk, remembering the point at which Jess’s dad had argued with Tristan about the right and wrong times to wear a cape. Tristan hadn’t shown it on his face, but he’d been having the time of his life defending his stance that any affair where there was clam dip should have a cape-optional clause.
Meanwhile, Jess’s mom had been in the kitchen, battling Mr. Tom about who was going to make the mashed potatoes. Jimmy had been at the island watching, eating the clam dip that only a couple of others were brave enough to try, and then gluttonous enough to hog. They’d had to make another store run for ingredients to make more.
The entire day had been amazing. They’d laughed and opened presents, had fancy drinks, and eaten too much food. Mimi and Aurora had totally relaxed, as though with their own family. Patty and Martha, Jess’s mom, had chatted like they’d been friends all their lives, and the shifters and gargoyles had sat around and watched sports or helped with food prep. At one point, Indigo, after a few too many chocolate martinis, had wandered around touching everyone, seeing if they had anything that needed curing. When she’d gotten to Martha, she’d swayed, burped under her breath, and muttered something about a hip.
Martha, also on the too-much-alcohol train by that point, had ignored Indigo completely, not at all worried that a perfect stranger was leaning on the counter beside her, holding her hip.
Jess had gotten a phone call this morning asking what that lovely, mousy lady had put in Martha’s drinks because her hip felt like new. And not “new” as in recently replaced, which it had been, but like she hadn’t needed a replacement in the first place.
Austin was pretty sure Pete, Jess’s dad, still thought they were a cult. Though he seemed to accept that they were a cult that did things properly, and it seemed to comfort him that Jess was only going to marry one of the members and not all of them.
Such an odd character, her dad. He could rationalize away the strangest things.
“I love you,” Austin told Jess, swept up in the excitement of it all, soaking in those surges of emotion and throwing some toward her when he thought about how easily her blood family got along with her chosen family. All except her brother, who had missed his flight and hadn’t been able to make it.