Tucker moved up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you all right?”

Nicky turned in surprise. “Who, me?” He gave Tucker a blinding smile. “I’m fine, Tucker. Don’t pay any attention to the things I say. I complainabout the wolves a lot, but it’s mostly in fun. There’s no place else on earth I’d rather be than with Marco. He’s everything to me. I just don’t like to make things too easy for him, you know? Making him work for it keeps him on his toes.” He winked and slapped Tucker on the back. “C’mon, man, let’s get you ready for your big moment.”

Gabe was peeking out the door. “Man, I’ve never seen so many gammas standing guard duty. There’s like a solid wall of them around the ring. Is that because of the missing pets, you think?”

Rory nodded. “Yeah, that’s another reason Casey wanted me in here with you guys, besides the fact that I’m the mate of one of the alphas. Sort of extra protection.”

“From what I’ve heard, Nicky and I are safe enough. The kidnappers are only going after the natural pets, right? Like you, Tucker.”

Nicky slapped Gabe on the back of the head. “That’s right, make Tucker even more nervous,” Turning back toward Tucker, he put his hand on his arm. “Don’t worry. You’d have to be seriously crazy to come up in here with all these wolves around.”

“Unless it’s somebody we know,” Rory said darkly. “That’s what Casey thinks, anyway,” he said, referring to his mate.“Someone who can come and go as they please, and not arouse suspicion.”

“But why would someone we know want to hurt the pets?” Nicky asked. “Poor Tommy and Melinda…”

“Because they’re Werekin. That’s enough for some,” Rory said.

“Gavin said they were from our, uh, clan,” Tucker said. “I guess they never found the girl.”

“No, nothing yet,” Rory replied. “I don’t hold out much hope for her after so long.”

Nicky shook his head sadly. “Don’t say that. She’s such a sweet girl, always with a smile for everybody.”

Gabe turned around excitedly. “They’re signaling that they’re ready. Showtime, Tucker!”

Tucker nodded grimly and Nicky laughed. “Well, stop looking like you’re going to your execution! It’ll be fine, you’ll see. Just follow us and look for Gavin. He’ll do all the rest.”

Tucker took a deep breath and followed the others out the door. The ancestral ring was not far away from the lodge, down a short path and just inside the line of trees, easily seen from their vantage point. It seemed like the longest walk in the world to Tucker, though, as he followed the other men down the path. He wondered for the hundredth time if he was doing the right thing. My God, he’d only known this man a few short weeks, and here he was about to commit his life to him. He remembered Bryson’s response when he called to tell him he not only wouldn’t be coming back, but he was going through a commitment ceremony with Gavin.

There had been such a long silence on the other end of the line that Tucker thought he’d dropped the call. “Hello? Are you still there?”

“You’ve lost your mind, Tucker,” Bryson’s voice came at last. “Orelse they’ve brainwashed you. Tell me exactly where you are and let me come for you. I’ll get you some help.”

Tucker laughed nervously. “Don’t be an ass. I’m fine, and I want this, Bryson. Nobody has brainwashed me!”

Another long silence, then, “Are you going to invite me to this commitment ceremony?”

“Well, uh, see it’s kind of a family-only thing.” Another silence. “But maybe in a few weeks I’ll ask Gavin to bring me back for a visit.”

“You’ll ask him to bring you back? Do you hear yourself, Tucker?” Such a long string of cussing followed that Tucker had quietly told him he’d call later and hung up.

Now as he walked down this path—there was a metaphor in there somewhere, he was sure of it—he had to wonder if Bryson was right. Was he making a terrible mistake? For a solid week after the mating, he couldn’t keep his hands off Gavin, and he still wanted to be with him every waking moment. That couldn’t be normal, could it? What would happen if he just stopped walking? Stopped walking and turned around on the path and went back to the lodge? His muscles actually tensed as he got ready to do just that, and at that moment he made it into the clearing at the end of the path. Gavin stood in front of him, smiling at him, a look of such love on his face that it made Tucker stumble a little and look down at his feet.

He glanced back up and saw that his father stood next to Gavin, whose gaze never left Tucker’s face. He swore he could hear something in his head—a voice that wasn’t his own. It was Gavin’s voice, saying, You’re so beautiful, baby. I love you. Gavin had told him they’d be able to hear each other’s thoughts if they wanted to once the bond had established fully, but this was the first time he’d experienced it. He’d said they had to concentrate really hard to send the messages back and forth, and he knew that Gavin had done it to reassure him. A wave of strong emotion flooded him and all thoughts of not going through with the ceremony vanished, swept away by the love he felt for his mate. Love—he’d run from the idea for a while, but he did love Gavin. It wasn’t just sex or strong attraction. It was love, pure and terrifying and strong. He walked toward his outstretched hand and put his own in the firm grip. Gavin bent his head to take his lips in a kissas if he couldn’t help himself. He smiled down at him then for a moment before turning to face the crowded arena.

Tucker glanced around him and saw the alphas in the front row, joined now by their mates. There had to be over two hundred people crowded in and around the large stone circle. Gavin took his hand and drew him next to his side. He spoke loud enough for everyone to hear him. “This is Tucker, and I hold him to my heart in the hope that he will lodge there forever. I pledge to him my love and faith, and my promise to always care for him, always protect him, always love him. My blood has found its match, and I will never forsake him. Even unto death, my heart will follow his.”

When he’d finished speaking he tipped up Tucker’s chin to kiss him again. Tucker wrapped his arms around Gavin, shivering a little at the words. His father had told him what Gavin would say. The words were always the same andhe’d used that word again, traditional, but to actually hear them had affected him more than he would have thought possible. His eyes were blurry with tears as his father embraced him next, saying to the crowd, “The mating between our alpha and his mate is complete. They are bonded now and forever.”

Cheers broke out around them and for the next thirty minutes or so, Gavin shook hands and received hugs from just about everybody there, it seemed. A soft hand on his arm made him turn to find Nicky standing beside him with a muscular, good-looking young man at his side. “Tucker, I’d like you to meet my best friend, Logan. His mate is our beta, Ian.”

Logan smiled at him. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Tucker. Welcome to the pack.”

“Thanks. Damn, Nicky, are all the mates models or something? I’m beginning to feel pretty inadequate.”

Nicky laughed and locked his arm through his. “Have you looked in a mirror lately? Seriously, something about the wolf blood of their mate definitely has an effect on humans and even the natural pets. Logan’s human, of course, and he was always cute, but after he mated with Ian, he became ripped like a young Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

“And Nicky tries to embarrass me every chance he gets. Actually, I asked for an introduction so I could warn you about something. Nobody ever told me, so when it happened after my ceremony, it freaked me the hell out.”

“Told you what?” Tucker said nervously.

“About the shift. It’s the full moon, and in a few minutes, to celebrate, they say, the whole damn pack of wolves will shift and run with the moon. Scared the hell out of me the first time I saw it.”

As if that was their cue, Gavin came over to Tucker and kissed him fiercely before turning to the crowd, putting back his head and giving an unearthly howl that echoed around the clearing. The other wolves joined in right away, and clothes began flying as they quickly stripped and began to contort their bodies in the change Tucker had only witnessed once before. It had scared him half to death then, but this was even more frightening. Only a few dim torches burned around the ring, so most of the light came from the full moon. One by one the pack members dropped down on all fours and shifted into all manner of wolves, some black, some brown, and one huge silver wolf that bounded past Nicky, butting its head against him as it passed and almost knocking him off his feet. Tucker saw Marissa, near the front row, falling down on all fours, her heavy breasts with their wide brown nipples swinging under her. She glanced over at him and snarled as she shifted into a huge black wolf.

Tucker whirled around to see both his father and his mate already shifted. Gavin’s fur, he remembered, was dark brown. His father’s was gray. Two sets of eyes stared at him as he backed slowly away, unable to stop his feet from moving. The wolf that Tucker knew was Gavin followed slowly after him until Tuckerbacked up against Logan’s solid form. Logan put a hand on his shoulder and whispered to him. “Don’t be afraid. He won’t hurt you. Touch his head.”

Tucker put out his hand and felt the soft fur on top of the wolf’s head. Gavin’s wolf turned and gave another loud howl, again echoed by the other wolves, all shifted now, before bounding away into the forest, with the others following after him.

“Damn,” Tucker said, his legs still feeling unsteady. “I hope that doesn’t happen too often.”

“Only every chance they get,” Nicky said with a twist to his pretty mouth. “Personally, I think they just like to get out of cleaning up. C’mon,Logan, let’s start folding up some of these chairs.”