Chapter 32: A Done Deal

Azandra POV

FOUR DAYS LATER

The instant Ravyn and Jude walked into the dining room for dinner, Azandra sat up straight. Not just straight but still. 

It was there. It was all over them, not just in the way they looked at each other, even though they didn't even so much as brush against each other. 

They had bonded. 

No one in the family with a functioning brain doubted Patch when he announced days ago that Jude was claiming Ravyn, locked together in the bedroom.

Patch had taken bets on how long they'd be in there until Lilia found out and made him scrub the entire kitchen. Meanwhile, various Crestas had left trays of food, always eaten and picked clean, outside the door for the couple.

Both of them glowed, looking robust and sparkly-eyed. Lilia was gorgeous, but today Ravyn looked beyond breathtaking. And Jude … he looked even more manly than before. Although Ravyn scanned the table and obviously noticed who wasn't there: Daxius. He'd been invited to eat with them for the fourth night in a row, and he'd accepted every time. Maybe wanting to get into their good graces. And everyone in the family wanted to keep an eye on him. 

Tonight, Daxius was running late. It was hard to tell if Ravyn was relieved or disappointed.

Several Cresta pups shouted, "Nana! Ju!"

With a genuine smile, Jiro patted the seat beside him. "There you are! Come and grab a plate before all the food's gone." Garnet nodded with a smile. Cyran gave Ravyn and Jude a sympathetic look. 

In awe, Azandra shook her head. Jiro really was the politician of the family. 

Dane and Lilia silently communicated with each other in the way that only mates could, then managed the biggest smiles of anyone at the table. 

"We haven't seen you for days," Dane said, and Azandra had to smile at how adorable and awkward it was. 

"We've been preparing for our trip," Jude said innocently, taking a seat beside Anneliese while Ravyn sat next to Jiro. Anneliese passed Jude a heaping plate of food.

"Is Daxius well?" Ravyn asked. 

"Well, he hasn't run out of here screaming," Kyon answered dryly. 

Winston asked, "Why screaming?"

Kyon ruffled his hair and wiped his face. "Never mind, son."

Jude filled a plate of food and handed it to Ravyn. He'd done that at countless family dinners before and no one ever paid attention, but Azandra saw everyone at the table suddenly hyper focused on Jude. Ravyn nodded her thanks with a smile, and she and Jude began to eat as if they hadn't had a morsel of food in days. 

"So, anything new in the Shifter Federation or from the Shifter Parliament?" Jude asked.

Patch set his goblet down with a thump. "Never mind that!"

Dirge added, hot on his heels, "You two are mated!" 

Azandra covered her face with a napkin. Hadn't she scolded those two about announcing Ravyn's and Jude's bond before they were ready? Most of the couples in the family had the privilege of telling everyone themselves. 

Ravyn took it in stride. "That's right, we are."

Azandra's eyes went to Lilia, who sat calmly chewing a piece of Serra's dwarf Krichinda bread. Swallowing a bite of the warm spiral-shaped bread, Lilia said simply, "Congratulations, Mother and Jude. I'm … We're all happy for you."

Never before had Azandra appreciated how strong and powerful Lilia Rolfe Cresta was. She sounded as if she meant those words–and in her heart of hearts, she probably did.

Besides, what was done was done. No one would interfere with a couple's mate bond.

Edna and Graydon Chalice smiled genuinely. Of everyone, as Ravyn's close friends, they seemed to accept the idea of her and Jude as a couple without any trouble. They were older, after all. Edna had probably spent countless nights comforting Ravyn and listening until her ears ached, and then told Graydon. 

Everyone glanced at Tulaska, who lifted her shoulders in a shrug and smiled. "Jude, have you learned to listen to your Wise Woman?" He blushed and grunted.

Clasping his mate's hand, Dane smiled proudly. "What was that about not wanting to pick an Evenhide mate, Jude?"

Ravyn blushed, and Garnet rolled her eyes. "You WOULD make this about Evenhide."

Jude's laughter rippled in the room. "I'd be exactly the same way, and so would Jiro."

"And she's half Crimsontail," Jiro added.

Dane raised his goblet. "To Ravyn and Jude."

A flicker of movement behind her caught Azandra's attention and her wolf nudged her to alert her. She had an idea who had just entered the room, and she turned to see she was right.

Daxius, dressed in robes the color of rain clouds, inched his way to the table as if approaching a basilisk's den. His eyes were on Ravyn. "You bonded?"

Half the parents at the table suddenly wiped their pups' faces or cut up their meat or reminded them to finish their dinners. 

Ravyn managed a polite smile. "Yes, Daxius."

When Daxius looked at Lilia, she blushed. "Jude is part of the family now. Even closer than the distant tie he had through Ransome."

Daxius' eyes were a stormy sea. "So … he's your new stepfather, just like that?"

"MANNERS, Daxius." Azandra's mother Titania lectured him with a haughty look. "We're at the dinner table."

Azandra smiled. Sometimes her mother could be so brilliant. 

Trying to make peace, Kyon patted the seat beside him. Daxius hadn't forgotten Kyon sitting on him, so he went to sit between Cyran and Naomi. 

Apart from abandoning Ravyn and Lilia, Daxius wasn't a foolish man. He knew he had to win the Crestas' favor. But he didn't look pleased about sitting and dining at the same table with Ravyn and Jude.

This was going to be the most interesting family dinner in Cresta history, Azandra thought. 

* * * * *

Ravyn POV

Carrying the plates to the kitchen after dinner, Ravyn breathed a huge sigh of relief. 

She should have known her shifter family, so tradition-bound when it came to mates, would accept the bond. Even non-shifters like Thessi did. Her own daughter, however …

Edna brushed past her with a dirty serving platter. "I'd say that went well."

"No one clawed anyone or started a magic duel," Ravyn agreed. 

Edna grinned at her. "Just remember, you're not withered away yet. You deserve to be happy, and Lilia will understand that eventually. Are you happy?"

A lazy smile appeared on Ravyn's face. "I spent the last four days without responsibilities, a shop to run, and darkness to battle."

Edna nudged her playfully. "AFTER you made yourself the Luna of a very powerful pack."

Lilia, standing at the sink ready for dish duty, gave them a tentative smile. "I know a little about that. I'd like to give my mother some advice."

Ravyn blushed. Lilia had heard that entire conversation!

Edna nodded, clueing into Lilia's hint. She dumped the platter on top of Ravyn's pile of dishes. "I think I hear Ziggy and Brandy starting a fight over dessert again, and Graydon thinks it's a fine idea to have them spar to settle their quarrel. I swear, I don't know if he's a judge or still reliving his wrestler days. Excuse me."

After she left, Lilia and Ravyn threw themselves into washing dishes, the soap bubbles drifting around them and popping softly.

"You'll make a great Luna," Lilia offered after minutes had passed. 

Ravyn smiled, surrounded by soap bubbles. "High praise from the best. I don't know the first thing about the job, though, despite watching you and Garnet all these years."

"Jiro had the same worries about becoming Alpha and look at him now."

"True."

"And you were the one who encouraged him." Lilia looked directly into her eyes. "And you guided Garnet, just like you have me, all my life. You raised me on your own. You were right when you told Father that he missed all of that. I don't care what his reason is, whether it was a curse or a woman or he was locked in a deep dark hole. I try to have compassion for him, but all I see is you lying in bed in pain after he left."

Ravyn's heart squeezed. They'd never talked about the aftermath of Daxius' disappearance. Not as adults, anyway. She'd handled all the endless questions when Lilia was a child:

"Mommy, was I bad? Is that why Daddy went away?"

"Is he ever coming back?"

"I learned a new spell. Do you think Daddy will like it when he comes home?"

"Mommy, Daddy will be back soon. We have to clean up. I can set the table."

"Daddy will be home today, won't he?"

A splash of soapy water hit her in the chest and jolted her back to the present.

"Sorry," Lilia muttered, scrubbing a meat platter hard enough to make it cry. 

Ravyn blew out a breath. "You asked me every day and sometimes every minute why your father left and when he was coming home."

Lilia's eyes darkened, becoming the color of a purplish midnight sky. "I forgot about that!"

"I'm sorry I–"

"MOTHER. He's still acting childish. He was barely polite to you and Jude all through dinner. I thought Dane was going to go full wolf on him."

Ravyn sighed. "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but it's got to sting, watching me with someone else–"

Lilia dropped the platter in the soapy water with a huge splash. "Then he shouldn't have left!"

"Oh, baby." Ravyn pulled her into a hug. "I think he knows that."

Lilia snorted. "Could have fooled me. And why are you defending him?"

Ravyn cuddled her. "Maybe just trying to understand."

"How can you, when he won't explain himself?"

"It doesn't matter. Because, you see, Lilia, in many ways I've stopped myself from living all these years." Ravyn pulled back to look into her daughter's eyes. "Nothing has made me happier than sharing in your happiness and being the Pack Mother and spoiling and teaching my grandchildren, all fourteen of them … but part of me was frozen in time, and now I'm free. You all helped, but it was Jude that reached in and pulled me out of my prison. And he didn't even realize he was doing it."

Lilia was quiet. "He was in a cell too, I think. Yours was even worse–because you had so many questions all these years and no answers. It's a miracle that you two found each other at the right moment."

"It's the will of the Moon Goddess and the Goddess Brigid, my sweet." Ravyn stared more deeply into Lilia's eyes. "But I'd trade their seal of approval in a heartbeat for yours. Jude is the only man I want and, in many ways, I feel more deeply connected to him than your father. I hope you see that, and I ask for your blessing."