Page 85 of Wedding the Werepanther

“Did she add that, or is it part of a traditional handfasting?” I whisper.

Shadow uses our bound hands to tug me closer, his green eyes glittering with amusement. “Does it matter?”

Then his mouth covers mine, and I have to admit it doesn’t matter one tiny bit why we’re kissing.

We throw another cookout, but make it fae-style. Under Wranth and Thorvinn’s directions, the men roast a boar on a metal spit over a fire pit, with Luke shooting small, controlledballs of flame into the animal’s chest cavity to speed things along.

“Where in the world did you get a whole boar?” I ask. There aren’t any in the woods around Ferndale Falls.

“Ah, that’s the thing. It didn’t come from this world.” Shadow smirks. “Naomi and Wranth brought it from Alarria.”

All of the Witch Bitches brought something, so we’ve got coleslaw, mac and cheese, and potato salad as well as Key lime pie, double-chocolate brownies, and cherry cobbler for dessert. I make corn on the cob and a large bowl of fruit salad, figuring other people than Dewdrop might like some.

Thorvinn provides ale and cider, and Shadow practices making iced mochas, now that I’ve shown him the coffee-ice-cube trick.

Soon everybody’s eating and talking and having a fantastic time.

I join the other Witch Bitches, and as a group we scope out what the guys do when Jasmine walks over to the food table, where she makes a slow production of looking over all the sides before adding another spoonful of coleslaw to her plate. She makes her way back to us. “Well?”

“Thorvinn looked,” Skye says.

“Looked? He watched you like a hawk the whole time!” Violeta squints her eyes and mimics looking around avidly while the rest of us laugh.

“Your turn.” Jasmine elbows Violeta.

The shorter woman glides across the grass, going straight for the corn on the cob. She lifts it to her mouth and takes a firm bite, and the tankard Jace holds freezes solid and bursts into fragments when he squeezes it too tightly.

Violeta smiles triumphantly when she returns. “Did you see that?”

“Everyonesaw it,” I say. “People on the International Space Station saw it.” Okay, probably not, because of the town’s protection spell, but still, it was really flipping obvious.

I get some more potato salad and join Shadow and his family.

“Having fun?” He grins down at me.

“Yeah.” And I mean it. This is really nice.

“The food is amazing,” Mist says.

Moonlight agrees. “So many flavors and textures. I see what you mean about our fae forms, my son.”

The kittens look up from their roast boar and beg to try everything.

With Shadow’s approval, I spoon three little piles of mac and cheese onto a plate and let them each take a bite.

“Whoa!” “I want more!” “What is that?”

“That’s cheese.” He grins down at them. “It’s one of the very best reasons to shift, and you can have more once you do.”

He crouches and lets them set their front paws on his arm, then shifts rapidly between werepanther and fae, his magic singing through the air.

With a tiny pop of power, Wisp shifts into a werekitten. “Whoa!” She jerks upright as her center of gravity changes until she stands on two feet. She’s absolutely adorable with a cute little toddler tummy, and all the long fur makes her look a lot rounder than the adult werepanthers.

“Wisp, that’s amazing!” Shadow smiles down at her, eyes shining with pride, but he doesn’t stop what he’s doing, continuing to shift so the other kittens can feel his magic.

Slate and Dawn start making their little grunting sounds of effort, and I share an amused glance with Mist as both of us fight not to laugh.

Two more little pulses of magic ripple outward, and Slate and Dawn change, too. They’re just as adorable as their sister,with Slate standing slightly taller and Dawn’s fur slightly more silver.