Page 13 of Wolves’ Midlife Reunion (Shifter Nation: Enchanted Over Forty #3)

“I’m so excited!” Sage squealed as she skipped up the walkway to the covenstead. “I love parties!”

“It won’t be like your birthday party,” he reminded her. “This is like a big family party, sort of like Thanksgiving.” The hot, heavy dish in his hand proved it. When Dex had understood there was to be a meal, he wanted to make sure he contributed.

Tina had told him at first not to worry about it, but then she’d relented. “Just bring anything that speaks of fall to you. Something a little different than what we usually make might be a nice change.”

He’d slow-cooked up a batch of his white chili, bringing along corn chips and shredded cheddar for anyone who wanted to add them.

“It’s still a party!” Sage insisted as she skipped up the porch stairs and rang the doorbell.

A woman with grey hair down to her waist and a surprisingly youthful face answered the door. Her eyes lit up when she saw Sage, and she clasped her hands in front of her chest. “You must be Sage!”

“How did you know?” Sage asked, instantly charmed.

“Well, I was told that a beautiful young lady was going to be one of our guests today,” the older woman explained. She held out her hand. “That couldn’t be anyone but you! My name is Maeve. I’m Tina’s mom.”

“Tina’s…mom?” Sage asked, casting a confused glance at her dad.

“Everyone has parents,” Dex reminded her, “just like your grandma is my mom.”

“Speaking of, you should come in and meet the other kids.” Maeve opened the door wider and gestured them inside. “Corbin! Arden!”

Two boys nearly Sage’s age came clamoring into the room. “Corbin, Arden, this is Sage. She’s going to be joining us today.”

“Aw, she’s a girl,” Corbin complained. “When you said another kid would be here, I thought it would be a boy. Then we could play cars.”

“Corbin!” A woman with curly red hair came marching forward with her hand on her hip. After a second, Dex recognized her as Tina’s sister, Chelsea. “Don’t be rude. Sage could still play cars if she likes, or maybe the three of you can find something else to play.”

“I guess,” Corbin reluctantly agreed.

The other boy had dark hair and catlike hazel eyes and was smiling at her. “Do you want to go look at the dessert table?”

“Sure!” Sage followed him toward the other end of the house.

“Don’t take any just yet!” Chelsea called after them before turning to Dex. “I’m sorry about Corbin. He’s just going through one of those phases.”

“It’s completely fine.”

Maeve held out her hands for the dish. “I’ll put that on the table for you.”

“Thank you.”

Tina appeared then, coming in from another room. “Oh, good! You made it. Where’s Sage?”

“Already off making friends, it seems.” His heart picked up a few extra beats per minute when he saw her, and his mind instantly flew back to that passionate night at her apartment.

He wanted to hold her in his arms again, to trail his lips along the side of her neck, to do a lot of other things that weren’t appropriate to think about right now.

Chelsea winked as she nudged her sister with her elbow. “I think Arden has a little crush on Sage.”

“Well, that’s adorable.”

Dex nodded toward the swinging door through which Maeve had disappeared. “Your mother already took my contribution for the meal.”

“I told you that you didn’t have to bring anything,” she reminded him.

“You should try it first, then you can tell me whether or not I should’ve brought it,” he challenged.

Chelsea cleared her throat. “I’m just going to see if Mom needs any help.”

Tina shot her sister a look and then gestured for Dex to follow her. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

The next few minutes were a whirlwind of introductions.

He met all of Tina’s extended family, including their mates if they had them, as well as several friends of the coven.

A whole clan of dragons was present, as well, since Maeve was mated to their retired Alpha and Chelsea was mated to their present one.

Beck, their current Alpha, pulled Dex close as he shook his hand. “Don’t let all these women intimidate you. They just want to know you better and protect their own. Not that they can’t be kind of scary sometimes.”

“I heard that,” Chelsea remarked, pinching her mate’s butt.

After a while, it was time to eat. Everyone was seated at a massive table in a formal dining room, with every leaf expanding it until the chairs nearly bumped the walls.

One seat remained empty to commemorate those who had passed on.

Maeve stood and raised a glass of wine. “I want to thank all of you who have joined us for Samhain this year. It’s a very important day for us, and it’s all the more so when we know we can share it with friends new and old. Blessed Samhain!”

The cheer was echoed through the room, and everyone dug in. Dex watched Sage, who’d been seated at a kids’ table off to the side with Corbin and Arden. She was smiling and laughing, and when Kristy came to offer something to the children, she answered politely.

“I think she’s enjoying herself.” Tina was seated next to him.

“She seems to be very much at home,” he agreed.

“But not you,” she replied quietly. Tina gently placed her hand on his knee. “It’s all right. It’s just that I can tell. I know something like this is a lot, and I appreciate you being here with me.”

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” It was awkward, yes, but he would take that all day long if he were there with Tina. His wolf was so content, sinking into a more relaxed state than it’d been in for years.

“Even when everyone keeps staring at us?” she challenged.

“I’ve noticed that your sisters are rather interested,” he replied. “It’s all right. It kind of makes me wish I had something like this growing up.”

“What about your pack?” she asked as she passed a casserole dish of baked sweet potatoes.

“We’re very close, but it’s the magical element I’m referring to right now.

I could’ve really benefitted from a big, welcoming group of witches like this when I was young and learning.

My grandma helped me here and there, but she was never in very good health.

Otherwise, I was just trying things on my own. ”

Tina considered the butter tub, shrugged, and slathered some of it on her potato. “Sage will find a lot of support here. We take new witches under our wing all the time.”

“Who made this?” A blonde woman down the table was looking around as she tapped on the side of a dish.

It was his dish. Dex’s mind raced back through the steps, wondering what he’d forgotten.

“I don’t know, Lil, but you’d better pass it back over here.” This came from a dark-haired man with narrow eyes who was seated across from her. “I need more of it!”

“You’ll have to get it from me first, Griffin,” Lilith teased. “Seriously, who made this?”

Dex slowly raised his hand.

Lilith pointed the serving spoon at him. “You’re coming back next year, and you’re bringing this. Actually, no. You’re bringing twice as much of this.”

“Do you really like it that much?” he asked, incredulous but also a little embarrassed.

“I haven’t tried it yet.” Kendrick, the older dragon who was Maeve’s mate, reached out a hand for it. He put some in a smaller bowl and then raised his brows with approval on his first mouthful. “You’ve got a talent, young man!”

“Thank you.” Dex felt like everyone was staring at him, and he was glad when the conversation turned to wine. He leaned over toward Tina. “I was worried the chili was going to be too spicy.”

“They’re dragons,” she laughed. “I don’t think spice affects them the same way.”

When everyone was full, Maeve stood once again. “If you would all be so kind, it is time to honor our ancestors.”

The party moved to another room. Most of the furniture had been cleared out to make space for the coven and all their guests to stand in a large oval, holding hands.

An altar had been set up on one end of the room, filled with candles, crystals, feathers, and even a few bites of food.

The lights were turned off, replaced only with more candles around the room.

“At this most blessed time of year,” Maeve said, her voice rich and mesmerizing, “when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest, we honor those we have loved and lost.”

Dex held Sage’s hand on one side and Tina’s on the other as he listened to Maeve’s lilting chant.

This was the kind of magic he didn’t know anything about, the kind that required other people and rituals.

It wasn’t the same as flicking on a light switch from across the room.

He felt honored to be a part of it, but he was also worried.

“So shall it be,” Maeve concluded. “We now take time to check in with our loved ones. Please, if you have an offering and a desire, bring it forward.”

One by one, the witches moved to the front.

Dex watched with interest as Kristy laid something on the altar.

She stood for a moment with her head bowed, her lips moving slightly, and then she picked up a mirror that lay in the center of the altar.

She gazed at it for a while, then she smiled.

Wiping a tear from her eye, she put the mirror down and retreated.

As she did, someone else moved forward to do the same thing.

“Can we, Daddy?” Sage whispered.

“I’m not sure.” Tina had told them that this would be a part of their Samhain festivities, but he wasn’t sure how it all worked. What mattered most to him was that Sage not be disappointed.

“I’ll come with you two,” Tina said. She waited until someone had left the altar, and then she led the way forward.

At the altar, Dex could see that there was even more there than he’d originally seen. There were photos, flowers, books, tarot cards, and even a piece of ribbon.

“Did you bring an offering?” Tina asked.

Sage looked at Dex expectantly.

He handed her a little bag with a rock and a leaf that Sage had found while they’d been out for a walk together. Tina had told him that Sage could bring anything she wanted, and this was what she’d picked out. Still a little worried, he handed them to her.

Sage carefully laid the leaf on the altar and put the stone in the center of it.

Dex hadn’t noticed until now that there was a bit of quartz in the rock, and it glittered in the candlelight.

“Now, you just need to invite anyone from the other side who you might want to contact,” Tina directed Sage. “Sometimes we say a few words to help us.”

“Like what?” Sage was holding Tina’s hand now.

“My mind and my heart are open. I welcome you.”

Sage repeated the words. She looked so earnest and so hopeful.

“Now take the mirror,” Tina gently instructed. “Look into it, but don’t really look at your reflection. Look around it.”

Picking up the mirror, Sage held it delicately in her hands. Dex could see now that this was no ordinary mirror. It was a sheet of sheer black, showing only shadowy figures in the dark room. “I don’t see anything,” Sage said.

“Give it a minute,” Tina told her gently. “It can take time, and that’s all right.”

Indeed, no one in the room seemed to be looking at their watch or even waiting their turn. They all stood back, giving Sage her chance.

Still, he felt his doubt grow once again.

How would Sage feel if she didn’t see anything?

He was truly coming around to the idea of Tina and her coven teaching Sage, but what if she simply wasn’t cut out for this kind of magic?

His grandmother had never done anything like it.

The skeptic in him felt as though it was nothing more than a slumber party trick.

Then a prickling sensation crawled over Dex’s skin, and he could swear that the room had become a couple of degrees colder. It wasn’t a sense of foreboding, and his wolf wasn’t on edge, but something was happening.

Sage gasped.

Dex thought he saw the shiny black surface of the mirror shimmer slightly.

“It’s Mommy!” Sage said, leaning closer.