Whatever else she would have said was lost to her hiss of surprise and the outraged cries of her courtiers when a great wolf leapt forward and planted itself between the Queen and Cal.
The wolf was black and gray, with spots of white in its raised, spiked fur, and paws bigger than any wolf’s that Cal had glimpsed before. It was not far in size from the bear. Its growl shook the oaks and silenced the members of the procession, who halted as they reached for weapons. The wolf’s teeth were white in the glow from the Faery Queen, huge and sharp and threatening.
Cal went still as stone.
The Queen raised her chin and narrowed her beautiful eyes.
The wolf lowered its head as if preparing to leap into battle, and growled again in warning, before taking a step back that made it clear where it stood.
Between Cal and anyone else.
This was no ordinary wolf.
“Raymond,” Cal murmured urgently, and darted a look back to his human, only to find his human gone.Of course. Large, beautiful Raymond, who had no fear of the Wildwood and who would not marry any other than Cal. Raymond’s clothes and his boots and his distant axe all that was left of him in that body. Cal turned back to the wolf braced for bloodshed, his challenger and protector, his knight in wolf’s clothing. “Raymond,” Cal said again, and crawled forward to dig his hand into the coarse fur at the wolf’s haunch.
The great wolf did not snap at him, but also did not stand down.
The Queen’s smile held a tinge of sadness. “I had looked forward to your long visit, Callalily, but I cannot fault your taste. He is exquisite, a truly magnificent beast. Foolish for love as well as stubborn, but I suppose no one else would do for you.”
“He wants me,” Cal told her breathlessly, still marveling at it. The wolf turned to look at him, its growl fading and growing soft. Its eyes were piercing. “He’s mine and I did not know.” Cal’s fingers sank into fur so deep it had no end. “Raymond, you are mine. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Yes. I wonder that he did not act sooner, since the strength of his claim was enough to draw me here now.” The Queen tossed her head, her brown and gold hair falling like water around her shoulders. “I had hoped I would arrive in time for my son’s wedding, but it seems I was too late.”
The wolf turned sharply toward her again.
“Wedding?” Cal echoed faintly, then dug his fingers even deeper into black and gray fur to soothe and calm his beast. “He… stayed for me. Raymond-who-is-both-man-and-wolf. He saw my two worlds and he built a cottage between them, let me grow flowers there but did not tell me he made that home to wait for me. Raymond,” Cal raised his voice and used the name that had been offered to him freely. The wolf stiffened. “Did you wed me in your heart when you took me?” Cal demanded, growing softer with each word. “Wasthatyour vow?” Cal should have been furious but found he was smiling again. “Was that to protect me, or you? Tsk. There is no Devil in you, woodsman. Only a wolf’s faithfulness.”
Cal focused on his mother again as he got to his feet. “He will not like the Court. Not for seven years.”
His mother’s grin was all teeth. “This cottage with flowers… I would like to see it. Midsummer is a good time of year.” The wind stirred. “Will your husband consent to be a man again, or do we parley over the head of a beast?”
“I don’t think he trusts you not to vanish with me,” Cal revealed, not hiding his pleasure at saying it.
Raymond huffed.
The Queen deigned to lower her head to consider the wolf at her son’s feet. “It was your claim that brought me here, wolf-who-is-also-a-man. A claim strong enough to tell me my son is wanted as he should be wanted. That is what his father and I wished for him. I had hoped it would be with me in my realm, but Callalily has his own answer. Will you, now?”
The fae in the Queen’s procession turned their heads away in disgust or discretion at the shifting, stretching meld of fur and flesh. Cal watched, fascinated. Raymond groaned, long and aching, and then stood as a man again, naked and drenched in silver.
He clenched his hands and lifted his chin, and Cal darted in front of him before Raymond could say something brave and reckless. If this also shielded Raymond from covetous faery eyes, Cal could not feel sorry about it.
“Mother,” Cal started, prepared to negotiate, but Raymond slipped an arm around his waist and spoke with his mouth above Cal’s ear.
“Callalily of the Wildwood and Hillston is my mate,” Raymond said boldly, and nosed at Cal’s temple. “Even if you take him, this would be true.” His hand tightened at Cal’s waist, the only sign that he was still worried. Cal put a hand over his and Raymond pulled him closer. But he stopped his nuzzling to ask a question of the Queen. “Is that claim enough to keep him with me?”
“Aye,” answered the Queen, while Cal’s heart stopped and cheers went up around them.
Cal twisted around so he could take Raymond’s face in his hands and look at him. Raymond’s stare was as beautiful as ever. His voice was still a rumble.
“Claim enough to keep you here, but not with me if you don’t wish it,” Raymond told him, a silly mortal creature, even with the magic in his bones.
“I have wished it since you gave me your name,” Cal reminded him with an odd sort of patience. He supposed hecouldbe patient now. Time was a gift and he would not squander it, but he could slow and allow himself to revel in Raymond’s devotion. He smiled giddily, which made Raymond frown with suspicion but Cal decided to be generous and ignore it. “I am your mate, you say, to steal my heart and keep it with you. Wolf-words from a wolf-man. Words you gave to my mother and not to me.”
“Callalily,” Raymond said, wary now, blissfully wary of Cal, but not of priests or bears or queens.
“Hmm.” Cal nodded, still giddy. “I will miss the years at my mother’s side. It gives me joy to see her. But I can speak with her now, and I have a boon to ask of her.”
Raymond grimaced. “I told you I did not need a wife, or some—"
