Irish Bear's Bride (Boston Bear Brothers 3)

“I can get behind that,” Ronan laughed, weaving ahead of them and sitting down at a table where others were already seated.

The people smiled at him, picked up their beers, and walked away. Deidre looked at Niall, and he shrugged. “It’s our table. Always.”

“I guess I’ll have to get used to some of the little quirks of being Boston royalty,” she joked.

“Heavy is the head of he who wears the crown,” Niall responded with a broad grin.

“We’ll play chess when we get home later,” she told him before taking a seat on one side of the large table Ronan had cleared for them.

“Chess?”

“Yes. King takes queen,” she smirked.

“Oooh, I’m willing to play that anytime, anywhere.”

“Yeah? Get a few drinks in me and you might just get lucky,” she said.

“Where are our beers?” Niall shouted playfully over his shoulder, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek.

“No, no, no. None of that kissy face stuff while you’re out with the boys,” Ronan said, his words pouring out of his mouth like slow molasses at this point.

“You realize we’re probably going to have to carry him home thrown over my shoulder later, don’t you?” Fergus told Olcan as he sat down next to him.

“Aye, but he’s entitled. Tomorrow he becomes a man, the new Alpha in a brave new world. Let him have his fun and put him to bed.”

“You sure we aren’t making a mistake?”

“Nah. He’s always been the most badass McNally in our little family. I’d trust him to have my back before I trusted a clone of myself,” Olcan replied.

“Aye, probably the truth for all of us. All right, let’s get this party started,” Fergus replied as the bartender brought over a tray of pints and handed them out to the table. He held his up in front of him in offering of a toast. “Here’s to the McNally boys and the women stupid enough to love them!”

The brothers laughed and clanked their glasses together. Deidre joined them. She realized that she was getting much more than she bargained for with Niall. She was getting an incredible man and three big brothers to watch over her. It felt good. It felt right.

Deidre awoke the next day with a smile, rolling over to curl up against Niall. He snorted a little in his sleep and draped an arm across her, pulling her closer to him. When the alarm went off a short time later, they showered and headed out to find a home of their own, eager to leave the small apartment where Niall had lived the past few years for something bigger.

Things seemed to move quickly after that. They found a house after a few days of searching and moved in the following month once they had closed on it and the previous owners had moved out. It was a beautiful place in the historic district of Boston, far nicer than anywhere Deidre had ever lived before.

“I can see having a lot of fun in that pool,” Niall told her as they stood looking at it after having gotten everything moved in.

“I can, too,” she replied.

“Let’s go skinny dipping,” he said, already peeling off his clothes.

“What if someone sees us?”

“They won’t unless they are looking through the fence, and that would send the motion sensors off to the floodlights. Watch this,” he told her.

She watched as he broke apart and shifted into his bear. Deidre realized it was the first time she had seen him in bear form since they’d made their escape from the cabin when he and Ronan had gotten her to safety. With all that had happened, she’d forgotten that he was a deep ginger color. It was a stark contrast to the pale marble tiles laid around the pool and the crisp, clear water.

She laughed and did the same, both of them jumping into their new pool and splashing around playfully like children. It felt good to let her bear loose, something she hadn’t done for far too long. They played a while and then climbed out, shifting back into human form before going back into the house and letting another side of their animal proclivities loose.

This was definitely the life she’d been sorely missing in Ireland. The thought of home reminded her that she still had some things there, at least she thought she might. She broached the subject as they lay there in one another’s arms after a rousing round of sex.

“The compound was left standing and is to be converted to a community-run center once the council comes to an agreement on what will be housed there. As far as I know, the council has absorbed all of Trill’s properties and given what originally belonged to other clans back to them and divided the rest as location dictated. I’ll ask what became of the things there, if anything has been done with them at all.”