Octo BEAR fest (Renaissance Shifters #1)

Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - 8 MONTHS LATER

P enny hissed, "There are fifteen thousand people out there," and Gwen, standing with the rest of the band just before they went onstage, let out a hysterical giggle.

"Is it too late to back out now?"

"I would actually murder you," Myles said serenely, which made her giggle again. "Besides," he added, "technically they're not here for us."

"Oh thanks a lot , that really helps!" He was right: the Sixty Pix were the opening act for a much bigger band, but it was still fifteen thousand people, give or take. And some of them were absolutely here for the Pix. Bill was there, for example, and so was his cousin Ashley, "Just this once," she'd said. Ripley, who had never been out of Colorado before and was basically exploding with excitement every time they went around a corner in New York City, had joined them, too. If nobody else had shown up, that would be enough, Gwen thought. Although it was considerably better that other people had shown up, if she was being honest with herself.

The band was meant to be on in three minutes, and the crowd had already begun to sing the chorus to Not Again , just like they'd done the first night in Renaissance. It was tradition now: Gwen actually couldn't remember a gig they'd played in the past eight months that hadn't started with the audience wooing them onto stage with that song. "You ready?"

Sandy, smiling, lifted her mic to her mouth and joined in the chorus. She hardly had a syllable out before the crowd's singing turned into an excited roar of anticipation, although within seconds they were singing again, ushering Sandy in. They broke into cheers again when she walked out on stage, though enough of them kept singing that the music rose and rebounded through the stadium. Gwen carefully dashed tears from her eyes. She found herself welling up every time this happened, and honestly hoped she'd never stop. It was a beautiful, powerful moment every night, and she loved it immensely.

Watching her bandmates go onto stage, one by one, being greeted, cheered, welcomed, and adored as they took their places, was maybe Gwen's single favorite part of every show. She knew—they all knew—that the noise was loudest for her, but she was just about comfortable with that now. It had been an insane eight months, with more publicity than even she could have imagined. Way, way more than the band had understood, even after she'd warned them. They'd come through it, though, and now Penny was heading onto the stage to rapturous cheers as she took her place in the lineup. It was all just about perfect.

She checked the pocket of her leather coat before it was her turn to bring the mic up and start singing. The little box she'd put there was still there, safe behind the zippered closure. She'd still been checking it all afternoon. Penny had told her she was going to blow the whole thing if she didn't cut it out, in fact, and the rest of the band, who were all in on it, had nodded. She still had her elbow pressed against it when she joined the first verse, and walked out on stage.

There was nothing, nothing like the rush of being greeted by so many people with such passion and enthusiasm. Nothing, Gwen thought, except the exact opposite of it: the safety and calm she found with her true love, because she still couldn't call him her fated mate and take it seriously. She waved at the crowd, pointing to people, finding Bill in the crowd—right up front where he always was, with their manager, Mike Piccolo, grinning hugely at his side. Those little rituals always helped her get her bearings early in a performance, but Gwen was surprisingly nervous when that first song ended and she stepped forward, first to shout out a greeting to the audience, then to grin and wait out cheers of welcome. "Before we really get started tonight, I want to ask somebody up on stage for a minute here."

Several thousand people volunteered at the tops of their voices, and Gwen burst out laughing. "Sorry, sorry, I want to ask someone specific up on stage here. Bill Torben, can you come up?"

A spotlight flashed down to him, and Bill's eyes went huge. He stood frozen for half a second, staring up at her incredulously, before a massive grin split his face and he took the route security cleared for him so he could come up on stage. He didn't have a mic, so when he got up there to her, still grinning, he said, "Are you gonna do what I think you're gonna do?" and nobody else heard him.

She would absolutely never ask him to marry her in front of fifteen thousand people without clearing it with him beforehand. Or, at least, making sure he wanted to marry her. They'd talked about it almost since the beginning, and Bill had always been calm and confident about it all. Yeah, he said, yeah, I'd love to get married when your career gives us a minute. I trust the mate bond, Gwen. We're meant to be together.

So it wasn't a question of whether he'd say yes. But Gwen hadn't actually warned him she was going to propose tonight, so her nervous little grin had to be answer enough for him right then. The whole crowd had gone absolutely silent in an anticipatory hush so tense Gwen could practically hear fifteen thousand contained squeals of excitement. Surprised to find her hands shaking, she managed to fumble the ring box out of her pocket, and as she knelt on the stage, absolute pandemonium broke loose in the stadium. "Yeah," she said underneath the impossible roar. "I'm gonna do what you think I'm gonna do. Will you marry me, William Robert Torben?"

Bill didn't actually take the ring, or even the ring box. He just scooped Gwen up entirely, effortlessly as always, and spun her around on the stage to the sound of thousands and thousands of cheers. "Yeah," he said in her ear. "Yes, Gwendolyn Louise Booker, I absolutely will. God, I love you. I love you so much."

"I love you too," she whispered joyfully. "Now put me down so I can put a ring on it, big man."

He put her down, and kissed her, then let her slide the diamond engagement ring onto his left hand, and gazed at it in wonder. It was a narrow band, particularly on his big hands, with three inset diamonds that would match the wedding ring it came with. "That's gorgeous," he said in awe, as if they were completely alone. "It's perfect."

Relief crashed through her and came out in a giggle. "Oh good. I spent ages looking for it. C'mon, let's show it to the people."

She caught his hand and turned toward the hysterical audience, holding up Bill's hand to show off the ring. The noise quadrupled, which should have been impossible, and they were both laughing when Bill lowered his hand, took a mic, and in a low, almost shy, voice, said, "Thank you. I'm gonna go blush in a corner now so you guys can get back to the main event."

Gwen blurted, "No wait!" and grabbed his hand again, smiling both at him at the crowd. "No, wait. We've got a new song for you tonight, and I want to sing it for you right now. It's called Happily Ever After. "

The words didn't matter, she realized later, and that was probably a good thing, because she could barely hear herself over the endlessly cheering crowd. What mattered was the moment, and the forever that came next, and Bill's blush, and the stars in his eyes as she sang to him.

It didn't hurt, of course, that the song charted at number six nation-wide the next week, and there was really nothing better than everyone joining in when she sang it again at their wedding six months later. Footage from the wedding became the song's official video, and that, Gwen thought, really was a perfect happily ever after.

Please turn the page for a teaser from PARTRIDGE IN A BEAR TREE , the next story in the Renaissance Shifters series!