Wolf Bargain (Wolfish 3)

We all are.

5

Sabrina

For all my worries, when the day of the wedding arrives, it’s everything that I could have ever wanted it to be.

Lydia set up the outside gardens at the side of the mansion to have a little gazebo and a small platform for the shaman to stand on as he conducts the ceremony. The grass is littered with tiny wildflower buds and we scheduled the ceremony for early evening, just when the fireflies will begin to emerge and twinkle their hovering bodies across the ground.

As soon as I mentioned the Queen Anne’s Lace to Lydia, she set about having a dress made just for me—and the results, when they arrive, are spectacular. It’s as if I’m clothed in the flowers themselves, arranged in such a way as to fit to my body and fall in soft folds to the ground at my feet.

She weaves a rainbow of flower buds grown in her own garden into my hair and braids a crown around my head that has a few loose strands falling down against my cheeks. I am barefoot, just like the boys will be, as a way to honor the ritual about to take place.

I am more than becoming one with Rory, Marlowe, and Kaleb.

I am becoming one with the ancient power that made them the beasts that they are. The beast that I too shall soon be.

I don’t get as jittery before the wedding as I expected. Maybe it’s because the idea of a wedding is somehow less terrifying than the idea of being turned into an entirely new creature. Or maybe it’s just because I’ve wanted this for so long, this promise of never being separated from the boys that I love, that it just feels natural.

Inevitable.

Rory, Kaleb, and Marlowe arrive at the ceremony with bare chests and jeans that seem to have been fit to their bodies in such a way as to accentuate their growing desire for me as the day wears on. It’s certainly not the tailored look I’d have preferred at a normal wedding, but it was all I could do to get them to wear clothes at all—so I have to be satisfied with that.

They all look as though they are anxious to get to the other side of the ceremony so that what little clothes they have on can be removed and we can lie in revelry together. The fading twilight reflects off their muscular torsos and I feel faint before the ceremony even starts. As we all gather in the gardens; Romulus, Lydia, the boys and I, walk toward the shaman who arrives just as we step outside.

This is perfect, just us. Just my new little family.

A family sworn to protect me.

Who will not leave me.

Even when we’re suddenly not the only participants in this ceremony.

Because just before the ceremony can begin, we’re joined by another pack. And it’s the very last one we’d have dreamed to invite.

Remus is here.

6

Sabrina

Remus and his pack appear suddenly from the forest, walking up the hill to the house and around to the gardens where we all stand. Romulus immediately positions himself in front of Lydia and all three of the boys form a tight circle around me.

“What are you doing here, Remus?” Romulus calls down to his brother as soon as they’ve begun to approach. We’ve all been so busy preparing for the wedding that we didn’t sense them.

That, I’ve realized, is our undoing.

We should have been more vigilant than ever today. Because of course, today is the day they would come. Why would Remus stand by and let this happen when there’s a chance he could stop it before it even began?

But then what Remus says throws me off guard. All of us.

“I’ve come to make peace and join in the ceremony of my brother’s pack,” Remus answers with a smile.

I’m not convinced for a second.

This … it doesn’t feel right. His smile is disingenuous, and I can hear the low growl of his pack deep within their throats. Remus clears his own throat and the growling murmur seems to cease.

“And why would I believe that you want to make peace now, after all this time and all of the wrongdoings?” Romulus asks, his own voice steady when my whole body can’t seem to keep from shaking. “Why would you want to be a part of the very thing you profess to hate the most? Sabrina is not only marrying my sons tonight; she will also be starting the first night of her turning ceremony. In seven night’s time, she will be one of us.”