Page 14 of Brutal Alpha Beast
I cock my head slightly to Danielle and outstretch my palm. A handshake is as good as we’re going to be getting when it comes to an embrace.
Her face is like stone, her lips pursed, her eyes pointed. She doesn’t look at me at first, and when I don’t feel a hand edging toward my own, I close my palm.
Danielle is practically shaking.
I don’t believe she’s trying to be difficult, but does she not realize that soon, we’re going to have to touch?
The second part of the ritual involves a slow dance, and while we can try to do that without holding one another, it would undeniably look very strange.
While this is an arranged marriage, and everyone in the audience knows that, it’s still important that we put on some kind of front.
I’m looking at Danielle for what feels like an eternity, and then she finally lifts her head. She looks me straight in the eyes and gives me a brief nod.
An embrace? Whatever. It’s good enough.
The music starts again, and we walk down the aisle side by side. Shifters and witches stand and clap as they’ve been instructed to do;at least they can follow orders.
I find it hard to understand why Danielle would agree to this marriage in the first place if she’s so reluctant to even hold hands with a wolf.
Maybe she came here kicking and screaming. But I know for a fact that the witches aren’t like that, with them, everything is a ‘choice,’ they’re pretty anti-hierarchy, and they love their leader, Penelope. They’d do anything for her.
Once we’re at the reception inside one of our cabin halls, she goes off. There’s music, children running around, chatter and laughter, and as usual, the witches are on one side, the wolves the other.
At least there are sounds, though, no longer that excruciating silence in which my thoughts and my strange pull/ aversion toward Danielle ring through my ears like deafening shouts.
Sawyer pats me on the back. “Congratulations, man,” he laughs. “I can tell that you’re delighted with your new bride.”
I break my frown to smile sarcastically. Wherehasmy bride gone?
“Funny,” I murmur.
“You’re doing a good thing,” he says. “And Danielleiscool. You’ll be fine. You look dazed.”
“Nope,” I sigh. “Not dazed, just tolerating.”
“You want a drink?”
I nod.
Then Lacey shows up with my long-lost bride. She’s looking me in the eye now, but her face is stiff, no longer nervous, just cold.
I’m not sure what's better, trembling or this. At least with the trembling, I know there’s a human with emotions in there.
“She didn’t know how this part of the ritual was supposed to go,” Lacey explains, although she must have known that an embrace does not include a nod.
“Yes,” Danielle says coolly. “Sorry.”
The bride and groom are supposed to stand by the cake, and wait for friends and family to come up and wish them well-wishes and congratulations. All this and then the dance.
It’s like pulling teeth, more painful than I thought. Not to mention the reaction she’s stirring in my wolf.
“It shouldn’t last too long,” I say. “Thank you, Lacey, for bringing her over.”
Lacey and Sawyer exchange a glance before she rests her head on his shoulder. It’s like they're the newly wedded ones, not us.
That makes me feel bad, as though I’m failing somehow—but I’m not. I know this union is going to be hard, and despite all the fancy decorations and the formalities, I remind myself that it’s a marriage strictly for business, nothing more.
“That’s okay,” Lacey says softly. “We’ll give you both some time to talk.”
