Christian’s Pov
I left her standing in the library among the books.
I reached out through the mind link as I walked. Kane. Meet me in my chambers. Now.
On my way, he answered.
I walked the long hallway back with the two guards trailing behind me. Neither of them spoke. When we reached my door I told them I needed to be alone. They bowed low and left without a single word, their footsteps fading down the corridor until the castle went quiet again.
I stepped inside and shut the door myself.
I kept thinking about what I saw before Elijah ever walked into that library. She had gone there on her own. Nobody sent her. Nobody told her to. She walked straight to a room full of books like it was the only thing left in the world that still made sense to her.
I found myself laughing quietly at the thought. Most women in her place would have wept. They would have pounded on the doors of their rooms, begged the guards for mercy, prayed to any god that might listen for a way out. She went and picked up a book instead, like she meant to finish one last story before whatever came for her the next day.
It intrigued me more than I wanted to admit. Far more than I wanted to admit.
I stood by the window with my hands behind my back, watching the dark line of trees past the castle walls, when the door opened and Kane stepped in.
“You sent for me.”
“Yes.”
“How did it go with Jennifer seeing her people? Did anything happen that I should know about?”
“Nothing happened,” Kane said. “It was quicker than I expected, honestly. She went in, came back out a while later, and didn’t say a single word to me the whole ride home. There’s nothing worth telling you.”
I nodded slowly, turning that over in my mind. She came back quiet.
“You know Elijah is back,” Kane said. “He’s somewhere on the grounds.”
“I know. He gave himself a rather unpleasant welcome.”
Kane’s eyes narrowed. “What happened?”
“He tried to touch Jennifer. I stopped him before he could do worse.”
Something dark passed over Kane’s face. “I don’t understand why you let him stay in this castle at all. It is well within your power to send him away and never let him set foot here again.”
I turned fully to the window, my jaw tight. “He’s family, Kane. You don’t throw away family so easily. You give them chances. Again and again, until there are no more chances left to give.”
Kane didn’t answer that right away. He let the silence sit between us for a moment before he spoke again, his voice quieter now.
“How are you taking all this? How do you feel about tomorrow?”
I laughed once, low, with no real humor behind it. “Feelings. Does anyone still care about those. Nobody in this castle knows what tomorrow will bring, least of all me. I don’t know what I feel anymore, Kane. I haven’t felt much of anything in a very long time.”
He crossed the room and set a hand on my shoulder, firm and steady. “Everything is going to be fine.”
“Nothing has ever been fine.” I turned to look at him. “This is the eighth bride standing in that room down the hall. Seven women came before her and none of them made it past their first year. You truly believe this one will be fine?”
Kane held my gaze. “Let’s have hope, at least. You should sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day for both of us.”
“I’ll run instead. Sleep is for the weak.”
“Are you telling me you plan to run until morning?”
“Yes.”
He studied me for a moment, then sighed. “Very well. Just don’t be too hard on yourself out there.”
He left, and I listened to the door click shut behind him.
I stood alone in my chambers a while longer, letting the silence press in around me, before I finally walked out and made my way into the woods beyond the castle walls.
The night air was cold and sharp against my skin. Before I let the shift take me, my mind drifted back to the moment my hand touched her chin, tilting her face up toward mine. Her eyes were wide and brown, deep enough that a man could lose something in them if he wasn’t careful. Her hair had fallen loose around her shoulders. I remembered thinking, in that single second, that she looked nothing like a woman waiting to die.
I pushed the thought away hard. I had no right to admire a woman who might not live past tomorrow night. I had buried seven brides already. I would not let myself feel anything for an eighth.
I let the shift take me and ran until my legs burned and my mind finally went quiet.
The next day came faster than I wanted it to.
Kane knocked once on my door. “It’s time.”
I nodded and walked out to meet it.
The ceremony was held outside, in a clearing the elders had prepared beneath the open sky. Torches lined the edges of the grounds, their flames throwing long shadows across the grass, making the whole place feel older and darker than it had any right to feel. The elders stood in a loose half circle. Kane stood close to my side. A handful of pack members stood further back, silent, their heads bowed the way they always were in my presence.
Then my eyes found her.
Jennifer stood across the clearing in a burgundy gown that fit her like it had been sewn only for her body and no one else’s. She was beautiful in a way that unsettled something deep in my chest, something I hadn’t let myself feel in years. A thin veil covered her face, but I could still make out the shape of her beneath it.
When I stepped closer to her, I could hear her heart. It was slamming hard and fast against her ribs, faster than any heartbeat should go. Her scent hit me next, sharp and heavy with fear.
She doesn’t look afraid at all, I thought, studying the calm set of her shoulders. She’s just very good at not letting it show.
The High Priestess began the ceremony. She wrapped a length of cloth around our joined hands and murmured old words over us, words I barely listened to anymore after seven times hearing them. She poured water from a carved calabash over our fingers. She marked our foreheads with ash from another bowl, muttering blessings meant to ward off whatever waited for us next.
Then, finally, she spoke the words that ended it.
“He may kiss his bride.”
We turned to face each other fully. Jennifer lifted the veil away from her face with a hand that trembled just slightly, and looked up at me.
I placed my hand at her waist and pulled her against me, closer than I needed to.
Her breath caught the instant my skin met hers. I felt it more than heard it, felt the way her whole body went still like a deer that had just noticed the wolf standing in the clearing.
I leaned down and pressed my mouth to hers.
The kiss was slow. It was not gentle. I felt her tense hard against me, felt her breath stutter against my lips, and something tightened low in my chest, something I hadn’t allowed myself to feel in more years than I could count. For one long moment the entire clearing disappeared and there was only the warmth of her mouth and the frantic beat of her heart hammering between us.
I pulled back before I let myself want more of it.
The High Priestess’s voice cut through the heavy silence that followed. “The Alpha must now undergo the cleansing, to clear away any bad omens from what comes next. Jennifer, you will go to the chambers and prepare yourself for the wedding night.”