Werewolf Wedding(56)

“Because they should,” I said, stalling for time. “I’m going to be the vita of the pack, right? The life and all that? I’m supposed to know things like traditions and lore and I’m supposed to care.”

I stepped closer to him, my heart thudding in my chest. “That is right, isn’t it? You need a good, loyal vita don’t you?”

Draping my hands over his neck, I almost choked as I sat down on his lap, draping my legs across his. I hoped I could convince him, but if I had to, I was ready to do whatever he wanted to keep him convinced.

A haunting smile crept across Dane’s full lips. “I do,” he said. “But I also know what I want. I should have what I want, shouldn’t I? I’m the alpha, after all. Why should I have to wait?”

I thought for another short second. “Because if you don’t respect the traditions, then your brother doesn’t have to honor them either. And as far as me and him goes, that was before I knew about any of this.” Not that it would have changed anything, I wanted to add, but somehow restrained myself.

That gave him pause. A finger curled into my hair. The little tug at my scalp sent a wave of goosebumps down the side of my face and underneath my shirt. “How would anyone know?” he kissed me under the chin. I was about to vomit. “It’s just us in here, isn’t it? You gonna go telling someone what we do in our spare time?”

At that point, I started considering options. There was a gun somewhere in the house, but that wouldn’t help much. There was an umbrella by the front door, and then a little toolkit under the sink. I couldn’t hurt this idiot if I had a car and a machine gun. A toolkit and a half-broken umbrella weren’t going to do a damn bit of good.

I curled my fingertips against his cheek, letting my nails rasp across his stubble. If I couldn’t think of something, and fast, then...

“I would know,” I said. Of all the long shots, this was the king. I was assuming he had any kind of feelings at all for me, and would concern himself in any way with that. “It would bother me. I’ve never done anything right in my life, Dane,” I kissed his cheek, hoping to woo him with a mixture of my sad tale and gentle touching.

“And this is?”

“It didn’t start that way,” I said. “But now that we’re doing this, I want to make the most of it, you know? I want to do everything right and be the best vita I can be. It’s important to me that I jump into this whole werewolf thing without screwing it up. You can wait a couple days to give me all that rough, hard loving you want to give me, right? I’ll owe you.”

I bit my lip, trying to look as innocent and helpless as possible. From the way he’d stopped groping at me, I thought it was working.

“You being for real?” he asked. “I don’t get why you’d care this much, but...”

I kissed him again, tenderly on the lips. “Thank you,” I whispered, and crawled off his lap before he had time to reconsider. My soul heaved a heavy sigh of relief as I left his heat behind, and stood. “I know you want this, I know you need it. But just trust me. I... I mean it. I really appreciate you letting me have this right.”

“Yeah,” he said dismissively. “So when do we make this statue?” A laugh escaped Dane’s lips. “I can’t wait to see the look on that idiot’s face when he sees this.”

Something just occurred to me. “Dane, why is Jake going to be at the marking? Don’t you think that’s just inviting trouble?”

“We can start tomorrow,” he announced. “Early. About noon. As for him being there, how else is he going to officially renounce his title and give up his claim? This is how it goes, babe. You like all these traditions, you’ll like this. You know what happens to an alpha who renounces his authority, right?”

The smile that came across Dane’s lips told me everything, but it still made my blood run cold. “Exile?” I guessed, hopefully. I still wasn’t sure this plan was going to work, not at all, so I’d been telling myself that absolute worst-case, Jake would just be packed off somewhere to live out his life as a grocery clerk or something.

“He dies,” Dane said, relishing both the words, and apparently, the way I reacted. “You like wolf traditions; this is a good place to start. We mark each other, he kneels, and then... I take his head.”

I swallowed, choking down the bile that bubbled up inside me. “Oh,” I said weakly. “Well, um... what if he tries to start trouble?” My voice cracked as I spoke.

“Seriously?” he asked with a smile. “I love trouble.”





-18-


“This is really happening right now?”





-Delilah


––––––––

“Get up!” Dane was shouting, carrying on. I opened my eyes and pushed the blanket off my head. I liked to hide in the corner of the bed and wrap myself in one of my favorite blankets – a white fuzzy one – to help convince myself that I was somehow safe from him. “Wake up!”

“Huhn?” I blinked in the darkness. For a second, I wasn’t sure where I was. A whole list of fantasies rolled through my mind before I felt his heavy, hot hand on my shoulder, shaking me out of my imaginary security. “What is it?”