Aspen
The venue shimmered under the soft lights overhead, crystal strands hanging from the chandelier catching every gleam. Ivory and black draped the room in an elegant contrast, the colors of our wedding woven through every detail.
And there, at the center of it all, was an archway wrapped in white roses. The place where I’d be promising myself to my pack in just a few short hours.
It was the kind of wedding setup you’d see splashed acrossPack & Co.’s cover, and I should’ve been glowing with happiness.
Instead, I was freaking out.
My vows were missing.
The envelope I’d kept them in, the one I’d tucked into the dressing room mirror, was gone. I’d even gone as far as crawling under the vanity and looking behind it to no avail.
“Don’t panic,” Sadie had said when I asked, batting her lashes as she smoothed down her black dress and looked anywhere but at me. “Maybe you misplaced them?”
Her eyes had flicked, just once, toward her best friend standing off to the side. The same girl I refused to invite but Sadie had ignored me and my pack simply told me to suck it up and not to ruin our day.
I was always the one who had to bite her tongue and today, of all days, I shouldn’t have had to.
I swear every issue in our relationship boiled back to one person…
Darcy.
I liked to consider myself a nice person. But, Darcy? Ihatedher.
She wanted my pack more than anything and neither one of them were shy about trying to make that happen. The desperate omega flirted with them right in front of me, going as far as pushing me out of the way while they did nothing to stop it.
They always had an excuse. ‘It wasn’t like that’ was their favorite excuse. They’d known her forever since she was Sadie’s best friend, so they assumed it was just something siblings would do. The two were inseparable since preschool, so she was always around.
Unfortunately her infatuation with the alpha and betas that were mine, was anything but platonic.
To make it worse, today was her last chance before we were legally married, and I had a feelingsomethingwas coming.
“Shouldn’t you know them by now?” Darcy asked in that sharp tone of hers. The one she reserved for just me.
“Exactly,” Sadie said sweetly. “Crisis averted. Now, maybe you should touch up that makeup while we go check in on the planner.”
Then they were off, leaving me alone with the other bridesmaids who gave me a sympathetic smile then got to work on their own touch-ups.
With a sigh I sat down on the vanity seat and adjusted my hair again. It was pointless. The team had made sure everything was perfect until Sadie got involved.
My dark hair was laying down in soft curls since I’d refused an updo, and my airbrushed makeup made me look like a stranger.
Tears burned behind my eyes but I blinked them away. I should be grateful for this extravagant wedding but it felt so staged and impersonal. I’d had so little say in it that I felt more like a guest.
How had I let my pack do this to me?
Pushing myself to my feet, I grabbed my phone, slid on my heels, and snuck out of the room. The planners assured me that my pack would be across the building and they were under strict orders to not come over and ruin the dress reveal.
Part of me wondered if they’d even care. I’d barely made it across the hall before Sadie was calling out to me yet again. That was the shortest fifteen minutes of my life.
“There you are, Aspen!” The sugary-sweet voice of my future sister-in-law echoed out.
I bit back a groan and plastered a smile on my face. “Can I help you with something, Sadie?”
“Have you seen Darcy?”
“No. It’s just the bridesmaids in there,” I said, pointing at the bridal suite I’d left. “I thought she was with you.”
