When had her life became this? she wondered aloud. When had her life become a series of decisions that she didn't even get to make? She just had to live with it.
Instead of taking the items out and looking at them, caring what it looked like to begin with, she threw it across the room and sat down on the duvet. Tears rolled down her cheeks, Page couldn't imagine what she was going to do next, how her life was forever going to be changed. The whole thing made her sick to her stomach and filled her with anxiety and angst.
***
Due to her inner misery, Page had dozed off and when she awoke to a knocking sound, it was dark outside. Her eyes flew to the clock. Nobody had said anything to her or apparently tried to talk to her, because they let her sleep all day. They probably thought that it was easier than dealing with her emotions, Page thought to herself. She had so many feelings about all of it, and it was impossible for her to hide them. Quite Randall, she didn't want to make it easier for anyone that was making her mate a stranger. Why should she make it more comfortable for them?
The next knock was a little bit more urgent, like they had been possibly doing it for a while. Page felt groggy. She felt like she had been drugged, and she eyed the plate of breakfast eggs that she had earlier in the day. Would her father drug hers to make it easier on himself? Sadly, Page knew the answer before she had even finished the question. Of course, he would. He would do whatever was necessary to get his way. What he wanted was Page to get married and that meant drugging her apparently. She looked frightful as she passed the mirror to get to the door. Her dark eyes looked hollow, and her face wasn’t the same. Page’s hair hung limp around her shoulders, with none of the golden gleam that it usually had.
“Rise and shine, Princess. Today is the big day!”
Page knew that it would do no good to be mad. It was what it was. Her father was never going to see what he was doing as wrong, and Page could never see the right in it. All she ever heard growing up was that she was “hard to deal with”, but Page always suspected that she just had too much of her own mind. It wasn’t that she was hard to deal with, it was just that she wasn’t supposed to have her own thoughts. Page didn't think she was hard to deal with. She just wanted freedom and her father was selling her off for his own gains. Page didn't know how she could be happy about that. She couldn’t agree to it all without having an opinion. None of it was possible, but it was expected.
“I just woke up. Do I not get a little bit of time to get ready?” Page asked with a complaint on her tongue. It was bad enough that she was being dragged down the aisle to begin with. Surely, they weren’t going to make her go in her current state. Her father wouldn’t want to be embarrassed in such a way.
The soldier didn’t see things that way though, his malicious grin was just as worrisome as it had been the first time. “No, Princess, we are on schedule. You shouldn't have gone to sleep if it was so important for you to look your best.”
Page couldn't believe that he was even suggesting that she leave without getting prepared properly. If not for her own sake, at least for her father's sake. He would be disappointed if Page came out looking as disheveled as she did then. Page wondered if maybe she should, because she could already see his face. He would not be happy about it. That was for sure.
“It will only take me a minute, soldier,” Page started to say. She also started to unbutton her blouse, and the soldier grabbed the door and slammed it pretty quickly, so that he didn’t see something that would get him blinded by her father. He knewthe rules, even if Page was about to be someone else’s problem. Page smiled to herself, but her smugness didn't last very long. How could it? She was about to marry a complete stranger and from all accounts, he was going to be just as bad at controlling her life as her father was. It just seemed like it was never going to end, and Page wondered again, what was the point?
When she came out of the room, she was wearing what had been brought to her and although she had no makeup on because there was no time, at least she was able to get her hair put up in an updo so that she didn't look so horrifying. Whether she wanted to do it or not, and whether she wanted to meet with Ethan or cared what he thought, she wasn't so stubborn that she did not realize that there was an opportunity for them to at least be friends or civil to each other. Beyond that, what more could she ask for?
The soldier still had a bit of a dirty look on his face, but he was warming up to it. She was ready to go and that meant that his job was about to be a whole lot easier. He probably thought that Page was going to fight back, but she knew better. She knew that there was no reason to do so. Whether she fought it or not wouldn't matter, because at the end of the day she was walking into her destiny, however it turned out.
Page’s hands were shaking as she made her way to the ceremony. If she was a normal bride and it was a normal mating, Page would have spent her time getting the arrangements in order. It would have been a beautiful affair, and she would have been happy to do it. But it wasn't a normal meeting, and she wasn't a normal bride. It wasn't hard for her to recognize that either. As much as she wanted to the upset about it all, she knew that it would do no good. It never did.
There were already people standing by the altar and the groom’s back was to her. He was so close, and she couldn't seehis face, but he looked rather normal. She hadn't figured that there was something wrong with him, because she hadn't heard about it, though there was no telling. Page was trembling all over when she finally got next to him at the front. There was something familiar in the way he stood, but Page couldn’t put it in her mind to why it was familiar.
He turned to her suddenly and smiled in the biggest way possible. Page gasped, not sure what it all meant. She knew his name, said it in her mind, but didn’t say it out loud. He put his fingers to his plump lips and shushed her, like nobody needed to know.
Her insides quivered and his dark hair and eyes were a sight for sore eyes. Page knew who it was; Randall wasn’t a stranger. He was even more handsome than he was before, and she found it hard to keep her eyes off of him. She was standing there shook to the core. Was this really happening or had she dozed off again?
“Ethan?” she asked in a whispered voice that showed her hope and shock. What conflicting feelings she had...
Randall smiled and agreed with a nod to his head. His eyes were dancing and he was just as happy to see her. Page had no idea what the heck was going on, but she didn’t care. Page would marry Randall in a heartbeat. She wanted to rush it along, quickly mate Randall, before someone tried to stop them. Page didn’t know how she had gotten so lucky, but she wasn’t going to ignore the opportunity. It was her way to get out of a loveless marriage. She had never been so happy in her life to see an old flame that had fizzled out because of their family.
Page turned to the elder doing the service and smiled. “Shall we get this ceremony going?”
Chapter 7
Randall
The whole time that he had taken to get to Page, Randall had worried about what was going to happen and how she was going to respond. It was literally all he had thought about and Randall didn't have an answer in the beginning. He had a lot of hopes and dreams, ways that he hoped she would act, but there really was no telling. It was all open to interpretation and the more that Randall thought about it, the worst his scenarios became. It had all been in vain.
Page realized who he was though, and the absolute smile on her gorgeous, tanned face was all the answer that he needed. Randall was seriously worried that she would not want him. They had something together, something that he knew was real back then, but at the same time, it had been a long time and he had given her no warning. She looked practically relieved, and Randall didn't even know what that meant.
He took her in, the beautiful hair that was swept up high over her head, clear blue eyes full of mystery, and the attraction between the two of them that was never going to go away. Page was a woman now and it showed, but the innocence she’d had when they were younger was still there. All of it was pulling him in and making him want her even more.
When the ceremony started, Randall couldn't believe that it was happening. That's what he wanted, of course, what he had worked for, sacrificed for, but thinking about it and the reality of it were two very different things. It was the greatest feeling, but it was also a little overwhelming. It was all eyes on the two of them.
He hadn't even been there a couple of hours. It all seemed a bit off to Randall if he was completely honest. He never had understood how shifter fathers could give away their daughters to complete strangers that they didn't even know. It was a marriage of convenience and the idea that the two families would come together with children and that would keep them from going too far. It never did. Instead, it just put children in the middle of bad blood and Randall wondered what the particular marriage he was agreeing to was supposed to do to bring the two clans together. It was never about love, but what one or the other wanted.
While Randall was wondering this and that, words were spoken and before he knew it, all of it was done. His fate was sealed. The ceremony was over, he was given the chance to kiss her, and he knew that she was a little nervous about it, as was he. Randall didn't know how to approach it. They were not strangers, of course. They had kissed before, but nobody there knew it.
While he wanted to grab her up and kiss her like he had the right to, Randall knew that wouldn’t fly. They were married, of course, but Randall didn't think about it as a right to do it. He wanted to, was dying to if he was 100% honest, but it didn’t matter if she wasn’t as into it as he was.
Finally, because everybody was watching and they had to seal the kiss in front of the pack, Randall pulled her in close and kissed her just as well as he had wanted to. There was only onemoment of sensation, probably because he startled her and then he pulled her in close. All that mattered was that the two of them were together and for a moment, all the other people there didn't even register. Randall had his eyes on Page. It was always that way and he was noting the differences as he smiled at her. Did she know how good she looked?
