Hadn’t he thought it was a stupid idea for Rafael to force Gwen to marry him as he had? But maybe he’d had the better idea of making it private instead of something public. The humiliation at being rejected stung, but that wasn’t what made Joshua step closer.
“Your magic will benefit from this marriage,” he wheedled.
Kira folded her arms and shook her head. “You don’t care about my magic or about me. I’m not… I get that people are scared of me. But I’m not going to give up my freedom for their peace of mind.”
“That is not what this marriage is about!”
“You don’t have to worry about it. I’ve already arranged passage off the island.”
And once she was outside the protective barrier of the town, she was vulnerable. His heart spiked as she turned away once more, as though that settled everything. It settled nothing! Images crowded his mind—her lying on the ground, bleeding profusely. Her with her throat torn out. Her struggling to break free of a dark shadow as it pulled her down into the ocean depths.
He had to keep her here.
If she left, the demons would kill her.
He snarled as he leapt forward, grabbing her wrist again. “If you leave, the next marriage will fall to Chelsey.”
Kira whirled, eyes wide.
“I’ll still be here.” His heart hammered, his pulse racing as he glared down at her. He was aware of what he was saying, of the implicit threat behind his words. But if that was what it took to keep here, where it was safe? “The council still wants to bond a witch to me. So if you don’t marry me, I suppose I’ll just marry her instead.”
“You wouldn’t,” Kira hissed.
Joshua narrowed his eyes. She was right, but he couldn’t let her know it. “Wouldn’t I?”
“I’ll keep Chelsey away from you. She’s in her program, I’ll just tell her to never come… back…” Kira’s voice faded to a whisper as the color drained from her face. “Will you take her scholarship away?”
Joshua didn’t answer. He let her fill in her own assumptions in his silence.
“You can’t!”
“You can do a lot worse than to marry a rich, powerful member of this pack. I already told you that I won’t make you have my children. I’ll go further than that,” he added, lowering his voice. “When it comes to sex, I have no expectations. I won’t sleep with you, but I won’t stop you from sleeping with other men.”
Kira shivered. She shook her head slowly, as though this wasn’t something she wanted to hear. “But I don’t want that sort of marriage. I don’t want to sleep with men who aren’t my husband. And I don’t want my husband to sleep with other women,” she added in a low, almost plaintive voice.
Joshua swallowed hard. How was he meant to still resist her when she looked at him like that? All he wanted to do was to cup her face in his hands and whisper that he was sorry, that he was going to make this work, that he would buy her the moon if it would make her happy.
Instead, he said, “Alright. Then I won’t.”
“You… wont?” Kira repeated doubtfully.
“From this day forward, I’m celibate.” He managed a small smile and held up his hand, curling all his fingers except the littlest one down. “Pinky swear.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Joshua lowered his hand again. “I don’t expect you to. That sort of thing will take time to prove. But I will prove it, Kira.”
Kira closed her eyes and nodded once. But when Joshua started back to the town hall, she didn’t follow. So he reached back, took hold of her arm, and pulled her along. They returned through the door and moved back to the altar. Rafael shot him a confused look, and the whispers grew louder in the pack, but Joshua ignored them all.
“Let’s try this again,” he said aloud. His voice was clipped and angry. “Elder Priest, if you will?”
Kira didn’t look at him, instead reaching across the altar to snatch his hands. His wolf snarled and growled so loudly, he could barely hear the Elder Priest’s words. He managed to speak at the appropriate times, and so did Kira. He kept expecting someone to object, to say that it was clear that neither of them wanted to be here and to put an end to it. Nobody spoke, not even Gwen, though she looked on anxiously.
It was only after Elder Priest Thera had wisely left off the ‘kiss the bride’ portion of the wedding that Joshua realized Rafael and Gwen hadn’t brought Lianne. He was glad. This situation wasn’t one that a child would understand.
And, ironically, he didn’t want to send the message that this was normal.
The wedding ended with a weird trailing off, as though nobody knew exactly what to do. Joshua and Gwen stood in front of the pack, not touching each other. Joshua stared over their head as he tried to think up something to say. They had attended because they wanted a party. Not because they were so in love with the couple. Not because it was a beautiful day or a wedding they absolutely couldn’t miss. A party.
