I feel like I'm in a movie right now, one where everything is scripted exactly as my bear would like.
Except for one detail–her hand resting on Axel’s arm.I watch him closely to see if there’s any regret as he hands her over, but his face is perfectly composed.With Maisy in front of me, I can’t focus on anything but her.
“Hey you,” she whispers to me.
“You,” I say because I’ve lost my ability to speak.
She scrunches her nose and gives me an adorable little grin.“What did Cinderella say about her missing wedding photos?”
I smile.“What?”
“Someday my prints will come.”
I laugh softly.My chest squeezed.She was so cute, so sweet, so fucking innocent.I shouldn’t be doing this.
Faux-Elvis breaks the spell.“Is this the bride?Little darlin’, you’re gorgeous.Ah-ah-ah I’m all shook up.”He starts gyrating and thrusting his hips.
Teddy leans close to us.“Do you want us to kill him and bury him in a shallow grave?”he asks through gritted teeth.
I can’t look away from Maisy.“It’s fine.”
The triplets apparently love it based on their wide grins.
“You ready?”I ask Maisy.
She smiles.“Let’s do this.”
Faux-Elvis starts rambling about love and marriage.Most of the speech is just the lyrics to “Love me Tender.”I can bear it because it allows me to stand close to Maisy.I can smell Axel’s scent on her.I stroke her soft waves back from her bare shoulders to replace his scent with mine.
No one else,I vow to myself.No one else is going to touch her from now on.Only me.
Oh fuck.My bear starts punching to the surface.
All that bare skin–there isn’t enough Moon Cure in the world to keep me from stroking it.
I know there will be no wedding night.I won’t be consummating the marriage.I don’t have the right to strip her naked and lick her all over, and I’m not sure how I’m going to survive.My fangs are sharp and aching, ready to mark her.
I need her so badly.It hurts to breathe when she's not in the room with me, and now that I’ve touched her, I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to let her go.If I think about that, I'm going to throw her over my shoulder, carry her to the dressing room, and mark her.I'll rip her lovely dress to ribbons.
I'm going to need more doses of Moon Cure to get through the next twenty-four hours.
Right now, I just need to get through the next fifteen minutes without killing Elvis.
“What did the bride decide about the bouquet toss?”I whisper to Maisy.
Her eyes crinkle as she searches my face for the answer.
“It’s still up in the air.”
Her little smile is everything.The triplets, who can hear a whisper with their shifter hearing, all snort.
Finally, it’s time for the vows.
“Now say, “darling, put your hand in mine.”Faux-Elvis instructs, and I repeat the words, taking Maisy’s hand.It’s so small and soft in mine.
“And say, “All right, little mama, you lift me higher, you’re the sun in my sky, the apple in my eye, and I don’t want one more day to go on without you by my side.”
Gazing deep into Maisy’s eyes, I repeat the ridiculous vows and feel like I’m quoting Shakespeare.I feel them with all of my being.They’re the words I’ve wanted to say for so long.“I’ll give you the whole world.I’ve already given you my heart.And today I vow to be with you ‘til death do us part.”
