One of the banquet tables held short lengths of twine, carefully selected clusters of flowers, and simple yet elegant gold metal hoops that slid into clear plastic stands. Leslie hadn’t wanted the flowers to wilt, but she also hadn’t wanted silk.
Tai pitched in alongside Hannah and Ryker. One centerpiece was finished, its flowers woven around the hoop and secured by tying a length of twine into a bow. Leslie had set this model in the middle of the table. Tai picked up a hoop and a cluster of flowers that matched the finished work. He kept his eyes on the model while his fingers replicated it by feel. After a few seconds, Hannah’s hands went still as she gaped at his.
“You’re almost as good as Leslie,” she said.
“It’s a vampire thing.”
“I knew y’all’s hand/eye coordination is basically flawless, but I’m not even needed here. You’ll be done with all ten of them in a few minutes.”
“Nonsense,” Leslie said. “It’s about the memory of doing this together. I don’t care if you finish only one.”
Hannah did indeed finish one in the time it took the other three of them to make three apiece, but Leslie declared that one her favorite.
A few hours later, Leslie, Hannah, and the bridesmaids had disappeared into the suite set aside for them. Tai hardly caught a glimpse of Claire before every woman in the party retreated, including the mothers of bride and groom.
Ryker’s wardrobe room was basic, but the men took only a few minutes to get ready. Jake and Mackey were naturally low-key personalities, and Logan’s humor was on a more subdued leveltoday than it had been at the bachelor party. In comparison, Ryker buzzed like an exposed live wire. At three-forty-five, Logan eyed him from across the room and shook his head.
“You’re killing us, man.”
“My eternal’s waiting for me,” Ryker said. “Just a few rooms away.”
“That’s what I’m trying to say.” Logan shoved a hand through his fine blond hair, which looked fashionably shaggy without his signature ponytail. “You’re already bloodbound, eternally bonded, et cetera. This is just the legal step designed by humans.”
“Right,” Ryker said, “but every step is sacred, Logan. To me and Leslie, anyway. And after this step, we get to celebrate with y’all.” He continued bouncing on his heels, his blue eyes shining and throwing silver sparks.
“I knew you wouldn’t be nervous,” Mackey said, “but I didn’t anticipate the sheer level of…” He shrugged.
“Of Ryker?” Jake said.
“He took all his task-focused energy, his competitive energy, his cheerleading energy, and he turned it into wedding energy.”
“Shut up,” Ryker said. Then he did a backflip, and everybody laughed.
Tai watched Ryker’s friends mess with him, listened to their camaraderie from the outside. He tried to figure out how it felt—not envy, not insecurity. Something else. Acceptance, maybe. Mackey and Logan still spoke to him only when they had to. It stung, but he understood it. Even if Claire told them she and Tai had called a truce, they had the right to approach him with caution until he proved himself.
Besides, it was good that Claire had friends in her life who believed her when she told them a man couldn’t be trusted. He almost wished he could say thanks to Mackey and Logan for having her back.
Soon it was time for the wedding party to form their line just inside the doors that opened on the garden behind the hall. Dressed in all black, the photographer hovered with skillful unobtrusiveness. Ryker shook each groomsman’s hand with a vigor that matched his face-stretching grin. When he got to Tai, Ryker held out his hand just as the bridesmaids came into hearing and scent range from the direction of the bridal suite. They whispered, though all the vampires present couldn’t miss their approach. Not far behind them came soft steps and the swishing train of a gown.
Ryker grabbed Tai’s shoulders and shook them. “It’s really here, really now,” he said. “She’s going to be my wife. I get to be her husband.”
“I’m saving my congratulations untilafterthe ceremony,” Tai said, but he couldn’t keep from smiling while his friend brimmed over like a joyful fountain.
“I love you, man,” Ryker said.
Yep, out of his mind with joy. Tai clapped him on the back. “Love you too, man. Now go on. Leslie can’t walk down the aisle to you until you’re at the front of the aisle.”
Ryker exited so fast, the door barely had time to open for him.
“Is the groom out of sight yet?” said Nova from around the corner.
“He is,” Tai said.
The women emerged, looking fantastic. The bridesmaid dresses were mint-green and matched the dress shirt under each groomsman’s black suit jacket. Their makeup was somehow both natural and glamorous in ways Tai couldn’t begin to analyze. Leslie trailed them, her hand on her dad’s arm. Her father looked only slightly weepy.
And Leslie looked truly great. Her dress was a form-fitting celebration of lace, the train a modest few inches. She wore pearls and even more lace over her silver-dyed hair, which wastwisted and curled into what Tai was pretty sure counted as an up-do.
Mackey gave a slow clap.
