“Do you think I did not know that?”Amanda asked.“Or that it matters? I do not love you back. Now return to the audience and disrupt this wedding no further!”
Priscilla looked crushed.“But I love you —“
“Arghh!” Amanda stepped even closer, practically standing toe-to-toe with Priscilla as she declared in English, “You are no better than the St. Ailbe elders. Not listening to me. Having no care whatsoever for what I want. Yes, you love me, but I have chosen Lorcan and Ronan. You must accept my decision and cease this interruption of my wedding at once!”
“I do not understand!”Priscilla continued to speak in Wölfennite.“Everything about this wedding to two non-believers goes against our Ordnung.”
Amanda answered her in English. “The Ordnung is cow dung, and our Wölfennite queen was right all along about not wishing to accept a St. Ailbe or Scottish husband!”
Our Wölfennite queen?At first I was confused, then my mouth dropped open with the realization that Amanda — who had apparently, as they say on the forbidden internet, drunk all the kool-aid — was talking about me.
I’d come to intervene, but I ended up staring at Amanda in complete shock. Meanwhile, another gasp went up from the Wölfennites.
“Yes, you heard me correctly!” Amanda continued defiantly, turning to address the Wölfennites instead of Priscilla. “We have all been brainwashed by the rules of our Wölfennite Ordnung, which were written by males so that we females would do whatever they wanted. My father, our Deacon, held such a respected position within our community. But do you know that he became a terrible tyrant behind closed doors? I cannot recall even one day that he did not belittle my mother in front of me — for the absolute smallest infractions — when all he did for either of us was sit around dispensing unnecessary orders. I also cannot count the times he brought her to tears simply because he was bored at nightwith nothing else to do. And I very much doubt that I'm the only Wölfennite here whose father treated her mother like that.”
Well, my beloved father gave up his entire culture and country of origin to be with my mother and vocally considered it the best decision he’d ever made. But the shifting feet of Priscilla and many of the other Wölfennites let me know that Dad may have been the exception.
"Sometimes our brothers, too," Leah called out from the crowd on the other side of the fire.
"I believe you!" Amanda declared, pointing at Leah. "We are told our community has no hierarchy, but that is only because all the males have been given thrones!"
I was in complete agreement but could hardly believe these sentiments were coming from Amanda's mouth. In the dramatic flickering shadows of the firelight, she looked like nothing less than an avenging angel. Meanwhile, Priscilla stood there, looking completely stricken, unable to find words.
Orpah appeared to be speaking for her and the rest of the shocked Wölfennites when she called out from the crowd, "But you were our truest believer, Amanda! Less than two weeks ago after the full moon, you were saying that you would only marry a male who would agree to accompany you back to our community in Canada and live a pious life. How could you have changed your view so radically and fallen in love with two males you’ve known for less than half a moon cycle?"
"I did say that, didn't I?" Amanda shook her head as if she were talking about her teenage self, not the sanctimonious she-wolf she was only half a month ago. “I cannot believe that I was so brainwashed that I'd actually hoped to bring one of the Scottish Wolves to accompany me back to St. Ailbe so that I could live under thesame oppressive system as my mother. But then I met my husbands."
Amanda's gaze softened, and she looked over her shoulder to behold her grooms. “Lorcan and Ronan have shown me care and consideration like none I have ever known or witnessed. Orpah, you asked me how I could love two strangers I only met such a short time ago. The answer is, how could I not? These two Irish Wolves have shown me a new way and given me a chance to escape that terrible destiny. I am so very fortunate."
She held out her hand to Lorcan and Ronan, and both males clasped it as they regarded her with equally — if not more — tender gazes.
Amanda's face then grew serious as she turned to address the rest of the Wölfennites, this time in our community language.“Hear me now in this. We have all been brainwashed into believing that following the paths of our mothers is the only choice for us. These two Irish Wolves have given me a chance to escape that terrible destiny, and I could not be more grateful. My advice to you is to use this wedding to get to know these kind and good males. Then pray that you go into heat so that two of them can take you to wife.”
The Wölfennites stared back at her in open-mouthed confusion.
Priscilla finally found her voice. “Amanda, I do not know what devil has stolen your mind, but you must —”
I sighed and stepped between the best friends to intervene as I had originally meant to.
“She has given you her answer, Priscilla,”I said to the slightly taller she-wolf in Wölfennite.“And she is right about at least one thing. This is her choice, and she told you no.”
Priscilla’s face turned red, and she glanced side to side, suddenlyseeming to remember that she was surrounded by a crowd of other wedding guests.
“Look at me,”I told her, placing both hands on her shoulders.“Do not be embarrassed over this. What you did was brave. And from me, you have no judgement. But you must stand back and let your best friend have her wedding.”
Priscilla sniffed, her lip trembling as she visibly held back tears, but in the end, she stepped away and returned to the audience as I instructed.
I let out a breath of relief — until I saw the way the other Wölfennites shuffled away from her as if she’d become infected with some unknown disease.
Bitches. Remembering all the reasons I’d been planning to leave St. Ailbe behind, I started forward to tend to Amanda.
But Wild’s wolf got in front of me before I could. I hadn’t even realized he’d followed me when I’d left Sea’s side, but here he was, blocking my way with an expression on his furry face that was no longer playful.
Wild and I didn’t have ESP like Amanda and her husbands, but somehow, I knew he expected me to return to where Sea stood.
Luckily, Frey chose that moment to emerge from the crowd of freaked-out Wölfennites and place a comforting arm around Amanda’s shoulders.
Meanwhile, Wild did his best impression of a sheepdog, all but herding me back to Sea’s side.
