“Just don’t kill him off,” Millie warned with mock severity. “The pack would never forgive you, and neither would I.”
Their laughter was interrupted by a sharp knock on the front door, followed by the distinctive click of designer heels that could only belong to one person.
“That’ll be our favorite meddling matchmaker,” Cosette said, already heading for the door.
Gerri Wilder swept into the cabin like a force of nature contained in a powder-blue pantsuit, her snow-white bob perfectly styled despite the mountain humidity. She carried Electra’s book in her manicured hands, her eyes already sparkling with that knowing gleam that made everyone slightly nervous.
“My dear girl,” Gerri announced, holding up the novel like a trophy, “this dedication nearly made me cry. Pure poetry.”
Electra felt heat rise in her cheeks. “It felt right.”
“Simple truths usually do.” Gerri’s eyes flashed gold for just a moment—a trick of the light that never failed to make Electra wonder what exactly Gerri was. “I’ve read it twice already. Magnificent work.”
“Thank you for...” Electra hesitated, then plunged ahead. “For whatever you did to get me here. To get us together.”
Gerri’s smile was pure innocence wrapped in designer lipstick. “I merely provided a cabin recommendation, darling. The rest was entirely up to you and that stubborn Alpha of yours.”
“Did you know?” The question had been burning in Electra’s mind for three months now. “When you sent me here, did you know Rune was my fated mate?”
Gerri studied her with those unnaturally perceptive eyes, her silence stretching just long enough to be meaningful. “I knew you needed each other. Sometimes that’s enough.”
Before Electra could press further, another knock echoed through the cabin—this one firm and familiar. Forrest’s voice carried through the door with amused authority.
“Time to go, ladies. The groom’s about five minutes away from storming this place, and I’d prefer not to have to wrestle my Alpha on his wedding day. Unless you’re having second thoughts?”
“Never,” Electra replied without hesitation.
Three months of living with Rune, of leading the pack beside him, of falling asleep in his arms every night—none of it had dimmed the fierce certainty that this was right. If anything, the daily reality of their partnership had only strengthened her resolve.
They filed out to Forrest’s black SUV, Cosette and Millie fussing over the train of her dress while Gerri supervised with the air of someone who’d orchestrated countless fairy tale endings. Electra settled into the passenger seat, her heart hammering with anticipation as Forrest started the engine.
“Nervous?” he asked, pulling away from the cabin that had been her sanctuary and salvation.
“Terrified,” she admitted. “But the good kind. The kind that means something important is about to happen.”
From the backseat, Gerri’s voice carried that familiar note of supernatural satisfaction. “You and Rune are the perfect couple, my dear. Absolute perfection. And now the world gets to see what a real shifter mating looks like, thanks to your brilliant book. It’s refreshing to finally have someone share an honest perspective of the shifter world.”
The ceremonial clearing soon opened before them like a secret cathedral carved from ancient pines. Dappled sunlight filtered through the branches, casting shifting patterns across the moss-covered ground where generations of wolves had marked the most sacred moments of their lives. The space felt intimate by design—perhaps thirty feet across, bordered by weathered stone markers.
Forrest’s hands were steady as he helped Electra from the SUV, his touch careful with her silk train. “Ready to make this official?” he asked, his blue eyes warm with affection that had grown over months of shared meals and pack meetings where she’d proven herself worthy of standing beside their Alpha.
“Yes,” she breathed, her gaze immediately seeking and finding Rune across the clearing.
The world contracted to just him—everything else fading to soft edges and muted colors. He stood beneath a simple wooden arch draped with wildflowers and trailing ivy, his hands clasped behind his back in that controlled stance she’d come to recognize as his way of containing overwhelming emotion. The charcoal suit fit him like armor, emphasizing the powerful lines of his shoulders and the predatory grace that marked him as Alpha even in human form. His steel-gray eyes locked onto hers with a burning intensity that caused her pulse to skip.
This was it. This was choice made manifest, tradition honored, the human ritual that mattered to her soul even as wolf law already claimed them as eternal mates.
Behind her, she heard Cosette’s delighted gasp and Millie’s soft murmur of approval as they settled into chairs arranged in a loose semicircle around the arch. Gerri’s heels clicked against stone as she found her seat, that knowing smile playing at the corners of her mouth like she was watching a story unfold exactly as she’d written it.
Elder Arlen stepped forward—a man whose weathered face spoke of decades spent mediating traditions. His voice carried the weight of ceremony as he began to speak, words that seemed to echo off the ancient trees themselves.
“We gather today not just to witness a union,” he said, his gaze moving between Electra and Rune with quiet reverence, “but to celebrate love that refuses limitations. Human and wolf, two souls who prove that strength comes not from sameness, but from choosing to stand together despite every difference that should divide them.”
Electra’s breath caught as Rune stepped closer and grabbed her hands.
“Rune,” Elder Arlen prompted gently.
Her mate’s voice was rough with emotion when he spoke, each word deliberate and weighted with truth. “Electra, you came into my life when I’d convinced myself that duty and solitude were enough. You showed me that protecting what I love doesn’t make me weak—it makes me whole.” His gray eyes never left hers, the mate bond pulsing with sincerity that made her throat tight. “I vow to stand beside you, not above you. To be your partner in all things—in leadership, in laughter, in the quiet moments when the world doesn’t need an Alpha, just a man who loves his mate beyond reason.”
