"I am not in love with him," I said finally, my voice surprisingly steady despite the storm of sensation ripping through my body. My eyes flicked briefly toward Derek before returning to the giant. "This was… an arrangement." There was no comparison between them. None. To Derek, I was a transaction. A convenient solution. A legal strategy wrapped in a wedding dress. But this man— this beast— looked at me like I mattered. Like I was something worth fighting for.
Maybe I could fall in love with a beast. Maybe. At least there was a chance. I would file for an annulment. Or a divorce. There had to be options. Derek could find someone else to be his temporary wife. He had money, influence, entire teams of lawyers who could solve problems like that before breakfast. He didn't need me. And he definitely didn't love me. He had never even tried to kiss me. Never held my hand. Never once looked at me the way the alien standing in front of me was looking right now.
The moment the words left my mouth, something changed in the giant's expression. Something victorious.
"Mine." The single word rolled through the church like a declaration of war. The deep vibration of his voice slid straight through my body, sending a sharp pulse of heat through my breasts. My nipples tightened painfully beneath the lace of my dress. His lips curved slightly. They were full—too sensual to belong on a creature that looked capable of snapping a man in half. The expression wasn't quite a smile. It was the look of a predator who had just found exactly what he'd been hunting.
He moved. One moment he stood fifteen feet away. The next he was in front of me. The speed stole the breath from my lungs. Suddenly he was close enough that I could smell him—warm male skin layered with something wild and smoky, like cedarwood and embers and something darker underneath it. The scent wrapped around my senses instantly, thick and intoxicating. My mouth watered.
Derek reacted. With a shout, he swung the brass candle holder toward the giant's head. The freaking candlestick. The beast caught it. With one hand. Casually. His massive fingers closed around the brass as if it weighed nothing at all. The metal groaned beneath the pressure of his grip.
I watched in stunned disbelief as the thick candlestick crumpled, folding in on itself like cheap aluminum foil. He dropped the ruined metal to the floor. Then he placed one large hand flat against Derek's chest and shoved. Not violently. Not like an attack. Just a firm, dismissive push. It was still enough to send Derek flying backward across the altar platform.
He crashed through a cluster of decorative flowers, scattering petals everywhere before landing in a tangled, undignified heap several feet away.
The man I was supposed to spend the next six months with. Tossed aside like a toy. I couldn't make myself worry about Derek. The giant was looking at me again. Something in those molten amber eyes pinned me in place far more effectively than any physical restraint ever could. The intensity of that gaze slid over my skin like heat, making my pulse jump and my knees weaken beneath the weight of it. Possessive. Dominant. Absolutely certain. The massive creature stood in front of me, chest rising and falling with slow, controlled breaths, glitter still clinging to his golden skin like strange battle markings.
And then he reached for me.
3
Tori
* * *
His hand was enormous. The size of it shocked me as it moved toward me, fingers thick and powerful, the skin across his knuckles scarred and weathered. Strange patterns marked the back of his hand, dark lines that might have been tattoos… or something else. Something damaged, scarred, rather than chosen. The marks curled across his skin in jagged arcs that hinted at battles I couldn't begin to imagine.
War. Every beast from the show came from The Colony. Veterans of the Coalition Fleet's endless war with the Hive. Warriors who had survived things most humans could barely comprehend. Had he been captured? Tortured? My mind flooded with questions even as my pulse raced faster in my throat. I wanted to know everything about him.
He moved slowly as his hand approached my face, giving me time—more time than he probably needed to. Time to recoil. To scream. To bolt down the aisle and disappear into the chaos now fading around us. I didn't move. Couldn't. A strange certainty held me rooted in place. My body leaned toward him instead of away, my breath catching as his shadow fell over me. I wanted him to touch me. No. I needed to know what his skin felt like.
His palm finally cupped my cheek. The contact sent a jolt through my entire body. Heat surged through my veins like lightning striking water, sharp and electric and impossible to ignore. His skin was hot—far hotter than any human's should be.
Or maybe that was me overheating. Wanting to rip his pants off and have my wicked way with him in a freaking church.
I was so, so bad.
His warmth seeped instantly into my own skin, spreading outward from the point of contact until my entire face tingled beneath his touch.
"Beautiful," he murmured, the word rough and reverent all at once. "Mate." The rough pad of his thumb brushed slowly across my cheekbone. The movement was gentle, almost careful, but I felt the calluses there—thick ridges of hardened skin that spoke of weapons and battles and years spent surviving things that would destroy ordinary men.
I should have been terrified. Any sane woman would have been terrified. So maybe I was insane. So what? I had tried to do the practical thing. I had said yes to Derek when every instinct in my body had begged me to say no. I had tried to be logical. Sensible. Responsible. But part of me had still wanted something more. Wanted to believe in love. In fate. In ridiculous fairy tales and impossible knights who showed up exactly when you needed them.
I had watched every season of Bachelor Beast. Every episode. Every behind-the-scenes documentary. I had read the articles and lurked on the fan forums late at night when I couldn't sleep. I knew about the Atlan Warlords. I knew about their beasts. I knew about mating fever—the biological imperative that drove them to find the one female meant for them. The way the beast chose, and once that happened there was no negotiation. No changing their minds. No wandering eyes. No cheating. The beast bonded once. And that was it. Forever. Obsessive. Protective. Unbreakable.
The enormous warrior standing in front of me had decided I belonged to him. The realization should have sent me running for the nearest exit. Instead, something deep inside my chest stirred awake. Something that had been quiet for a very long time. The same part of me that leaned unconsciously into his touch now, pressing slightly into the warmth of his palm as if my body recognized him before my mind could catch up.
Hope. That ruthless bitch was back, and she was dancing through my bloodstream like tiny jolts of lightning inside my veins.
The feeling was almost dizzying. Like I had just stepped away from an execution I hadn't realized was about to happen. This was impossible. A miracle. I was a nobody. Not famous. Not rich. Not brilliant or extraordinary or breathtakingly beautiful. I was just… me. And yet this massive, terrifying alien warrior had walked into my wedding and looked at me like I was the most important thing in the universe.
"Mine." The word rumbled from his chest, barely audible, a low growl that vibrated through the bones of my skull. But he didn't stop there. His massive body straightened to its full height, shoulders rolling back as if the entire church suddenly seemed too small to contain him. He threw his head back. And roared.
The sound tore through the sanctuary with shocking force. The stained-glass windows rattled in their frames. I felt the vibration in my teeth, in my ribs, in the soles of my feet pressed against the cold stone floor. The roar wasn't just loud—it was primal. Raw. Something ancient and untamed that ripped straight out of his chest. It was the sound of a creature who had searched too long and finally found what he was looking for. The echo rolled through the church like thunder, slamming against the high ceilings and ancient wooden beams before slowly fading into the stunned silence that followed.
Then the panic started. Screams erupted across the sanctuary as guests scrambled from their pews. Chairs scraped across marble. People shoved toward the exits in a frantic rush. I barely heard any of it. Because he was looking at me again.
His enormous hand still cradled my face, his thumb brushing slowly across my cheek in a motion so gentle it contradicted the violent roar that had just shaken the building. His other hand rose. Massive fingers brushed against my hair, carefully catching a loose strand that had slipped free from my elaborate bridal updo. The touch was surprisingly delicate as he tucked the strand behind my ear, his knuckles grazing my temple with infinite care. "My female," he rumbled softly. "My mate. Mine."
