Brayden shrugged off his suit jacket and then his button-down shirt until he stood in just dress slacks. The room got ten degrees hotter as I stared at his naked chest. It looked like it was chiseled from freaking stone. The eight names on his arm made my stomach tighten.
“Good luck,” Leah said, leaning forward to give him an impromptu hug.
My nostrils flared as I swallowed a growl. I no longer cared if Leah was Lena, Brayden wasmine. I found him first, I kissed him first.
He. Was. Mine.
If the crowd thought I was Lena, then what I was about to do next would shock no one.
Stepping forward, I reached out and wrapped my arms around Brayden’s neck, pulling his lips to mine. We crashed together and a moan ripped from his throat. Our lips immediately parted and my tongue sought his with a desperate need.
I’d come to one conclusion about this entire situation.
Screw Lena.
If we were never going to find out who she was, then I was going to live for now, and right now my heart was saying it wanted Brayden. The way his tongue desperately stroked mine, his fingers cutting into my sides, he wanted me too. Forget what I’d said before about needing to let him go, I needed to go after him and claim him.
“This is what he is fighting for, folks!” Lynette’s voice boomed throughout the room and we broke away, panting. “True love!” Lynette said. “If Brayden loses again, like he did last year, his soulmate goes to live with Silas for an entire year.Her last year alive.”
A reverence descended over the crowd for a moment, then it erupted into clapping as everyone rushed towards the betting station. We broke away and my gaze flicked to Leah to see hurt splashed across her face. I wanted to feel bad, but I didn’t. I was playing Lena tonight, and I felt like Lena inside.
Leaning into me, Brayden brushed his lips over my ear. “I choose you too,” he whispered, and my knees went weak. Pulling away, he held my gaze and it felt like time stopped. I just stared into his icy blue eyes, confirming that he felt the same way about me as I did about him. Fate be damned, we chose each other, and it was the best feeling in the world.
With a last look, he turned from me and walked towards the cage that Silas was in.
I choose you.
Those words looped in my head until I felt so light I thought I might fly away. He didn’t know if I was Lena or not and he chose me. Somehow that was more satisfying than if he’d blindly chosen me based on a recollection of memories.
“Bring the rings!” Lora shouted from the stage, and two fae butlers came out of nowhere holding fancy silver plates with a golden ring on each.
There was a commotion behind us. I spun just in time to see another, very small, five-foot square cage descending from the ceiling.
“That’s for us,” Maddy said, and my heart dropped into my stomach.
When the metal cage landed on the marble floor with a clink, the door popped open. Two more butler-like fae moved out of the crowd and stepped towards us, and I noticed the long swords hooked to their hips.
Maddy stepped into the cage, and after Leah and I gave each other an uneasy look, we followed. The moment the cage door shut, we were pulled up and suspended ten feet in the air.
I turned to Leah, not wanting anything to fester between us. “Sorry I—”
“You’re Lena tonight,” she said curtly, and gave me a small hurt smile.
Tonight. Just tonight? She clearly hadn’t heard him say he chose me, and now wasn’t the time to talk about it. I nodded and then peered through the bars and watched as Brayden slipped the ring over his finger. The second he did, the cage we stood inside glowed with an ethereal blue light and there was a sudden pressure on my skin.
“He’s now linked to us, taking our strength and rapid healing,” Maddy said.
I watched as the cage with his sister and Mary and the dozens of other pack members glowed blue as Silas put his ring on.
I frowned. “But Silas gets the power ofallof them?” I whispered, looking at over sixty pack members.
Maddy nodded. “And he is given power from the Fae Lords. But Brayden still beats him every year.” She grinned.
“Except last year,” Leah confirmed.
Maddy nodded, sighing, and then looked at me. Her eyes went down to my necklace. “Thisyear will be different,” she said, her eyes widening a little to let me know what she meant.
Me. I was the difference. Just ten percent of my Greywolf power was going to help him? I sure hoped so. Because I didn’t just find him, choose him, in order to lose him now.
