His brow smoothed, and he nodded back, then exhaled and turned back to the little center aisle Jay had arranged between the chairs.
The music switched to something I recognized from human movies over the decade and a half we’d been in the human’s world, and there was an air of expectation. More than a few of the humans in the audience twisted in their seats to stare behind them.
It was then that I realized Jay—or someone—had set up lit torches leading back toward the dunes. They made a pathway someone could follow, in addition to the light from the full moon.
I sensed movement behind all the sea oats, and then two figures stepped around the dunes and into the moonlight. One was a lady I didn’t recognize, wearing a simple white sundress. She was clutching a flower in one hand, and her other gripped the hand of a boy smaller than Jay.
Well, since he was human, he was bound to be smaller than Jay. But this kid looked like he’d be smaller than Jay even if he was an orc, was my point.
She looked terrified, frankly. The kid looked thrilled.
Beside me, my brother shifted, and I sensed his ease with this decision. Who the fuck married a female they didn’t know, just to help out her son? Noble fucking bastard, like I said.
I was in the middle of scoffing when the air shifted again, and my gaze jerked up.
Because there was a third human stepping out from behind the dunes. Her curves had been poured into a sleeveless purple dress, and her hair was up in a bun instead of curling around her shoulders, and she was clutching a flower instead of my skin…but I recognized her.
I’d recognize her in mysleep.
Jocelyn.
Pretty sure I stopped breathing.
Jocelyn was here, and I could see her.
A sense of calm settled over me as I forgot about everything else—my brother, his bride, this wedding—and kept my gaze glued on her. She was here, on Eastshore Isle, and suddenly, I thought maybe I could believe in the gods after all.
They’d brought her back into my life.
In my chest, my heart hammered against my ribs and myKteerpaced restlessly, and still I watched her.Eagerlywatched her touch her fingertips to the back of the bride’s hand, exchanging whispers, before stepping into the torchlight and lifting her chin. One last almost-worried glance at the bride, then she began to walk.
Down the aisle.
Toward me.
My nostrils flared, dragging in her scent, as my eyes tracked her like a hunter.
Hunt. Catch. Fuck.
I told myself it was just my body reacting to the memory of her in my bed.
Hunt. Catch. Fuck.
I wanted her again. Hells yes, I wanted her again. And now I had the opportunity to catch her again.
Fuck her again, if I was very lucky.
She was barefoot, just like me, and I don’t know why that eased the band around my chest a little. I just knew thatseeing her step past that back row of chairs with her head held high madeprideflare in my chest. I was proud of her, and that made fuck-all sense.
I inhaled again, wanting to burn this moment into my memory.
And then she met my eyes.
I knew the moment she recognized me—something hot and electric flared between us—because her eyes went wide in surprise, and she stumbled sideways.
Jocelyn
Eastshore Isle was just adorable,and I could see why Kesha had planned a vacation here. I mean, now she was getting married andstaying, and I didn’t know anything about the guy, so I wasn’t about to pass judgement on him…but I could pass judgement on the island, and so I decided it was adorable.
