“I, Leviathan Cross, have taken Naphele Talbot as my mate. From now and for eternity, she will be mine, and I will be hers,”Levi said, his bold, powerful voice ringing through the clearing. “May no man or woman break what fate has brought together. May no enemy or friend ever be more important than the love we share.” He turned to face me again. “Naphele, I ask that you be my mate, and in return you shall have my soul forever and always. Do you accept?”
“I do,” I murmured.
Taking a breath, I raised my voice to be heard by all. I repeated the words Levi had spoken. “Do you accept?”
“I do,” Levi said, and smiled at me.
The head elder stood and raised his hands toward the sky, looking toward Levi and me. “As head elder of Idlewild, and with the power vested in me by the pack and by fate, I present to you Leviathan and Naphele Cross.”
“I swear tofuck!I am done with this bullshit!”
“June, wake up,” Levi hissed.
Unable to tell what was real and what was only in my mind, I smiled dreamily at Levi as love for him filled my heart. All that slipped away as I realized who’d spoken. Anders.
He stalked forward, fury blazing in his eyes. Then I realized I was still holding Levi’s hands. I jerked away quickly.
“Anders, this isn’t what it looks like,” I said. “We were?—”
He shook his head and snarled. “Every goddamn time I come in here, I find you two together.”
“Anders, it was just?—”
“Shut thefuckup!”
“Watch your damned mouth, you little fuck,” Levi said, pulling his shoulders back and glaring at Anders. Levi stood a good three inches taller and outweighed him by at least twenty pounds. Regardless of the disparity, Anders looked shocked that Levi would dare say anything.
Looking at Levi like he was something nasty on the bottom of his shoe, Anders chuckled ruefully. “What? Did you say something, Leviathan? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of you trying to get your dick wet in my mate.”
“You need to think long and hard about the way you talk to me, son,” Levi said, his voice low and threatening.
The tone sent a chill up my spine, and panic flooded my mind.
“June,” Anders barked. “Get outside. You sit on the curb like a good little girl and wait for me. Got it?”
I sighed and reached for him. “Anders, please, let me explain?—”
Anders grabbed my wrist and yanked me forward as hard as he could, making me stumble and nearly fall.
“I said get the fuck outside!” he screamed, eyes wide with fury.
Seeing Anders manhandle me did something to Levi that terrified me nearly as much as the anger Anders was showing. Levi lunged forward, growling loud and deep enough that it rattled my own chest and reverberated through the room. He slammed his hand down, knocking Anders’s hand away from me.
Moving with a speed and grace I hadn’t known he possessed, Levi shoved Anders in the chest, his eyes shimmering with barely contained rage.
“You don’t fucking touch her,” Levi said, his voice low and shaking with seething hatred. “No one touches her. If I see you lay a finger on her again, I will end you.”
Anders flinched back from Levi’s fury, but he quickly recovered and glared up at Levi.
“Oh, I’m gonna like kicking your ass,” Anders said, and I could see the wheels turning in his mind, thinking of the bestway to attack. They were going to fight. Right here and now, and I wasn’t sure if either of them would make it out alive.
“Stop!” I shoved myself between them, pushing Anders away with my back, and Levi with my hands. “I’ll go, okay?” I yelled, turning to Anders. “Let’s go.”
Anders’s body hummed with tension, vibrating with desire to fight, but he didn’t try to push around me and attack Levi. He took a few steps back and nodded slowly to himself.
“Okay. Sure. Yeah,” he muttered. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” He sneered at Levi. “It smells like shit here anyway.”
Levi made to go after Anders, but I held up a warning hand as I guided Anders toward the door. “No. You stay here. It’s fine,” I said, ignoring the longing, anger, and sadness written on his face.
