Page 144 of Devoured

Unless our plan works. Unless we can stop this in time.

The crowd parts for her, but I forget to move. I forget how to work my feet under her sudden stare. She turns to look at me, and it’s as if she’s walking down this aisle toward me instead. My mate. The words smoke like wildfire through my mind, through my bones, and her gaze widens as if she knows what I’m thinking. As if she might be thinking it too. The scent of her wraps around me. Caramel. Lavender. That faintest hint of cherries, of mortality, of warmth. It’s how she tasted too. I will always remember that.

But she isn’t my mate. She will be Sinclair’s.

She is Sinclair’s.

And I will always be just one moment. Just one kiss. Just one night.

My pulse roars as I step away from her. But—she lingers. For one second. For two. She stares at me, those soft lips slightly parted, her skin gleaming with golden symbols and whorls. Her gaze searches mine as if she has something to say. We can’t speak, however, not with hundreds of eyes on her, so I merely incline my chin, turn my gaze to the grass, and let her go. It kills me. All of this kills me.

Her expression shutters before she focuses on the arch. Focuses on Sin.

A small breath flees her. Wistful and worried and afraid. But she can do this. I believe in her. I have always believed in Vanessa Hart. When the others pushed her around, when they underestimated her, I knew she was a threat.

She glides the rest of the way down the aisle with perfect grace. When she reaches Cora, as instructed, she drops into a low curtsy. Then she turns to her future mate and smiles.

I would have painted my entire world with that smile if she had just let me.

“Shall we begin?” Cora asks.

Vanessa and Sin nod in unison.

I don’t want to watch this. Regardless of our plan, I can’t watch her move closer to him. I can’t watch them take each other’s hand. Sin rubs tender circles on her palm to ease her nerves. Vanessa bites her lower lip. The crowns on their heads are matching. They look perfect together.

Fucking perfect.

Cora weaves a long black sash around their arms, fastening their hands together, before reading the eternal vows of werewolves. I catch words here and there, all ones I’ve heard a hundred times before: eternal love, joyous union, a true binding of life until death, but I haven’t really listened to them until now. Vanessa and Sin gaze at each other, and it’s no ruse at all. Sin looks at Vanessa as if she’s caught the moon and gifted it to him in her hands. Vanessa looks at Sin as if he’s her every dream come to life.

And I? I might be sick.

I should have told her. I shouldn’t have been such a goddamned coward, and I should have told her that she is more than just my nightmare, my every waking fear, my ghost. I should have told her that she’s my sun too, and my sky and my horizon. I should have told her in that shack that when I look at her, I see the world in a new light. I see possibility and hope.

If we make it out of this, I think fiercely, then I will.

I’ll tell her I don’t hate her, even after all her cruel words, because I understand her. And I think she might be the only person on this Earth who understands me. I’ll tell her that murdering her best friend is the worst thing I’ve ever done, and I wish I could have traded places with Celeste. Just for Vanessa, I would have done it.

I think I would do anything for her.

“I will love you until the sands vanish from the shores, until the sun burns out of the sky, until the stars fade and night echoes for eternity. I will love you, Sinclair Severi, and on this day, forevermore, we shall become one. I, Vanessa Serafina Severi, take you as my mate.”

Her voice, her vows, rupture through my veins.

Vanessa Serafina Severi. Sin’s mate.

No. This will end before that. I clench my jaw until my teeth crack, and a hand brushes my shoulder. I jerk my chin to the left to see Evie patting my arm. She studies me carefully, realization dawning in her gaze. But there is nothing to be done, so she turns back to the ceremony. And so do I.

Sin’s voice deepens with emotion, with some sort of unspoken plea, as he says, “I will love you until the sands vanish from the shores, until the sun burns out of the sky, until the stars fade and night echoes for eternity. I will love you, Vanessa Serafina Severi, and on this day, forevermore, we shall become one. I, Sinclair Severi, take you as my mate.”

There. That’s it.

The signal.

I loose a ragged breath and glance toward Portia in the crowd. But she doesn’t look at me. Instead, she pointedly avoids my gaze.

“Fantastic,” Cora drawls, pure maleficence in her voice. “And now, to join our bloodlines eternally, you may take her hand, Sinclair, and bite.”

My stomach clenches as I glance at Evie. As she too refuses to meet my gaze.