“I take that as a no and we can use it? It’s Yasmine’s bachelorette party.”
“Do I need to supply strippers? I could arrange for the party room to be available so as not to disrupt the dining room. I might even volunteer for the job.”
“Somehow, I don’t think Kale or Marcus would appreciate the gesture. I like you, Milo. I don’t want to get you killed.”
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“You wound me.”
“Lovers not fighters, remember?”
“Fine. No strippers. And yes, the table is yours as my gift to the bride. Tell her I want a kiss for it, though.”
“If you’re bold enough to stroll up and ask for it, go right ahead. I’m not going to chance it.”
“Oh, a challenge. See you tonight.”
He left me laughing at the dial tone. He probably would show up, if only to be a flirt. I cancelled our original reservations much to the relief of the hostess. I had a feeling Marcus had been none to gentle in his rescheduling efforts and someone else had been shafted to “will call” so we could have their table. Strolling into the kitchen, I smiled at the huge vase of tiger lilies adorning the table. No note, just my favorite flower. Strange how I’d not realized how much I’d missed his little gestures of affection until he was doing them again.
My car was back in its parking spot and the long black car was waiting with the promised chauffeur. Evan smiled at me as he opened the door.
“Good to see you, Evan. It’s been a long time. Change of plans. We’re eating at Carvelli’s and the table is waiting on us, so there’s no agenda.”
“Life hasn’t been very interesting since I stopped driving you around, Destiny. Welcome home.”
I slid in the seat to find my purse waiting on it. I’d left it at the rehearsal dinner. Apparently, my car wasn’t the only thing that had been brought home. Fishing out my cell phone, I cleaned out the missed calls and voicemails while the car maneuvered through traffic, cringing when Frank LeCroy’s voice came on the line. Our vampires had intercepted him before he was actually in danger.
“No fair,” he said. “You had all the excitement without me. You still owe me the favor for my help and I intend to collect. Oh, one more thing. I’m glad you’re okay.”
It was still intimidating to come up the driveway to Kale’s family home. Maybe that was the reason I’d stopped visiting Yasmine here. No, it might have been a contributing factor, but the real reason I’d stopped was because she was forming the family bonds we had both whispered and longed for as children. It was a sobering realization. I vowed to do better.
Yasmine was running down the steps when Evan opened the door for me. Her hug was fierce and I knew someone had told her more than they should have. Pushing her back, the tears in her eyes brought tears to my own.
“None of that. I’m fine. And it’s a night of celebration. Tomorrow, I get to hold the flowers and watch you throw your life away on some mangy mutt.”
“I heard that.”
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I turned to find Kale coming down the steps much more decorously than his bride had. I blinked and took a good, honest look at him without the prejudice of the threat he’d always meant to me.
The colors he wore advertised bold and dangerous. He certainly was both. A deep dimple in his left cheek gave him a boyish quality that spoiled his rugged looks, but it didn’t detract from the cloud of power that moved with him.
“I meant it too. Just so you know. But if she had to run out and find a werewolf, at least she found a good one. And don’t worry. I cancelled the strippers. It’s dinner and then back to my place.” My teasing tones made both of them look at me sharply. I was normally much more acerbic to him. I had a lot to make up for.
“Then I leave her in your hands. I know you’ll keep her safe.”
He stepped up behind Yasmine and rubbed her arm until his hand rested on her shoulder. She reached to take it as she leaned back against him. She looked so happy.
Kale’s sharp inhalation of breath followed by the narrowing of his eyes told me he smelled Marcus on my skin despite the second shower and perfume. I started to say something, but movement at the top of the stairs attracted my eye.
Luke stood there with his hands shoved in the pockets of his new jeans. His gaze was wary and he was sporting a black eye he had been missing when he’d left my place. The pieces fell together and I knew where Yas had gotten her information. I nodded in acknowledgement. He responded in kind. Neither of us made any effort to get close enough for a conversation. It was time for Yas and I to go, anyway. At least that’s what I told myself as I put on the happy face and turned back to the werewolves.
“Now, we’re off to dinner. You boys have fun and don’t call us if you get thrown in jail for it.”
Yasmine laughed, but Kale scowled as he let go of her hand so she could step away from him.
Evan handed her into the car and I followed. From the one-way privacy glass, Kale watched the car pull away through the back glass. Yasmine was looking over her shoulder too. For better or worse, there was love here. When the gates fell away from our gazes, she turned back to me with a penetrating stare.
“The vampire.”
It wasn’t a question.
“The vampire,” I confirmed.
“Do you love him?”
“Yes.” No hedging. No qualifiers. A simple one-word answer. It was an improvement.
I met her gaze levelly and waited.
“He risked his life for you so I suppose he loves you too. I’ll make you a deal. You start cutting Kale some slack and I’ll do the same for Marcus. I know he’s a good man, but it takes more than a good man to be worthy of my sister.”
Her fierce declaration made me smile and tears sprang to my eyes. Too many things had happened over the last twenty-four hours to keep the emotions at bay. Trying to laugh it off, I waved my hand over my face and resorted to teasing.
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“Stop. I’m actually wearing eye makeup. Don’t make me cry even if I did skip the mascara.”
She jumped from her seat to mine and pulled me into her arms. Everything that had happened washed over me and her arms gave me the one haven I could break down in. I couldn’t have stopped the tears if I had tried. By the time we reached Carvelli’s, my makeup was washed away and Yasmine’s royal blue shirt had tearstains on the shoulder. She refused to get out of the car until she fixed her makeup, so we waited on the bride, blocking Carvelli’s covered entrance.
When we emerged, people were staring, obviously expecting a celebrity. The disappointment on their faces made us both grin and toss our hair back. The staff greeting at the reception desk had people whispering behind their hands trying to figure out who we really were. The host sprang from his perch with delighted greetings and well wishes for the bride, taking us back to our table himself.
At the table, two waitresses brought extravagant bouquets of flowers and two long velvet cases.
Confused, we opened them and gasped in tandem. A double strand of gold pearls nestled in silk was held in place by a handwritten note in hard card stock.
Just a little something I picked up for you.—M
“Wow.” Yasmine set her case gingerly on the table. “They’re beautiful. But it’s too much, Destiny. I know you had that big case, but I can’t accept this.”
I blinked and turned her case to read the note holding the alabaster strands in place.
Every bride should have pearls on her wedding day. It’s Destiny.
I laughed and pushed my case across the table for her to read. Her confused gaze only made me laugh harder. It struck me as I wiped the tears from my eyes that I had laughed more in the course of this afternoon than I had in the last year. It made my face hurt, but my heart sang.
“I’ll fill you in later, Yas. Trust me, take them. There is probably a chest full of them in the vault around here.”
Milo didn’t put in an appearance through dinner, but our glasses were never empty, our plates full of delicious tidbits. Dessert was a special white chocolate torte with raspberry sauce and chocolate doves flying over it on little wire stands.
It was almost too beautiful to eat, but we looked at one another before digging in. By the time our tongues were tired and our bellies beyond full, the restaurant was beginning to look empty.
Reluctantly, I signaled the waiter who had been serving us.
“Check, please.”
“Compliments of the house, Ms. St. George. Mr. Carvelli insists.”
With a flirtatious wink, he went back to the shadowed corner he had loitered in.
“Well, you’ve made all sorts of interesting friends, haven’t you?”
Yasmine grinned at me over her glass of sparkling cider. I shook my head and told her the story.
By the end of it, her eyes were wide as she stared at the box holding the strand of pearls.
“How did we not know they were here?”
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“You tell me. You’re supposed to have the nose for it.”
She grimaced and shook her head. “Pregnancy hormones have finally blunted the nose. I suppose I should be grateful. I don’t get as sick this way.”
I cringed and patted her hand in sympathy. Gathering up my purse, I dug out a fifty and tossed it on the table with a grin over to our server. Yasmine sighed as she drank the last of her cider and rose to go.
“Kale’s going to be mad we ate here before he did. He’s always trying to get a table and never quite manages it. Now I know why.”
Compliments and farewells to the staff made leaving a drawn-out affair. By the time the car was sliding toward home, I was tired. Yasmine was too, but she had one parting point to make about my relationship choices before she was willing to give it up.
“Marcus won’t give you babies, you know.”
I was too tired to go through all the revelations about the difference between born vampires and created ones, so I let it go. Instead, I reassured her as best I could.
“He makes me happy. I want what you’ve found. There’s no guarantee we will have that, but I have to try.”
She looked at me and nodded. Thankfully, she let it drop.
Evan delivered us to my door with the promise to be there when we were ready to go to the ceremony. Yasmine walked into the apartment ahead of me and flopped on the couch.
“Forgive me, but I’m not up for a long conversation night. I seem to be tired all the time. The doctor says that it’s the baby.”
I smiled at her. Truth be told, I was exhausted, even though I’d gotten my nap. I tipped my head to the bedroom door.
“Go on to bed. There are clean sheets on it. I’m going to make a call before I turn in.”
Yasmine stood up and stared at me for a moment. “Invite him to the wedding. We’ll be glad to have him.”
I gaped after her for a moment. Her voice drifted back through the door and I knew she was talking to Kale on her cell phone. Before I had a chance to pick up my phone to call my own lover, it rang.
“Hello, beautiful. Am I interrupting?”
“I was about to call you. We’re turning in early. We talked ourselves out over dinner.”
“Evan called in to report you were safely delivered at home. Did you have a good time?”
“Yes. It’s been too long since we’ve done this.”
I sat on the couch, curling up against the soft leather. It was nice to simply listen to him breathe over the phone.
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“I’m glad. Do you need anything to prepare for tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” I grinned as I waited a heartbeat before continuing. “A date. Yasmine has issued a last-minute invitation for you to come to the wedding. Want to be seen with me in public?”
“I would love to be seen with you. Pick you up at eleven?”
“Perfect. Wear comfortable shoes. There’s dancing involved.”
We said our goodnights with the ring of his laughter in my ears. Yasmine and Kale were still talking when I went into the bedroom to get a pillow and blanket to bed down on the couch. Luke must have done his job well if they were already home from their own party. Of course, for all I knew, the party was at the house in another room. It was certainly big enough for it.
Sleep came easily and my dreams were pleasant though I didn’t remember them at dawn.
***
Yasmine made a beautiful bride. I managed to do my part and not drop her obscenely large bouquet of calla lilies while handing her the platinum ring she had picked out for Kale. I even managed to walk down the aisle on Luke’s arm and refrained from stomping on his foot in the receiving line.
It was a fairy-tale day. Everyone laughed at my toast to the happy couple like I was actually funny, which I know is a lie. Marcus was there to take me from Luke as soon as the members of the wedding party were free to dance with someone other than the person paired with them by the bride.
A nod from Kale’s security manager told me Yasmine’s things had been put in the car, which totally relieved me of all the obligations of the maid of honor except one. When she changed, she would leave the dress for me to have cleaned and that was it. It was almost too simple. Her mother-in-law and married pack females were waiting to take her upstairs to see her off on her honeymoon. As an unmarried woman, I’d been politely told it was pack tradition for the married women to impart advice before the newlyweds escaped.
“You’re beautiful.”
Marcus’s whisper was hot against my neck as he held a champagne flute for me to take. Taking it without turning to look at him, I leaned against him and whispered back, “You’re just trying to get lucky.”
“Is it working?”
“Guaranteed.”
He laughed and slid his hand around my middle. Together, we watched the wedding guests in companionable silence. Across the room, Yasmine was being hustled up the back stairs. Her gaze searched and found mine imploringly. Grinning, I raised my glass in salute and stayed right where I was. It was her pack now. Their traditions were hers. Time she and I both began to respect them.