Chapter Three

Airen's POV

 

I tried not to laugh at the murderous glare Rachel sent me as her mother embraced her. I knew Carlotta would never let up or that we could never tell her the real reason why the ceremony was so rushed. So I decided to appeal to her sense of self-decency and the idea that her reputation as a mother could potentially suffer.

"Oh, my dear! Why didn't you tell me!?" Carlotta exclaimed as she pulled back to look at Rachel's very non-pregnant stomach.

 

"She wanted it to be a surprise. But with you being adamant about moving the wedding back I figured you should know." I interjected before Rachel could tell her mother that I was a complete liar. Which I was, but telling her would ruin the whole point of why I told the lie in the first place.

 

"Well now that I know, of course, you can get married tomorrow, darling! Of course, I still wish you had waited, oh but I'm so excited!" Carlotta pulled Rachel into another hug while Rachel rolled her eyes at Carlotta's delusion that she needed her permission to get married.

I tried not to laugh again when Rachel threw me another dirty look.

"Oh! I must go and start making a list of things you'll need! I can't wait!" Carlotta said as she hurried off.

"Momma!" Rachel called but it was too late. Carlotta was gone.

Rachel whirled on me and pointed a finger at me glaring.

"Really!? I'm pregnant!? That was the best you could come up with!?" She scolded.

I shrugged.

"What? You told me to talk to her."

"Yes, talk! Not lie! Now, what am I going to do?" Rachel groaned.

I shrugged again.

"Nothing. Just enjoy your wedding."

Rachel glared up at me again.

"My mother may be an airhead but I think she'll notice if I don't have a baby in a few months."

"Then tell her you miscarried. Or, if you want, tell her the truth."

"You know I can't do that." Rachel sighed.

I gave her a sympathetic smile.

"It was genius, really. I just wish I'd thought of it." 

"Hey, we can't both be the genius."

Rachel rolled her eyes at me.

"Plus, it's my job as maid of honor to come up with the solution to any disaster that arises," I said proudly hooking my arm through hers.

Rachel shook her head and pulled me back toward the living room.

"Come on, we should go check on the guys out back."

Rachel's backyard was huge. Her house sat on a hill so the backyard had a gentle slope to it leading down from the porch to a large green area where there were chairs, a fire pit, and a table. A few large oak trees stood in the backyard providing shade from the hot sun. There were several white Christmas and fairy lights strung up in the trees for the ceremony.

At the bottom of the hill, two large men were working on setting up the ceremony setting. It would be at the foot of the hill, just under the largest oak tree. Large and very heavy benches (I know, I helped move a few last week) made out of pure oak wood would act as the seating. Green leaves and vines and white flowers had been used to decorate the benches and the white lattice work archway that acted as the altar.

 

I watched as the two behemoth men each picked up a bench as though it weighed nothing, lifted them over their heads, and moved them to a different spot. I blinked rapidly. I knew personally just how heavy those benches were. It had taken two full-grown human men to move one and it had taken solid effort on both men's parts. These two were just swinging the benches around as though they were regular folding chairs.

If I didn't know already that Rachel's mate, Cade who was one of the behemoth men, was a werewolf, this would be a dead giveaway.

Cade was huge, over 6'5, and was built out of pure muscle. He had red hair to match Rachel's (their kids have no chance), and blue eyes. He had a few freckles, but not at many as Rachel.

I figured the other man was a werewolf too since he was a little smaller than Cade and he was still swinging the benches around as though they weighed nothing.

The second man stood tall, about 6'4 or 6'5 from where I was standing. He had large bulging muscles that made my heart skip. He had dark tanned skin and from the looks of it dark hair. I couldn't tell since both men wore hats.

I didn't know if they were making fun of the fact that we were in Texas or not, but either way, they looked damn good.

Both men wore a pair of jeans and boots and a black hat. That was it. They were both very shirtless.

I could tell Rachel had noticed since her face was all red again, though it was hard not to notice.

 

I frowned. The man working alongside Cade seemed familiar, but I didn't know how or why. While I was trying to figure it out, the winds changed.

 

When we had stepped outside there was a slight breeze and we had been standing downwind of the two men. But now we were most defiantly upwind.

The moment the winds changed the second man froze, dropping the bench he was holding.

He whirled around so suddenly that I gasped in surprise.

Then I recognized him.

Dread and apprehension churned in my stomach as my eyes widened.

Charging up the hill toward me was Johnathan.