Natalie called Tessa twice for advice on my make up. I’d told her in no uncertain terms I wanted to look as natural as I could.
When she was finished on my face, I found myself blinking into the mirror and stunned… because I still looked like me. Just better.
“Wow.”
Natalie smiled as she tugged a brush through my hair and got started with a hot curling iron. “That’s what he’ll say,” she quipped.
I snorted, my cheeks flushing, though the makeup hid a lot of it.
My head was swimming. Natalie had admitted she was teasing a little bit about the claiming, but she had explained—a wolf mar
~ RIG ~The drive to the cottage for the ceremony was pure torture. We knew we were probably being watched, so Natalie had to ride in the front with me, while Cara sat in the back. She’d put herself behind the passenger seat, so at least I could look at her in the rearview mirror. And every time I did, she was already looking at me.Mack was miserable. He barely spoke for the whole hour, leaning his elbow on the door and staring out the window, tension in every line of his body. Natalie was babbling, which was unlike her.I wondered if she was nervous, or angry about the days to come when they’d be thrown together.I sent up a little prayer for my brother that Natalie would let her walls down. That the drive home would be a lot happier for all of us.
~ CARA ~I had been so impatient, rushing through Natalie fixing my hair and touching up my makeup, I hadn't even taken the time to really look at the house or anything on our way through it. There was a humming, driving tension in my body. I needed to be close to Rig. I could feel him nearby, but it wasn't enough. So when Natalie finally put the comb away and smiled at me, "Okay… time for the dress," I froze.How had I forgotten about the dress? We'd gone shopping the day before and after the first two hours, I had despaired. Every little boutique Natalie dragged me to, every tiny hidden designer corner was full of stunning dresses that I could have seen Natalie carrying off any day of the week. But every sparkle and seam made me feel like the dress was wearing me, instead of the other way around.Even when my fr
~ RIG ~“I’ll go first,” I said to buy myself time, which was completely redundant. I could feel Mack shaking with restrained laughter behind me, but I put it out of my mind—slammed my mind closed to him and Natalie.I was only sharing this moment with her.When I looked down for a second to try and clear my mind, Cara’s fingers tightened on mine, and it made my heart sing.That was the point, right?Right.“Cara…” I started slowing, clearing my throat. “I’ve been waiting for this day my whole life without even knowing it. When we met, I didn’t know what I needed, so I didn’t know what to ask for, or e
~ RIG ~‘We’re coming down,’ Natalie’s voice was surprisingly thrilled in our heads. Me and Mack looked at each other, then hurried out onto the deck where John was organizing his papers.He’d worn a simple, gray suit as I’d asked him to, which was a relief.Mack and I had opened the broad, French doors that led from the living area out to the wide deck at the back, so when Cara came down the stairs she’d see all the way through the stone-walled cottage and out…The doorway and exterior roof outside dangling tendrils of ivy.Thick, gray beams of the deck.
~ CARA ~Rig was so freaking adorable when he was trying to make me feel good I didn’t know what to say. Everything he’d said was so beautiful—and blunt. I felt like it was impossible to say anything that was going to make him feel the way he’d made me feel. But then I took a leaf out of his book.I’d just speak the truth, and to hell with whether it sounded pretty. If it was true, it had meaning.I looked up into his incredible eyes, took in the sheer beauty of him with that sharp jaw and dark hair falling over his forehead and shook my head.A tiny shadow of doubt crept into his eyes then, but I smiled and the sun came back out.“When we met I thought you were someone else,” I sa
~ RIG ~I hadn’t even thought about what to do when we were officially married. Hadn’t considered what those moments would be like—all of us just standing there…Cara and I couldn’t take our eyes—or our hands—off each other.I was so desperate to be with her, to be alone, for a minute I was scrambling, searching frantically for a way to steal her away alone. But I couldn’t. Not yet. They’d be out there, dad’s spies. I was certain of it.I needed to get all of us out of here and to the Cabin. We couldn’t be safe until we were there.So it was an exercise in sheer will to thank John and spend a few minutes getting his instructions about getting the marriage c
~ CARA ~The house was insane—calling it a cabin was a joke. I might have accepted “lodge.”Tall and imposing, surrounded by clusters of massive, mature pines on both sides, the roof rose in one massive peak, but was peppered with other eaves and dormer windows.It was three levels of wood and stone, exposed beams and hardwood floors scattered with thick furs and rugs.When we walked in the front door it felt like walking into some kind of hotel—massive and echoing, but warm. The wood floors and huge central stone fireplace that was open on both sides and had a river rock chimney that rose all the way up the three levels to the ceiling. Met on one side by the second and third levels, but leaving the open plan living, kitchen, and dining on the grou
~ RIG ~This kiss was far too hard. Too demanding. But I was struggling, and to my eternal delight, Cara seemed just as needy as me.When I pulled her face up and took her mouth, she came up on her toes and fisted the front of my suit as she met my kiss stroke for stroke.She tasted like sweet mint. Then, as I tilted my head to deepen the kiss, she sucked in a breath and arched her back, pulling me against her and my wolf howled.Finally, finally.Her touch stroking up my chest, then back down, the way she slid her hands under the suit jacket, then up to my shoulders to push it off.I let my hands drop and swing back so it could fall to the floor. They were trembling when I