17. Pomegranate – Meaning Elegance Good luck Good things Marriage Paradise Prosperity
17
POMEGRANATE
(GARNET APPLE, GRENADIER)
MEANING: ELEGANCE; GOOD LUCK; GOOD THINGS; MARRIAGE; PARADISE; PROSPERITY
OCEAN
________
“ F uck.” The word came out as a whimper.
“You’ll thank me later,” Laura said, pulling the corset laces so tightly I was practically seeing stars. Not to mention I’d barely eaten anything, so I was already lightheaded.
“No,” I rasped out. “I don’t think I will. I don’t think I’ll thank you for anything ever again.”
Her only answer was to tighten the laces again before tying them off, and for a moment, the pain was blinding. Still, I recovered enough to stand and face her. “Half the reason I’m doing this is to get away from you. I hope you know that, and I hope you know that my mother would be ashamed of you and how you’ve treated me.”
Laura’s hand twitched, and I knew she was itching to slap me. She’d never crossed that barrier—because she knew it was one she could never come back from—and she wouldn’t do it now and risk being found out.
“If you’d shown me even a shred of kindness, Laura, then maybe things would be different. But whatever comes on you after this, that’s your fault.”
“You still have obligations. You promised to get us information on this new pack of yours, and you better deliver.”
I smiled. “I’m well aware of my obligations, aunt.”
At this particular moment, I didn’t feel like mentioning that the papers I’d signed made no mention of spying on my new husbands, so I didn’t have to do shit.
Someone knocked at the door, and I looked over. “I need to get ready now. So please, get the hell out.”
She stomped past me just as Geneva opened the door and let in my friends, barely missing my shoulder in the process. Trinity watched her retreating form and lifted her middle finger to her back.
“Rin,” I said, smothering a laugh.
“What? Bitch has been asking for that for years.”
I shook my head and sat down at the vanity provided in the bridal suite. The one thing I hadn’t been consulted on was the venue. Even for men as rich as the DuPonts, there were only so many venues with an availability for a wedding on such short notice.
That being said, the hotel was beautiful. I hadn’t seen the ceremony space or the ballroom, but from the way Geneva’s eyes sparkled, I could only imagine what I would find when I walked down the aisle.
The aisle. Nerves clung to me and I couldn’t seem to hear anything while the women Geneva hired did my hair and makeup. Isolde seemed to know them, and I tuned back in when someone asked me something. “What?”
Isolde looked at me. “I said I was going to try to get you in for a photoshoot. Erin and Monica are the ones who did my hair and makeup for my photoshoot with Hawk.”
“Oh.” I met their eyes in the mirror. “I’m sorry. I’m… distracted.”
The one doing my hair laughed softly. “You’re fine, girl. I get it. But you’re actually about done.”
I looked at myself, and I’d zoned out so completely I hadn’t noticed their handiwork. My hair wasn’t that long, but it fell in lovely curls, with some of it pinned back, framing my face prettily. My makeup was subtle, but I loved that they’d emphasized my eyes. I felt pretty .
“Wow. I?—”
The hairstylist put her hand on my shoulder and smiled. “We’ll give you guys a minute.”
The door clicked shut behind them, and I stared at myself in the mirror. I was really doing this. And in spite of everything—how much I needed this and how much I needed to get out—I was still scared.
“Ocean?” Trinity asked.
“What if they’re not as nice as they seem?” The words slipped out of me and suddenly they couldn’t stop. “What if I’m about to make it all worse? What if they see me tonight and decide they don’t want me after all and everything falls apart? I can’t?—”
“Hey.” Isolde crouched in front of me, her deep green dress pooling on the floor. “Take a breath for me, all right? Everything’s going to be fine.”
“You don’t know that.”
She smiled and glanced over at Rin. “You’re right. I don’t. But what I do know? Is that I just spent far too much time telling myself that things weren’t real and that it was all going to end, and look how it turned out. Ocean, you are the one who pulled me out of that spiral. You got me to take a chance and come out of my shell for the guys even when I was terrified, and now I’m going to do the same for you.”
“But it isn’t real.”
Nodding, she took my hands and shrugged. “I know. But it’s real for now, and if you can, I want you to enjoy it. They chose you for a reason. And if they do anything to hurt you, I now have five men who will gladly kick their asses, no matter how much money they have.”
Rin appeared at my shoulder before reaching down to grab my hands. “You can do this,” she said. “We’ve got you.”
My breath still came in sharp gasps, but I nodded and let them help me stand, and then help me get into the dress, followed by the cape. It was so much better than in the store because this one fit me perfectly, and even though I was still terrified as I looked in the mirror, I looked like a dream.
“I never thought I could look like this,” I admitted.
It was never active thoughts that prevented me from thinking about it, it was simply reality. Fat girls didn’t look like this. They didn’t get the prettiest dresses or underwear. We took what we could get.
Part of me never wanted to take the dress off.
“You look incredible,” Isolde said. “If they don’t want you, then they’re fucking kidding themselves, because they’ll never find anyone better.”
I blinked tears away from my eyes before I ruined my makeup. “Thank you.”
A soft knock on the door came before Geneva poked her head in. “It’s time.”
“We’ll see you out there,” Trinity said, squeezing my hand.
I buried my fists in the lace of my dress. My heart was pounding out of my chest, and I still couldn’t believe I was actually doing this. Profound grief struck me in the heart. It wasn’t real, and I knew it, but I wished Mom and Dad were here to see me.
They would have been happy. At least, I hoped they would.
“Okay.” I took a deep breath and steadied myself. I could do this. I could do this. I could do this.
Geneva handed me my bouquet, all purple, blue, and white flowers. Floriography, like any language, verbal or non, needed context to be understood. A single flower could have any number of meanings. But when you paired them together, that was when they truly began to speak.
I’d given in to my romantic and hopeful side when I chose the flowers. Purple lilacs for first love. Forget-me-nots for faithfulness. Hyacinths, which spoke of true love and said ‘I am looking for romance.’ Eternal love was spoken for by baby’s breath and white roses, which also meant ‘to be worthy.’
“How you holding up?” Geneva asked from behind me where she was holding the train of the cape so it didn’t get caught on anything.
“Nervous,” I whispered. “Really, really nervous.”
“If it makes you feel better, every bride I’ve ever worked with has felt the same. You look beautiful, and even though you haven’t seen them, your fiancés are nervous too.”
“Really?”
She laughed quietly. “Really.”
I wasn’t sure it was a good thing that it made me feel better, but it did. At least I wasn’t alone in this.
There were no bridesmaids. If I’d had them, it would have been Rin and Isolde. So the only person walking down the aisle was me.
In front of the gilded double doors, Geneva arranged my dress so it fell perfectly, double checked where my hood touched my hair, and arranged the train. “Perfect.”
“If I pass out, make sure I’m covered when the dress splits.”
“You’re not going to pass out,” she said. “You’re going to be just fine. I promise.”
I looked at her. “Thank you for everything.”
“My pleasure.” She nodded toward the doors. “You’re on.”
Two hotel employees opened the doors in front of me, and it was a struggle to keep my mouth shut.
Flowers overflowed. Everywhere there could be flowers, there were flowers. Purple petals scattered down the white aisle. They draped over the edges of chairs, creating a barrier between me and our guests. Behind the officiant there was an arch of flowers that matched my bouquet. There were formations climbing up the walls, and I had no idea how. Candles dotted the room, almost making the flowers glitter. Everything was that shade of bluish purple I loved so much. Even the vests of the men I was about to marry.
My breath caught in my chest as my eyes caught up to themselves and I saw them . All three of them, staring at me like I wasn’t real. Like I was a ghost, and they weren’t sure if they’d dreamed me up.
I managed to take one step, and then another. Cameron smiled at me, and it made breathing easier. They all smiled. They were so fucking gorgeous. This had to be a dream.
Surely, I got hit by a car and this whole situation was a coma hallucination. Because three Alphas who looked like that couldn’t be waiting at the end of the aisle for me.
For me .
No matter if it was arranged or for our convenience. This didn’t happen to girls like me.
But Micah stepped forward and took my hand, helping me up the short steps to stand across from them. He lifted that hand and kissed the back of it. Everett stepped forward and did the same. Then Cameron. And when his lips left my skin, I was pink with heat.
Every time I was near them I was reminded how good they fucking smelled. Like standing in the middle of your favorite perfume. Drowning in it.
“You all right?” Micah whispered.
“I think so.”
A half smile. “Us too.”
The female Alpha standing next to us—they told me her name was Raina—raised her voice to the crowd, and everything began.
I couldn’t listen. Not really. I was hearing her voice and what she said, but my eyes were on them. Taking in their faces and their expressions.
“Do you, Alphas, take this Omega to be your wife?”
“We do.” They answered together. Absolutely sure.
She looked at me. “And do you, Ocean, take these Alphas to be your husbands?”
I wished my voice was as sure. “I do.”
“Then repeat after me.”
They made their vows. The ones we’d all heard a thousand times before in the movies and at our friends’ weddings. Most people could probably recite them by heart. But they felt different when you were the one speaking them. When they were being spoken to you .
I never thought about the intimacy of to have and to hold. Or the long reaching meaning of in sickness and in health .
For a year. We were vowing these things for a year. I needed to remember that and not fall into their eyes.
“The rings,” Raina said, and panic struck me. I didn’t have rings for them. She extended her palm, and the three rings were there. Each one a little different from the others. She took my bouquet in her other hand to help me.
Micah picked up a gold band and handed it to me. “This one is mine.”
“Thank you.”
His hand steadied mine as I slipped it on him, fingers brushing my hand as he pulled away. Everett’s ring was brushed silver, and Cameron’s was rosy and copper. I smiled at the way they fit each of them, and they were smiling back. Suddenly, this felt different, because we were in this together.
We were together.
Cameron took a ring from his pocket and stepped forward. White gold. A little band with stones. I nearly gasped. Opals? The ring curved like it was incomplete when he slid it on my finger.
It was Everett who completed it, a ring with a purple, oval stone that settled right in the curve of the opals like it was meant to be there. And Micah completed the set with another simple band. Three rings.
Three rings that fit my fingers. Sleek and simple. Beautiful. I loved them. And when I looked up at Micah, I couldn’t read the expression on his face.
“You may kiss your bride.”
My whole body froze.
Somehow, in the chaos of getting to this point, I hadn’t thought about it. We were going to kiss in front of everyone. I didn’t think I’d ever wanted anything more than to feel them kiss me, though I wished we didn’t have an audience for it.
But I was reliving those moments with Micah in the study before we were interrupted. He was going to kiss me then, and this time, there was no stopping it.
When his lips met mine, time slowed down. One hand slid behind my neck, guiding me closer. Micah tasted like he smelled. Sweet and rich and overwhelming. It was over too quickly, and I couldn’t breathe fully. He’d stolen all my air and I could barely open my eyes before Cameron kissed me.
This kiss was playful and light. Joyful. Insistent and powerful. And too fucking fast. I needed more. Fuck the audience and the clapping I heard from somewhere outside of myself.
Everett’s kiss was pure sin. Ice with a sliver of darkness and dominance. But such sincerity, I craved more. If they were serious, and they wanted this to be real, then I would make it real because nothing had ever felt like this. I’d never been kissed like this. Hell, these kisses were better than most of the sex I’d had in my life.
My body followed him when he pulled away, like it couldn’t bear to be separated from him even a little. “We made it,” he whispered.
“Yeah.”
He slipped my arm through his, and I couldn’t stop smiling as we all retreated up the aisle together, because we’d done it. I got married, and now I was almost free.