Chapter 6 - Emma
“And you just need to put on these bracelets and this necklace, and you should be good to go!” Rachel placed the necklace over my head and slipped the silvery bands around my wrist.
“You look gorgeous!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands together as she stepped back.
“You really do,” Mom said.
To my surprise, there wasn’t a hint of animosity or a hidden barb in the words. I gave my mother a cautious look, but she glanced away and busied herself with putting some makeup back in the bag.
“Thanks,” I said as Rachel ushered me over to the mirror.
“See for yourself!”
I turned to look in the mirror and blinked. Over the years, I had grown more confident in my body and in my looks, though my chubby figure still bothered me with obnoxious regularity. I would sometimes wear baggier clothes to hide some of the worst of my flab.
This dress did the opposite. It hugged my figure, accentuating every curve.
Instead of looking repulsive as I had expected, it complemented my body.
The low-cut V did nothing to hide my breasts, and the way it clung to my hips left little to the imagination.
The white worked with my freckles (though Mom hadn’t been a huge fan of the color, considering Grace was living proof I wasn’t a virgin).
The necklace and bracelets, traditional jewelry for the luna to wear during the ceremony, glinted silver whenever I shifted my weight.
“You guys did a good job,” I said in what might as well have been the understatement of the century.
“Damn right!” Rachel said.
“I’m going to make sure Grace is ready,” Mom murmured as she finished packing her things.
I pursed my lips, but said nothing. Part of me didn’t want my mother anywhere near Grace after everything that had happened. Except I had seen that she genuinely seemed to want to get to know her granddaughter, even if Dad had no interest.
“No worries!” Rachel said. “I’ve got it covered in here.”
Rachel waited until the door closed behind my mother before going over the finishing touches.
“Are you nervous?” Rachel asked, fixing my veil.
“A bit,” I admitted. Something about Rachel made it easy to open up to her. I didn’t feel like I had to be ashamed that I was anxious, or that everything that had happened in the past week was so overwhelming that I could barely keep track of it all.
“Don’t be,” Rachel said. She hesitated, biting her lip as she glanced around, even though we both knew we were alone now.
“Look, I know that Elias can be…well, Elias… but he’s not that bad when he’s not trying to be tough for the pack.
I don’t think you really get just how our dad sometimes treated us, but it was worse for Elias.
Just give him some time to adjust to everything. ”
“I know how to handle Elias,” I said, without realizing I was going to say it.
Rachel cracked a grin as she made some final adjustments. “And that’s why I think you were fated to be his mate all along,” she said. “I know that you’re going to be good for him. Just give him a bit of time. He won’t admit to it, but he’s adjusting to the new situation just as much as you are.”
“I don’t really know him well enough to tell one way or the other,” I said absentmindedly. “Though I guess I will soon enough, once the mating bond snaps into place.”
“If it’s worth anything, I’m glad it’s you instead of someone else,” Rachel said. “I think you’re going to be a much better luna than any of the other girls in the pack.”
“I never wanted to be luna, though,” I said. “I never cared about it.”
Back when I was in love with Elias, I wanted to be with him because he was Elias, not because of his station. Honestly, I would have preferred it if he hadn’t been slated to become alpha.
“Which is one of the reasons I think you’re perfect for it,” Rachel said. “Way too many women have gone after Elias over the years, at least in part because of his station.”
That shouldn’t have made me jealous. But it did.
“Believe me, you’re way nicer than any of them,” Rachel said as she helped me slip into the high heels. “I can’t tell you how many of the girls who came sniffing around were deliberately rude to me because, well…” She shrugged, trailing off.
She didn’t need to elaborate. I knew through the grapevine that she’d had similar issues to me growing up. She had never been seen as particularly strong. But she was sweet. And that, to me, was far more important.
“They’re idiots, then,” I said.
Rachel flashed an appreciative grin that turned conspiratorial. “Elias thought so, too,” she said. She made one final adjustment to my makeup, then lowered the veil.
“Right!” Rachel clapped her hands together again, eyes sparkling. “It’s showtime!”
***
I never expected the wedding march song to sound ominous. But when it started up, a sliver of dread buried itself in my chest. I sucked in a deep breath, fingers tightening around the bouquet.
The sun shone down overhead. The short aisle ended at the oasis.
Dad was standing next to me, preparing to walk me down the aisle, even if I would have preferred him not to.
Right now, I wish that Grace or Rachel were standing next to me.
But Rachel was already standing up at the altar in the maid of honor position, and Grace had just finished scattering rose petals as she made her own procession as a flower girl.
At his gentle but insistent tug, I followed Dad’s lead.
Everyone stood as we walked. I felt dozens of eyes on me as what felt like the entire pack watched my agonizingly slow and yet too fast descent down the aisle.
Elias stood at the altar, his expression unreadable, but the sight of him took my breath away.
When I was younger and still in love with him, I had imagined what he would look like in a tux on our wedding day.
But my wildest imagination couldn’t have pictured just how good he looked now.
The suit was perfectly tailored. The crisp lines suited his V-frame, doing nothing to hide his bulk or muscular physique and somehow enhancing it.
The dark color matched his hair, and the deep blue bowtie brought out the myriad of blue hues in his eyes.
He’d groomed his shaggy hair so that his locks were more defined and sleek.
Freshly shaven, his jaw looked even more square than normal, his cheekbones even more defined.
Despite myself, I couldn’t keep my eyes away from him, as if he were a magnet drawing me in.
And the way his gaze locked on me, something burning behind it, set my entire body aflame.
He had looked at me like that before, in his bedroom all those years ago, and it elicited the same response now as it did then.
Finally, we reached the end of the altar, and I heard everyone sitting behind me. Dad extracted himself without so much as a reassuring squeeze as he departed to sit with Mom.
I had been so engrossed in Elias, despite myself, that I barely noticed the other people standing there.
Six elders, though I could only remember the names of three: Thaddeus, Dorian, and Romulus, all in red robes that made them look like cardinals.
And the Oracle, in elegant grays that should have been unflattering, yet also looked perfect on her.
Her hair was bedecked with beads and dangling wolf pendants.
The elders studied me with cautious appraisal, though based on the expression of most of them, I didn’t meet whatever bizarre standards they expected.
I doubted they had been particularly pleased when the Oracle named me as their destined luna.
Still, regardless of their thoughts on the matter, each bowed to me with deference, even if reticence lurked in their eyes.
After a moment, Romulus and Thaddeus stepped forward, and the ceremony began. Their words were a blur, and everything seemed to rush past as I waited for the ending. I could feel the entire pack’s gaze on me, and I wanted nothing more than for this to be over as soon as possible.
“Elias, do you take Emma Mayberry to be your mate, and the pack luna?” Thaddeus finally asked.
He stared down at me, his gaze pinning me in place, his expression inscrutable. “I do,” he said.
“Emma, do you accept Elias Thorn as your alpha and your mate?”
Not take, accept. Something about that reminded me I had far less agency in this than Elias.
“I do,” I said.
“And do you accept your position as pack luna, and agree to fulfill your duties to the best of your ability and to work selflessly for the betterment of the pack?”
When I had imagined my mating ceremony when I was a kid, it had never been like this. Yes, it had always been Elias standing across from me in my dreams. Yes, it had always involved my becoming luna, because Elias was always going to be the alpha.
But I hadn’t pictured a small daughter out of wedlock next to me.
I hadn’t pictured being dragged from my life and forced into the ceremony.
I hadn’t expected the frowning, unimpressed elders staring at me, waiting for me to say the anticipated words.
I hadn’t pictured an unsmiling Elias, who looked just as happy about the situation as I felt.
And I hadn’t pictured that I wouldn’t have a choice in any of this.
“I do,” I said.
Elias bent down. Instead of his lips going to mine, they went to my collarbone. I braced myself for what I knew was about to come. The mating mark, the one that would bind us together forever.
I had expected the pain. I hadn’t expected the rush of electricity that flowed through me when he bit into my skin.
I sucked in a breath, and I realized the rush of exhilaration flooding my veins wasn’t entirely my own.
I could sense his own need, his own urgency, in my mind, filtering in and blending with my emotions.
His hands on my arms tightened as he pulled me closer, tighter against him.