Chapter Thirteen
The ceremony is outside. Greg always said he wanted to get married with the lake as his backdrop, back when that sentence was supposed to involve me.
Now it involves Charlotte, plus about a hundred guests arranged in white chairs on the lawn, and a string quartet playing.
Broven and I find our seats toward the middle. I smooth my green dress over my knees and look straight ahead.
Greg appears at the end of the aisle. He looks at his guests, and when his eyes land on me, they stay for just a second too long.
He takes in my green dress, then takes in Broven beside me, which takes slightly longer because there’s more of Broven to take in.
Something moves across his face that he covers quickly with a smile.
Ha!
Charlotte appears at the top of the aisle. We all turn, and she really looks gorgeous. The good thing is, I feel absolutely nothing except Broven’s warm body beside me. Caring about Greg and the lies he told everyone about me seems like a lifetime ago.
The officiant begins, and I genuinely mean to listen, but at some point I get completely lost in my thoughts.
Broven’s not listening either, although he’s great at pretending. His head is angled forward, but his eyes keep sliding sideways to me.
Charlotte laughs at something the officiant says and the guests laugh too. I’m half a beat behind because I wasn’t listening.
Broven takes my hand in his, and traces a slow line across my knuckles with his thumb, reminding me of how he circled my clit last night.
By the time Greg and Charlotte say their vows, I genuinely couldn’t repeat any of the words they used. I know they said them, because they’re declared husband and wife and everyone is clapping for them.
We get up and head to the reception in the main hall of the lakeside estate. I look around the room. I actually did it. I walked into Greg’s wedding looking like my life is going extremely well, with an enormous green orc who looks at me like I’m the only person in the room.
“Daisy.”
I turn. It’s Mona, from the rehearsal dinner, pulling her husband Paul behind her. She looks genuinely delighted to see me.
“You look stunning. Green is definitely your color,” she says with a wink.
“Thank you.”
“And you…” She looks up at Broven. “You’re even more impressive in daylight.”
“Mona, please,” Paul says.
“What? He is. There’s nothing wrong with saying something truthful.” She turns back to us. “How are you enjoying the wedding?”
“It’s beautiful,” I say.
Mona asks me more about Daisy’s Scoop Shack, and Broven gives Paul a few handy tricks for their attic renovation. By the time they move on, the reception is in full swing.
The music starts up, and Greg begins circulating the room. He comes close to where we’re standing twice, but finds a reason to move on both times. I guess he doesn’t want to get anywhere near Broven.
“You’re staring at him,” I say.
“I’m aware of him,” Broven says.
When the band shifts into something with an actual beat, people start drifting toward the dance floor. Charlotte pulls Greg by the hand. They look easy and natural together on the floor. I watch them for a moment and feel nothing except relief that I got out when I did.
“Dance with me,” I say to Broven.
He looks at the dance floor and laughs. “I don’t dance.”
“Everyone dances.”
“Well, I don’t.”
“Broven, please?”
He looks at me for a long moment, then holds out his hand, admitting defeat. “Only because I’d do anything for you, Daisy.”
He pulls me onto the dance floor, and it’s immediately clear he usually never does this.
“You’re terrible,” I say with a laugh.
“I know, but this is worth it, because I love seeing you laugh.”
Okay, my legs are turning into jelly now. Where has he been hiding my entire life?
He dips me low, holding me steady with his big hand splayed across my back, and kisses me. Then, he leads me away from the dancefloor onto the stone terrace overlooking the lake.
“Daisy, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Oh?” I ask.
This sounds serious. And slightly ominous too.
But before Broven can tell me anything, I recognize the expensive scent of Greg’s cologne. I turn around.
“Daisy, can we talk?”
“I was in the middle of a conversation, Greg. Can we talk later?” I ask, even though I have no desire to ever talk to him again.
He glances at Broven, his eyes skating over the sheer width of his shoulders before snapping back to me. “Or now? Privately. Just for a minute.”
“Whatever you want to say, Greg, you can say it in front of Broven.”
Greg clears his throat. “I just wanted to make sure there are no hard feelings about how things ended between us. I know it was incredibly hard for you at the time. I know that it took you a long time to get over us ending things, and I also know today must’ve been hard on you too.
I just hope you can someday find it to forgive me for breaking up with you. ”
And there it is. The rewrite. Slipped in gently, the way he always does it, an easy little lie to make himself the main character of my life. Two days ago, it would have stung, but tonight? It just feels pathetic.
“It wasn’t, actually. I ended things. I was entirely fine these past couple of years, Greg. And I’d appreciate it if you stopped spreading lies about me. You cried and begged for months. Not me. Anyway, congratulations on the wedding. Charlotte seems lovely.”
Greg’s face contorts and turns an ugly red. He opens his mouth to scramble for another lie, but Broven steps forward before he has a chance to.
Broven places a heavy green hand on the small of my back. He doesn’t look at Greg. He looks down at me.
“You’re wasting your breath, Daisy. Let him keep his stories. It doesn’t change what you are to me.”
Greg blinks. “Look, man, I don’t know what she’s told you about our history, but—”
“I don’t care about your history,” Broven cuts him off, his voice dropping into a low, predatory tone. He finally cuts his eyes to Greg, his expression cold as ice. “She’s my fated mate. The universe picked her for me. You were just a mistake she made before I got here.”
Greg goes completely white. He stares at Broven, then looks at me. The words fated mates hang in the air like a solid brick wall.
We all know that there’s no arguing with an orc’s claim. It’s absolute and forever and…
He says I’m his fated mate.
Greg swallows hard, and realizes he has lost completely. Without another word, he turns on his heel and retreats back inside the glass doors.
The terrace goes dead quiet.
My heart is hammering so hard against my ribs I’m certain Broven can hear it. I turn to him while my mind keeps racing over the words he just used.
“Fated mate?” I whisper, my breath hitching. “Broven, what did you just say to him?”
He steps even closer, his massive chest crushing the front of my green dress, and traps me against the stone railing.
“I meant exactly what I said. Orcs don’t guess about these things, Daisy. We get one person. Absolute. Certain,” he adds with a growl.
“But the fake dating…”
“Was never fake. Scent recognition is immediate. The second I stepped past your shop door, the air changed. My blood changed. I knew exactly who you were to me.”
I think about Willa on the phone on Friday, her voice buzzing through the speaker: Orcs have fated mates, Daisy. You could be Broven’s. I thought it was a joke. I thought it was a fantasy.
“You knew. The whole time. From the very first morning.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me? Why go through the whole show with the wedding?”
“Because you were guarded,” he rumbles, his large hands coming up to cup my face, his thumbs wiping across my cheekbones.
“You were hurt, and you were looking backward. If I told you what you were to me the moment I stepped inside your shop, you would have run. You needed to get here yourself. I wasn’t going to rush you.
It had to be your choice. Your realization that we truly, undeniably belong together, Daisy. ”
“That’s.” I shake my head. “You’re incredibly patient.”
“For you?” Broven dips his head and his tusks brush my skin. “I’d wait a lifetime, Daisy. But I’m done waiting.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to answer. His mouth crashes down onto mine, and this time, there is not a shred of patience left in him. It’s a hard, hungry, possessive kiss that sends pure heat straight to my pussy.
I grip the lapels of his tux and kiss him back as the muffled wedding music fades completely into the background.
When he finally breaks the kiss, his breathing is ragged. He locks his large fingers around mine and leads me towards the side path of the estate, completely bypassing the crowded reception hall inside.
“Broven? Where are we going?”
He stops for a split second, bends down, and throws me over his shoulder with a growl. “Back to our room, Daisy. I’m locking that door, and I am making you mine for real.”