“You’ve shown me what I do want, Mason Quinn. You’ve made me trust again. If you weren’t here, beside me, getting up in my grill and showing me I could believe in the possibility of being happy, really happy, I would’ve probably sworn relationships off forever after finding out the truth about him. If I’d found out. Maybe I was meant to find out who he really is. Maybe I was meant to find you. If I hadn’t, I probably would’ve been none-the-wiser and gone ahead and married him and then got dumped once he got his inheritance. Or struck dead by lightning because of the cursed ring. I don’t know. And frankly…” I lift one shoulder and let it drop. “I don’t care, really.”
The intensity in his eyes has me self-conscious. And suddenly it hits me how very forthright about my emotions I was just being. That is so not like me.
“What do we have to eat?” I ask, deflecting, “I’m starving.”
“Nuh uh. Not so fast. I’m starving, too. For you, my mate,” he says and then he lifts me up into his arms.
46
Amelia
Meat-scented smoke billows from the barbecue Jase is manning on the concrete patio that runs along the back of Tyson’s house. Lincoln and Greyson stand with him, all three with beer bottles in hand and I’ve already teased that no matter the occasion, when there’s a man at a grill he needs moral support in the form of buddies standing beside him with beers.
Tyson is on a porch swing on the opposite end of that patio, Ivy on his lap and they’re whispering to one another. He’s shirtless, in swim trunks, and my sister looks happy and sun-kissed in her swimsuit with a mesh cover-up. It feels like summer today and when Mom and I got here, we actually couldn’t find them. We later figured out they were gone swimming and while it's extra-warm out I can’t imagine the river wasn’t at least a little bit chilly. Then again, my sister always got her polar bear patch every year at summer camp, for taking a six o’clock dip every morning. I never once got that badge. Not that I cared about the patch. I more cared about the older male camp counselors and finding ways to get their attention, which wasn’t difficult since I was an early bloomer and in a bra by eleven years old.
Since nobody answered but the door was unlocked, Mom took me on a tour of their beautiful house while we looked for them (being extra loud in case they were ‘busy’.) The patio door was open, letting the sun in and there were towels and suntan lotion on the patio, so we figured they’d just gone for a walk and got down to the business of organizing some of the wedding stuff, which was in the dining room.
Mom spotted them swimming back from the waterfall about half an hour later while we were elbows-deep in wedding favors spread out on their huge dining room table. My heart flared at the sight of them walking hand in hand toward the house, smiles on their faces and love in my sister’s gaze. Based on the way my sister was behaving, I suspect they were going at it hot and heavy back there on the rocks by the waterfall.
“Hi! You’re here,” she greeted and threw her arms around Mom, then me.
“You’re soggy,” I remarked.
“You’re early,” she replied.
“Mom picked me up at the clinic a little while ago.”
“Hello ladies,” Tyson greeted.
“Hey,” I said.
He kissed Mom’s cheek and then patted my head affectionately, which struck me as unexpected, but I gave him a smile.
Tyson disappeared, then, saying he was going with Greyson to pick up his suit for tomorrow and would be back shortly.
The past few hours were the Brennan girls setting things up for tomorrow and chatting about Mom’s dating life, about Ivy’s wedding tomorrow, interspersed with them asking questions about me and Mason. I haven’t bothered to say anything to Mom or Ivy about the drama with Rick. I don’t want to overshadow Ivy’s wedding day; I’ll fill them in later.
And now, the food is smelling good, there are lots of people around, and everything is done for tomorrow between what we’ve done here and what a handful of the women from the pack have done to get the town hall ready for the reception.
I feel warmth on my face and realize Mason is watching me smile at my sister and her man. Mason is at the tall wedding arch that someone dropped off with the tables and chairs. We’ve already decorated with white fake flowers and the occasional purple bloom. Mason and Joel are currently weaving string lights through it.
The ceremony happens at dusk here tomorrow with about a hundred guests and then the bride and groom as well as the rest of us are heading through the village on foot to the town hall where the reception is happening with the rest of the pack. Everything was going to be done here, but there was a last-minute change, because the guest list is so large and also because the alpha council wanted the event split up for security reasons. Four hundred and some-odd more people will be joining for the rest of the celebration at the town hall. My sister’s wedding is going to have more guests than mine would have. And I’d bet people will have a whole lot more fun, too. In addition to everyone in Arcana Falls being invited, Cat said some alphas and their top beta pack members from several other packs as well as some security detail are also factored in.