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“Dude, what the fuck?” Luna snapped, fury bright in her eyes. A sharp edge to her scent denoted how pissed off she was. “You’re not invited to this event. You need to leave.”
“My sister invited me.”
I might’ve felt bad for Ted if he hadn’t been about two seconds away from causing a scene at my brother’s wedding.
He argued with Meg until the alpha said my name, and I stepped forward on instinct, wrapping my arm around Ted’s shoulders to escort him back to his hotel room.
He went without a fuss and once we were on the elevator, he turned to me. “That alpha girl is scary. Don’t get on her bad side.”
I had no intentions of doing so. Ignoring his statement, I said instead, “Remind me what room you’re in.”
Ted shrugged and took another swig of his champagne. With a sigh, I pulled out my phone and called down to reception, letting them know I had a wedding guest with me who had forgotten his room number. I didn’t relish having to dig through a drunk man’s pockets for his hotel key, but I eventually got Ted settled, ordered him some room service, and filled up two glasses of water to leave on his bedside table for the hangover I could only assume he would be nursing come morning.
By the time I returned, they had moved on to the bouquet toss and Luna caught the flowers out of the air with a whoop of joy.
“Next up is the garter toss,” said the DJ. “Let’s get a chair out there for the bride and groom.”
I tried not to look too closely as my brother got his hands under Allie’s skirt. When he eventually held the garter in the air, the crowd cheered.
“All right, you know the drill!” The DJ’s voice boomed over the speakers. “Single alphas, and any remaining single betas on the floor.”
Meg grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me onto the dance floor, situating me toward the center. Before I could protest, the garter landed right on top of my head.
My brother spun around to see where it had landed, letting out a snort-laugh. “You’re up next, Lulu!”
Embarrassment flooded my system, and I groaned, removing the garter from my head. I tried not to think about any of the symbolism of Luna being the bouquet catcher.
I was about to step off the dance floor to get myself a drink but then the DJ announced, “There’s one more step to this tradition, folks. Our garter catcher has to put it on the bouquet catcher!”
Aw, fuck.
My cheeks burst into flame. As much as I wanted to get my hands on Luna, I didn’t want the first time to be in front of an entire crowd at a wedding. Luna didn’t seem nearly as affected as she sat down in the same chair Allie had used, spread her knees, and crooked her finger to summon me over.
Holy shit.
I followed like a hooked fish, sank to my knees before her, and took the offered foot she stuck out toward me. The red of her shoes matched her dress. I looped the garter around her ankle, feeling the heat move from my cheeks to my entire body as I did so. I couldn’t look away, Luna’s ocean eyes holding me captive as I inched the garter up her leg. More muscle than I’d expected flexed under my touch. She’d never mentioned if she did dance, but she definitely had calves like I’d seen on ballerinas
It was impossible to miss the soft hitch of her breath when I settled the garter snugly on her thigh. We both stayed frozen for a moment, until the clapping from the crowd jolted me, and I whipped my hands away, stood quickly, and offered my hand to help her up as well.
Dinner being served gave me some time to regain my composure. By the time we’d finished eating and guests were filtering back onto the dance floor, I’d been stuck in a cycle of remembering her comments, boosted by the knowledge of what her skin felt like. I absolutely shouldn’t be thinking about her the way that I did. The thoughts came unbidden, and were made worse by her agreeing to dance. I’d already danced with several guests, plus an obligatory dance with most of my relatives.
Sidney and Allie had departed for their wedding night a little before midnight, leaving the rest of us to dance the night away.
“Luca.” My name was soft on Luna’s tongue.
“Yeah?”
“Offer still standing?”
“Oh, yeah, of course it is.” My heart flipped dangerously as we wove through the crowd and over to the bar where Luna got herself a glass of water. Navigating into the hall cut off the raucous sounds of the reception hall, bringing us into silence by comparison.
“Would it be bad if I asked you to distract me?” she said softly, not quite looking at me. I hadn’t expected any shyness from her since I’d never seen it before.
“Distract you how?”
The answer came when that absolute goddess of an omega rose up on her toes and kissed me so fiercely that fireworks went off in my brain, my whole body tingling from the rush of endorphins.
“Don’t tell anyone, okay?” I pulled Luca into the coat room and that adorable beta followed me like a wide-eyed puppy.
