I suck in a deep breath, suddenly overwhelmed at the thought of having to mingle with the wedding guests andwaitto have Emma again—I need her now, I need all of them, or else I’ll climb out of my skin and?—
Emma intertwines her fingers with mine and gives my hand a hard squeeze. I jolt in place, returning to myself. As always, she knew exactly what I needed and gave it to me, no questions asked.
Clearing my throat, I turn back to the witch who has been watching us closely through the exchange of the rings. Now shehas us all hold hands together, in a loose circle, while she recites the final part of the ceremony.
To human eyes, this might be a little strange, us standing there while she drones official words over us, but what she’s doing is far more important. With subtle twitches of her hands, the elderly officiant binds Emma’s ring to ours, extending the protection spells outward. We’ll always be able to sense each other while wearing these, and they’ll work as a network of protection for our entire family, even our children when they’re born.
When the spell is complete, my ring is warm to the touch, throbbing lightly, and if I close my eyes, I can separate the three heartbeats echoing inside it, one for each one of my mates. It’s an enhancement of our mate bonds, which we can only feel when touching individual bites, and only when we’re, well, horny. This spell will allow us to feel each other, always.
From the quiet gasp Emma lets out, I know she feels us, too, and her lips part in awe.
“I now pronounce you husbands and wife,” the witch concludes, and the crowd erupts in cheers.
SEBASTIAN
The wedding is everything we could have hoped for. We left the beautiful clearing to return to our house, where a catering company from Clearwater set up long tables and benches for a gourmet meal. We’d set up a wooden dance floor, and I got to dance with all three of my mates under the stars.
Now the guests are leaving in small groups, driven to Clearwater by a fleet of hired cars so no one has to drive drunkto their accommodations. Emma thought of everything, and she truly planned a masterpiece.
She’ll be able to relax on our honeymoon, though. While we gave her free rein for wedding planning because it meant a lot to her, the three of us arranged our overseas trip as a surprise to her. She’s been trying to figure out where we’re taking her, but so far, we’ve managed to keep it a secret. We’ll even make it a mission to keep her from glimpsing our plane’s destination when we take her to Portland tomorrow for our flight to New York City, from where we’ll be flying straight to Rome for a three-week Italian vacation. I’ve never been to Italy, and I can’t wait to eat my weight in pasta and make love to my mates every day.
Carter hugs my brothers goodbye and receives a series of thumps on his back. My siblings like to play tough, but I saw at least two of them crying during the ceremony. My family is great, and I’m so glad they accepted Emma without blinking.
Speaking of which…
I scan the last of the guests, searching for her. She should be immediately visible, what with her white dress and radiant smile, but I don’t see her anywhere.
Maybe she went inside the house to the bathroom or to change…
Troy appears on the porch and descends the steps, walking straight toward me. “Hey, did Emma find you?”
I frown. “No, I was just searching for her. Did she say she needed me?”
His eyebrows draw together, and he squints at my family, one of the last to be leaving us tonight. “Yeah. Shewasacting a bit shifty. You don’t think…?”
He doesn’t finish the thought, and I’m glad, becauseof courseEmma wouldn’t justleave. But if she didn’t, where was she? She’d been glued to us all evening, as much as we’d followedher around, and I thought we’d get a chance to celebrate our marriage now that the last of the guests are leaving.
Troy closes his eyes and lifts his nose to the sky, sniffing. “I feel her pulse through the ring,” he murmurs. “She’s excited, not scared, so it’s nothing serious, but…”
“Hey, guys.” Carter joins us, having said goodbye to the last of the guests. “Where’s Emma?”
I shrug, worry gnawing at me. Maybe she just got overwhelmed and had to take a moment for herself, but why wouldn’t she tell one of us? We’d give her space, of course, but I’d feel much better knowing where she is.
Then a phone vibrates, and Troy and I turn toward Carter because the sound came from him. He takes the device from his pocket and frowns down at it.
“It’s Emma,” he growls.
Then he turns the phone toward us. It’s a text that simply says,Bedroom.
My heartbeat picks up, all the hairs on my neck standing up. It’s relief and anticipation combined, because hell yeah, bedroom sounds like a great idea.
Troy is the first through the door, racing through the living room and into the hallway. But even as I follow, something seems strange—yes, Emma’s scent is there, and potent, so it hasn’t been long since she’s been here, but I can’t hear anything from the bedroom, and the ring is telling me…
“She’s not here,” Troy declares the moment he enters the bedroom.
Carter and I crowd into the room behind him and stare at the scene in front of us. The window is open, the curtains billowing in the evening wind. On the neatly made bed, Emma’s wedding dress is displayed, set out just so, the skirt smoothed, the bodice arranged artfully on a pillow. Most importantly, her charmnecklace rests on top of the dress, the silver-and-moonstone pendant glinting in the low light.
And next to it, a folded note.
