Others started walking into the room and helping themselves to food and drinks, and I dropped the Virtual Haven subject. Hearing Kyle’s voice in the front room, I forced myself to stay in my chair. I wanted to see him. Gods, did I want to see him. I wouldn’t have thought being away from him for a single night would be so difficult, but we almost never spent nights apart, and we were getting married.
Married! I should have been right by his side every second since the gathering attendees left, but instead, he’d decided to do things this way. Sometimes, he had brilliant ideas. This wasn’t one of those times.
Apparently he thought so too, because after a while, he came into the dining room looking sheepish. “We aren’t supposed to see each other before the ceremony.”
“Bullshit,” I snapped.
He laughed. “Okay, fine. Let’s say we won’t see each other in our tuxes before the ceremony, then. Meanwhile…” He sat beside me and took my hand. “We’re still doing this, right? You didn’t decide to back out?”
“I proposed to you.” I fingered the titanium ring he wore on his left hand, the one that matched mine. We’d taken them off for the hunt, of course, since there was no way for them to fit on a wolf’s paw, but we’d put them back on as soon as we were able. “Have you decided to back out?”
“You’re the one who proposed, but I think I was the one who started bringing up getting married.” He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. We’re going through with it.”
“You’d better.” Suzannah had entered the room behind him and stood with her hands on her hips. “With everyone here and all the money you’ve put into making this happen, it had better happen.”
“Yes, Suzannah.” Kyle grinned up at her. “You just want to make sure you still get to be the best person. Or person of honor, or whatever we’re calling you.” Kyle and I had chosen Suzannah to stand with us because she was close to both of us, having become my confidante while I was Alpha of Boston North and being Kyle’s first friend in Boston when he moved a few months before he was changed. Since Garrett said we needed two official witnesses, we’d asked Kirk to stand with us too.
“You’re calling me Suzannah.” She rolled her eyes. “Okay. I’m going to go get dressed. You two should probably do the same. T minus one hour until the ceremony starts.”
“Shit.” I stared at the clock on the wall. I’d lost track of time. And Kyle’s parents and sister hadn’t shown up yet, though I’d gotten a heads-up that Mandeep had left for the airport to pick them up a while earlier. Hopefully their flight hadn’t been delayed.
“Come on, fiancé.” Kyle stood and pulled me to my feet. “Let’s get ready to put on this show.”
We dressed in the same rooms we’d slept in the night before. When I went downstairs, ready to go to the back lawn where the ceremony would occur, Kyle was nowhere in sight. But seven humans, looking extremely confused, were.
I’d only met Kyle’s parents, sister, and niblings once, shortly after he and I got together. They lived in Pennsylvania, not far from Zane’s home, so paying them a visit while we were out there for the first regional gathering of our life together had made sense. I’d broken our laws to allow him to see them, but I’d felt like he deserved it.
Now they stood here, surrounded by people they’d never met and who they would never know were werewolves. When I approached, relief washed over his mother’s face. “Tobias. It’s good to see you again.”
“You too, Hillary.” I smiled at them. I assumed the man beside Kyle’s sister Amy was her husband, who hadn’t been present during our visit. Kyle had told me he’d never really gotten along with the guy, though I could understand why Amy hadn’t wanted to come to the wedding without him. The three children standing nearby, whose names I had to think about to recall, had grown in the past two years. Greg, the youngest, actually looked like a kid instead of the just-past-infant he’d been back then. All of them were dressed up, looking uncomfortable. I didn’t know how to fix that. “Jim. Amy. And…?”
“My husband Stuart,” Kyle’s sister Amy said.
“Stuart. Nice to meet you.” I held out my hand. Stuart shook it, followed by Kyle’s father Jim. “Thank you all for coming. Kyle will be so happy to see you.”
“Don’t understand why he couldn’t have come to see us sooner,” Kyle’s father Jim huffed. “What is there, a law against traveling between Massachusetts and Pennsylvania?”
Since there was, in fact, a law, I decided not to answer that. “There’s just been a lot going on. I’m sorry he hasn’t been able to visit you.”
“Who are you?” Michael appeared beside me, startling me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Trey standing nearby. He must have sent Michael to put the kids at ease. “I’m Michael.”
“Sophie.” Sophie had grown from a four-year-old to a sturdy six-year-old who was as tall as Michael. “Jasmine.” She rested her hand on her sister’s shoulder. The smaller girl swatted the hand away. Sophie lightly bapped her little brother on the head. “Greg.”
“Want to come play?” Michael gestured toward the lawn. “We can’t get messy, but at least we can run around or something until the grownups make us sit down.”
“Can we, Mommy?” Sophie looked up at Amy, whose blond hair was swept to the side. Kyle’s sister could have been a model if she’d wanted.
“Go ahead,” Amy said. “But when Uncle Kyle comes down, you need to come say hi to him.”
“Okay.” Sophie looked toward the edge of the lawn. “Race you.”
She took off running before Michael could respond. With a shrug, he followed, with the two younger kids right behind him.
“Mom?” Kyle’s stunned voice came from behind me.
I turned. He looked completely gorgeous in the light blue tux he’d picked out. He’d wanted a white tux to complement my black one. I’d convinced him that was a little too much, so we’d compromised on the pastel.
He wasn’t smiling. His eyes were wide, and I was pretty sure a tear ran down his cheek. Not the impression I’d wanted to make.
