The power in his voice forces my heeled foot forward, and I find my pace beside his as we meander up the aisle to the music.
“If you look to your left, you may find a present,” he says under his breath conversationally. If anyone was watching, they’d think he’s trying to calm my nerves or tell me how much he loves me.
I know better.
My head turns as if in slow motion, and his other hand grabs my bicep to steady me when I trip. I feel as if I’m in a horror movie of my own making, and there’s no fucking way out. Verona sits in the pew, her red hair peeking out from underneath a heavy hood. It may be cool inside the church, but she would never wear something like that in the summer. Not to mention, it’s black.
The oddest things fill my mind as I stare at her, soaking in every detail. Her hand presses against her side as she twists to gaze at me, tears streaming freely as she silently sobs.
No one pays her any attention, and it’s as if she’s a ghost. I can’t feel anything from the bond, even though she’s clearly hurt somehow.
“Shhh,mia figlia.Let the sedative I gave you give you comfort. Allow it to numb you or all feelings as you do your duty for your family. I had my men looking for her, and they found her sleeping on the street in an alley last night. How the mighty have fallen. Anything could have happened to her, and I chose to pick her up to allow you to see her one last time. Aren’t I a good father?”
I barely feel the tears as they escape my eyes, keeping my eyes on Vero as I continue to walk achingly slowly. Papa wants me to sit with how terrible this feels. I thought she was safe!
“I kept her away from my men, but made sure she was stabbed before sitting her down in the second pew. It’s why we spent so much time in the front yard. I wanted everything to be perfect for you,mia figlia.I’ll leave her to die here, and she can have an unmarked grave, just like her mother. Verona should have left Savannah.”
If she dies, I want to die.I raise a plea to a god I’m not sure I believe in as my toes touch the stairs that’ll lead me up to my future husband. My heart thuds hard in my chest as the priest asks who is giving me away, and my father loudly tells everyone that he is.
“Do as your husband says,mia figlia.”This most likely is the last alpha bark I’ll ever experience from my father, but it still chafes. All I want to do is pull my gun from underneath my dress and shoot him.
Nico steps down to help me up the stairs, and my fingers twitch in his hand as I cling to him. He frowns once I’m standingat his side, but is pulled into the ceremony as the priest drones on and on. With each word, my body trembles as if it’s going into shock.
I’m very certain I’m experiencing what my alpha is, and that I’m going to follow her when she dies. Even a half bond has the ability to pull an omega into death with her alpha and vice versa.
Nico turns my body to face him as my teeth begin to chatter, and he lifts my veil quickly, ignoring everything else as he gazes at me.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” he whispers, nuzzling against my cheek. He wants it to look as if he can’t stay away from me for another second, while I am simply trying to stay upright.
“Second row,” I whisper back. “Behind me. She’s been stabbed, Nico. If she dies, I think I might too.”
His fingers squeeze my shoulders as he sees the truth of it in my eyes, his eyes flicking over to where I asked him to look without moving his head. Breathing deeply, it almost sounds like a hiss through his smiling, clenched teeth.
“Say the words that’ll bind you to me through the eyes of the law, and we’ll take her with us,” he growls.
Nico hides his face in my throat, fucking purring for me in front of the entire church. I can see three men standing to his right in dark tuxedos as well, their eyes glued to the priest as if they’re intentionally telling the rest of the world to ignore us as well.
A beautiful man with tanned skin, thick lips, and a goatee seems to be having the hardest time keeping up appearances, and I wonder if that’s Nico’s stepbrother.
“And then what?” I rasp, my voice breaking as tears fall faster down my cheeks.
“We’ll keep her.”
Gasping in a breath, I choose to believe him. So far, he’s tried his damndest to keep his promises to me. Even when it sometimes makes things worse for me.
“Yes.”
Nico returns the veil over my face, and the priest continues the service with an exchange of vows. A box mysteriously is pressed into my hands at the right time, and I mumble the words after the priest when I’m supposed to as Nico and I exchange rings.
Just as the priest is about to pronounce us man and wife, the doors behind us bang open. It didn’t escape my notice the way the obligatory objection question was skipped.
This isn’t a normal wedding.
“Nico, you bastard, I object!”
“Fuck me,” he groans just as the first gunshot is fired. “Too late!”
Picking me up, he throws me over his shoulder because I’m close to passing out as it is.
