Page 104 of Hunted

The wedding cake was a simple two-tiered coconut cake with coconut cream filling. Delicate white lilies and pink roses were sculpted in fondant and buttercream icing, forming a garland that spilled along the side of the cake. We cut the first slice together while my dad took about a million pictures.

“Do I finally get to see the groom’s cake?” Ellie asked after I fed her a small slice of coconut cake. I didn’t dare smash it in her face—no way did I want Hayden to throat punch me on my wedding day. “You and Lacey and Hayden have been so secretive.”

“Lacey and I had lots of fun with these.” Hayden approached at Ellie’s other side. “Close your eyes. Everyone wants to video your reaction.”

“If this is another weird werewolf hazing thing, like dressing my wolf up in all your crazy hats and scarves and making it pose for pictures, may I remind you that she might look like a slightly ferocious labradoodle, but she’s fast.”

“We’ll save the hazing for later.” I kissed her temple. “West and August are working out how to tie a carryout container of veggie burgers to a drone so you can hunt with the rest of the pack.”

“Um. The other possibility is that my wolf doesn’t have to hunt.” Ellie poked me in the side. “I can just stay home and watch Netflix and eat my veggie burger off a plate while y’all get a bunch of ticks and sticker burrs caught in your fur.”

“Okay, we’re here,” Hayden announced. “We will figure out how to hone your wolf instincts at a later date.”

Beside me, I saw Ellie biting her bottom lip. She squeezed my hand. I’m fighting the urge to roll my eyes right now. Knowing my sister, even with my eyes closed, she’d know if I was doing it. The danger with sisters is they know exactly where all your secret tickle spots are. No way am I peeing on this dress while laughing in front of a hundred people.

“Okay, you can look,” I whispered.

Ellie opened her eyes. Her fingers, which had been clutched in mine the entire night, even to eat, which the Alpha wolf in me absolutely loved, flew to her mouth at the sight of a giant cupcake tower. “Oh, Hayden… Lacey. They’re so amazing. I can’t believe you made this.”

The groom’s cake was a tiered display of rabbit cupcakes. Lacey and her team at Blair’s Bakery had piped frosting in rabbit shaped puffs of vanilla buttercream, dark chocolate, strawberry, and lemon. Each cupcake had cute white puffy tails and paws and marzipan ears, which must have taken Lacey’s team hours to construct. Nestled between the buttercream paws of each bunny was a tiny orange marzipan carrot.

Ellie reached up to hug Lacey, being careful of her baby bump. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Brody whispering something to London, who shook her head. He touched her stomach and kissed her temple. She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. I was doing my best not to listen in today, but from the way Brody had been checking on his mate every two seconds all night, bringing her plates of food she turned green at the sight of and generally prowling around her about to wear a hole in the grass like an overprotective Alpha wolf, I was pretty sure we were going to be hearing an announcement from the two of them sometime soon, too.

My mother appeared at my side. “An SUV just approached the gate with two humans inside. They say they’re with the Paranormal Investigation Division. They’re requesting entry and want to talk to you. They won’t give me any more information other than that.”

“Brody,” I called. One look at my face, and he and London were cutting through the crowd. I quickly filled them in.

“Do you want me to stop them?” my mother asked.

I looked out over the rented party tent filled with our friends and family. We’d known the moment news of Ellie’s drug therapy leaked that we would become a target. Fallon and Vlad joined our circle.

“We have enough vampires here to start moving guests to a secure location,” Vlad said. “Jori and Rowan are already getting groups organized. Cris is working on getting more people here in the meantime.”

“I agree,” Fallon said. “Leave only those personnel behind that you need for support, and get the rest of the civilians out of danger while we see what we’re dealing with.”

I nodded to Vlad. “Do it. Have them leave their vehicle at the gate. They come in on foot. No weapons. If they try to sneak anything in, they’re not going to like what happens next. Inform them that I’ll be scanning their minds when they get close enough to read.”

My mom nodded, pulling out her phone.

Ellie leaned up to give me a fast, hard kiss. “I’m going with Jori. Be safe.”

“I love you.”

“Always.”

By the time the two government men came within one hundred yards of where Brody and I stood at the end of the drive, Vlad and Cris had evacuated more than two thirds of the guests and Fallon and my dad had organized the people who didn’t want to dematerialize or who had health conditions or other concerns to move in a caravan of vehicles towards the back acres of the ranch where Cal, Fallon and the other vampires and shifters in the recovery community lived.

“That’s close enough,” I called. “Put your hands over your heads and get down on your knees. Nice and slow.”

“We didn’t come here looking for trouble, Mr. Caldwell,” the male agent said, slowly lifting his hands. “And we left our weapons back in the truck as instructed. I’m Special Agent Liu with the Paranormal Investigation Division and this is Agent Thompson. We have time sensitive information to discuss.”

“Here’s how we’re going to do this,” Brody growled. “This is my territory and my pack. If you want permission to come here and talk to my family after the attacks we’ve already sustained in the last year, my mother will temporarily render you unconscious, I’m going to cuff you, and River will search your mind to make sure you don’t have any intent of harming us or our loved ones. If that checks out, you’re in the door. You don’t like the terms, you can turn around and walk back out to your vehicles.”

Special Agent Liu turned to the female agent, Thompson and conferred with her quietly.

“Agreed.”

“Well,” Brody muttered under his breath as he pulled out his handcuffs. “This should be interesting.”