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CHAPTER9
Kane
Idespise these stupid fucking traditions. What is the point of a first dance? My mother orders me onto the empty dance floor as all our guests gather around to watch. Elena is placed in my arms as some ridiculous love song starts to play.
Elena’s touch is gentle on me, as if she can barely bring herself to touch me. Irritated, I tug her against me. Barely an inch of space separates us now. She peers up at me, our hands clasped together as we sway in time to the music. Fuck, she looks beautiful. Like an angel in white. She’ll never survive the darkness inside me, but I don’t want to let her go either. The urge to keep her close is a persistent itch I can’t scratch.
She is my wife.
My responsibility.
That terrifies me even as it thrills me.
I have a wife.
Elena gives me a small smile. “Today has been…” She grapples for a word but doesn’t find one.
“Odd?” I finish for her.
She nods. “I hate everything about this wedding.” For some reason those words hit me square in the gut. The thought I may not be to her standards unsettles me. Then she adds, “It’s not what I would have planned at all.”
I relax a little. I’m not the issue. “And what would you have planned?”
“For a start, I would have had a smaller dress. Less… frill.” I would agree with that. The dress doesn’t seem like her. It doesn’t match her vibrant personality. “I wouldn’t have had a sit-down meal either, nor those speeches that droned on for days.”
“They did, but I will admit I quite enjoyed hearing stories about you when you were younger.” Her father’s tales had given me a little insight into the firecracker in my arms. Elena is a loyal woman to those she loves. Maybe one day, I will earn that trust.
“You only liked them because they weren’t about you. I found them pretty mortifying.”
“You sounded adorable as a child,” I counter, my mouth curving slightly at the corners.
“I don’t think my father would agree.” We keep swaying in time with the music, completely lost in the moment. I feel at ease for the first time in the day, and I realise it’s because of her.
Elena.
She soothes the fire in my soul in a way no one else has ever managed. I’m not sure what to make of that revelation either.
“I saw Charlotte followed you into the bathroom. I hope she behaved.” I had considered following, but my attention had been snagged by a guest, and by the time I extradited myself, my mother was coming out of the bathroom. My wife had followed a moment later.
Elena’s whole body stiffens. A ripple of unease goes through me at her change in demeanour. “Your mother is very… opinionated.”
“What did she say?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Elena, you are my wife now. It matters to me if someone comes at you.”
“She’s your mother.” Her pointed response makes me grit my teeth. Charlotte will not be prioritised above the woman I’m sharing my life with. Ever.
“She is, but she’s also a walking nightmare. What did she say?”
Elena’s tongue darts out and runs along her bottom lip as she glances away. The strobe disco lights cast eerie glows over us both. I stop dancing and place a finger under her chin, forcing her head up. “What did she say?” This time, I’m not asking. I want to know.
“She’s talked to my doctor.”
Her words confuse me. “About what?”
Elena’s jaw tightens and her eyes blaze. “About refusing my birth control.”
