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Chapter 6
Zephyr
Onhertwenty-ninthbirthday, Zephyr stood in front of the mirror, watching herself in the cute white sundress with embroidered flowers, her sister’s reflection in a pale green dress behind her.
“I can’t believe you’re marrying Alpha,” Zen whispered, her voice reflecting the disbelief of her words. “Your Alpha.”
Her Alpha.
She couldn’t believe it either.
There was a slight twinge in her heart because her mother had refused to attend what she’d called ‘this farce of a wedding’. She was still processing the news of her breakup, much less her nuptials, and Zephyr didn’t entirely blame her. It was fast. But not to her; she’d been waiting for this over a decade. Although she'd never imagined marrying him in a courthouse while being a stranger to him. In a way, she was glad it would just be Zen with her. Knowing everything her sister knew, Zephyr wouldn’t have to pretend anything with her.
A knock on the door had her heartbeat tripling.
“Calm down,” she told herself out loud as Zen went to open the door. She straightened her dress for the last time, tucked her wavy burgundy hair back in her low bun, fixed her fringe, fidgeting
The door opened and he filled the frame, his large body in a black leather jacket and jeans—of course, he'd wear leather and jeans to their wedding—and that eye patch, and dear lord, he was fine. Zen, seeing him for the first time, froze. Yeah, she could imagine he had that effect on people.
Zephyr quickly covered the distance between them, going on her toes to kiss the scar at the corner of his mouth. “Hey, sexy.”
The other side of his lip twitched, his golden eye taking her in her dress. She took a step back and twirled for him, showing him the deep back, and stopped in a pose. “How do I look?”
“Fine,” he grunted. “We’re getting late.” With that, he turned on his heel and went down the stairs. Zephyr rolled her eyes.
“Zee,” Zen asked from the side, her face slightly apprehensive. “He’s… a lot. Are you sure?”
He was a lot. Moreover, Zephyr knew she was stepping into a world she knew nothing about, a world she'd only seen from the fringers from her time spent volunteering. The more she'd dug, the more she'd realized he was lethal. But he was also the boy who'd walked her five miles to her home in the middle of winter just so she'd get there safely.
Zephyr gave her sister a quick hug. “He’s still my Alpha, Zen.” She believed that. No matter how much time had passed, deep in her soul she believed that.
Zen inhaled, knowing what that meant to her, and nodded, putting a smile on her lips. “Okay. Flowers. Let’s go.”
They both got their bags and flowers and went down the stairs to the waiting black Rover, Hector in the driver’s seat, checking Zen out. Alpha waited outside. He opened the passenger side’s door for Zen, shut it, then turned to her, seeing the way her dress hugged her. Sighing, he picked her up casually by her hips, and put her in the backseat, closing the door behind her.
God, she loved it when he did that, picked her up like she weighed nothing when the entire world had shoved an entirely contrary belief down her throat. It made her feel delicate, small, and so precious, and Zephyr rarely felt that around people.
He got in and Hector started the drive. “The lawyer will meet us at the courthouse,” he informed them. “All the documents are ready.”
Zephyr nodded, watching the man on the other end of the wide seat, his eye patch and scarred the side toward her.
Zen gave her a look in the rearview mirror, before turning to him. “Hi, Mr. Villanova,” she introduced herself in her most professional voice. “We haven’t met. I’m Zephyr’s sister, Zenith. You can call me Zen.”
“Alpha please,” he corrected her in a soft tone. “We’ll be family soon.”
Oh, she liked the sound of that a lot. Yes, they would be family. It made Zephyr smile.
The rest of the drive passed in companionable silence. Zephyr looked out at the city she loved, seeing people going about their lives in the early morning, and it filled her with joy. Everything filled her with joy right then. All seemed right in the world. She remembered the first time she’d talked to him. It hadn’t been planned. She’d been stuck one night in the bad part of town after her friend had ditched her. She'd gone there because she liked to check up on him, and he’d been there when she'd been walking the street alone, the young man with golden eyes and the deep voice, speaking to her for the first time—
The car came to a stop outside the white courthouse building.
Shaking herself out of the memories, Zephyr opened the door, and he was there before she could get down, picking her up and placing her on her feet, his hands huge on her hips, her nose level with the middle of his ribs. God, he made her feel tiny, and she loved that.
His hands clenched on the sides of her hips, and she looked up at him, locking her eyes with his golden gaze, mourning the loss of the place his other eye had been. He held her chin in that sure way she’d always associate with him, his face fierce. “Last chance, rainbow.”
There was no way she was backing out.
“Cold feet, handsome?” she teased him with a grin, and his gaze strayed to her mouth. Inhaling, he let her go and took a step back, indicating the wide, low steps of the courthouse. Heart pounding, she took her bouquet of deep red roses and climbed up with her sister, Alpha and Hector following at their heels.
