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“Are you ready?” Carletta asked, coming into the bedroom. She stopped in her tracks, and her eyes welled with tears. “Oh, honey.”
I stood and looked down at the dress. It was a simple sheath dress with lace sleeves and pearls over the bodice. It had been my mother’s dress—not the one she’d ever had a chance to wear, but the dress she’d wished she could have. My dad had disappeared before she’d learned she was pregnant, leaving a broken heart and a forgotten fantasy behind.
I was glad she’d never gotten to wear it, because it meant that all the bad memories with my father didn’t cling to it.
“I feel like she’s here,” I said softly. “I wish she was, but it feels like a part of her still is.”
“Of course, it is,” Carletta said. “She lives in you, honey. It’s like Delaney, too. She’ll always be alive in our memories, no matter where we go. It would have been great to have them here, but we’re here to remember them, and that’s what keeps them alive.”
I nodded, and Carletta hugged me.
A lot had changed for her in the past two months, too. She’d started shifting regularly, going out with Jameson to the lake. Since she’d done that, her magic had stabilized, and she was almost as powerful as Jameson was. She was in charge of training the shifter troops, and they respected her again.
Jameson had insisted that the shifters pick up their game so that an attack like that wouldn’t happen again. All shifters were trained to fight, and a select group of them were trained further.
It was good to know that our pack could defend themselves if they needed to.
When we walked to the living room, Felix waited for us.
“You look great,” he said with a grin.
After Felix had found out that I wasn’t working for my dad, we’d made our peace. He’d been looking out for Jameson, after all, a true beta. He’d also been looking out for a family who’d already lost too much. I understood why he’d been so harsh with me. Now that I was going to be a part of the family, having someone like him stick up for me, too, was a blessing.
“And you,” he said to Carletta, wrapping his hand around her waist, “are a vision.” He dipped her low to the ground so that she squealed and giggled and kissed her. “You look fantastic. I can’t wait to get this dress off you, later.”
Carletta blushed wildly, and I giggled.
They were so sweet together.
Since Jameson and Carletta had forgiven themselves for their sister’s death and made peace with the fact that she was gone, Carletta had stopped pushing everyone away. She’d reached out to Felix again, who had always been in love with her, and they were together and happier than ever. I was willing to bet they would be getting married soon, too.
“Let’s go,” Felix said.
We walked through the garden and toward the back entrance which led into the reserve. We walked through the tall trees, leaves changing in color from green to golden, orange, and brown. The mulch underfoot was springy, and my fox yearned to be set free so we could run.
Later,I told her. After Jameson and I were married, we would go for a run as the alpha couple.
As we arrived at the clearing with the lake, the pack appeared between the trees. They were all dressed to the nines, and they were all there to see us. The pack had all come to bear witness to the alpha and his mate, to the union.
I didn’t know all of them, but I hoped I would, in time. I’d always kept to myself, but I would rule them now—the first fox to be in an alpha position.
I’d thought they would protest, but no one had said a word.
When I rounded the bend, holding onto Felix’s arm as he walked me toward the lake, Jameson waited for me. He looked incredible in a tux—he looked incredible inanything, even nothing… I would know—and he grinned at me.
My knees went weak, and the rest of the world fell away so that it was just him and me.
Felix handed me to him, and Carletta and Naida joined us. The rest of the pack gathered around.
“You’re beautiful,” Jameson said to me.
“You clean up pretty well, too,” I answered with a giggle.
Jameson’s eyes flashed with his bear, and my fox was right here with me, aware of what was happening.
“Oaklee Gilbert,” Jameson said, his voice loud enough that everyone could hear. “I take you as my mate, to protect, to serve, to love and revere, for the rest of eternity. You are bound to me, as by fate’s design, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love you.”
A lump rose in my throat, and I swallowed hard.
