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“Could Mike not make it?” Adrian asked the officiant quietly as he waited for Luna to arrive at the door.
The officiant shook his head.
“Terribly sorry, no. Mike came down with a terrible case of the flu. I’m his replacement.”
Taking one final glance around the room, Adrian saw nothing unusual. As Luna appeared in the doorway of the shrine, backlit by the bright rays of the sun, Adrian actually began to relax.
She strode down the aisle with such perfect grace, never slipping on her heels or her billowing green dress. Adrian couldn’t temper the smile that ran across his face.
He was smiling so wide that his jaw actually hurt.
Prepare yourself, he reminded himself quietly.You need to be ready for anything.
As she joined him at the altar, making her way unassumingly down the aisle, he winked at her.
He could see Sasha readying herself to jump at a moment’s notice.
The look in Luna’s eyes was questioning, asking him if this was really going to happen or if they needed to move forward with the plan. With so many eyes upon him, there was no way for him to signal.
Instead, he looked deep into her eyes, reveling in the moment. The sun shone brightly down upon them from the holes in the ceiling, but the way they reflected upon the deep pools of emerald in her eyes was almost unspeakable. He could see every detail, every line.
She was perfect.
The music stopped playing.
“Well, now that we’re all here, we can finally start the ceremony,” the officiant said with a jovial tone.
There were several chuckles from the crowd, but they were forced. Adrian could feel the tension in the room. They must have known something was wrong.
Adrian smelled the air. Victor was nearby. He could detect his odor. But it was muddled, as though he had made a great effort to conceal himself.
“We celebrate the union of Luna and Adrian, two beings whose path together was forged in fate,” the officiant declared. “They might have seemed an unlikely pair at first, but they’ve found strength together in their differences.”
Adrian coughed.
The officiant turned to him nervously. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked.
Adrian turned to Luna, nodding.
“No, you’re doing great,” Adrian said before walking to the front of the altar, looking out at the gathered crowd.
Each of them was aware this was not normally how ceremonies went, and he could feel them cringing as though dreading what might be coming.
“But we’re going to pause our ceremony for the moment,” Adrian said calmly. He looked knowingly down at Sasha, who had stood from the pew and was now whispering down to the crowd.
Adrian had to stall. “I want to thank you all for being here. I know things have been very stressful lately, and you’ve all been wonderful.”
The hair stood on the back of Adrian’s neck. Something was very wrong. As he looked out at the crowd, he couldn’t see a single face that was out of place.
Had they simply gotten bad information? Was Sergei still working with Victor?
“Adrian, watch out!”
He heard Luna’s squeal from behind him. He turned in time to see that the officiant had flung open the floorboards behind the altar, revealing a trap door. Victor and some of his rogues were already streaming out from the hiding spot.
That’s when he looked out at the crowd, confirming that Sasha was still having a hard time getting the pack to move to safety.
A panic erupted in the crowd, and Adrian tackled Victor to the ground, watching as Victor’s perverted smile appeared on his face.
