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Tori’s smile was anything but enthusiastic, and her wild demands were over the top, such as the certain hairstyles she wanted her bridesmaids to have, even if they had to cut their hair to make it work. I had to cough into my hand to cover my laugh. The woman she was talking to didn’t bat an eye and thought it was perfectly reasonable of Tori to demand that on her wedding day. After all, it was her fairytale. The incredulous look on Tori’s face when the woman walked away was hilarious.
“People are insane,” she hissed in my ear.
To ease her annoyance, we stopped at a food stand and I got her a kebab. She looked as happy as a clam when she bit into the tender meat, or more accurately, tore into it. It was when she started licking the barbecue sauce off her fingers that I began to have an issue. She was so fucking sexy that my cock had started to pitch a tent in my pants.
I growled at Tori.Her head snapped to mine, her eyebrows knitting together as she scanned the area to find the source of my displeasure. When she noticed how my gaze hadn’t left her mouth or her fingers, her eyes widened and dropped to my crotch. Smirking, she decided to give me a show by slowly putting her finger in her mouth and twirling her tongue around it.
Wiping my hands down my face, I caught Tori’s eyes fixing themselves on the bulge in my pants. Her smile got more prominent, and she winked at me as she licked her lips seductively.
Having had enough of her antics, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her in close, then kissed the living daylights out of her. I licked all the barbecue sauce off her in the process, but nothing tasted better than her.
We received a few whoops and hollers, enough for me to lift my head and appraise Tori’s flushed face. My response had been entirely inappropriate, but Tori’s heated look and flushed cheeks told me she didn’t mind. She let out a shaky breath that zinged right to my balls.
Mateo, the town’s charismatic French bartender, slapped me on the back, laughing his head off and offering up his apartment above the tavern he owned.
“After all,mon ami, it’s right across the street,non? Not much travel time.”
Tori choked and glared at Mateo as I shook my head, hiding my grin as best I could. I shouldn’t have mauled Tori in public like that; I was a voted-in public official and had to set a particular example. But the alpha in me wanted to blow that all to pieces and demand to have our mate wherever and whenever. Kissing her was one way to stake my claim.
“Really, Mateo?” Tori groaned.
He grinned like a little boy who just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.“Now the buzz is going around that a date has been set.” He slapped his hands together and rubbed them back and forth. “So when is it? I’m hoping you’ll have me supply the booze.”
I slapped my hand on his back and agreed that he would supply the drinks. “The wedding is on the fifth of December.”
Mateo’s eyes widened before dropping to Tori’s belly. “So soon? Maybe that’s why I haven’t seen Tori in The Tipsy Tavern lately. You guys have a little Blackwood pup in the oven?” He waggled his eyebrows at us.
Choking on my laughter, I watched Tori’s face burn bright red. If she were a cartoon, steam would be pouring out of her ears—along with the collection of colorful curse words that left her mouth and made Mateo blush.
“Keep your mouth shut, Mateo, before a Magpie overhears you. That would add ridiculous fodder to the rumor mills. I swear.”
After hissing at Mateo, Tori scanned the vicinity to see if anybody was running off with his assumptions. She was panicking—the last thing she could handle right now.
Mateo grinned and took it all in stride. “I’m only teasing. I’m thrilled you two are marrying so soon because you are a gorgeous couple. You both shine bright when you’re around each other.” He leaned down, kissed Tori on each cheek, and then gave me the bro hug with a slap on my back.
Tori huffed and rolled her eyes before easing her stance and thanking him for the compliment. I did the same, placing my hand on Tori’s lower back and moving her along. If Mateo made another comment like that, I didn’t think I’d be able to keep Tori from hurting him.
When we were out of Mateo’s earshot, Tori hissed, “We absolutely have to change the fake wedding date because of course people would speculate. Now I’m apparently knocked up with a fake wolf baby. What next? I’m having a full freaking litter?”
Tori stomped through the crowd while I trailed behind her. I couldn’t hold back my amusement, and it didn’t gain me any favors when I called out that I liked the December date.
She swiveled around, dropped her jaw, and then shut it quickly before crossing her arms. “Fine,” she grumbled. “It’s your funeral.”
“Actually, sweetheart, it’s our wedding.” I gave her an enormous grin as I threw my arm over her shoulder and continued mingling.
Ignoring me, Tori smiled at everyone we encountered. I loved having her stew like this. Her feisty nature made her the cutest thing ever. It was like she was a little pup baring her teeth for the first time. I’d never get enough of her.
We made small talk with townsfolk, but I started getting distracted when I noticed we were coming across many more people than expected.The event had increased yearly, but the crowds seemed huge this year. I also didn’t recognize many of the people. I started to tense up as I realized something: I’d been so distracted lately with my relationship and the hunters, I’d failed to notice there were new shifters in Blackwood Creek. Shifters I’d never met before.
I started doing double takes when shifters walked by and their scents didn’t register with me. It didn’t happen often, but the scents overwhelmed me.
I was protective of my pack, as all alphas were, but I was even more irritated that proper customs hadn’t been followed. Even though I wanted other packs to move here, I wanted it done right. Alphas of other packs were to give warnings or meet face to face with the alphas of territories they were visiting or passing through. It was an act of goodwill. Wolves were naturally territorial creatures and didn’t like when outsiders came in unannounced.
I sniffed the air, trying to get a sense of what was happening around me. This wasn’t a good omen. Blackwood Creek was already on thin enough ice as it was. I couldn’t be sure if the blatant disrespect wasn’t a warning of another pack trying to take over and stake their claim on my land. With the shifter world in unrest, with all the hunters attacking and our numbers dwindling, there couldn’t be any certainties.
The Greenthornes were walking around the town square, their noses up in the air as usual. As I watched them speak to other shifters, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were spreading all kinds of lies, if they were the instigators in bringing all the other wolves here.
There was so much going on, I had to put out fires everywhere I turned while trying to keep my eyes peeled for anything coming at me from behind.
