How to Kiss an Undead Bride

by Edwards, Hailey

  Now that would have made one heck of a front-page photo.

  The Grande Dame resumed her place with a recitation of our parents, our titles, blah, blah, blah.

  “There is one small thing.” He drew me upright and cupped my hands between us. “Feel this?” He nudged my finger over a bump in the ring that I hadn’t noticed when I tried it on weeks ago. “Press it.”

  The bump was a lever of some kind, and it caused hidden sigils to ignite across the band in bright light. “It’s gorgeous.”

  “Wait for it.”

  “Wait for…?” This time I did swoon. “It’s not real, right? Tell me it’s not real.”

  The smooth band had transformed, and I couldn’t decide if fae glamour or necromantic magic fueled the change, and it didn’t matter because oh my goddess what had he done?

  A five- or six-karat emerald-cut diamond now perched on my finger. The halo design meant even more diamonds, all of which skirted the line of being too robust to be called pavé, were crusted around the center stone. Even the band was littered with them. It was…massive. Elegant but obnoxious about it.

  This was the kind of ring that knocked Society expectations out of the park, the kind of bling his mother would approve of, the kind of rock that might throw my back out over time if I didn’t start wearing a brace or trucking it around in a wheelbarrow.

  It was all the things that everyone anticipated, and that’s why I doubted it. Linus would shower me with jewels if I let him, but he knew symbols such as these were meaningless compared to the diamonds dangling from my neck.

  “The plain band is quite real, but yes, the rest is a complicated glamour.” He tapped the stone and left a fingerprint. “The day we selected our rings, you told me simple was best. You never wanted to take it off once I put it on you, and now you won’t have to for work.”

  The small fortune I spent on Linus’s engagement ring had left me with heart palpitations. What he must have spent on this gave me the vapors. Fae didn’t work cheap, and this flawless illusion was as tangible as the real thing. It must have cost what I spent on him, if not more. As much as I wanted to fuss at him, I couldn’t find the words to say anything except the complete truth.

  “It’s perfect.” I toggled the switch and laughed with delight as the stone appeared and then disappeared from sight. “Absolutely perfect.”

  The Grande Dame was wrapping up her speech, and so we joined hands and faced the crowd.

  “I present to you,” she said in closing, “for the first time, Dame Grier Woolworth, and her husband, Linus Andreas Woolworth.”

  Cheers erupted from the guests as we began our walk down the stone path, and a flurry of petals rained down on us from the rose petal poppers Neely had bought online.

  As Linus and I led the bridal party to the area designated for our last round of photos, our guests headed into the reception to wait on us. And yes, Lethe had stationed armed guards to protect the food until she could shuck her MOH responsibilities and dig in. Sentinels no less, since she didn’t trust her own people not to snack.

  No sooner had we assumed our poses than a shout rang out from the woods beside Woolly.

  Others were still whooping and whistling, so I didn’t think much of it until all the color drained from Lethe’s face. Ditching the group, she ran toward the cry and intercepted a gwyllgi I recognized from his patrols around the property. She helped him limp over to us, a grim set to her mouth, and eased the man onto the grass.

  Hiking up my dress, I ran over to her. “What happened?”

  Red swirled through her eyes, the change a whisper away. “We’re under attack.”

  Adrenaline flushed my veins, and I scanned the gathering for signs of danger. I found none. “Volkov?”

  “It’s…a coup,” the injured gwyllgi panted. “A rival pack…”

  “Lethe?” I tossed the bouquet over my shoulder, not caring who caught it. “What do we do?”

  “You stay put.” She bent down and ripped a good three feet off her gown’s hem. “I’m going to kick ass.”

  Fourteen

  When Lethe tossed her head back, a wordless fury boiling out of her, my short hairs stood on end and brought the pack members in attendance running. Crimson spilled into Hood’s eyes, his inner predator revealed, and when his alpha charged up the hill leading to their den, he followed one step behind her, observing protocol to the letter. The rest of their people weren’t far behind.

  Tisdale stood her ground, her hand resting on Eva’s shoulder, and so did the members of her pack. I could tell it cost her to let Lethe face battle alone, but Lethe’s pack was too young for its alpha to be seen running to her mommy for help. She would never earn respect if she didn’t handle challengers on her own. That didn’t change a mother’s instincts to protect her child at all costs.

  The weight of the look she gave me bowed my shoulders, the wordless plea in her eyes unmistakable.

  Exchanging an apologetic glance with Linus, I followed Lethe’s example and sawed the bottom off my dress with the pocketknife I was never without before giving pursuit.

  A gasp rang out, and I whirled in time to watch Cruz catch Neely as he fainted from the fabric carnage.

  “What are you doing?” Lethe called over her shoulder. “You’re supposed to be at your reception.”

  “Are you insane?” I didn’t have to glance back to sense Linus, sans jacket, running behind me. Cletus stuck close to him, and the bond we three shared fed me the details. “I’m not leaving you alone to defend your home.”

  A half wail, half howl spilled out of her. “All that meat—”

  “The carving station can wait.”

  The cool touch of Cletus’s fingers on my cheek warned me we had company coming. Friendlies.

  “How can I help?” Boaz asked when he reached us, and Clem wasn’t far behind. “What can we do?”

  “Nothing.” I hated to say it, but it was true. “I’m pack, and Linus just married in. No one else can interfere, or Lethe will lose her title by default. An alpha who can’t hold her own won’t be an alpha for long.”

  “Goddessdamn it.” He fell back. “We’ll keep the guests corralled in case this was a distraction.”

  With Boaz herding the stragglers back to the reception for their own safety, I threw myself into reaching Lethe. As I ran, I drew an impervious sigil on Linus and then on me. The air around us hardened into a protective bubble that would deflect magical and nonmagical attacks.

  We had dull teeth and no claws, so we were allowed our magical defenses. Lethe, Hood, and the others would have to depend on what their god gave them or risk breaking pack law. And yeah, it said something that the gwyllgi ruling body in Georgia had convened to discuss what was and wasn’t allowed all because of me…and Eva.

  The lawn leading up to their house was crowded with snarling gwyllgi. Some had shifted, others hadn’t gotten the chance. All were fighting as if their lives depended on the outcome, and of course it did when you were gwyllgi.

  That wasn’t right. None of it. This whole scene was wrong.

  Where was Volkov hiding? Where were his clansmen? Where were their humans?

  Midnight billowed out from Linus, his tattered wraith’s cloak manifesting as his scythe appeared in his hand. He waded in, and blood began spilling in earnest. Certain he would be safe as long as he wore his sigil, I turned my attention to the combatants nearest me and reclaimed the pocketknife concealed between my breasts. Neely would have a heart attack if he saw me brandishing a weapon in this dress, but he was probably on oxygen after watching me cut myself free of the train.

  A long slice across my palm pooled crimson in my hand, and I used it to draw sigils on the solidified air in front of me. Four, five, six. I paused to slam my palms against them, and waves of power rolled across the field, striking the enemy gwyllgi and sending them to their knees.

  “Grier Woolworth, it’s such a pleasure to finally meet you.”

  Hot blood spilled through my fingers as I spun to
face a burly gwyllgi with his hair twisted in intricate braids.

  “Where is Volkov?” I scanned the gathering. “Don’t tell me your date stood you up at the last minute.”

  “None of this would have been possible without you.” Rather than answer, he executed a mocking bow. “You are the gift that keeps on giving, do you know that? First you woo the heir of the Atlanta pack to Savannah, and then your friendship with Midas forces him to step into his absent sister’s role.”

  I flinched away from the truth, and he saw me recoil, relished it.

  “Midas is not the beta Lethe was, and his presence at the top of the hierarchy is poisoning Tisdale’s pack from the inside out. Atlanta would have been difficult to overtake. Not impossible, not with enough patience, but I didn’t have to wait long until you gave me the best present yet. You set Lethe up in this fine house, on these lush grounds, and with a warm welcome from the denizens of your city.”

  Forcing my expression into a mask, I informed him, “You won’t find the welcome quite as warm for you.”

  “I’ll buy a blanket.”

  “Walk away, and we won’t hunt you down. Consider it a parting gift.”

  “Lethe has polluted her ranks with necromancers, and she bends to Society law. That can’t be allowed.” A growl rumbled in his throat. “You bought her favor with her daughter’s life, but that child is an abomination. It can’t be allowed to live.”

  His cold delivery turned my heart into an arctic wasteland and the blood in my veins to ice water.

  Eva had found the ring. Eva had been gifted the shoes and the clutch. Eva had been a target all along.

  Not because of me, as we assumed, but because of her mother.

  “That child will be alpha one day.” I cut open a new wound on my palm, but I needn’t have bothered. Linus had noticed us chatting and come to join in. “You’re worm food.”

  Moonlight glinted off his blade as he raised the scythe in a killing blow, but Lethe stilled his hand.

  “You the coward who waited until I wasn’t home to attack?” she demanded. “Well?”

  “Argus Hulbert,” he supplied. “We met once, before you settled on your current mate.”

  Sweeping a critical eye over him, she tilted her head to one side. “That right?”

  “I would be willing to call off my people if you agreed to be mine.” He wet his lips, and his smile glistened. “Think of it—a double wedding. How often do those come around?”

  “Argus—you did say Argus, right?—I don’t remember you, I don’t know you, and I sure as hell am not going to leave my mate for you. Are you high right now? Frankly, it would explain a lot. You might want to run with that even if you’re not.”

  The cool mask of the potentate shrouded Linus’s features when he asked Lethe, “Are you sure you don’t want me to handle this?”

  “Yes,” Argus seethed, pricked by her dismissal. “Let the necromancer fight a fellow alpha for you. Show them I’m right.” His laughter boomed, its edge sharp enough to cut. “Perhaps he can doodle on his arm and turn himself into a gwyllgi. At least he’s willing to bleed to get what he wants. Can the same be said for you?”

  Her name caught in my throat, but I didn’t call for her. I had seen this happen too many times to believe it would go any other way than her squaring off against him. It was the gwyllgi way, and my interference always came at a cost. To her.

  The best thing I could do was stand here, bear witness, and pray to the goddess she won.

  The peripheral fighting slowed and then stopped now that the alphas were squaring off, and their packs waited to see what would happen.

  “Call off your pets,” Argus sneered. “Face me like a gwyllgi or die a traitor and a coward.”

  “Guys?” Lethe asked us. “You mind taking a step back? You don’t want to be in the splash zone for this.”

  Linus joined me on what was quickly becoming the sidelines, and Hood drifted over too. The fact they stood to either side of me, each holding one of my hands, told me how much they trusted me to keep out of it if things didn’t go Lethe’s way. I didn’t growl at them, but I thought about it.

  “Choose your form.” Argus, recovering his bravado, swaggered up to Lethe. “It’s the least I can do before I take your place.”

  “Teeth and claws,” she said without hesitation. “I wouldn’t want you to go crying about how I beat you on two legs and it wasn’t fair. I’ll save us both the headache and maul you on four. What’s left of you can go home and lick your wounds.”

  “Are you sure you won’t mate me?” He lapped up the attention. “I like feisty women. It would be a shame to rip out your lovely throat.”

  “You targeted my child. My child. What kind of pathetic asshat stoops so low?”

  “Your child is unnatural—”

  “Are you here to talk, or are you here to fight?”

  Hands spread wide in a helpless gesture, as if to say he had given her every chance to avoid this as long as she agreed to forsake her mate. “Challenge it is.”

  Cletus tapped my arm seconds before a small hand closed over Linus’s and my fingers.

  Nervous sweat dampened Eva’s palm, but defiance blazed in her eyes. Lethe was right. This kid was dominant to the core. And she would be in so much trouble when her grandmother noticed she was missing.

  “Go, Mommy!” Eva stood between us, unflinching. “You got this.”

  Pride and love brightened Lethe’s eyes as she blew her daughter a kiss. “Love you too, Diva.”

  “Behold the abomination.” Argus swept out his arm. “Look at her. She’s half necromancer or might as well be. No gwyllgi pup matures at that rate, not even the fae ones. A true alpha would have accepted her loss and—”

  “A true alpha is willing to give her life for her pack. That little girl is my pack, and she is my baby. I would have given my life to save hers, and I’m blessed that I didn’t have to lose my girl because a coward took a potshot at stealing my heir from me when he couldn’t beat me.”

  “Argus couldn’t have done this alone,” Linus murmured. “He had help.”

  Proving gwyllgi hearing was superb, Lethe scanned the gathering. “Who betrayed me?”

  Those items hadn’t delivered themselves to her property, and the only way a gwyllgi—or anyone else—could have left the ring for Eva to find without laying down a scent trail or so much as a whiff of magic used to conceal one, was if the scent itself already belonged.

  “Step forward,” she demanded, “and I will banish you for your courage in admitting your cowardice.” No one in the crowd moved. “Let me uncover your betrayal for myself, and I will kill you where you stand.”

  The enemy gwyllgi were unable to hold Lethe’s stare and bowed their heads. As much as I wished shame had done the trick, for buying into this nonsense about Eva, it was Lethe’s dominance, pure and simple, hammering them into submission.

  “Thirty seconds.” Lethe pointed at Hood, her eyes on Argus, and Hood set the timer. “Starting now.”

  Ty stepped forward so fast it was almost a jump, and he spun terror-filled eyes toward his mother.

  That fear explained why she had attempted to foist him off on Linus for a night when this all started. She wanted an inside man to report our progress to her. Too bad she underestimated Linus’s lone-wolf tendencies.

  Bo, the amazing cook with a smile for everyone, joined him, her chin jutted and shoulders back.

  Thank the goddess, she hadn’t tried to take matters into her own hands and poison us all.

  “Argus is my brother.” She clasped hands with her son to cover his trembling fingers. “He’s a good man, and a good leader. He upholds the old laws, the old ways. He is what this pack needs.”

  Poor little Eva, trapped in the same idiotic pack protocol as her father and mother, didn’t cry over the betrayal. Worse, she withdrew so far into herself, she could have been a doll standing between Linus and me. The dampness in her palms dried, the skin cooled, almost as if she had ceased to ex
ist.

  Comfort would make her appear weak, and that was the last thing she could afford at a time like this.

  “I obey the old laws,” Lethe said, the words slicing through the air. “I do not kill any who wish to leave. I do not kill any who air their grievances to or against me. I do not kill in challenge or in battle unless forced. Those are the mercies I have shown this pack, who were born of liars and cheaters. Those are the kindnesses I have shown you all, and this is how you repay me.” Her upper lip quivered. “Who else?”

  The bottom dropped out of my stomach as several gwyllgi who had joined us for cookouts and block parties, on hunts and on vacations, fidgeted where they stood, preparing to step forward and declare their loyalty.

  To Argus.

  “Her words are wasted breath,” Argus assured the others. “She won’t be your alpha when the sun rises.”

  “The formal rites have been observed,” Hood interjected for the first time. “I’m falling asleep over here, waiting for you to do more than flap your gums.”

  “Eager for your mate’s death.” He flashed his teeth. “You’re a cold one, Hood Lehenga.”

  “Kinase,” he corrected the challenger. “I mated the alpha, who would rather fight you to the death than be yours.”

  Red crept into Argus’s cheeks, a fitting counterpoint to his bluster. “You’ll pay for that.”

  “I can afford it.” Hood shrugged. “Now shut up and let my mate kick your ass so I can get back to that carving station.”

  An unseen signal raised Argus’s spirits, never a good sign, and he grinned nastily before shifting.

  Lethe waited for his cue and still almost beat him onto all fours, causing a ripple of admiration through the crowd I no longer trusted to remain impartial, if they ever had been.

  Hello, paranoia, my old friend.

  With the Kinase heir at my side, who had been made into a talking point, I welcomed the tunneling of my vision until she and her protection were all I had room for in my mind. Not the worry, not the panic, not the fear.

  Lethe was all nimbleness and lean muscle. Argus was bulk and speed. Their clash was terrible.