by Maeve Hart
I wanted to tell Granny to be careful of her new friend or at least ask her if she was sure he was who he said he was, but I couldn’t say anything without alerting her to the fact that I knew something about him. At least now I knew what I’d come there to find out—he had deliberately befriended Granny.
“I hope your marriage lasts. You really shouldn’t rush in. It seems to me you want to get married. First it was Don, and then—”
“Then what, Granny?”
“Forget it. I’m just saying that being married might be fine for the first few months and then you’ll grow tired of it.”
“Not if I’m in love.”
“Didn’t you think you loved Ronald?”
“Donald, Granny, not Ronald.”
Granny cackled and I wasn’t sure if she called him Ronald sometimes just to have me correct her.
“You thought you loved Donald.”
“Yes, when we were first together, he was lovely and then he changed.”
She waved a long bony finger in the air. “You see? You’ve answered your own question.”
What was the use in talking to her? I didn’t even have a question. I ate more cake confident it wasn’t poisoned. When I’d finished my mouthful, I said, “Jacques is different.”
“They’re all different at the beginning and then they turn into pigs.”
I stared at Granny, frowning.
“I didn’t turn anyone into a pig. I didn’t need to.”
“You’ve never been married, have you?”
She shook her head. “No, but I know things. I’m in contact with hundreds of women on a weekly basis who are trying to repair marriages or coax back philandering husbands. They all tell me the same thing. There’s nothing new under the sun, Destiny. Don’t think your marriage will be any different.”
I wasn’t happy, but what could I do? There was no point in arguing with her. She could think what she wanted about Jacques, me, and our future marriage.
“Anyway, you’ll do what you’ll do and nothing I can say will stop you. Another cup of tea?”
“No thanks, Granny.”
“Oh, come now. I haven’t upset you by telling you the truth, have I?”
She had upset me, but I doubted any of what she said was true. At least, it wouldn’t become my truth because I wouldn’t let it. “No, Granny. I’m not upset at all.” I decided that half piece of cake I wasn’t going to eat looked lonely. I leaned over and scooped it onto my saucer.
CHAPTER 16
When I got back to the penthouse, Jacques was waiting for me. He pulled me down to sit next to him on the bed.
“Destiny, plans have changed slightly and I’m bringing the wedding forward to tomorrow.”
I gulped and regretted eating all that chocolate cake at Granny’s. “What?”
“We’ll fly back to the compound tonight and have it there tomorrow.”
What the hell was I going to wear? “I don’t have anything prepared. Why the suddenness of it all?”
“Trust me with this. It’s best to move things forward.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “Why tomorrow? We planned it for months away. I haven’t even got a dress. Is this something to do with your uncle?”
He held my hand and his dark eyes gazed into mine. “What you wear doesn’t matter. Wear that lovely red dress you’ve got.”
I didn’t have a red dress. “Do you mean the dark pink one?”
“I guess you could call it dark pink. Yes, wear that. It suits you. I know it’s sudden, but—”
“What aren’t you telling me? I know there’s more and you’re trying to protect me from something.”
“It’s just that if something happens to me you’ll be looked after if we’re married. It’s just a precaution.”
“A precaution against what?”
He drew back a little. “I just need you to trust me.”
“I do trust you, but you must trust me and tell me what’s going on. Why are we getting married tomorrow now?”
“For the reasons I said. I’ve received some information that may or may not be true and I can’t tell you more than that for now. There are things you don’t know and things that would be dangerous for you to know.”
“Who knows these things besides you?”
“Only Lewis. I know I can trust him.”
I sighed heavily. “I hate not knowing things.”
He nodded. “I know. You’ll know everything in time. I promise you will.”
“You promise you’ll tell me as soon as you can?”
He nodded.
“I wish I had more notice. What about the music? I don’t even have a bridesmaid.”
“It’s just going to be a simple ceremony where we both say ‘I do’ and sign some papers. And then we can have the other wedding and we’ll be as extravagant as you’d like. And you can have all the time in the world to plan it. Well, you can have a few months.”
“Which is more than I’ve got right now. We’re talking only a few hours away.”
“I’ve arranged for the celebrant to arrive at the compound for a five o’clock wedding.”
“In the afternoon?”
Jacques nodded.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep.” I chewed on a fingernail.
“We’ll have to see what we can do about that.” Jacques caught me up in his arms as if I was light as a feather. I giggled as he headed toward the bed.
WE’D GOTTEN BACK to the compound early in the morning. The pack had decorated the main living room with white and pink flowers and everything looked lovely.
It was four o’clock in the afternoon when I pulled the dark pink dress on that would now be my wedding dress. It was the one Jacques had suggested. It was nothing fancy, but it didn’t look too bad—and it fitted. Once I had my dress on, I put the finishing touches on my long dark hair—my one good feature—and then applied my makeup. If only Abbie was there. She was so good at fixing makeup, but she would never be able to come to the compound.
I headed down in the elevator and when Janie saw me, she passed me a bouquet of pale pink roses. “Oh, wow! Thank you. They’re beautiful.”
“Everyone helped.”
I breathed deeply of the sweet scent of the flowers. When I looked back up at Janie, I smiled, knowing not everyone had helped. She was one of the girls I got along with the most. I just wished Jacques would tell me what was going on. Why the sudden need to get married? Did it have something to do with the other pack of shifters—The Light?
The next several minutes flew by, and I found myself standing in front of the celebrant, a young man in a dark gray suit. By the way his hands were shaking, I guessed this might have been his first time performing a wedding.
Jacques joined me and stood by me holding my hand, which made it hard to also hold the bouquet. I turned and passed it to Celia and I guess that made her my bridesmaid.
Turning back to face Jacques, I wanted everything to slow down. He was so handsome, smiling at me in his navy suit and crisp white shirt. “Just a moment,” I said. I turned away and broke off a flower out of my bouquet and placed it in Jacques’ buttonhole.
“Thank you,” he said with a smile. “Does that make me look better?”
“It does.”
“You’re beautiful, Destiny,” he said quietly.
My insides felt like they were glowing and I knew he meant those words. The man really thought I was beautiful. A tear trickled out of my eye, and Jacques noticed it and wiped it away.
The celebrant cleared his throat, apparently ready to begin. Jacques and I faced him.
We had decided not to write our own vows for the ceremony—we would do that for our next wedding, which would be like a renewing of our vows for us, but everyone on the outside would think it was our real wedding.
I closed my eyes for a second to steady my nerves and then I looked up into Jacques’ dark eyes.
“Are you nervous?” he whispered.
“Excited.”
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The celebrant began talking while Jacques and I were staring and smiling at each other. We each said ‘I do’ in the right places, and then Jacques pushed a simple platinum band on my finger next to my diamond ring.
Then the moment came for the kiss. I wondered if he was going to kiss me passionately or just give me a quick kiss.
He pulled me into his arms and kissed me tenderly, and we laughed when we heard the rumbles of the pack as they cheered and hollered. When we stopped kissing, the celebrant directed us to a table at the side where we signed papers. It was official. We were married.
A few months back I had gotten engaged to Donald Farrell, who turned out to be a real jerk, but now he was dead. I tried not to think too poorly of him, but it was hard. I sat at the small table and Jacques was standing by my side. I was glad I was marrying Jacques—a man I hadn’t even known existed a few months ago.
He leaned over and kissed me. “How do you feel now, Mrs. Hunter?”
“I’m not sure. It’ll take a little while to get used to that name.” I preferred to be known by my own name of Stephens, and we had never discussed me taking his last name. That was probably something we should’ve talked about. Most of the women I’d grown up with had kept their own names when they married. I wondered if it was a kind of Stepford wives thing to do to take a man’s name when you married. Maybe I could be Stephens-Hunter, although that was a little long. I rehearsed it in my mind: Destiny Stephens-Hunter.
Jacques pulled me to my feet. In typical Jacques fashion, he’d arranged everything and there was a feast waiting for us in the dining room. We were heading there when an alarm sounded. I looked at Jacques to see if I should panic while everyone scattered in all directions.
Stopping abruptly, Jacques pulled a phone from his pocket and spoke to someone. He then shouted to Seamus to get the marriage celebrant to safety, and he shouted for Lewis and then ordered him to take me to the penthouse.
“What’s going on?” I asked, seeing beads of sweat on Jacques’ forehead.
“Police. It’s a raid.” He leaned in toward me. “Your ring—the stone in your ring. It’ll keep you safe.”
I frowned at him, wondering if I’d heard correctly. Then Lewis grabbed me by both shoulders and almost lifted me off the floor as he ran with me. I looked back but Jacques was gone and most of the members of the pack were jumping into a corner of the floor—a secret passageway, I guessed.
Pulling against Lewis, I said, “I want to stay with Jacques.”
“Stop it, Destiny. You must come with me.” He grabbed my hand and ran, and I had no choice but to run too. At the end of the building he pressed something on the wall and the bottom section of the wall opened. He pushed me first then followed. The wall closed behind us and we were in some kind of a tunnel.
“Come on.” He grabbed my hand and we were running again.
He was making me run so fast I didn’t have any breath to ask where we were going. We must’ve covered a mile or more and we came to a door. Once we were on the other side of that, we ran up some steps.
“Stop. I’m going to be sick.”
“There’s no time. We’ve got to get to the chopper.” He pointed to a small house and I heard the familiar propellers of a helicopter.
When we got around the side of the house, I saw a helicopter. That must’ve been how we were going to get away. “What about Jacques?”
“He’s fine.”
“Are we going to wait for him?” I asked as he dragged me toward the helicopter.
“No. He’s got other plans.”
Lewis grabbed my elbow and shouted at me to duck down as we ran under the blades of the propeller. He pushed me inside first, and once he was sitting next to me he handed me a helmet.
“Put this on.”
I obeyed, thinking that it wouldn’t be much good if we crashed.
“What’s going on?” I asked as we rose into the air
“We were worried that this would happen.”
“Please tell me what’s going on?”
“Police.”
“Was it?”
He nodded.
Had I led Detective Andrews to Jacques and the pack? First from my fiancé, Donald, and then from Andrews following me to the compound, possibly by tracing my cell phone?
“Will the police helicopters come after us?” I’d seen that happen in the movies.
“I don’t think so.”
“Where are we going?” I knew we weren’t going the right way to get to the penthouse.
“We’re going to a safe house.”
“I heard Jacques tell you to take me to the penthouse.”
“That was only to throw anyone off if there was a plant amongst us.”
I stayed silent. I wondered what Jacques was going to do with the marriage certificate. If the police found it they would know I was one of the pack. “Oh no, I’ve left all my belongings in the bedroom, including my purse with all my identification.”
“Don’t worry; Jacques would’ve thought of that.”
All I could see below us were trees. It was getting dark. Up ahead I saw the lights of a small town.
The helicopter landed in a clearing amongst some trees.
We unclipped our helmets and then Lewis took hold of a flashlight from behind him. He said something to the pilot, and then grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the helicopter. Once we were clear of it, the helicopter rose into the sky. We walked through a field of tall grass until we came to a storage shed. Lewis stood in front of the roller door and pulled a key from his pocket. Once the door was open I saw a car.
“Jump in,” he said.
I did as he ordered and soon we were driving through a town and then just on the outskirts he stopped at a small house.
“Is this where we’ll be staying?”
“This is us,” he said. “We’ll stay here until we get the all clear.”
I got out of the car, still wearing the dress I’d gotten married in and the high heels that were now filthy and much worse for wear, but they hadn’t been too bad to run in. I was certain being a shifter had improved my fitness levels in my human state because there was no way the old Destiny could’ve run as far as I just had.
CHAPTER 17
I walked into the house behind him and my nostrils were assaulted with stale, musty air. “When was the last time someone was here?” I asked.
“I’m here every few weeks to keep an eye on it.” He flicked on some lights.
I looked around the small living room, and thankfully there were thick curtains on the window. “You’re not leaving me here alone, are you?”
“No. I’m looking after you until Jacques comes for you.”
“Thank goodness for that. I’m freaked out.” I held my stomach, still feeling queasy.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
I was always hungry. “Yes. Is there food here?”
“There’ll be something in the freezer that I can heat. Fancy a TV dinner?”
I pulled a face but a TV dinner was a better choice than starvation. “Whatever’s there.” I shook my head. “I can’t believe I’m having a frozen dinner on my wedding night.”
He chuckled. “It could be worse if we hadn’t gotten away.”
“That’s true. Anything you find will be fine.”
“I’ll see what I can rustle up.”
While he found what food he could, I had a quick look over the place. There were two bedrooms and one bathroom—basic accommodation, but I was safe so I couldn’t complain. I admonished myself for being a snob. Since I’d been with Jacques my standards had risen. Before I’d met him I was living in a small one-bedroom apartment and now I was acting like I was too good for this place.
When I headed back into the kitchen Lewis was going through the freezer.
“There’s Spaghetti Bolognese or a roast lamb dinner.”
“I’ll have the Spaghetti Bolognese, thanks.”
He took two packets out of the freezer and then loo
ked in the fridge. “We do have a bottle of bubbly.” He held up a bottle of champagne.
I shook my head. “You have it. I’m not in the mood. I’m too churned up.”
“This will settle you down.” He popped the cork and smiled at me.
“Okay, thanks. I’ll have a small glass. Can I do anything to help?”
“There’s not much to do except open the box and throw it in the microwave. Even I can handle that.”
I sat on a kitchen stool and pulled it against the countertop. “Was Jacques expecting a raid?”
“We’re always expecting something to happen. We shifters are always looking over our shoulders. It’s not an easy life.”
Lewis and I sat in silence and ate our food. It tasted like cardboard, but the champagne was nice.
“Has the compound been raided by the police before?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. This is the first time.”
“What do you think they were looking for?”
“Jacques, of course.”
That was something I didn’t want to hear. “Really?”
“And all of us, but mainly Jacques. They’ve been out to get him for years. That’s why you can’t stay at the penthouse. They’ll be raiding every place he owns. They would have search warrants for everything.”
“Are you sure we’re safe here?”
“As safe as we’ll be anywhere. No one knows about this place. Not even Seamus. Only Jacques and myself. We should be okay here, but we need to lay low and that means no calling anyone.”
For a long time, I had thought Seamus was the second in command. I was glad he wasn’t. “I don’t even have my phone with me, so I couldn’t call anyone if I wanted to. Unless there’s a phone here?” I looked around.
“No. There’s no phone. I have one for emergencies.”
Since I didn’t have my phone and didn’t wear a watch, I had no idea what time it was when I went to bed. At least the bed was comfortable and the sheets clean.
That night, I didn’t sleep. Tears kept brimming in my eyes over everything that had happened. It didn’t take long for my pillow to get soggy and I tossed it on the ground. And it was an awful feeling not knowing whether Jacques was safe. Had the police caught any of the shifters? Would Jacques have to start from scratch to build up the pack again?