by Zena Wynn
She shrugged away his concern. “I got sick on my last assignment. Stomach virus. Still getting over it,” she explained.
“Kiesha told us. You’d better get in there before the Drill Sergeant comes looking for you.” He gave her a gentle shove in the direction she assumed held the rooms Kiesha and the other girls were changing in.
“I’m going, and I’m telling Mom you’re calling her names again,” she teased, then jumped out of the way of the playful swat he aimed toward her butt.
Shay crossed the foyer, headed for the door in the corner that her father had indicated. Shannon left Rory’s side and joined her. The minute the door closed behind them, Shannon laid a restraining hand on her arm. “You marked him.”
“I…it just happened. I couldn’t control myself,” Shay explained.
“Does this mean you’re staying?” Shannon’s solemn gaze showed her concern for Rory’s well-being.
“Yeah,” Shayla slowly responded. “I guess it does. There’s more than me to think about, you know? Got to do what’s best for the little one.”
“And what about you? Despite what I said earlier, Rory would hate it if the only reason you’re with him is because you’re pregnant.”
“He…your brother…” She stopped, not sure how to put it in words. “He intrigues me, makes me crazy. I like yanking his chain, making him lose control.” She sighed, frustrated. “He affects me. I’m not sure how this will all play out. I don’t know. Maybe there is something to this true mates stuff.”
Shannon’s smile lit up the hallway where they stood. “It’s a start. Long as you don’t run, everything should work out fine.”
Shayla snorted. “This is me you’re talking to. I’m more likely to head into trouble than to run from it.” Hell, most times she was the one who’d started it.
Shannon laughed and threw her arm around Shay. “Welcome to the family, Sis.”
“Yeah, well, just don’t say anything like that in front of my parents. I’m not ready for them to know yet,” Shayla warned.
“Having met your mother, I understand completely. Are you sure she isn’t a shifter? She’s alpha enough. Doesn’t say a lot, but the look on her face…” Shannon shuddered. “That woman could teach a wolf a few things.”
“My father didn’t call her the Drill Sergeant for nothing. She has eyes like a hawk and this way of issuing orders that has you obeying before you even realize what you’re doing,” she said with a roll of her eyes.
“Like I said—alpha.”
“I’d better get in there before she comes looking for me.” Shay motioned for Shannon to lead the way. “How’s Kee?”
“Steady. Still worried about you but trying to hide it. This whole wedding thing is just a formality,” Shannon stated as she came to a halt in front of an unmarked door.
“For you shifters, maybe, but not for Kiesha. She’s been dreaming of this day her whole life,” Shay commented as Shannon opened the door.
As soon as she saw her mother, Shay squealed, “Mommy,” like the geek she was and ran to give her a hug.
“Shay-Nei.” Her mother hugged her tight, then pinched her cheeks. “Look at these dark circles. You work too hard. When are you going to quit this gypsy lifestyle, settle down with a man, and give me some grandkids? You’re almost thirty.”
“Moooom,” she groaned. “It’s been almost a year since we’ve seen each other, and you’re already starting in on me?”
“I’m not getting any younger. Neither are you. Kiesha’s found a nice young man of her own. Why can’t you?”
“Her next assignment is nearby in Tennessee. She’ll be there for six months. Maybe she’ll meet a nice man, Auntie,” Kiesha said.
Glancing over her shoulder, Shay gave Kiesha evil voodoo eyes. When her mom went into raptures, ruminating on the possibilities, she turned where her mother couldn’t see her, pointed at Kiesha, then put her hands to her throat, miming choking motions. Kiesha’s gaze dropped meaningfully to Shay’s stomach, and she arched an eyebrow. The message was clear. With a sigh of defeat, Shay looked around for her dress.
“My brother lives there. In fact, that’s who Shay will be working for. He’s single, and they seemed to hit it off fairly well when she was here a few weeks ago,” Shannon added with a sly grin.
“Really?” The glance her mother gave Shay was speculative. “And he’s single, you say?”
“Owns his own construction business and has partnerships in quite a few of the other local businesses,” Shannon stated.
“Best of all, he’s not scared of Shay,” Kiesha said with a smirk.
Grinning, Shay’s mother said, “I want to meet this man. Is he coming to the wedding?”
“He’s in it,” Kiesha said. “He’s paired with Shayla.”
I’m going to kill them, the both of them, as soon as this thing is over, Shayla thought to herself.
“And what’s this young man’s name? And why is he still single if he’s so eligible?” her mom asked suspiciously.
’Cause he’s crazy mean and no one would have him? Shay quickly muffled a laugh at her thoughts. If she commented in any way, it would just encourage her mother, so she got her dress and acted oblivious to the conversation around her.
“He wanted to make sure I was taken care of first. We shared a house until recently. Actually Rory practically raised me. He’ll make a good father,” Shannon said.
Shayla rolled her eyes.
“He’s become a good friend of Alex’s in the short time I’ve been here,” Kiesha stated. “I can vouch for his character. I think he’s a good match for Shay. She needs a firm hand, and he can definitely handle her.”
Come on, guys, laying it on a bit thick, aren’t you? Shay snorted.
“Did you say something, Shay-Nei?” her mother asked.
“Hmm? Oh, just that I don’t remember this dress being this loose,” she responded, thinking quickly. Kiesha looked over as her mother and Shannon came close.
“Turn around,” her mother commanded.
As she spun, her mother ordered, “Hold your hands out.”
Shay did as she was told. “Is it really noticeable?”
There was a brief knock, and the door opened to admit Kiesha’s best friend, Mary Elizabeth. “Hey, Tameka’s here,” Mary Elizabeth announced as she stepped to the side. Behind Mary Elizabeth stood a slender black woman with a hesitant look on her face.
“Oh great. Shay, Auntie, this is Tameka. She’s going to be doing my hair. Tameka, this is my cousin Shayla and her mother, Kiyona. Did you bring the stuff?” Kiesha asked.
“Right here.” Tameka held up a square, plastic container that looked sort of like a toolbox.
Things got a bit hectic. Kiesha and Tameka were discussing hairstyles. Her mother sent Mary Elizabeth to get the seamstress to take in her dress while berating Shayla about her poor eating habits. Alex’s mother, Mona, came into the already crowded room to see how things were progressing. But the shit really hit the fan when her mother absolutely refused to let her wear her combat boots under her dress.
By the time her dad knocked on the door and said they were ready, Shayla had a massive headache.
* * * *
The wedding ceremony passed in a stomach-churning blur. Despite his promise, Rory kept making eyes at her whenever their gazes connected. She tried not to look at him, but he was in her line of vision and did everything he could to make sure she saw him. In addition she could feel her mother’s stare like an itch between her shoulder blades.
Her shoes pinched—she’d lost the battle over her boots—making her feet hurt. Just her rotten luck that she and her mother wore almost the same size and she’d had an extra pair of pumps in the car. There wasn’t enough time to drive to Kiesha’s and pick up the shoes matching her dress, so Shay wobbled down the aisle on three-inch stilettos, praying she wouldn’t fall and embarrass herself. Simply making it to the altar was a challenge. Flowers in one hand, dress in the other to prevent tripping over the hem, she
kept her head lowered, watching the placement of her feet in the carpet in the candlelit church while valiantly ignoring her mother’s whispered hisses of, “Lift your head up, Shayla. Stop looking down.”
Despite her misery, she couldn’t help but smile when Alex bent Kiesha back over his arm for the kiss after they were pronounced man and wife.
The end was in sight. Alex escorted his new bride out of the church, the photographer snapping pictures the whole way. Then went Mary Elizabeth and her mate, a bear-shifter named Hugh. Shannon and some guy she didn’t know were next. Shay wondered where the vampire was. Still home in his casket? The sun was setting outside, so he should be rising soon.
Rory held out his arm, and she laid her hand on the sleeve, leaning a bit heavier than she wanted as she gathered her dress in the same hand that was holding her bouquet. He leaned close to her ear. “You okay?”
“Damn shoes are killing my feet,” she complained. She caught her mother giving them an appraising look out the corner of her eye and abruptly pulled away. Shay would have tipped over if Rory hadn’t caught her. “She’s watching,” she muttered out the side of her mouth.
“Who?”
“My mother. She’s matchmaking.”
He grinned. “With me?”
“It’s not funny,” she hissed. “Your sister and my cousin put her up to it. They were singing your praises. It was enough to make me sick.”
“Look at it this way. She won’t be upset when she finds out about me and the babe,” Rory stated.
She didn’t remember the aisle being this damn long. If she didn’t get out of these shoes soon, she was going to hurt someone. Finally they reached the exit and joined the rest of the wedding party in the reception line. Shay immediately stepped out of her heels.
She was bent over, rubbing the toes of her left foot, when her mother’s commanding voice rang out as she passed. “Shay, straighten up and put those shoes back on your feet.”
A growl slipped out as Shay glared at her mother’s retreating back.
“I heard that,” her mother called over her shoulder.
She muttered some very succinct curse words under her breath as she stuffed her abused feet back into the torture devices masquerading as shoes.
“You don’t have to put them on if they hurt,” Rory stated.
“Yeah, I do. I wouldn’t put it past her to come and check.” As much as Shay loved her mother, a little bit of her presence went a long way. Now she remembered why they hadn’t seen each other in a year.
As soon as the last person cleared the line, Kiyona went into drill sergeant mode. “You there, clear the area. It’s time for pictures.”
Rory whistled under his breath. “Your mother’s something else.”
“Right now I wish she were somewhere else.”
Kiyona got a few startled glances, but everyone obediently moved off the steps. Then came the poses. The bride and groom. The groom with his parents. The couple with his parents. The couple with Shay’s mother and father. The bride with her bridesmaids. The groom with the groomsmen. It went on and on, in every combination possible.
“All right, everybody back in the church,” Kiyona ordered.
They trooped back inside, the beleaguered photographer having lost control long ago, if he ever had it. Everything was repeated. Shayla knew she’d be seeing cameras flash in her nightmares.
“Shayla, the man said smile! That is not a smile.”
Shay told Shannon through clenched teeth, “I’ll kill her. You eat her. No body, no evidence.”
“But lots of witnesses,” Shannon reminded her.
“They won’t tell. Hell, they might even help.”
Just when she was tempted to make good on her threat, her father came to the rescue. “Okay, that’s enough. I’m sure the kids are tired and hungry and so am I. They’ve been at it an hour. The guests are waiting.”
Thanks, Dad, she mouthed.
He winked in return.
Everyone, including the photographer, heaved a sigh of relief as he led her mother off. Shayla promptly came out of her heels, and she noticed Mary Elizabeth and Kiesha doing the same.
“Don’t your feet hurt?” she asked Shannon.
Shannon held up the hem of her dress, revealing the dainty, slipperlike flats she wore.
“Bitch,” Shayla groused.
“And proud of it,” Shannon responded.
“You know, agreeing with me just takes all the fun out of insulting you,” she complained. Right then her stomach growled loudly.
Rory was suddenly by her side. He put a hand under her elbow. “Come on, let’s go get you fed.”
“Wait, let me grab my shoes,” she protested as he tugged, pulling her along behind him.
Rory went back and scooped them up. “You riding?” he asked his sister.
The reception was being held at a nearby community center. “I drove,” Shannon answered.
“We’ll see you there.” He rushed Shay out of the church.
At the top of the stairs, Shay pulled on his arm. “Stop. Give me my shoes. I’m not walking on that with bare feet.” That was the pebbled driveway leading to the front of the church.
He didn’t even pause. Rory swung her into his arms and kept walking.
“Put me down. My parents…”
“Will just have to deal.”
Shay subsided. It’s not like she wanted to walk anyway, not with the way her toes were throbbing.
“I can’t believe you wore those things,” he continued angrily.
“My mother made me.”
He glanced down at her in surprise. “Do you always do what she tells you?”
“No, but I didn’t figure Kiesha’s wedding was the time to get into it with her.”
He grunted in reply. His ground-eating stride rapidly ate up the distance to the truck. Rory opened the passenger door and set her on the seat. Before she could slide around, he reached down and massaged the toes and arch of her left foot. Shay fell back onto her elbows as a moan of pure pleasure left her lips. “God, that feels good.”
“Aren’t you supposed to have on stockings or something with those shoes?”
“I didn’t have any. I was supposed to be wearing my boots. The heels wouldn’t fit with the socks I had on,” she stated wryly.
He switched feet, and Shay let her head relax back, staring up at the ceiling. Now that her appendages didn’t hurt so much, she realized she was getting nauseated. Her mouth filled with saliva, and she swallowed repeatedly.
“What’s wrong?”
It continually amazed her how attuned Rory was to her every nuance. “Stomach.”
His gaze sharpened. “It pains you?”
She shook her head. “Sick.”
“The babe needs to eat. Bend your knees.” She curled so that both feet rested on the seat, and felt Rory arranging the skirt of her dress around her. “Don’t move,” he ordered before closing the door.
She didn’t intend to. With the bile churning, it felt like the slightest movement on her part would upset the delicate balance and she’d hurl. He came around and slid into the driver’s seat, lifting her head so that it rested in his lap. After starting the engine and backing out of the parking space, he laid his hand on her stomach and gently massaged the tense muscles.
“Damn town doesn’t have a fast-food joint,” he complained.
Shay placed her hand on his, entwining their fingers. “It shouldn’t take long to get to the reception, and then I can eat. Kiesha’s not going to prolong things. Alex will ensure it since she’s pregnant too.”
She closed her eyes and did her best to relax in the few minutes she had before they arrived. Shay must have been more tired than she realized, because the next thing she knew, Rory was lightly shaking her shoulder. “Shay, wake up. They’re lining up to go inside.”
She cautiously rolled to a sitting position and ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing the curls into place behind her ear. She’d wanted to add ruby-colored s
treaks to match her dress. Yet another thing her mother had vetoed.
The door opened, and Rory reached in to lift her out. When she was stable on her feet—once more in the damnable heels—he placed his hands on the sides of her neck and used his thumbs to raise her chin. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t feel up to it. I can take you straight to the table and fix you a plate. Alex will understand.”
Alex would, but her parents wouldn’t. Such action would cause more trouble for her than it was worth. “I’m fine. The nap and the foot rub helped.” She glanced over his shoulder. “They’re waiting.”
Chapter Four
Rory led her across the parking lot—asphalt this time, fortunately—and they took their position. Both sets of parents were escorted inside, then Shannon and her partner, followed by Shayla and Rory, with Mary Elizabeth and Hugh bringing up the rear.
Mary Elizabeth and Hugh, as maid of honor and best man respectively, sat at the high table with Alex’s and her parents. Shannon, the guy with her—what was his name?—Rory, and Shayla sat at a reserved table to the side. They remained standing and clapped as Alex and Kiesha walked in. Her cousin was beaming. Marriage looked good on her.
As soon as everyone was seated, Rory stepped away from the table. Shay caught him by the arm. “Where are you going?”
“To get you some food.”
“The bride’s table is supposed to eat first.”
He shook her loose. “Screw that. Your health and the well-being of our child are more important than protocol.”
Realizing he was prepared to make a scene, Shay let him go. Maybe he could slip over to the buffet table and back with none the wiser. She turned to Shannon and asked, “Where’s Nik? Shouldn’t he be out his coffin by now?”
“He’s on the way.”
“I’m surprised he wasn’t with you at the ceremony. The whole sunlight thing got him, huh?”
Shannon laughed. “Sunlight doesn’t hurt him, just makes him sluggish. He stayed away because he knows he makes a lot of the shifters uncomfortable.”
“How are they adjusting to you mating a vamp?” Shay was curious. There had been some problems in the beginning because so many people were against it.