Tears streamed freely down her father’s face now. Katrina sat astonished, and had to swallow hard before she could find her voice.
“I’m so sorry, Father. I had no idea. I knew grandfather died when I was a baby, of course, but… I had no idea.”
Her father nodded. “That’s because we never told you. And there’s something else we never told you. The treaty had to be strong. It had to be something both clans would honor. We had to agree to something…immense.”
A shiver whispered across Kat’s skin. The foreboding she’d felt earlier grew quickly into alarm. She wanted to ask, but she knew deep in her heart she really didn’t want to know. No sense in delaying the inevitable.
“W-what… What did you agree to, Father?”
Her mother looked at her with eyes full of hope and regret. “It was the only way, Katrina. And we know you’ll agree. When you understand what it means for all of us, we know you’ll agree.”
“Okay, you’re starting to freak me out,” Kat said, her gaze ping-ponging between her parents. “What is it? Just tell me.”
“We agreed…” Her father cleared his throat and started again. “We agreed that, upon her twenty-first birthday, my daughter, Katrina Hamilton, would marry the eldest son of the newly instated Tier Fairchild.”
A long silence followed his statement, then Katrina burst out laughing. “Oh, that’s too funny, Father! You almost got me! Is there a hidden camera somewhere?”
Kat glanced around the room, but didn’t see anything out of place, and no one jumped out from behind the drapes to shout “Surprise!” When she caught her mother’s pitying expression, disbelief clutched her heart.
“You can’t be serious,” she breathed as she looked between them. Their expressions said they were deadly serious. “That’s ridiculous! This isn’t medieval times. You can’t simply marry me off to some stranger. He could be a monster, or a moron…or both! You can’t possibly expect me…” Her voice trailed off. No words seemed strong enough.
“He’s not a monster,” Tier Hamilton explained quietly, almost apologetically. “I wouldn’t do that. He’s a good man, a good bear. He’s a fine businessman, a fine…person.”
The reality of the situation settled like a concrete block on Kat’s heart. “I can’t believe you never told me. What’s wrong with you?”
Her parents flinched, then looked at each other with deep sadness. Her mother was the first to meet Kat’s eye.
“It was my idea, Katrina. I didn’t want you growing up with this hanging over your head. I wanted you to have as normal a life as possible, without having to worry about the future.”
“That’s why we couldn’t permit you to date,” her father added. “We couldn’t risk letting your reputation be damaged in any way.”
Katrina sat motionless and utterly speechless, shocked at the explanation for her romance-free life she never would have imagined.
Stella picked up the plate of cakes and held it out to her. “Have a bite, dear. We have a lot to discuss. Your birthday’s only two days away.”
“I won’t do it,” she whispered.
How could she? How could they? Two days? Impossible!
Her mother sighed and set down the plate. “You must, Katrina. If you don’t, we will go back to war and thousands will die. I’m sorry, but this is the only way.”
Kat jumped up from her seat, unsure why until the words tumbled out of her mouth. “I have to go. I have to…think!”
Her father stared down at his hands, unable to meet her furious gaze. Her mother was braver.
“Go for a run, dear. Think. I know you’ll come to the right — the only — conclusion.”
Kat was out the door in a flash. She ignored the tearing seams and shredding fabric of her clothes as she shifted and ran into the woods at full speed. And she ran. Ran from her parents, ran from the obligations they’d just heaped on her, ran from her life. As long as she ran, she wouldn’t have to think.
Yet she did.
For her entire life, Kat had been lectured about duty. Duty to her family, duty to her clan. But didn’t her family have a duty to her? To protect her?
She tried to imagine the horrors which would compel a man to promise away his only child. She’d learned enough in school and heard enough from friends’ parents to know the wars had been hell. They’d spoken of entire families being wiped out, friends going missing, countless homeless orphans. Their new lives were utopia, by comparison.
As much as her body screamed to refuse — to fight, to run — she couldn’t simply turn her back on her clan. What kind of person would she be if she only thought of her own selfish desires and left them to fates quite possibly worse than death? Her happiness wasn’t worth more than a single one of their lives.
No, her mother was right. It was the only way. She’d marry a stranger, but she would never give herself to him. She wouldn’t love him, wouldn’t bear his cubs, wouldn’t live with him, if she could help it. They would be married in name only, and if he didn’t like it, he could jump off a high cliff. She’d continue to travel, study, paint. She’d live her life as a single woman…forever.
Alex’s face flashed in her mind, but she pushed it away. It was better this way. She was better off closing her heart…forever.
Nine
Alex almost nodded off as the shaman droned on for what seemed like hours. It didn’t seem fair the groom had to stand at the altar and endure the opening chants alone, before the bride made her grand entrance. Sure it was tradition, but the chants at most weddings took all of five torturous minutes and didn’t include a grisly recounting of the two clans’ bloody history.
At least the ceremony was in the woods. Some bear families held weddings in a regular church, so they could invite human friends. But nothing so untraditional would be allowed for this union. Alex was grateful for that. The feeling of being trapped was almost unbearable as it was. If he’d been in a building, that sensation of being caged might have overwhelmed him. Being in the forest eased that sense of claustrophobia. He could smell the fresh air, see the sky above, and hear the river rushing behind him. If push came to shove, he could always turn and run.
Not that he would. He stood firm, his father beside him, surrounded by his own clan on one side and the members of Clan Hamilton on the other. Not all of his clan could attend, of course, but the crowd still filled the clearing to capacity. Some guests remained human, while others took bear form. Kids found it hard to maintain human form in the woods, so nearly all of them scampered around as cubs.
Looking out over everyone, he understood to his very core, they were his people. Not to rule, but to protect. Looking at their faces now — some good friends, some total strangers — pride and loyalty surged in him. He would do anything for them. Even marry a woman he’d never met. A woman who was probably not just horribly plain, but also either imbecilic or subservient to the point of—
That was a dangerous train of thought. Alex jerked his mind away from the bride and concentrated on the shaman’s words. The old man had finished with ancient history and was now up to a time Alex could actually remember:
“...and as the battles grew more frequent, the death counts rose. Bears fell almost daily, leaving families bereft, making cubs orphans. The damage became so great, all the clans were threatened with extinction. But the hatred between clans was too strong. It seemed nothing could end this war.
“Until at last, two men met on the battlefield and recognized they were both bears. Not monsters, not enemies, but bears. Bears who wanted to protect their families and provide for their people. And so they dropped their swords, sheathed their claws, and clasped hands.”
Alex glanced at his father, wondering how it felt to have such a painful memory described in flowery words like this. The older man’s face, however, betrayed nothing. It rarely did. Alex found it almost impossible to imagine his father so wracked with grief, but the knowledge of it touched his heart.
“These men realized the only way t
o bring peace to the two Great Clans was to join them in the most sacred of bonds. The bond that cannot be broken. The bond of marriage. Tier Hamilton would give his most precious possession, his daughter—” Alex tried not to flinch. Possession? Seriously? “—and Tier Fairchild would offer up the one he loved most in the world, his son.” Okay, so they were both possessions. At least it was even. “And the two would be joined and made one, and the Great Clans would be forever united.”
Alex wondered if the shaman realized the son and daughter in question were actually living breathing creatures. It certainly didn’t seem like it. He tuned out again and tried to think about the last fishing trip he’d been on, when he’d caught more salmon than his father.
He was roused from his thoughts when music started. This was it — she was about to appear. He was finally going to meet the woman he would be wed to for the rest of his life. A pit formed in his stomach.
The bridesmaids — including a very pregnant matron of honor — walked out of the bridal tent, followed by a little girl scattering flowers and having a lot of trouble staying human. Alex couldn’t help grinning at the bear feet poking out from under her dress. About halfway to the altar, she dropped the basket, shifted fully, and scurried behind a tree. Alex laughed along with everyone else, then jerked his eyes up when his bride exited the tent.
She walked arm-in-arm with Tier Hamilton, a long white veil hiding her face. Nothing seemed wrong with her figure or the way she moved. He actually very much liked the way she moved. In fact, something in the back of his mind seemed familiar with it. Then she was beside him, and the matron of honor — who hadn’t stopped glaring darkly at him — lifted the veil.
Alex had spent long years in the business world learning to never let his face show what he was thinking. He was famous for keeping cool, never reacting. He drew on every ounce of that skill now. His lips parted the tiniest bit, his eyes widened slightly, but that was all. No one looking at him could know his immense shock.
Well, no one but Kat. The woman he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about. The woman whose scent had stayed on his pillow and given him dreams about her for days.
The woman…
Standing before him…
In a wedding dress.
Everything fell into place. They’d met in Tier Hamilton’s building. His betrothed’s name was Katrina. Despite the fact he’d dated a few Kats in his time, he should have known! But he’d spent so many years imagining his fiancée as a mutant, that the idea she might be his ideal woman had never entered his mind.
The day he’d dreaded for so long was here and the bride he’d never wanted to marry was standing before him — and he couldn’t have been happier. He would spend his life with a beautiful woman he loved talking to, who would be a friend and a partner, not to mention an incredible lover. He was the luckiest man in the world.
Alex beamed at Kat, pouring every ounce of his joy into his grin. She smiled back, but it never reached her eyes. In their amber depths, Alex saw only rage. His heart sank. He’d been hating himself all week for the way he’d treated her after their one night together, and now she hated him too.
Just as he’d planned.
Ten
Katrina had taken an acting class in school, just for the fun of it. She hadn’t thought she’d learned much at the time, but now she used every trick she could remember to keep the fury off her face. Thank goodness she’d had a little time to mentally prepare herself, or she couldn’t have managed to fake it so well.
Two hours earlier, Katrina had been putting the finishing touches on her makeup in the bridal tent when boisterous voices outside announced the groom’s arrival. Kat had glanced at her best friend and matron of honor, Tilly, in the mirror and they grinned at each other.
“You wanna?” Tilly had asked, reading Kat’s mind.
“Do we dare? I’m supposed to be resting.”
“You can rest when you’re dead,” Tilly had said with a snort. “Unless you don’t want to see what your future husband looks like. If it were me, I’d be dying of curiosity.”
Of course, the point was moot since Tilly had married a man she’d known and loved for years. But Kat had wanted to to get a glimpse of the man — not that it really mattered, since the whole marriage was a sham anyway. Still…
The women had quickly undressed and shifted into bear form, hoping they’d draw less attention than if Kat snuck out in her ridiculously ornate wedding dress. Tilly had used a claw to slice a slit in the back of the tent, then they’d crept out as quietly as possible. They’d been sneaking out for runs in the woods since they were cubs, so this little unauthorized excursion had seemed to Kat like the perfect way to spend her last moments of freedom.
Peeking around the corner of her tent, Kat had spotted a tall, dark-haired man speaking with the shaman. His back had been to her, but the garland of flowers hanging around his neck showed he was the groom. A thrill of excitement had rushed through Kat as she willed the son of Tier Fairchild to turn around, though she reminded herself it didn’t matter. This would be a marriage in name only, no matter how good he looked from behind.
When he’d turned to speak with her father, Kat’s heart had nearly stopped. With a grunt, she’d turned and scurried back through the slit in the tent, leaving a mystified Tilly to follow.
“What’s wrong?” Tilly had asked when they’d both shifted back to their womanly forms. “He’s totally hot! You lucked out…didn’t you?”
Katrina had dressed as she told Tilly every sordid detail of her brief affair with Alex, including the fact she’d never known his last name. By the end, Tilly had been so angry, Kat had worried she might pop her cork…or her baby.
“What a fucktard!” Tilly had ranted, almost making Kat giggle.
“I know! Just thinking about it pisses me off all over again. The thought of marrying that jackass… I’m telling you Tilly, I’m this close to bolting.”
“You should!”
Tilly’s baby had chosen that moment to kick…hard. “Oof! Oh, you’ve got to feel this.”
Tilly had grabbed Kat’s hand and placed it on her swollen belly. The life inside Kat’s best friend had wiggled around, filling Kat with a joy she’d never known. She couldn’t wait to meet the precious little munchkin…
As she’d gazed at the softly undulating baby bump, a shroud of ice wrapped around her heart until tears sprang to her eyes. If she left, she’d never meet her own godchild. Infinitely worse than that, what kind of future would the cub have? One filled with war and hatred and death.
Kat had locked on to Tilly’s rapturous gaze, desperation choking the air from her lungs. In that moment, as Tilly’s smile had faltered, Kat chose life over death, peace over war, love over hate. She would marry that day, for the sake of her friend, her godchild and her people. Her misery was nothing compared to their lives.
At least she wouldn’t have to be miserable alone. She had every intention of sharing that gift with Alex too.
Now he stood in front of her, grinning like a moron. He looked as if he actually thought this was a happy occasion. Moron.
Instead of kicking him, as every fiber of her being was crying out for her to do, she plastered the biggest imitation of a smile she could muster on her face and said her vows, like a good girl. But when Alex looked into her eyes as he slipped the ring on her finger, Kat couldn’t resist letting her fangs grow to sharp points.
The man had perfected his poker face, she had to give that to him, but she caught the slight widening of his eyes. He’d seen her fangs, and hopefully the threat in her gaze. Look at me the wrong way and suffer the consequences, that look said. This marriage is a sham, and don’t forget it.
Through it all, she smiled. Even after the ceremony ended, and the crowd surged around them, shaking their hands and congratulating them, she smiled. When Alex dipped his head to speak to her, she smiled — then latched onto her father’s arm and allowed him to escort her to the next clearing for the feast. As she was about
to take her seat, she smiled.
Then a big, warm hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her away. Only then did she let the smile drop. She had no interest in following Alex wherever he was taking her, but everyone was watching. She had to at least pretend to like her new husband.
Gak! The word nearly turned her stomach inside out.
Neither spoke until they reached the river bank, where the rushing water would keep them from being overheard. Hopefully.
“Kat, this is crazy, isn’t it?” he said in an excited rush, hope flaring in his eyes. “I swear, I’ve been dreading this day my whole life, but when I saw it was you… Honestly, I’ve never been happier.”
Kat stared up at him, stunned. Exactly how did he expect her to react to that statement? Moron.
“I know I was awful the other day, but—“
“Awful?” she scoffed. “You weren’t awful, Alex. You did me a favor. If we’d never met and you hadn’t treated me the way you did, I might have spent my entire life under the illusion I married a great guy.”
He blinked as she spit the words at him. She hoped they stung.
“No, probably not my entire life,” she continued, twisting the knife. “You wouldn’t have been able to keep your true nature hidden that long. At least you saved me from a few days of not knowing any better and the utter humiliation that would have surely followed. Thanks!”
She smiled brightly, hating the way her voice had cracked, hating the tears that fought to fall, hating him.
“Kat, please. It seemed like the only way. I had no idea you were so…innocent. I thought if I was a jerk, it would be easier for you to…you know…get over me.”
Kat balked. “Get over you! Exactly how awesome do you think you are?”
The Werebear's Unwanted Bride (A Paranormal BBW Shifter Romance) (Howls Romance) Page 5