by Leela Ash
Kane crumpled the paper up and shoved it into the pocket of his vest. If he didn’t, Max and his evil friends would veer the next generations in an awful direction.
***
“What’s wrong with you?” Courtney demanded.
Kane glared up at his daughter, who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, staring at Kane with expectant eyes. He had come slamming through the doorway, furious about the fact that Max and his group of morally muddy men would be the inevitable mentors of the impressionable shifter youth. The thought riled him to no end. There was no way he could marry another woman. His wife had meant everything to him, and losing her had been like losing a part of himself. It just wasn’t possible.
“I wouldn’t even know where to start,” Kane growled.
“Start at the beginning.”
Kane froze at the sound of Lia’s voice coming from behind Courtney. He glanced over his daughter’s shoulder and met the eye of the young woman, who eyed him daringly, her pale blue eyes sparkling vividly. He hesitated for a moment, lost in the heat of her gaze, before the words began to tumble from his lips as if of their own accord.
“Franklin is leaving, whether temporarily or permanently is hard to say. He wants someone to take his place.”
“That should be great news!” Courtney exclaimed. “You’ve been talking forever about how you wish you had more power at the school. How Max and the others have their minds set on corrupting the young shifter kids they teach. They’re bear sympathizers!”
“I know!” Kane exclaimed, a little more fiercely than he meant to. Lia flinched away from the force of his temper, and he immediately regretted speaking so harshly. “But there’s nothing I can do about it. There’s a list…”
Kane fumbled with the paper he had wadded up and stuffed into his vest pocket and thrust it at Courtney. “I can’t do everything that’s on that list. But I have to in order to qualify.”
Courtney read over the list, and when she reached the end, a chuckle bubbled up from deep within her. Kane raised a stern eyebrow at her, but she met his gaze with dancing eyes.
“You have to marry a virgin?”
“Seriously?” Lia asked, grabbing the list from Courtney and reading it eagerly. “What the hell for?”
Kane prickled. “It’s shifter tradition. A human wouldn’t understand.”
Lia jutted her chin up at him, but he refused to meet Lia’s eyes. Even if she did understand, what use would it be to him? She was just a human child. He didn’t need her understanding or her pity. What he needed was a bride, and that just wasn’t going to happen.
“What about Ms. Alice?” Courtney suggested. “She’s liked you for a while.”
“I am not having this conversation with you, Courtney,” Kane said, trying his best to keep his voice level and steady, despite his profound irritation.
“But dad, we can’t just let Max take over the school! Who knows what would happen!”
“Mr. Desmond, please. Don’t give up hope. There’s got to be a way.”
Lia’s soft voice was saccharine sweet in Kane’s ears, and he growled. The wolf wanted her badly enough that the rest of him just wished she would shut the hell up.
“I am not going to desecrate your mother’s memory by marrying a virgin! And for convenience of all things!” Kane said sternly. “There will be no other woman for me. Not ever. Do I make myself clear?!”
Courtney nodded grimly, but a grin slowly began to spread across her face. Kane didn’t like the look of it. Not one bit.
“Whatever it is you’re thinking, young lady, I’ll have none of it!”
Courtney’s eyes danced as she looked at her father, and Kane sighed heavily. She was going to come out with her idea whether he liked it or not.
“What if it only looked like a real marriage?” Courtney asked slowly. “It just says you have to be engaged to a virgin. The ceremony is all you really need.”
“I don’t see what you’re getting at,” Kane sighed.
“Well, if all you need is to be engaged to a virgin, you should just pretend.”
“Pretend?” Kane asked, exasperated beyond belief. “I don’t even think I know any virgins!”
Courtney’s grin widened and she turned her eyes to Lia. Lia’s face immediately turned bright red and she backed away as if Courtney’s eyes were on fire.
“Courtney…” Lia pleaded.
“Lia’s a virgin,” Courtney said. “And she’s not seeing anyone. Don’t you think it’s a little bit perfect? It would just be a sham. You guys don’t have to really get married. You can just do the ceremony stuff for the title and then go your separate ways. Just keep up the charade long enough to qualify and take the power over the school.”
The wolf inside Kane was wild about the idea. A little bit too wild. He met Lia’s eyes, and she held his gaze unwaveringly, despite the deep, attractive flush of her cheeks.
“I wouldn’t ask anybody to do that for me,” Kane said firmly.
“It’s not for you, though,” Lia said quietly. “It’s for everybody. Max is bad news. I know it myself, without even knowing anything about the shifter world that you guys are a part of. If he has the kind of power that Franklin is disposed to, who knows what might happen…”
Kane was deeply surprised by the thought Lia was already putting into this, but he supposed he shouldn’t be. She was one of the most intelligent students he had ever had. There was just something about her that stood out to him. And now he was beginning to see why.
“Really, Lia. Courtney was just throwing ideas out there. You don’t have to feel any pressure to do that. We will figure something out either way.”
Lia took a deep breath and stepped forward, a small line of determination making her lips thin. Kane flinched away in surprise when Lia got down on one knee and took his strong hand in hers. She looked into his eyes, her own dead serious.
“Mr. Desmond,” she said softly. “Will you fake marry me?”
Courtney exhaled, her face bright with delight and amusement, but she didn’t allow herself to laugh, obviously fascinated by her father’s reaction. Kane searched his brain a hundred different ways for any other option, but found he was coming up short. There was nothing he would be able to do if he weren’t able to find a virgin bride, but anybody else he dealt with would want to keep him saddled down for good. At least with a young woman like Lia, she would have her own hopes and dreams to look after. A reason to leave him alone with his devotion to his wife. She would leave him.
“All right, kid. Whatever. Let’s try this. Now get the hell up off the floor.”
Courtney squealed, clearly beside herself, and helped Lia up as Kane turned his back on the girls.
“I’ll get you a proper ring in the morning,” Kane said, not meeting Lia’s eyes. “And you’re going to have to get used to spending your time here, because if we’re going to convince the council that this thing is real, you’re going to have to live with us until this whole thing blows over. Think you can do that?”
“I can handle it,” Lia said quietly. Her gentle voice gave Kane goosebumps and he closed his eyes tightly. He wouldn’t let the wolf have its claim on her, no matter how tempting it might be. She was just a kid. And he wasn’t going to desecrate his wife’s memory with a doomed tryst with a mere child. It just wasn’t going to happen.
Still, Lia’s voice made him tingle all the way down the hall, until he reached his bedroom. He closed the door quickly and sank down on his bed. What in the hell had he gotten himself into?
4.
Lia’s heart pounded long after Kane disappeared down the hall, and Courtney grabbed her hand and immediately pulled her up to her bedroom.
“You just proposed to my dad!” Courtney exclaimed. “What the fuck!?”
“You know he would never do it himself,” Lia said, still somewhat dazed. “This way, at least he wasn’t cheating on your mom’s memory. Even if it was just pretend.”
“You’ve got some serious guts, girl,
” Courtney said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I never thought I’d see the day…”
“Look, it’s not even like it’s real. And this was all your idea anyway, so why are you making such a big deal of it?”
“I didn’t expect either of you to actually go for it!” Courtney exclaimed. “I honestly thought of it as a huge joke and nothing more, you know?”
Lia sighed, her heart drumming painfully in her chest.
“It’s just pretend, Courtney. You know how I feel about marriage. It’s not even a big deal. If it happens later in life, great. The guy I end up with won’t even have to know about this.”
“What makes you think my dad is going to give you up so easily?” Courtney asked. Her voice was joking, but her eyes were serious. Did she know something that Lia didn’t?
“What do you mean?” Lia asked, frowning.
“Shifters can be very possessive with the people they claim, Lia. Haven’t you learned anything from my dad’s class? Anyway, I don’t know,” Courtney said, her light-hearted smile returning. “It’s just that you’re a great person. Maybe you’ll change his mind about only wanting to love a dead woman.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Lia asked, shocked by her friend’s words. Sure, they were about to embark upon a strange fake engagement, but it wasn’t going to be anything more than that, no matter how attractive she thought Courtney’s dad was.
“I don’t know,” Courtney said again. “I just have a weird feeling about this. It’s hard to explain. Like maybe one of you likes the other one for real. At least just a little bit.”
Lia’s heart panged hard again. Of course. Courtney was a shifter. She could sense that kind of thing without even trying to.
“All right,” Lia said holding her hands up. “I’ll admit it. I think your dad is kind of hot. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to spend the rest of my life with him. So stop worrying, all right?”
Courtney laughed. “Well, just do me a favor and butter him up a bit about humans so that, at some point, when things get serious between me and Eric…”
“Of course,” Lia said with a laugh. “If there’s anything I can do to help you, I’ll do my best.”
“Well, sacrificing your freedom to a shifter for the sake of future shifter generations is a pretty decent start,” Courtney said, the humor returning to her voice finally. Lia sighed inwardly in relief. It was nice to see her friend feeling back to her old self. It was a strange situation for everybody involved, even if it had been Courtney’s idea.
“Here’s to hoping,” Lia said with a small laugh.
They fell into silence, each of them considering what it was going to be like for Lia to live there. Where was she going to sleep? Were they all just going to carpool to the school from then on? Would there be some kind of rule against Kane marrying one of his students? Although, if there was, it would probably have been brought up in the guideline that Franklin had given him.
All she really knew for sure was that things were about to change very drastically. Lia only hoped she would be prepared for the ride ahead.
***
“Courtney! Lia. Come on out here.”
Kane pounded on Courtney’s door again and the two were roused from sleep.
“The hell, dad?” Courtney grumbled, slipping out of bed. “It’s the weekend!”
“I know,” Kane said tersely. “But we need somebody to witness the exchange of the symbols of engagement.”
“Fine,” Courtney said, following her father out into the hallway in front of her bedroom. “But did you have to do this so early?”
“The sooner the better, child. Now shut your mouth and get out here.”
Lia followed close behind Courtney, her stomach sour. She hadn’t even brushed her teeth yet, let alone allowed herself to wrap her head around the reality that she had suddenly become engaged to a random man. The whole thing seemed to be happening way too fast. But when she caught Kane’s eye, her heart tremored and a sudden strength surged from deep inside of her.
She wasn’t just doing this for Kane. She was doing it for the youth that would be swayed by rogue shifters with dark intentions. And he wasn’t doing it out of love for her, or even attraction. He was doing it because there was no other choice, and it would be over before they knew it. She would just have to be strong for now, even if it felt weird.
“Lia, you have to come over here and take my hand,” Kane said, his voice strained. It was clear where his mind was as he avoided the large family portrait in the hallway, where his face was beaming next to his wife’s, with their little baby daughter between them. He was probably unable to take his mind off of the first time he had done this ritual, in earnest, with the woman he loved. Right now paled in comparison, and Lia felt an irrational twinge of jealousy toward the gorgeous woman in the photo. The woman who had Kane’s heart, whether living or dead. And who could blame him? She was flawless.
Lia nervously extended her hand, dropping it lightly in Kane’s outstretched hand. His fingers tightened over hers and she looked up at him, certain he would be able to hear the fierce beating of her heart. But his eyes appeared troubled, and she quickly lowered her gaze for the next part of the ceremony.
“Take this,” Kane grumbled, thrusting a brown paper bag into her free hand. She looked inside and saw a pendant, and pulled it out. It was solid gold, with some kind of deep red gemstone set in the center of an octagon.
“That goes on my dad,” Courtney whispered. “As a symbol of your willingness to be his wife. The gold is supposed to symbolize your purity.”
Lia’s face grew hot, and Kane mercifully continued with the ceremony.
“It is my honor to pledge the power of my protection to you always, and ask that we may join in ceremony in one month’s time,” Kane recited, his eyes completely avoiding Lia’s. He stuck a ring on her middle finger, and it suddenly glowed bright white. Lia gazed at the ring in disbelief as the glow died down into a solid white gold.
“You have to put the necklace on him now, and say what’s on the paper in the bag.”
Kane bent forward, his dark eyes glued to the ground, as Lia hesitantly placed the pendant over his head and dug in the bag for the paper.
“I accept your proposal, and vow to surrender the power of my purity to you.”
The words felt stuck in her throat, but finally Kane caught her eye and she felt a little bit better.
“That’s it,” Kane said, dropping Lia’s hand and clearing his throat. “You’re going to have to sleep in my room, though, for the next few weeks until this is all over with. It’s custom to guard the soon-to-be bride from the advances of any other shifters who might taint her.”
“You don’t think she can just stay in my room?” Courtney asked, her voice slightly alarmed.
“No, the council does random checks once they are informed of an engagement. Particularly in the case of a candidate to inherit as much power as I would receive as the head of the university. It’s just safer that way.”
“Shit,” Courtney said. “I was kind of liking the idea of having a month long slumber party.”
Kane’s lips tugged into a brief smile. “It will still be like that. But your friend will just have to stay with me when it is time to rest. Don’t worry,” Kane said, his serious eyes flickering to Lia. “I won’t let any harm come to you.”
Lia’s heart pounded hard in her chest and she nodded.
“I know.”
“All right,” Courtney said, her voice cheerful. She seemed to sense that both her father and her best friend were feeling some very difficult emotions, and her eyes sparkled as she held her dad’s gaze first, then Lia’s. “Now that you two are good and engaged, I say it’s time we go out and celebrate! Breakfast, on me!”
“Sounds good,” Kane said with a slow nod. “That will probably make this engagement look like it’s real.”
“Yeah,” Lia agreed, trying not to let Kane’s words hurt her. It was silly for them to sting. The engagement was fa
ke, after all. Why would she take it so personally that he didn’t want to marry her? It was stupid! They barely knew each other, really. Just having a man as a teacher didn’t make him husband material anyway.
“Cool,” Courtney said. “Everybody be downstairs by 11:00 and we’ll go out for breakfast and tell everyone the good news. By the time 11 pm rolls around, this house is going to be filled with people here to celebrate your upcoming union.”
“Court, don’t you think that’s a bit much?”
Before the words had left Kane’s mouth, his daughter was already bounding off toward the bathroom, leaving Lia and Kane alone in the hall.
“This isn’t going to be so bad,” Kane said, as much to himself as to Lia. “It will only be a few weeks and then everything will go right back to the way it always was.”
Kane turned away and left to go back downstairs, and Lia watched him go. Sure, it was only going to be a strange few weeks. That was all.
And yet, for some reason, Lia couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t going to be quite so simple. Still, it wasn’t worth thinking too deeply about it. No matter what was going to happen, she was just going to have to get through these next few weeks without messing up. If she could manage that, then everything was going to be fine.
5.
“Hey, congratulations, man!”
Kane pursed his lips as one of his old buddies, a man named Darious, and slapped him on the back.
“We didn’t think you were ever going to remarry after what happened to Ava,” Darious said, his eyes serious.
Kane prickled but he forced himself to smile.
“Well, in Lia’s case, here, I had to make an exception.”
“I can see why,” Darious confided, eyeing the young woman from across the room. Somehow, that made Kane even angrier than he had been at the mention of his wife. How they had been lost to humans. Humans like Lia. “She’s a cutie.”