“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Carol.”
Shit. Richard, no, no.
Willow froze. I turned around slowly, kenning exactly what I would see and dreading it. Richard had poked his head out from beneath the bed.
“Irvine … there’s a man under your bed.” Willow’s voice was breathy.
“Um … yes, there is.” I bent down and dragged Richard out. “Willow, I didn’t want it to be like this, but this is your father, Richard.”
Willow’s face paled. Her hand started to slip over the edge of the table. “What are you talking about?”
“Maybe you should sit down.” I pulled out the chair next to her, but she didn’t move. Her eyes remained glued on Richard. I wondered if she was noticing the familiarity of his features.
“I know this is a big shock,” Richard said, taking a step across the tiny room. “I’ve been living under the sewers of London. Many shifters live there with me, who have committed crimes that go unpunished. We punish ourselves instead. Irvine brought me here because he thought I might be able to help you understand—”
“I understand that you’re a monster!” Willow lifted her right hip, waving the stump of her residual limb at his face. “What kind of a person does this to their own daughter?”
Richard’s entire face crumpled, his whole body slumping. “I … I … am so sorry,” he said.
“I can’t—” Willow was shaking uncontrollably. Her hands slid forward, grasping in the air for something to steady herself. “I have to—”
I rushed forward to grab her, as her whole body crumpled, and the light in her eyes went dim. “Stay inside,” I growled at Richard, as I hefted Willow’s body into my arms and carried her limp body out of the cabin.
42
Willow
I woke up in my own bed at my flat. All the samples had been cleared off and stacked neatly in the corner of the room. I was wearing a pair of fluffy pyjamas, and I wasn’t wearing my prosthesis. My head throbbed like I’d been hit with some comically huge mallet.
Alex and Elinor sat on the end of my bed, staring down at me with worried expressions. “You’re awake!” Alex grinned, stroking my hand.
“In a manner of speaking,” I replied. Talking made my head pound harder.
“Do you remember what happened?” Elinor asked, holding out a glass of water for me.
“No. I—” And then it all flooded back to me. Alex’s wedding. Irvine’s cabin. My father crawling out from under the bed.
My father.
That was my father.
Irvine brought my father to Crookshollow.
“Irvine told us what happened,” Alex said, continuing to stroke my hand. “You hit your head when you fainted. You might have a concussion, but we’ll get the doctor back later to check. Oh, Willow, I’m so sorry. We’ve been so mean to you.”
“S’okay,” I said, wincing as I tried to sip the water.
“It’s not okay,” Elinor said, pushing her glasses up her nose. “You’re our friend. And friends don’t desert each other just because they disagree with their choices. You were wrong not to think you could trust us, but we shouldn’t have acted the way we did, so consider us even.” She gave me that brilliant smile. I tried to smile back, but something sharp stabbed into my skull, and I flinched instead.
“I wasn’t here to spy for my mum,” I managed to choke out.
“We know,” Alex said firmly. “And the others would’ve known too, once they stopped to think about it.”
“Irvine also told us about what your mother did to you, and we understand now why you lied about who you were,” Elinor added. “You just wanted to start over. I totally get that. And that’s why you’re so afraid of the reveal, because of what it means for you.”
“That wasn’t what Irvine said,” I said, but I thought back to some of his words in his cabin. I cannae put one person before my entire race, even if I care more about that person than anyone else in the world.
“Irvine was just upset. You did break his heart.”
And he’d repaid me in kind, and then dug up my father to rub salt into the wound. “Yeah, well—”
“We’re not talking about Irvine,” Elinor said brightly. “We’re here to help Willow get back on her feet, so she can finish preparations for your wedding.”
“Do you want to be called Willow?” Alex asked. “Or do you prefer Carol?”
“Willow,” I said instantly. It fit. I’d left Carol behind when I left London. I couldn’t go back, even if the world forced me to. “And trust me, this wedding is going to be perfect. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Of course it is, because we’re going to help.” Elinor glanced around the flat. “Now, you’re not moving from this bed for a few days. So just tell us what needs doing.”
Despite the pain assaulting my temples, I managed a small grin. My heart soared in my chest. I may have lost Irvine, and he may have sided with my father, but at least I had real, honest-to-goodness friends. I pointed a shaking finger across the room to my suitcase. “Grab that organiser from on top there. You have lots of calls to make.”
43
Willow
“Where’s the wedding planner?” a delivery man yelled as he entered the garden, dragging a trolley of glassware behind him.
“Coming.” I dropped the box of napkins I was setting out and rushed over to direct the man toward the bar.
It was 7:02 a.m., and my crew was putting together the finishing touches on the marquee. The tables and chairs had been set up the night before, and I’d been here since 5 a.m., laying out the place settings for the four-hundred guests and checking everything against the seating chart. Now I laid out the napkins – each one printed with a different image from Ryan or Alex’s paintings – and the florist bustled around me, fussing with the towering arrangements that rose nearly to the ceiling.
As soon as I finished, I hightailed it over to the Hall’s kitchen. Belinda had taken it over, and her partner Cole and friend Alice helped her lift huge trays of hors’ d'oeuvres into the industrial oven. Alex and Elinor had gone around all the girls in the pack, and got them all to start talking to me again. Even though there was still a huge hole in my heart, and none of the shifters were likely to ever speak to me again after all the information I shared with Mum, at least my life Crookshollow was looking brighter.
I hadn’t seen Irvine since I fainted at his place, nor that man he said was my father. It probably helped that I barely left my flat, except for errands for the wedding or to Elinor’s house for wine. Mum would laugh if she saw me now, free to do whatever I wanted but still too afraid to go outside, lest I be attacked by a werewolf.
“Everything okay in here?” I bellowed, as a plume of black smoke rose from the oven. “That’s not the cake burning, is it?”
Without looking up for the chopping board, Belinda jabbed her finger at an enormous box in the corner. “No, the cake’s fine. Cole, get the oven.”
I lifted the flap on the box just enough for a thin shaft of light to fall over the beautiful cake – white fondant laced with thin strips of chocolate placed to look like gnarled branches. On top, two foxes frolicked together. It was a work of art.
“It’s amazing,” I beamed. I wrapped my arms around her middle and gave her a squeeze.
“Hey, no hugging the chef while she’s got a knife,” Belinda replied, but she grinned back at me. “Glad you approve.”
“I hope you’re ready to make many more cakes, because I didn’t have a baker even half as good as you in London. I’m going to send you so many clients—”
“Willow.”
Irvine. That gravelly Scottish brogue sent a shiver right through my body. I didn’t turn around, not wanting to acknowledge him. I closed the lid on the box and stared at the wall, red welts appearing in front of my eyes. “You were told that you weren’t welcome here.”
“The couple wants me here.”
“Ryan might, but only because you’re part of his disgusting plan. Alex ma
de it clear that you weren’t to show your face before the reception. She’s my friend and you’ve turned her wedding day into a sideshow. You can’t just turn up like a normal guest. Do you have any idea what she’s going through right now?”
“And I told you that this was our only shot,” Irvine said. I didn’t look back. I couldn’t bear the thought of seeing him lean against the doorframe, his muscled body perfectly filling out a tailored tuxedo. “So many people have sacrificed so we can have this chance. If one stupid wedding has to be disrupted so we can get a shot at winning over the public and potentially saving hundreds of shifters from turning to crime, then it’s worth it.”
“One stupid wedding?” My voice hit a pitch that made the windows shudder. “This isn’t stupid to Alex. This is the dedication of her love, and you’re taking it away from her.”
“And what about everything that’s been taken from me? What about what’s been taken from the other shifters, and the humans who they hurt because they had no choice?” Irvine shot back.
I balled my hands into fists. “I don’t care.”
Irvine kept going, his voice rising to the same angry pitch as mine. “That’s right. You only care about yourself, and what you lose.”
His words cut deep. I staggered back, as though he’d slapped me. Irvine’s face twisted with pain, but he kept going.
“What about Ryan’s right to be able to stand as a shifter and declare his love as he truly is? He is a good man and yet he’s forced to live with secrets and lies and—”
“Hey, Willow, is something wrong here?” Belinda bustled over, a huge bowl of salad in her tiny hands. She placed a hand on my shoulder and glared behind her at Irvine.
“You’re damn right, something’s wrong,” I snapped, trying to force up my anger to cover up the shame I felt. “You saw how upset Alex was this morning? Well, it’s all this guy’s fault. She doesn’t want him here and yet, here he is.”
Belinda’s eyes flicked between us. “Irvine, maybe you should come out into the hall.”
“No, I shouldn’t, because this isn’t about Alex at all.” Irvine’s cold eyes flashed. “This is about Willow and me.”
“This has nothing to do with me. It has to do with the fact I have a sobbing bride upstairs—”
“Admit it, it has everything to do with you,” Irvine growled. “You don’t want shifters to become known. You want us to stay in the shadows. Because if I stay hidden, then you can keep hiding, too. You can keep everyone who cares about you at arm's length. You can keep pretending I’m nothing but a shag to you.”
My face stung as though he’d slapped me. Belinda flinched and slunk away.
“You really believe that we were ever anything but?” I shot back, still refusing to face him. The connection tugged at my body, begging me to turn around and fall into his arms. I dug my fingernails into my palms. Stay strong. If I saw him, with all that rage and pain in his voice, I’d break. I knew I’d break.
“You’re nae seriously going to deny it?” Irvine’s voice dropped low. He’d moved closer, and his words slid over my ears like a caress. “You and I are mates, Willow. We’re fated to be together. I ken you can feel the bond that draws us to each other. It’s what kept you returning to my bed, even though you hated what I am.”
“You’re scaring my kitchen staff. You have to leave.” Belinda pushed Irvine toward the door, but he must’ve been resisting, because I heard a scuffle, and then he was shouting at me from the hall.
“I love you, Willow Summers!”
Tears brimmed in the corners of my eyes. Furiously, I wiped them away. Damn him. I had to forget it. I had work to do.
* * *
“—I now pronounce you husband and wife,” Ryan’s mother, Clara intoned. “Go now, with the blessings of your family and friends, and seal your union with a kiss.”
Ryan’s face lit up into a grin. He leaned down and lifted the lace veil over Alex’s hair, revealing her matching radiant smile. They pressed their lips together, and the heat radiating from their kiss torched my soul even from my spot right in the back row.
At least the wolves gave her this moment, I thought, the rage growing inside me. How could they possibly believe a wedding was the appropriate time for what they had planned?
The Ghost Symphony song Carmilla struck up, and the wedding party danced down the woodland aisle and out into the enchanted garden. Guests filed out through the enchanted garden, and I checked that the serving staff were waiting with flutes of champagne and Belinda’s delicious nibbles.
The guests lined up to congratulate Alex and Ryan. I tried to fight my way to the front to say something to her, to plead with Ryan to call off the pack’s plan. But at the last minute, Elinor called me over because some of the guests wanted the shade cloths unrolled to keep them out of the sun. Sighing, I went off to sort out some shade.
For all I know, they could all be vampires. I almost laughed at the absurdity of it all, but then I remembered it was about to get very, very serious.
Elinor and Alex were off taking wedding party photographs, and Bianca and Robbie were talking to Caleb, who I had no desire to see right then. Luckily, I had so much to attend to, it didn’t matter that I had not a single friend to talk to. Thankfully, I didn’t see Irvine again, and if he saw me, he knew to stay away.
Before I knew it, the mingling portion of the evening was over, and we were being called into the marquee for the reception. My stomach churned. So far, the wedding was perfect, but I knew what was coming.
The werewolves are about to ruin it all, just like they’ve ruined the rest of my life.
I’d arranged the tables so that I wasn’t anywhere near the pack. Instead, I’d talked my way onto a table of rich art collectors right down the back. I’d even angled my chair away from the head table, so I wouldn’t have to face any of them.
My stomach was tight with knots as the bridal party entered and sat down, and Alex and Ryan gave their thank-you speeches. The first course was served, but I was too anxious to eat a bite.
After the plates were cleared, Caleb and Irvine stood up. “As a close friend of Ryan and Alex,” Caleb began, his voice loud and clear, “I’d like to say a few words on this most auspicious of days.” He launched into a short series of funny stories about Ryan, and then passed the mike to Irvine.
This time, I couldn’t help but look at him. I was right, that tux did look amazing on him. My heart thundered against my chest.
“Caleb and I came to Crookshollow as outcasts,” Irvine said. “Our families have lived in secret for many years, far away from others. We lived with shame and fear. Ryan has lived with his fair share of this same shame and fear. He spent many years as a recluse, afraid to leave the walls of his mansion for fear of how the world might judge him. Now, with Alex by his side, he has emerged into the light, and you all welcomed him with open hearts.”
“I now ask you to open your hearts for Caleb and me, and for our families, and for all the others who’ve been forced into the shadows.”
Most of the crowd barely seemed to be listening to the speech. Their faces were glazed from the free-flowing alcohol. A few people had confused looks on their faces. The dealers at my table were too busy arguing over the merits of the grape vintage to even listen. I guess people didn’t expect wedding speeches to take such a weird turn.
They sure did look up when Irvine’s face started to change. As soon as it started, I couldn’t turn away. I watched, stricken with horror, as his features contorted, and the Irvine I knew fell away as his face sank and twisted and melted into something completely foreign. Dark grey fur sprung from his skin, and his ears shifted back on his head and grew sharp points. He dropped the mic and pitched forward, knocking several glasses from the table as his paws slammed against it. He threw his head back, and let out a mighty howl.
He promised he’d never shift in front of me. Yet here he is, breaking another promise.
“This is not a trick,” Caleb said, his voice forceful as h
e grabbed the mic from where Irvine had dropped it. “My friend Irvine really did just turn into a wolf. He is a werewolf, as it happens. Several of us in this room tonight are werewolves.”
Irvine walked along the front of the head table, his head held high, letting everyone in the room get a good glimpse of his body, leaving us in no doubt of what he was.
The panic started as a low ripple, spreading out from the centre of the room and capturing every guest in its grasp. People shoved back their chairs and scrambled toward the rear exit. Robbie stepped out from behind a pillar, his own body changing and transforming. The guests skidded to a halt as a grey wolf now blocked their only way out. People started screaming.
“What are you going to do to us?” a woman cried.
“Nothing,” Caleb said, his voice completely calm. “We’re not here to hurt you. All we want to do is show you we exist, and that we don’t mean any harm.”
“Let us go!” a man roared as he used his body as a human shield between Robbie and his family.
“We’re going to do just that,” Caleb said. “But we just need to explain a few things first—”
“Please, don’t eat us.” the dealer next to me begged, dropping to his knees. His foot kicked out and hit my leg, and he winced as he connected with my prosthetic.
All around me, chaos raged as the guests frantically tried to escape, only to find every exit blocked by a wolf or fox or stag or bear shifter. The bear was a terrible idea – people were falling over themselves in panic, and it hadn’t done anything except sit there and look dopey.
Meanwhile, Caleb was up front, intoning his speech like he was giving a science lesson to a bunch of kids. “We don’t eat humans. We’re not monsters. We are men and women, just like you. The only difference is that inside of us is another skin, another body, and we can change between the two. When we’re in our wolf form, we see and hear and feel as a wolf, but we still have our conscious minds – we remember our loved ones, we understand when you speak to us, we feel pain and love and guilt and joy.”
Wedding the Wolf: A wolf shifter paranormal romance Page 24