CHAPTER TEN
“Mina, thank you so much for coming.” I hugged the polite and prissy woman, inhaling her…strawberry shampoo. She was the culprit of that particular smell. It suited her well, sweet yet tart. “Next time, when you and Finn come over, I promise not to turn into a bear.”
She grinned as she stepped back, teasing lightly, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
I snorted. “I guess that’s entirely true.” I shook my head. “Is it always this crazy with them?”
She nodded her head—grandly. “Yes.”
“Oh boy.” I sighed.
Mina patted my shoulder, a sinful light gleaming in her eyes. “But there are perks too. I’m sure you’ll figure that out tonight.”
I raised my brows as Finn dragged her away and out the front door. They were probably headed for those ‘perks.’ I walked back into the large, rugged living room, and glanced around. A few people were still here.
Like a surly fox shifter in the corner. He sipped on whiskey—a whiskey bottle—while covertly eyeing a redhead. Poppy was currently talking with an attractive shifter with white hair. He was…Jonathan…or something like that. It started with a J, anyway. I remembered that much.
Theron strolled over to stand beside me.
He was the only shifter I wasn’t completely comfortable with yet. The fact that he was an Ancient didn’t bother me or the fact he was the king to their people.
It was the way he flip-flopped on moods.
The man was ice cold one second.
Searing hot the next.
It was unnerving.
“Has the evening been better for you?” I asked kindly, anything to fill the silence as he stood next to me. “It’s definitely been better for me.”
He scrutinized his son in the corner, drinking his worries away. “It’ll be better soon enough. Once he cools down. A raging seer is dangerous for everyone.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, whispering, “What is that all about, anyway? And why was Poppy…” I left it unsaid with so many sensitive ears around.
Theron’s dark eyes caught mine, and he whispered under his breath, quiet enough for only me to hear, “How would you feel if your brother got the girl, her heart, knowing that she was actually meant for you, even from birth? That spell he pulled. It’s as old as time, and it never changes. Never. It doesn’t matter if a person was mated, then her shifter died, and then married three other men down the road. She always turns into the animal she was truly meant for.”
I shook my head slowly. “But the magic chose her for Godric. How could the magic then say she was truly meant for him? That doesn’t work.”
Theron’s lips thinned, sadness creeping into his gaze, a loss so profound I flinched. “Ah, but here’s the real conundrum. What if the magic knew all along that Godric would die, a magic that is all knowing and adapting to the world around it? The only way for Poppy to be with my other son forever, the seer of our people, is if she were mated first—to a shifter who was destined to die early.”
My eyes widened. My mouth bobbed.
No words came forth.
Until I sputtered, “But…that’s so tragic.”
“And, yet, the magic may still get the outcome it knows is right.” He tipped his head to his son, still whispering too quietly for him to hear. “If he can work it all out in his mind. And be able to live with it afterward. And win her heart. Those may be impossible feats for just one man. If it were I, it might be too much. But my son is better than I am. He always has been.”
“Jonathan, get your ass over here. I want to talk to you,” Cassander barked, waving the bottle in his hand. “Now, asshole!”
Our eyes darted to Jonathan.
His arm had somehow snaked around Poppy’s shoulder, with his head tipped toward hers, speaking privately. It appeared completely innocent, as if their conversation were truly platonic, his expression earnest—now surprised as he stared at the seer yelling at him. The man wasn’t doing anything wrong…
He was just touching Poppy.
“Fucking hell,” Theron grouched. “Dammit, I’ll amend what I said a moment ago. He’s a better man than me when he’s not drunk.”
Both Alaric and Theron charged in his direction.
Smooth as water, they had him out the opposite door, and empty handed of alcohol, no one the wiser they had practically picked his ass up and carried him out of the room.
I grabbed a flute of champagne off the caterer’s table. It was going to be a long night, even with only a few guests left. One glass wouldn’t hurt me.
I inspected the food choices for this part of the late evening party, not having much earlier at the reception dinner. I had been too busy dancing with my sexy as sin husband—the man could really move. There was an odd array of foods laid out before me. My hand hovered over a few choices until I decided on a slice of cheese pizza. It would be filling and help keep me sober. I really was a lightweight.
Butch sat all by himself, watching the comings and goings…while he drank too much. “Come sit a spell with me, kid. I’m going to have to leave soon.”
I sat on the chair next to him, nibbling at my slice of cheesy goodness. I smiled at his lopsided grin. “Did you have fun, Butch?”
“It sure as hell wasn’t boring.” He chuckled.
“I’m glad my wedding could entertain you.” I took a long sip of my drink, the smooth glide of it down my throat refreshing. “Do you know who you’re going to replace me—”
I stopped talking. And choked.
The flute and my plate fell from my limp hands to the floor as I grabbed at my swelling throat. Air barely wheezed inside my lungs, my heart hammering, and my eyes seeking out Alaric.
He was still outside with Cass.
“Someone help!” Butch bellowed. He jumped from his chair and rubbed my back. “She can’t breathe!”
A swarm of people came out of nowhere…
Corporate Army soldiers—shifters.
One yanked me from my chair and started the Heimlich maneuver on me. I shook my head hard, this making it worse. My body bumped up and down inside his hold against his body, my ribs thrusting in and out.
Alaric was suddenly in front of me.
His dark brown eyes held mine.
I shook my head again more fiercely, spots starting to speckle my vision.
He instantly yanked me out of the man’s grip, holding my limp form close. “What is it?”
I pointed at my throat. Then squeezed a fist tight in front of his face. It was all I could manage, the wheezing loud even to my own ears.
Cass sauntered by, teetering from side-to-side. “I told you that you should have fucked her.”
Butch shouted, “Who the hell is that? Get that drunk out of here.”
Poppy pivoted right in his face, her cheeks flushing with righteous anger for the drunken seer. “Watch your damn mouth, Mr. Reynolds. I allowed you in here, and I sure as hell can kick you out.”
“Will everyone shut up!” Alaric shouted furiously. “Someone call the paramedics. And grab the plate and glass she was using.”
I wheezed in a breath, blinking my eyes.
Wolfe picked up the glass and plate while the paramedics were called. He sniffed at each one and sneered at the plate. “It’s the pizza. It’s poisoned.”
“What?” Theron snarled.
Unbelieving, he snatched the plate. Inhaled.
The shifter king jammed it back into Wolfe’s hands before marching over to the caterer’s table. He bent straight over the cheese slices and inhaled. Gradually, he sniffed at all the others. His brows furrowed as he straightened and turned around.
With an eerie calmness in his voice, he stated, “It was just the cheese pizza. Her slice is the only one gone. I’ll talk with the management tomorrow at Dormi’s and find out how it happened. I know it wasn’t the delivery person.”
Cass snorted and flopped back onto a couch. “I’m going to sleep now. Wake me if you need me. Or don’t. I don’t care either way.”
And he promptly started snoring.
Theron sighed and tossed a blanket over his son.
I wavered on my feet, leaning more heavily on my husband. If I could just speak, I would tell them they were all acting ridiculous. I was barely able to breathe, and I could see that.
Alaric’s grip on me tightened, and he growled, “I hear the sirens. Let’s get her outside. The fresh air might help her, anyway.” He glanced back over his shoulder as he walked me slowly through the room. “And bring that damn pizza with us, so they can test it. We need to know what kind of poison it is.”
I tapped on his chest with a shaking finger and pointed at Butch, unable to say what I needed to.
Alaric understood, though. He bent and pressed his mouth to my left ear, “Some of the CA soldiers will get him even drunker tonight. When he wakes up in the morning, he won’t remember what was real and what wasn’t.”
That was a relief.
My wedding day had been a fucking mess.