“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 made 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 he 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.”

“What do you want from us?” someone yelled over the din.

“We need to you tell every reporter and every official and every person that you meet what you saw here tonight. I hope some of you will stay and speak to us, ask us about our lives and what we’re trying to achieve here. But I know it’s scary, and we want to give you time to process it. So we’re going to let you leave now. Please, be kind to each other, and drive safe.” Caleb set down the mic, a broad smile across his face.

Drive safe? Drive safe? Who the fuck was he kidding?

All the shifters at the exits stepped aside, and the guests flooded toward the doors. I grabbed my purse and charged into the crowd, pushing my way through the stampede toward the front of the room.

I ran down the length of the head table, passing Irvine as he sat calmly on the end, beside the beautiful cake that would never get cut. His eyes met mine, and a mess of emotions assailed me. I pushed them all down.

“Goodbye, Irvine,” I growled, breaking into a jog as I dashed past him and out into the cool moonlight.

Irvine and the pack had done it. And now, I could never come back to Crookshollow. I would never be able to live or work in peace. Nothing would ever be right again.