Liana is as beautiful as I knew she’d be in her white dress. Today is the day, and though I’d wished it would come more swiftly, now I’m as nervous as a cub in his first run with the pack.

“You’re not supposed to be in here,” I say, not meaning a word. I’m transfixed with my bride to be.

“Then who will fix this terrible job you’ve done on your cravat?” Soft hands brush mine away, fix things unnecessarily, and then linger at my throat.

“Do you like it?” I ask, meaning my suit. “It’s quite dated, I know.”

She smiles. “I’m the one that’s supposed to ask that.”

I smile back.

“You’re not the one in her mother’s dress that’s got more frills than any woman needs. If I fell in a puddle, I’d drown.” Liana sighs, glances down with a cute bit of doubt making frown lines on her lovely face.

“Liana,” I say, taking her hands and kissing each before squeezing them with reassurance. “This dress is perfect. You are perfect. This day is perfect. Nothing will ruin our wedding. I won’t let it. This is my kingdom and I command it.”

That makes her smile again, brilliantly. Her pointy teeth on the edges are just sharp enough to remind me that I marry no normal girl, no Spring prey, but a lion.

Liana must see what I do, for I know how my own teeth are getting longer nearing to the full moon. And I shall have a bride to see me off for that special night as well. A woman to send me into the pack as is tradition.

“Noble, I have to ask you. Are your people… are they okay with this?” She knows that they are not. She’s seen the side glances and she’s braved the sneers.

“They will be,” I say.

“Are you certain?”

Doubt fills her golden eyes and I feel guilty for something I have no control over. For a future that is not at all what Liana must have hoped for. For a moment, I almost change my mind. What if the pack never surrenders to this idea? And Liana will be what? An outcast.

I try to let go of her hands and do the right thing. I will myself to send her home. I do. But the rogue in me is a lonely selfish beast who wants a mate. Even if that means she joins him in exile.

“I won’t lie to you, Liana. The wolves are a pack. They see you as a threat. Lions and the wolves have not always gotten along. We’ve shed blood and so have your kind, but we will show them what unity can look like, alright? We must teach them.”

“I wish I had your positivity. I keep thinking one minute that this is where I belong. But since arriving…I’ve noticed things are so different than my home. I wish I could see it how you do, Noble.”

“I’m not the one facing a whole realm of doubters. That you have not run out of here and away from us already is a miracle. If someone has slighted you. Just give me their name.” Her eyes widen, and I know I must look ready to change. The wolf is angered at the very thought.

“The women came to get me,” she says. “They weren’t rude, but they were…”

“Trying to force you outside?”

“Yes. Why?”

I laugh and wipe my face. “Tradition, my lady. Tradition.”

She crosses her arms and raises a brow. “Do go on.”

I sigh. “There are a few of them for joining two people together in wedded bliss. For one, we hide the ring. My scent is on it. Don’t ask. And if you find it, Liana, you get to keep the prize.”

“And what prize might that be, my lord?”

I laugh at her curious cat nature. “Me.”

“Well then, I best be on my way.”

I grow serious. “You’d do it? You’ll do the traditions? All of them?”

Liana frowns. “All?”

“There are more than one, a few… But I’ve told them the dead fish in our bed is not going to happen.”

“I don’t think I want to know.”

I laugh. My heart lighter than it’s been well, ever. “You don’t. But the ceremony itself is normal. It’s the before and after that’s a tad…strange. The ring finding. Then um…they shoot you with arrows.” I look away, worrying my cravat. “They aren’t sharp. And then I come and break them all. To prove how manly I am.” I hide my smile. “Want me to tell them no?”

“They shoot the bride?” She looks horrified and intrigued which makes me love her all the more. “That’s terrible!”

“I know. It is quite old. It doesn’t hurt.”

Liana sighs. “No fish, Noble. The arrows are enough.”

“They barely shoot them…”

She shakes her head before a servant peeks inside the room. “You ready, milady?”

“I don’t know.” Liana gives me a mock glare. “Am I? Will they truss me up like a chicken after?”