Page 15 of Their Witch Bride

“I hate the way this place smells,” Drogo tells me as he paces closer to the outside one of the entrances to the witches’ caverns, his eyes glowing yellow.

Drogo’s right. The smell is strong and heavy in the air, like a thick fog that I can feel in my lungs each time I breathe. It’s unpleasant, but he’s not really mad about the smell.

“This is a fool’s game,” he snarls.

I almost tell him to quiet himself, then remember how poorly the witches can hear. “But it’s a game we’ve agreed to play.”

“But one that we should have never been forced into. It’s fucking moronic. Like agreeing to sleep in a bed with a poisonous snake, or turning your back on a bear shifter.”

“Calm yourself,” I tell him, trying to soothe my wolf at the same time.

Drogo growls and continues pacing back and forth, a scowl permanently etched on his face. Annoyance bubbles up inside me that I try to stamp down. I understand why he's so mad, but that's not going to change our fate. We're here, and we have to accept what will come of it.

He stops and turns towards me, the fire in his eyes blazing. “How much longer is this going to take?”

I simply look at him and shrug my shoulders. We aren’t in control of this, and we have no say. We’re just following orders. If the princess takes all night to come, then that’s what will happen.

“Do we really have to play along with the witches?” he asks, hands curling into fists.

“I believe we do.” I gesture around us, reminding him that we are here in witch territory. “We are our fathers’ sons. We agreed to do what was best for our people, no matter the cost to us. We–”

He glares, silencing me. “I know all about our obligations, but why does it have to be on their territory? Couldn’t they have just kicked her out of a wagon while rolling by? Why do we even need to even be here?”

It’s hard not to roll my eyes. “There needs to be an official marriage ceremony seen by their people and some of ours. When we’re called in, we’ll go in and marry the woman. The final part of the peace treaty will be done, and war will stop between our people.”

“Lucky us.”

Because none of us really thinks this will stop the fighting.

I sigh. “It’ll be done when it’s done.”

“Well, the sooner we can get out of witch territory, the better.”

“Agreed.”

I feel the same as he does about all of this, but we weren’t given a choice. Our fathers didn’t ask us for our opinions. They didn’t ask us anything.

Glancing again at my friend, I inwardly curse. He’s so worked up he’s going to shift. I can’t even imagine what the witches will do to him if he does. I need to calm this fool down.

“We have a plan. Remember the plan,” I remind Drogo.

He stiffens, and his gaze meets mine. “The plan. Right?” That seems to calm him.

I force a smile. Our plan may or may not work, but it’s the best solution we have to fulfilling our duties to our packs and also not selling our souls to the witches. And it shouldn’t be too hard.

The loud echoing of applause comes from the witch’s ballroom, and we both turn to face it, expecting someone to finally come out and greet us. Yet, no one comes.

“It’s almost time.” I’m telling Drogo, but I’m also telling myself as the sinking realization hits that any moment I’ll be married to a witch. Our greatest enemy.

Rinan appears from around the corner of the castle, a sly grin on his face. His blond hair is still a little wet from when he’d dunked his head in a water bucket earlier, and his light blue eyes are shining with mischief. Only Rinan could be happy at a time like this.

“What did you do?” I ask him, knowing from the way he swaggers from the side of the castle that he’s done something ridiculous.

“I just took a piss,” he announces, but his eyes tell me there’s more.

“You marked the castle, didn’t you?” I ask, a grin teasing its way onto my face.

Rinan smiles, baring his teeth, and nods.

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