Page 207 of Making Choices

The sentence is punctuated by the opening of the main entrance.

Gabriel bundles my wife inside.

She’s a wreck.

A bigger mess than when I abandoned her in the small chapel earlier. Shaky and on the cusp of tears. The green prison tracksuit she’s wearing is familiar, and the sight of it drives a shard of glass through my heart. She’s been with him all this time.

One guess what they’ve been up to.

“Cherub.” I hold a hand out to beckon her over to me. “It’s time.”

“No.” Roman takes his feet and the other two leaders of the Australasian guild of La Trinitat Nova follow. “She needs to be medically examined first.”

“What?” I direct my question to Gabriel.

He grimaces. “Standard protocol.”

“If this union is to bear fruit, the womb must be properly prepared.”

“I’m standing right here,” my duchess interjects. She crosses her arms over her chest and the action exposes a giant love bite that wasn’t on her neck before she left me after the ceremony. “The womb has ears and she can hear you discussing her like an unpaid broodmare.”

“Take her to Sariah,” Roman directs his right-hand man. “Tell her to make it quick.” They rush Cherub off, drawing her deeper into the creepy as hell cathedral the Trinity have chosen to host tonight’s bonding ritual. I stare after her, my teeth gritted as jealousy rides me hard. “Come, Carter. Let us prepare you also.”

I’m led into the main chamber by a man in a red robe. The rows of pews are filled with men wearing the same black robes Roman wore to officiate the wedding earlier today. At the head, an oversized bed rests on a raised platform. The sight of it makes my stomach churn. It was one thing to think about the ritual in abstract, it’s a whole different prospect to face in real life. He points out the different features of the building and fills me in on some of its history.

I don’t absorb a word he says until he asks, “Would you like a little chemical assistance?” He cracks open an ornate box and presents me with an array of pills. “The pink one is a particular favourite with the younger men. It enhances the experience just enough.”

“Is this Viagra?”

He inclines his head. “The blue pill is—the rest are exclusive to the guild.”

“I don’t need it.”

“As you wish,” he replies easily. “We like to offer. Some men have issues performing under these circumstances.”

“Not me.”

“Good to know.” He gestures to the platform. “You’ll find your robe has been laid out for you. There is a small room off to the side for your use.”

Muttering a curse under my breath as I head for the oversized bed, I start to regret my decision to refuse a support person. It felt like a strange request to make—plus who would I bring with me. My dad? My virgin brother? Cherub’s only cousin? The only man who’d have made the cut has likely already buried himself inside my wife this afternoon more than once, so I doubt he’d want to watch me tread the same path as him.

I wonder if he knows he was her second choice today.

As soon as the spiteful thought enters my head, I regret it. The ordeal he’s about to face is more than enough to deal with without me heaping hatred on his head. Part of me knew when he asked for Gabriel to bring her to him that he was going to steal a final taste of my duchess. Either that or he would deliberately destroy her faith in him so he could ride off into the sunset without a worry that she was pining away for him.

In truth, I would’ve preferred the second option.

At least then she’d love me most.

“Slash?” Cherub’s timid voice comes from the other side of the small room as I enter it with the robe in my hand. “Is that you?”

“Yes.” I feel around on the wall for the light switch. Finding it, I immediately wish I hadn’t. “What the fuck did they do to you?”

“Nothin’... well, it wasn’t them so much.”

“Then, who?” Dropping to my knees, I palm her tearstained face. “I’ll kill ’em for you.”

“Bebe... or, at least, the doctor she chose for me.” I raise my eyebrows to encourage her to continue when she pauses. “They didn’t insert an IUD like I asked and the injections I’ve been giving myself was some kind of fertility drug.”

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