Page 43 of War Games

“No, not crazy. Besides, we both know you don’treallycare how I think.”

“I care a little,” he lied.

Since we could both smell the lie, I didn’t call it out.

I just stared at him.

“I care a lot about what you think of me, Jacky,” he said honestly. “Because I respect you. I really am sorry for how I was acting. It’s okay to think this wedding is an insane idea. We already have the mate bond. I should have talked to Pa and Dirk sooner about how I was feeling… I didn’t even think I was getting bad until Dirk had to call Pa, and at that point, I thought I had broken everything.”

“And instead, you’re getting married.” I crossed my arms.

“I was apologizing to him, and he promised he would always be with me and we’d get through things… I asked him to marry me.”

“Seems about right,” I said, chuckling. “Landon, it’s not crazy. You two are already in it for eternity. This is for here.” I poked his chest over his heart. “Right?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Where’s Pa?”

“He’s walking back from Kick Shot right now,” I answered. “I need to check on your sister. Her hair and makeup shouldn’t be taking this long.”

His laugh followed me upstairs, and I heard Heath asking about it as I went into my room to find Carey. She was nearly done, finishing the last curl she wanted for her blonde hair.

“You look great. Get down here and say hi to your brother.”

“Oh, I was wondering who drove up!” She unplugged the curling iron. “I didn’t even look at the time. I wanted to make sure I looked perfect today.”

I held the door open for her and watched as she stunned her male family members until Landon pointed and looked at Heath.

“This is why I’m glad she gave up on dating.”

“That’s… Stop that.” Heath waved Landon away before hugging her. “You look lovely.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

I hung to the side for a second, letting the Everson family look each other over, making sure they were all ready.

At noon, Niko and Dirk arrived. Teagan was right after them, then it was time to watch them get married.

Teagan waited at the small wedding arch that had been quickly put up just for this, looking like it was meant to be there from the beginning. The wedding arch was raw dark wood with ivy climbing around it. From the dark green to the raw nature of the arch, there was some wild and a little masculine about it, though it could have been my bias, knowing who the wedding was for.

“This makes sending Dirk here more worth it than I could have ever thought,” Niko whispered as we waited, offering his arm.

“Thank you for sending him,” I replied, smiling at my brother before I took his arm.

Across from us, Carey was holding Heath’s arm, both looking for Landon and Dirk. Heath glanced my way for just a second, and I could only keep smiling before turning to wait on the grooms as well.

Then they walked out. Dirk and Landon came down together, neither wanting to be the one standing alone nor the one walking alone.

They stopped in front of Teagan, and I bit my lip, wondering what each of them would say.

They both chose traditional vows, but there was a mischievous note in how they said those vows that told me they had just said what they had really wanted to say after we left them inside. They had simple gold rings for each other, each shaking a little as they slid them on each other.

“You two know what to do,” Teagan said, chuckling.

They kissed.

It was perfect.

I looked at Heath, saw him staring at me, and made a decision.

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