Page 56 of Smoke and Lure

Aodh dwarfed the spiritual leader and even took up more space than Liekki, who wasn’t slight in form by any standard.

Her mate never ceased to take her breath away when she laid eyes on him.Still, this night, standing in the glow of the multiple torch lights bracketing the clearing, wearing a dress shirt and slacks, with cornflower-blue heat radiating beneath the white material, made her heart stop and then begin to pound rapidly in her chest.

She wanted to run to him.Instead, Kai worked to calm the urgency in her blood and took her first step toward her destiny.

Morlie went with, matching her steady pace.

Kai couldn’t believe it.She was getting married.

Kai gasped and glanced to her right.Her eyes were wide as she heard the extraordinary melodic voice of her sister.In all the trauma and tragedies, Kai had forgotten that Morlie had a voice like an angel, just like their mother.It had been years since she heard her sister sing.Having her little sister walk her down the make-shift aisle created by the two lines of big dragon-shifters in the Thunder she’d come to love made her heart soar and her body flood with tremors of emotions.

“Let Me Love You” by Lena Horne was a song Viola Conley, their mother, sang often to her husband and children before sickness ravaged her body.However, Kai still recalled their mother lying on the bed, her skin coated in the gray of death from the XD87867.Viola’s eyes remained closed even as her body curled toward her dying husband, his body a mirror of his wife’s, as she faintly hummed a few of the notes.

Now, her sister’s voice brought the love and memories back as she held her hand and strolled beside Kai toward Aodh.However, Kai didn’t feel sadness but joy because her parents had such great and lasting love, and now she would have the same.

“You remembered,” she whispered to Morlie, lightly bumping her shoulder with her sister as they continued through the rivers of petals.

Morlie didn’t pause in stride or verse but ran her thumb over their father’s ring on Kai’s thumb.

Serenaded by her sister's beautiful voice, Kai kept her gaze on Aodh.

He didn’t look at anyone else but her.

She was glad the people gathered didn’t stand as was customary in human ceremonies, but with the Drahks being so huge and so many at the moment, they would have towered over her and Morlie.Their gigantic shadows would have smothered and overwhelmed them, blocking out all the light and creating a dark tunnel for them to walk through.

Kai could do without that effect on such a heart-lifting day.

Perfectly timed, her sister finished the song just as they reached the last row of seats.

Morlie kissed her on the cheek before handing her off to Aodh.Her sister stepped to the side, opposite Liekki and directly before Chanin, who sat beside Tana and Khuzaimah.

“Hello, my stunning little flame.”Aodh tugged her forward, closing the space between them but not crushing her bouquet.

“Hi, Mckenna.”She watched the flicker of the cornflower-blue flames in his eyes, a representation of his love for her.More powerful than the intense, sapphire-blue flames of lust often filling his eyes when he stared at her.

Every time she saw that color now, she knew Aodh’s dragon was telling her it loved her, that beast and man loved her.

“If you two are ready to begin,” Apophis’s voice broke into the cocoon that surrounded her and Aodh.

Aodh glanced at Apophis.“We are ready.”

Kai looked at the Thunders’ spiritual leader and nodded.

“Then you both may speak what is in your hearts, and I will seal it.Kai, you first.”Apophis stood calm, linking his hands low at the front of his body.

Licking her lips, nervous, Kai realized with all the excitement and her not knowing what was going on moments ago, she had not thought about what she would say.She’d had all day to get her mindset for her great-uncle's final flight ceremony, but this wedding was sprung on her.

Her hands began to tremble.She looked around at all the expectant faces as worry caused her eyes to burn.She feared she would not put her words together perfectly to express to Aodh how she felt.

Lifting her shaking hand to his mouth, Aodh set a kiss in the center of her palm.

She glanced back toward him.

“Little flame, there is no pressure to say what is perfect.You are perfect.No one else matters here but you and me.If you said nothing but I love you, it would be enough.Aodh lowered their hands, still joined, and waited patiently.

Kai inhaled as she lifted her chin and kept her gaze steady on Aodh.She allowed the genuine depth of her feelings to flow out.“I love you, Aodh Brandr.”

Aodh smiled and exhaled.

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