Page 26 of My Hexed Honeymoon

I blink at him, a softer, more affectionate warmth pouring through me like honey.

“Hey, you guys coming to the ax throwing contest, or what?” Kerrigan asks from behind us, with her hand linked in Conall’s elbow. She’s looking at me like she actually wants me to come, which seems unfathomable after what my mother did to her.

After whatIdid to her.

Although to be fair, Kerrigan had also chucked a heavy silver collar at my head that knocked me silly.

Diego raises an eyebrow at me, making it clear I get to decide whether to stay here by the bonfire or go watch a bunch of werewolves flex their muscles in a machismo display.

Come on now, there’s not really a choice here. I’m only human. Albeit with the blood of witches running through my veins.

I’m also not the type of girl to dig in my heels and fight the inevitable—I’ve learned through the years it’s a painful lesson in futility. I only get one life to live, even if it involves being in an arranged marriage to a werewolf whomaybedoesn’ttotallyhate me.

Which is why I decide that at least for tonight, it’ll be okay to pretend I’m just an ordinary girl, out on a real date with a super-hot guy and his group of ludicrously ripped, werewolf friends.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

By the timewe make it to the clearing where the ax throwing contest is underway, the whole damn pack’s gathered around. Laughter, razzing, and thethunkof blades hitting wood fill the clearing, loud and unguarded. Not to mention soothing in a way I didn’t expect.

Ahh, normalcy.

Show-off that he is, Conall’s throwing one-handed, Kerrigan tucked against his side, beer bottle in the other hand.

He’s got to be twenty yards from the target, twice as far as we typically throw from.

As if that’s not enough of a challenge for him, he dips his head and kisses Kerrigan as he lets the ax fly. It lands deep inside the center of the bullseye.

Cheers, whistles, and applause ring through the impressed audience, and I notice wads of cash exchanging hands. Not sure who’d bet against him, but I’m sure that’s why they’d upped the ante with the additional challenges.

That was the thing with Conall, and why Nissa and I had chosen him as the alpha of our little pack of misfits back whenwe were only teens. Nobody questioned his authority—not until Kerrigan showed up, anyway.

For a moment I wonder what either of us was thinking, having me challenge him for a position I didn’t know what to do with. It’s not that I don’t have my fair share of opinions or didn’t have faith in my strength—in a lot of ways, that wasallI had faith in these days.

But I wasn’t showy or loud, or anything else Conall had been. If I’d known I’d be in this position, I might’ve given more thought to what kind of leader I wanted to be. With vampires beating down our door and a bigger war looming, all I can think is that itshouldn’tbe me.

Yet my pride and the surging power in my veins balk at the idea of giving it up.

If I’m being honest, part of me always wanted to go toe-to-toe with Conall, no holds barred, just to see what I was capable of.

As much as I hate to admit it, even if only in my head, I’m afraid I’ll discover at the worst possible time—at the expense of my pack and family—that I wasn’t meant to lead.

“Lucky shot,” I shout just to be a dick, and so that I can drown out my plaguing feelings of doubt.

Fuck that, it’s not me.

Conall flips me off over his shoulder, and Kerrigan loops her arms around his neck and takes the kiss to such incendiary levels, I’m surprised the meadow doesn’t burst into flames.

Although that might be a pinch of jealousy talking, as I’d love nothing more than for Natalia to do that to me.

Letting my hand rest lightly against the slight curve of her lower back, I incline my head in her direction and speak a little lower, not that everyone won’t hear anyway. “We judge by three things: distance from the target, accuracy, and depth.”

“Ah, so that’s why he’s standing so far back?” she asks.

“He’s standing that far back,” I say, raising my voice, “because he’s a cocky bastard who prides himself on never losing a match.”

Chuckles ring the semi-circle of observers.

Conall cocks back his arm, taking his sweet time aiming.

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