Page 13 of Cruel Alpha Beast
In one fluid motion, Shea slithers out from under Greg’s arms. Still processing everything, he doesn’t fight this. Shea walks around the table until she comes to stand in front of Sawyer.
The man towers over me as an adult, but he looks like an actual giant compared to Shea. His eyes soften as they drift down to meet hers. He sits down on one knee, though still gargantuan, across from the four-year-old.
“Are you my daddy?” she asks bravely.
Sawyer traces every detail of her face with his eyes before nodding his head. “I am.”
Shea’s eyes brighten, her lips spreading into the widest smile I’ve ever seen from her. She looks at me, expecting me to be on her level of excitement, as if her father were a toy of hers I misplaced five years ago. I force a smile and nod back at her.
“Can you pick me up?” Shea asks Sawyer.
Surprised, his face goes blank for a moment, then he shrugs his broad shoulders and grabs her arm, lifting her as hestands back up straight. Shea throws her arms around his neck and gives him a big hug.
It breaks my heart to see how happy she is knowing she has a father. I only wish that he were a man I could stand to be around. I catch Sawyer’s eye and see that he is clearly moved by the situation as well. When he holds her, it’s like he’s holding the most precious substance on earth. Still, I can’t help but catch his eye and grit my teeth.
“You may be her father,” I say quietly, “but you arenother dad.”
***
I sit in my old bedroom in the house that our parents once raised us in. Greg had told me the first time I called him after fleeing that he was keeping it ready for me should I ever want to come home. But these four walls aren’t my home anymore. Neither are these pale pink sheets nor the old stuffed animals Shea is currently playing with. Greg is the closest thing to home I have here, but not this house.
I lean over my knees and hold my head in my hands, wishing that I had just waited for Greg to find his phone and plug it in. I could have called him and told him about my visions. That way, Sawyer would never see me, nor would he be able to force me into whatever this marriage is.
It can’t be anything more than just a power play. I mean, it has to be. There’s no way he has any real feelings for me. If he did, he wouldn’t have spent his whole life pushing me away.
He had one chance to be with me, and he squandered it immediately.
Soon, there’s a knock on the door. I stand up from the bed, wondering if I should just grab Shea and book it past whoever’s on the other side. Greg knows I love him. It could be enough to know that for the rest of his life, couldn’t it?
But instead of grabbing Shea, I take a deep breath and cross the bedroom floor. I open the door and find my beloved brother on the other side. His mouth is battling with itself to either smile or frown. In his hands is a white dress and a veil, both dangling from the same hanger.
“For the wedding,” he says hoarsely.
At that very moment, I burst into tears. My shoulders quake, and my breath hitches. I don’t even care that this is happening in front of Shea. I can’t keep it in any longer.
“I don’t want to do this,” I warble toward my brother.
“I know,” Greg replies, holding me close. “But you know how it is. Sawyer’s word is bond.”
I pull back, wiping my tears. “I understand,” I say as I compose myself. I turn over toward Shea, who hasn’t even noticed that I’m upset at all. I give her my best smile and tell her, “I need you to go with Uncle Greg for a minute, babe.”
Shea takes one of the stuffed animals with her—my favorite, a faded black penguin—and steps between my brother and me. I hesitate before taking the dress and the veil from Greg, eventually shutting the bedroom door, and sitting alone with the prospect of my future.
***
The dress is simple, plain, a far cry from the wedding gown of my dreams. The hem falls to my knees, as does the lacy veil over my face. Greg is dressed in a nice suit, his elbow hookedonto mine as he takes me to the altar that was quickly set up in the middle of town.
There’s hardly anyone around as he escorts me through the streets. Shea’s hand is firmly attached to mine, and she walks so closely that she keeps stepping on the ballet flats I’ve crammed my feet into. At the altar stands Sawyer, looking irritatingly dashing in his own suit. Under the altar is Lucas, Sawyer’s father, and the presiding alpha before I left.
As I get closer, I see Lucas eyeing me warily. He turns toward his son, and in a volume I can just barely hear, he asks Sawyer a question.
“I trust you, son, but have you really thought this through?”
“Yes,” Sawyer replies curtly.
Greg drops me off across from Sawyer at the altar, giving me a kiss on the forehead through the veil. He comes around and takes Shea from me, and soon, all I can see is the vague shape of Sawyer staring back at me.
“We stand here tonight, with the moon as our guide,” Lucas says, “to unite Sawyer and Lacey in the bonds of marriage. Sawyer, do you vow to protect Lacey for the rest of your life?”
