Page 18 of Brutal Alpha Beast
Ellis is already seated at the head of a long, white-clothed table. There are white lilies with small red specks throughout the middle. Admittedly, the planner did do a good job.
Next to Ellis is an empty seat,myseat.
As I approach him, I’m grateful he doesn’t turn to look. He’s too busy talking with his shifter friends beside him.
I swallow as I take my seat.
I’m on the shifter table now. I’m back to the place I was so happy to escape all those years ago. I think of Grams, of how it felt growing up without a Mom or Dad.
A horrible lump rises in my throat.
Being back here with him, in this pack, with all these shifters, is unearthing things I’ve tried my hardest to push away.
I thought I’d started a new life, I thought I didn’t care.
A witch takes the stage, clinks the side of her champagne flute, and the room turns quiet. The silence is the most difficult.
In the silence, the space between Ellis and me becomes more intimate. I can hear his breath, feel the weight of his large body only inches away from mine.
It’s the body that was once inside me, the body that I worshipped until I hated it. And Ellis has no idea about any of this at all.
The rest of the party goes by easier when all the official rituals are done. It’s better when I don’t have to sit beside Ellis, and I can pretend that I’m at some random party with my friends.
I swallow down my nerves, and plaster a smile as I chat with my coven-sisters, and talk a little to some of the shifters, pretending like I’ve never met them before.
They’re friendly enough, but I remember when they weren’t. I remember when they treated me like I was nothing, all because I couldn’t shift.
As the sun begins to set and the orange sky soon turns to night, an unsettling feeling creeps through my stomach.
I don’t need to ask the wedding planner, I know what comes next.
I feel Ellis approach.
“Danielle,” he says. “Are you ready to go?”
I hate how I react to the sound of my name on his lips. I hate how intimate it feels.
“Yes,” I nod with business-like detachment. “Let’s go.”
I bid goodbye to Lacey, Monroe, Penelope, and my other coven sisters. I still can’t fathom that I won't be living with them—none of this feels real.
Then Ellis leads us out of the building, into the night that is filled with nature’s charming chorus. I hold my breath as we walk side by side.
It’s difficult to feel so small. It doesn’t help the nerves.
“My cabin is not too far from here,” he says.
As we walk, I take in the way he smells; his scent hasn’t changed—I suspect he still uses the same cologne.
“That’s cool,” I say.
“You seem pretty chill about everything,” he remarks, grinning ever so slightly as though there’s something that’s funny. That irritates me a lot.
“Are you being sarcastic?”
He shakes his head. “I guess I’m just curious why you agreed to this.”
“To getting married?”
