Page 127 of Fanged Embrace
The woman who would soon be my wife.
Addison
Ethan finished fussing with the last pearl-tipped pin in my hair and stepped back with a flourish. “Voilà! You look beautiful.”
I sucked in a breath and pinched at my dress. The satin bodice felt suddenly too tight, the overhead light in the suite too bright. “I look like a cupcake,” I whispered, staring at myself in the full body mirror. “Are you sure it’s not too much?”
“Addy, it’s your wedding day.” Ethan tutted, fixing a stray hair behind my ear. “It’s the one day where you can be as extravagant as you like and no one can say a peep about it.”
I grimaced in the mirror and cocked my head to the side. “I don’t know, I feel like I might have gone a little overboard.”
“I feel like you’re overthinking this.” Ethan smoothed an imaginary wrinkle on my skirt, then stood behind me in the mirror, propping his chin on my shoulder. “Seriously, you look gorgeous, Addison. I’d marry you on the spot if I swung that way. Though Hunter would probably have plenty to say about it.”
My brows pinched together and I shot him a grimace. “Thanks, I guess?”
“No problem.” Ethan grinned and patted my shoulder, then continued his thorough assessment, circling me with a finger tapping lightly on his chin. “Leah, go a little lighter on the blush, she’s already flushing like a tomato and we don’t want to make it worse.”
Leah turned a stricken expression on him, frozen like a deercaught in headlights with a handful of makeup doodads clenched in her fist. “Huh?” She looked over the dressing table with saucer-wide eyes. “Uh–okay… Which one is blush again?”
She picked up a small tub of powder and Ethan promptly swiped it from her hands. “That’s eyeshadow, honey. Blush is over there?—”
I looked away from my trainwreck of a prep team and stared at my reflection again. Ethan had a point, it probably only looked like overkill because I was used to wearing scrubs. This outfit was as far from hospital attire as you could possibly get. The dress was an elaborate embroidered swath of white silk, with a skirt that flared out across the floor. Ethan had pinned my hair up with delicate little pins, and tiny pearls shimmered through the curls.
Considering Maxine had appointed herself as Hunter’s personal stylist, she’d left Leah to assist me with the makeup side of things. Leah herself had reiterated that she had no idea what she was doing, but all things considered she’d done a good job. Sure, she didn’t know a mascara wand from a stick of lipstick but she managed.
So, okay, I looked good. Pretty even, I’d allow myself a moment of vanity. But I was still a shivering bundle of nerves. The jitters had set in right around the time I shimmied into the dress and they hadn't dissipated since. This was it. I was getting married. This was the single most stressful but simultaneously happiest day of my life. And ifIwas a mess I could only imagine how badly Hunter was faring.
“Hey, uh—” I interrupted Ethan’s speed-lesson on the various distinctions between blush and eyeshadow and caught Leah’s eye in the mirror. “Do you think Hunter’s going to make it to the altar in one piece?”
Leah offered me a lopsided, wobbly smile and shrugged. “Well, considering Maxine’s the one helping her get ready, she might have thrown herself off the balcony by now.”
“Yeah, that checks out.” I chuckled, smoothing down my corset and trying to still the quiver in my hands.
Ethan sauntered over with a makeup brush and dusted it lightly over my cheeks. “Last I checked, Maxine interrupted the preparations and challenged Caden to an arm wrestling match. Hunter looked just about ready to blow a fuse.” He paused and tilted his head. “Okay, I think we’re done.”
After a soft trio of knocks, Penelope cracked the door open and slipped inside. “Oh my god!” she rushed over in a flash, grabbing both my hands and swinging me around in a jolting circle. “You look so beautiful!”
Luckily, my stint spent working in the nightclubs meant I was perfectly capable of doing all kinds of things in heels so I managed to stay on my feet while she jostled me around in a happy little jig.
“Watch the hair!” Ethan yelped when Penelope leapt into my arms, and I had no choice but to join in on her happy little jumps. When we finally untangled, Ethan blew out a harrowed breath and Leah stood awkwardly in the corner looking at the makeup spread like it might jump up and bite her.
Penelope cupped my face, unshed tears turning her eyes glassy. “I’m so happy for you, Addison.”
That was the problem with sisters. When one starts crying, the other is doomed to follow, and that’s exactly what happened to me. Ethan groaned in defeat when I dabbed at my dribbling mascara. I ignored him and gripped Penelope’s hand in mine, heart clenching tight in my chest.
To think that I’d almost lost her. To think that we’d gone so long without speaking, until the day I heard she’d disappeared. There was a time when I thought I’d never see her again, never get the chance to reconnect, to rekindle our relationship, to apologize for all those times I’d brushed her aside. It was Hunter who helped me find her again. It was Hunter who stepped in and helped me bring my sister home.
I’d finally come clean to Penelope about what Hunter truly was, the day we’d shown up to announce our wedding date. I’d expected her to take it badly, to be terrified at the prospect of me marrying a vampire, but I should have given my little sister more credit. Penelope was a hopeless romantic after all, and while her eyes had bugged out of her sockets when Hunter had first brandished her fangs, it hadn’t taken long for her to start swooning about it. Apparently, loving a vampire was just “Sooo romantic” in her eyes.
It helped ease my mind, having her so open to the idea. It would make my eventual transformation infinitely easier. And I was ready to be turned, maybe on our honeymoon if Hunter was open to it. It felt right, natural really, and incredibly comforting, knowing that we would have forever together.
I had everything I’d ever wanted and then some. I had my sister back and we were closer than ever. I had friends from all walks of life, people who loved me, people who had fought tooth and nail to protect me when supernatural forces threatened the city. And I had a fiancée, a soon-to-be-wife, who would cross oceans and crumble mountains for me. I had a partner who loved me unconditionally, and I was about to marry her—the fated love of my life.
When Penelope whispered that they were all ready for me, that Hunter was waiting, I looked in the mirror one last time, sucking in a steadying breath.
Then I crossed the suite and rummaged through my bag, digging out the old receipt I’d kept since the very beginning. It was a receipt from the night Hunter and I had first met—when she’d bought me a drink at the bar. It was a little tattered and plenty crumpled by now, but precious to me. And scribbled on the back, in my unintelligible doctor's scrawl, were my vows.
“Okay.” I tucked the receipt into my bodice and took Penelope’s outstretched hand. “I’m ready.”
