Page 114 of Till Death Do Us Part (Ariel Kimber 7)

My guys made everything right in my world and they just made me happy. Each and every single one of them.

Which was crazy. What girl got the love of not just one incredible man, but seven of them? A lucky one, that was who.

The clearing had been transformed into something magical where dreams come true.

There were fairy lights strung up in almost every single tree surrounding the clearing. The tent was covered in fairy lights as well. The flaps were open, and I couldn’t see inside, but there was light pouring out of it.

My eyes were drawn to the arbor in the center of the clearing. It was covered in fairy lights as well, but it also had white flowers all over it. There were white candles on the ground near the arbor, and they were in varying sizes and heights, every single one of them lit, the wicks burning brightly.

An aisle had been made out of white candles with more white flowers scattered on the ground. It started where we stood and went all the way to the arbor, only stopping directly in front of it.

My path to them was lit brightly, the way laid out in front of me. All I had to do was walk it.

“Isobel, go,” Rain urged. “I can take it from here.”

Honestly, I had forgotten she was standing on the other side of him. I had lost sight of pretty much everything but what was right in front of me.

I was captivated, sucked into the dream that had been created just for me.

It would be a night to remember, and it hadn’t even really started yet.

It was a foreign feeling to me, because it wasn’t one I often felt in my life, but I imagined this was what lucky felt like.

“They did all this for me?” I whispered in a voice that shook with my raw emotions.

Rain chuckled as he patted my arm gently. “I think you’re underestimating just all the things that these boys would do for you. The list is endless. Still, I swear to you, my list is even longer.”

That made me laugh, but I didn’t doubt the truth behind his words for a second. They were all crazy and I loved them for it. Make no mistake, I was crazy too, and the list of the things I would do for them was likely just as long.

It was either Isobel’s big mouth or they must have just noticed me on their own, because they all came out of the tent to stare at me. I felt their eyes rake over me from head to toe from all the way across the clearing. The phantom touch of their eyes was a hot, heavy, hungry thing. It made me feel awkward feeling that touch while standing so close to my dad with my arm through his. That look seared heat right down my spine and straight to my core. Yup, not something a girl needed to be feeling when she was this close to her father.

The guys headed toward the arbor, and instead of standing in a single file or something like that, they moved around the arbor in a sort of half circle.

Romero stood on the other side with Baxter, Brighton, Isobel, Simon, and Trenton beside him in their own form of a semicircle. I was happy to see them and only them here tonight for this. Family only. Private, exactly what I wanted. This moment wasn’t meant to be one for people to gawk at or watch like a side show at the circus. It was just for us. People could join us later, just not right now.

I was glad that they seemed to understand the importance of this.

“Well,” Rain drawled, “what are you waiting for, baby girl? Your future is standing right in front of you just waiting for you to step forward and claim it. It’s too late for you to turn tail and run away from it. These boys will chase your ass down and drag you right back here. There’s no point in fighting it.”

He sounded like a proud papa bear, but it wasn’t me he had pride for—it was them. I couldn’t get behind my dad approving of my men dragging me around places if I didn’t want to be there, but I guessed that was just Rain’s parenting style.

I eyed Brighton and couldn’t exactly say my parenting style was going to be all that different from my dad’s. That boy didn’t know it yet, and I was sure when he figured it out, he’d think differently, but his luck had changed the moment he met my coven just the same as mine had.

Wasn’t it funny how the chance meeting of someone else could change the way your whole entire universe ran?

And we’d found ourselves here. There was no other place I’d rather be.

“Baby girl?” Rain turned us so he blocked the guys from my view and all I could see was him. I figured they couldn’t see me around Rain either. Just how he wanted it. He was shielding me. His concerned green eyes swept over my face. “You know I didn’t entirely mean that, right? If you want to run, I’m all for it. Just know that you’re taking me and Baxter with you. I’ll always have your back first. You’re my daughter, and if you need me to say fuck everyone else, then I can do that.”

Oh Jesus, he needed to stop this crap, because I so did not want to cry again.

“I know, Dad. I always know. And I love you too.” I sucked in a shuddering breath and forced myself to relax. “I’m not going to run. I know where my place is, and I belong here with our family. Though I would like to thank you for leaving Isobel behind if we were to go on the run. I love the woman, but there’s only so much of her that I can handle, and right now, it’s in small doses.”

His shoulders shook with his laughter. “She’s a handful, I know it. But she’s ours and she loves us. She deserves our love and respect in return. Don’t be like Romero and hate her just because she’s got the hots for me. It’s petty and not becoming of either of you.”

Good fucking God.

I did not need him cracking jokes about Isobel and Romero’s interest in him. We were not going there. If he wanted to have this conversation tomorrow, then sure, I’d be down for that, but not tonight.

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