1
Nothing in this world was worse than attending a wedding on Valentine’s Day.
Or, so I thought.
Add in the little tidbit that I was single, and this was the worse night of my life. Who held their wedding on the worst day of the year? They’d surrounded me with enough papier-mâché hearts, ribbon, and chocolate to sink a battleship. Honestly, I’d never imagined Rumor Hayes capable of such evil. Or such…romance. She was the steeliest werewolf I knew. The woman could stare down a wolf twice her size without breaking a sweat. Hell, she’d recently killed a member of the fae court. It didn’t get any ballsier than that. So, why a Valentine’s Day wedding? Was it just to rub our faces in her happiness?
Ugh. Kill me now. Take me out to pasture and put a bullet in my head. I’ll thank you for it later.
At least there was alcohol. And wasn’t booze supposed to solve all my problems?
Ha.
Maybe my larger than life problems were just too big for my sad little tequila and lime to conquer. Imagine if it could, though? Mm. Magic booze. Now that was something I could buy into.
I leaned back in my chair with a wistful sigh and surrendered to my liquor-induced fantasies. Ones that included me dancing the night away in Mathis’s arms. Hey, it was a wedding. Who cared if we knocked back a few shots? And after all the clinking glasses and endless toasts, I needed to indulge. If I had to listen to one more sickening speech about how perfect Rumor and Knox were together, I would scream.
Lucky bastards.
I didn’t stand a chance with Mathis. He was our alpha, and damn near perfect. But me? I was nothing more than a hindrance. A shiftless wolf-born who barely ranked in the pack.
Awesome.
My entire life, I’d waited for that special moment. I’d watched as all my friends grew into their magic, but not me. That day had never come. Maybe I couldn’t shift like them, but I refused to let that slow me down.
Mathis, however, was an entirely different matter. An alpha like him needed a strong mate, and that was something I wasn’t. Though my kind was rare, we were all the same. Born to werewolf parents, but human. Hell, one of my pack members had even bitten me when I younger, to no effect. Something about our genetics refused to let us change. Not to mention, those like me were lucky enough to find a mate at all, cursed as we were. Few were willing to risk passing on this gene to their own children. As I said, cursed. Hence, the tequila. If I couldn’t have my heart’s desire, maybe I’d drink myself into a stupor instead.
Still, Mathis was the man I fantasized about every single night. It didn’t help that whenever we were alone, there was this light in his eyes. A spark of possible interest. Not to mention, the little secretive smile he’d offer me before continuing on his way. Stupid to think it meant anything, though, right? Nothing more than a pitiful smile for the poor, shiftless human.
“Juniper?”
I twitched at the sound of my name and slitted an eyelid. The room spun in slow circles, but I could make out a blurred figure.
“Hey! Piper!” I raised my glass and forced a cheer before tossing back the rest of my drink. “To…marital bliss!”
“God, Juniper. How many have you had?”
How many? More than I had fingers and toes to count. “Sit, girl, sit! Have a drink with me.”
Her fuzzier bits moved toward me. I think.
“You’re drunk!” she accused.
“Mm. Thank you.”
Piper was one the few friends I had. The others in the pack tolerated me. Barely. But Piper…she’d always taken me under her wing…or paw. She leaned over and snatched the glass out of my hand, then took a whiff, her nose wrinkling. Yup, bet that stunk. Tequila wasn’t kind on the dullest of senses.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she demanded. “This isn’t like you.”
I swayed forward in my seat. Geez. From the look on her face, you’d think someone had told her I’d murdered her best friend. Oh, wait. That was me, and I was partially dead inside, so… “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s a wedding. Everyone’s drinking.”
“Yeah, but not everyone is the damn Maid of Honor!”
True. And hadn’t that been a surprise. When Rumor had asked me to fill that role, I’d nearly swooned. Not actually, of course. I would rather die before exposing that side of myself, but inside, I’d screamed. Rumor Hayes had asked me to be her MoH.
I eyed Piper. “So? Hard part’s done. Now, I get to relax and bask in my job well done.”
“The hard part is not done. Conrad is here.”
Her words were a cold splash of water. My smile vanished, and I straightened in my seat. “What?”
“Conrad…” She dragged out his name. “He can’t be here. Rumor doesn’t need this. So, someone needs to get rid of him.”
“And that someone is…me?” I swallowed.
“You’re the MoH.”
Oh, boy. Some days I wished I knew how to growl. This had nothing to do with being the MoH. No one wanted to deal with Conrad. So, somewhere down the line, they’d nominated me.
Jackasses.
I studied the room through a tipsy haze.
Conrad was our former alpha, and the man who had raised Rumor. Which was all bad news bears because two months ago, he’d been the root of a whole lot of trouble in our pack.
Turns out our dear alpha had been born at the bottom of the totem pole, like the rest of us plebs. Yearning for power, he’d made a deal with a fae named Alasdair. In return for enough power to hold his own pack, Conrad had promised him a child. As part of the agreement, he’d allowed Alasdair to use glamor to impersonate him at night. Conrad's mate—Rumor’s mother—had never known the difference.
Handing over his mate like that…letting another impregnate her…the thought gave me chills. I’d never liked Conrad, but damn, now I loathed the wretched beast.
Afterward, according to the rumor mill, Conrad had reneged on the final half of the deal. Once Rumor turned twenty-one, Alasdair had expected Conrad to turn her over. But he’d had other plans for her—like mating her off to another pack to strengthen ties.
Dude was all kinds of shady.
Thankfully, Rumor had put a stop to it all by killing her biological fae father. His death had broken the spell, and Conrad had returned to the submissive prick he was. From head honcho to nothing in no time flat. Needless to say, he was no longer the alpha of our pack.
Then Mathis had stepped up, which had destroyed any dream I’d ever had of us being together.
Thanks for that, Conrad.
“Juniper!” Piper hissed. “We can’t let Rumor or Knox see him.”
My head bobbed as I pondered our limited options. A head that wasn’t quite in the game yet. One—or three—too many tequilas. Might liven up the wedding to see some blood spilled. No. No, that was the alcohol talking. Death equaled bad. Had to remember that one. Even though I had an ongoing bet with myself about how long Conrad would last. A lot of people wanted him dead, his former mate included. Couldn’t blame her.
But, this was about Rumor. And her wedding. So, I rocked to my feet and stumbled across the room. Huh. Maybe I’d had a few more than I’d realized. The ground felt off-kilter. Or maybe it was the four-inch spikes strapped to my feet.