Filed to story: Offered to the Lycan King Novel by Misha K (River & Hunter)
They reached the church in fifteen minutes. Maria took Lia with her and disappeared into a room. Jack offered his arm to his daughter. “How am I looking?” he asked, adjusting his bowtie.
She giggled. “Perfect!”
When Lena walked in, she noticed that Shawn’s relatives had filled six rows. They all got up as soon as she walked inside with her father. As she walked down the aisle, they looked at her with wonder and appreciation. It was as if they were accepting her in their family already. Through her veil, she looked at her man and he was standing there on the dais in a black suit with white shirt that had golden cufflinks. His blond hair was neatly combed back. She fell in love with him all over again. From the corner of her vision she saw that Maria had come along with Lia holding a red velvet box.
Fiona stopped to sit in the first row while Jack h*anded his daughter to her groom. The priest smiled at her as Shawn held her h*and. “I love you,” he m*outhed and she blushed.
Just as the priest was about to begin with liturgy, the door of the church opened. Shocked, everyone whipped their heads to see who was there. And Lena almost squealed, “Riverrrr!”
With Hunter behind her, River ran to her best friend and hugged her t*ight. “You can’t marry without me, can you?”
Lena was so overwhelmed that her eyes stung with tears and she wanted to cry badly.
“You can’t cry!” River instructed her. “You will ruin your makeup.”
Lena laughed in her friend’s embrace as she blinked her tears away. “Thank you,” she sid in a hoarse voice, full of emotions.
“What for?” River asked as she pulled herself away. “And by the way, you look so beautiful that I never thought you would ever look.”
“Shut up!” Lena smacked her friend on her shoulder.
River grinned. She nodded at Shawn who nodded back at her and Hunter who was standing only a few feet away. “I won’t delay your wedding now.” She walked back to Hunter, glancing at the stunned relatives who were mostly looking at Hunter. Hunter was towering above all of them and was a mountain of muscles. Most girls in the crowd were drooling over him and River suppressed an urge to roll her eyes. Human girls were all attracted to him. She curled her arms around his and stepped closer to him to show everyone who he belonged to.
The priest started with the liturgy and soon Shawn took his vows. Lena, who was informed by Maria that she had to take vows in the church, had prepared a big list of them. She had crammed them all up but when the time came, she ended up saying, “I vow that I will always look after you and Lia and that I will love you always. And I will walk to the Fade with you as every mate does.”
The priest gave her a weird look as if asking about mates and Fade. She just bit her bottom l*ip and lowered her face.
“You may exchange the rings,” the priest said. On his cue, Maria came along with Lia who had the red velvet box in her little h*ands. Maria opened the box, revealing a set of wedding rings. While Shawn’s ring was a band with a line of diamonds, Lena’s ring had a heart shaped ruby flanked by diamonds. As soon as they exchanged the rings, the priest said, “I pronounce you as husband and wife. Now you may k*iss the bride.”
It seemed that Shawn was waiting for this. He lifted her veil, cupped her cheeks and crashed his l*ips on hers. He k*issed and k*issed and k*issed. The priest was at first, fine with it, but when Shawn didn’t leave his bride, he was surprised and stepped back. Still when Shawn didn’t leave his wife, everyone in the church felt as if the temperature had soared.
“You will get all the time, buddy!” Hunter growled while River let out a suppressed laughter. All others laughed too, laughed.
Finally when Shawn left her, Lena’s l*ips were swollen. She looked at him, blushing to the hair. He said, “Don’t blame me. You were away from me for a day.”
“No!” Maria growled. “She was away only for a few hours.”
He shrugged. “Seemed like eternity.” He took Lia in his lap and gave his arm to her. She took it and together they stepped down the dais.
All the relatives congratulated them as Shawn introduced her to all of them. Lena was on the ninth cloud. Her life had taken a drastic turn in just a week and she was more than grateful to her parents for supporting her when she was feeling low. Looking at River, she couldn’t thank her stars enough that her friend had forgiven her even if that meant that she had to marry.
They proceeded to the venue which was the city main hall for lunch and other celebrations. All the relative had gathered for Shawn’s wedding and there was a lot of fun and frolic. Shawn was dancing with his brothers on some fast number as Hunter too joined him. “Gosh, Hunter is a terrible dancer!” River said, looking how he just threw his h*ands around like a maniac. “But he is damn good with ball dances.”
Lena giggled. She sipped her wine and said, “Thank you for coming. I wasn’t expecting…”
River turned her gaze towards her friend. “You thought I was going to miss this? Not for the world!” Lena’s heart filled with warmth. “How are Arthur and Hawk?”
“They both are fine and we decided to leave them at the castle with Faria and Elijah and Mia. That’s the safest place for them at the moment.” River sipped her wine and took a ragged breath in.
Lena felt a pang of guilt. “I am so sorry River that-’’
“Hey shush!” River smacked her on the belly. “Let’s just forget it, okay. I am in no mood to discuss what happened in the past. Let me focus on my friend’s wedding.”
Lena pulled River to her and hugged her t*ightly. “Thanks again.” River stroked her back gently. They started talking about other things and then River went to her husband and joined him in his dance antics. Lena walked to her husband and they had a dance together. She was tired after three dances and so she sat down. Shawn’s relatives came and introduced themselves to her. Fiona and Jack were just too happy. Along with Reeves and Lia, they were dancing in their own circle.
The lunch was lavish. Shawn brought a plate stuffed with food for her and sat down next to her. “You must be hungry, Lena,” he said, as he forked baked salmon and gave her. While she was chewing on it, he said, “This is the happiest day of my life. You’ve made me delirious with happiness.”
She held his h*and and squeezed it. “And you have made me happy.” She lifted his h*and and pressed a k*iss on his knuckles. Then she said, “You don’t have to build a hotel in the Crescent pack.”
“Why?” he frowned, giving her another piece of fish.
Her gaze went to her father and mother and she gave them a loving look. “My father is ready to put all his savings in your venture only so that he gets to stay beside his daughter. They were planning on opening a restaurant because father will be retiring from his gamma duties. So my mother thought that she would open up a small restaurant by converting the top floor of the house into one.” She turned her eyes to him and found him listening to her intently. “Father doesn’t want me to give up on my Beta duties. He is very proud of me. And now that River has forgiven me, he will insist that I come there. However, I am afraid. What if the hotel you two build together turns into a loss?”
Shawn went into deep thought as if thinking on what to do next.
Lena continued. “Dad has Reeves to look after. He is only ten and he has to see him through school and college. So he would need all those savings and then some more.”
“Why is your father retiring so soon?” Shawn asked, giving her fried prawns.
“He was severely injured in a battle long back. He has healed, but the flesh in his left t*high didn’t stitch together well. He gets that pain every time he uses it intensely. Earlier it wasn’t so bad, but mom told me yesterday that it is getting worse every day.”
“Oh!” Shawn was surprised as to how Jack kept this a secret just for the sake of his daughter. “Don’t worry, love,” he replied with a smile. “We will find a way around it.” They went on to talk about more things while eating from the same plate when all at once, the hall fell silent. Surprised, Shawn and Lena looked up and found everyone staring at someone. When they followed the gaze, Shawn clenched his jaw as tension crept up his spine.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?