Series: Lee Savino
Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 66414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
They even went out and picked up the marriage license. We had to call in a favor to get it, of course, but our contact Lucius can do anything, even convince a clerk to sign off on a wedding in the wee hours of the morning. It’s good to have the Southwest’s vampire king as your friend.
Our wedding will be official.
The moment I heard another man planned to marry Maisy, my bear flipped out. The Moon Cure barely kept me from spontaneously shifting and going on a savage rampage across Las Vegas, tearing apart every male who got near my mate.
The only way to calm my bear was for me to claim Maisy.
And since she’s not ready for me to claim her bear style, my hope is that a legal claiming will soothe him enough, so I can function.
It has the added benefit of slowing or halting whatever plans Lucky Lou had for her. We don’t even know why Lucky Lou wants to marry Maisy, but he can’t very well marry her if she’s already wed.
Not that I plan to let him anywhere near her.
When I glance in the mirror, my eyes glitter blue. I can’t deny that my bear is ecstatic about what’s about to happen.
Even if our marriage won’t be real.
I need another dose of Moon Cure, but I don’t want to pull out a needle in front of my brothers. None of them know I’ve been self-dosing for the past seven years to keep from going feral or claiming my mate.
“How’s Maisy doing?” I ask.
“She’s almost ready. The dress Lana found fits her.” Darius pauses. “She has tons of energy.”
Vampire blood will do that. I’ve been distilling medicines of my own from the potent blood of immortals. I’ve tested them on Daisy, with her consent, so I know they work on humans.
“Who’s guarding her?”
“Axel.”
A growl rumbles in my chest. Axel took Maisy to prom her senior year. I heard Daisy arranged it because she wasn’t going to go, but that doesn’t stop my bear from wanting to rip out his heart for being near her.
Darius holds up his hand. “Teddy’s there too, but she wanted Axel. She feels comfortable with him.”
I growl some more. I don’t like that, At All. Axel says he’s just a friend to Maisy, but my brother could be hiding a crush on my mate behind his quiet facade. Why else would he get so close to her?
“I have an update on Allen,” Darius says. “While you were with Maisy, we went to his apartment but didn’t find him. Kylie says Lucky Lou is blowing up Allen’s phone, accusing him of taking Maisy. Allen’s probably scared and on the run. He doesn’t have the money to go far, so he’s probably lying low. Should we go after him?
“Later. I want all of you here as witnesses. This needs to look legitimate.”
Darius doesn’t question my logic. Lucky Lou has no idea who I am or that I have seven brothers. Even with a single witness, the wedding will look real enough to serve our purposes.
But I want my brothers here. There’s no denying I want this wedding to be real. I want my mate to be bound to me by human laws, even if the marriage is only real on paper. Even though once Maisy’s safe, the right thing to do would be to let her go.
For a few days, I’m going to pretend that I have everything I want.
“You folks ready to get this show on the road?” An older white guy in a gold sequin-covered suit jacket pokes his head into the dressing room. His bushy sideburns and thinning hair are dyed black to look like Elvis. He sees me and points his finger. “Oh yeah, there’s the hound dog.”
My bear bristles. Dog?
“Who are you?” Darius asks.
“I’m the officiant. Gonna float this love boat right down the canal. Put on your blue suede shoes, and I’ll meet you at the altar.” Faux-Elvis clicks his teeth, shoots his finger gun my way, and disappears.
“Huh,” Darius gives me side-eye. “So, what were you saying about the wedding needing to look legit?”
“Shut up.”
Maisy
My hands shake as I fix the white lace on the sleeves of my wedding gown. I don’t know how Lana did it, but the dress she found fits perfectly. She must have called in a bunch of favors to wake up a Las Vegas designer at 3 a.m. and get them to deliver this.
I can’t believe I’m about to get married in Vegas at an Elvis chapel. It’s too crazy for me to even contemplate, so I don’t.
The good thing is–I feel amazing. Whatever Matthias gave me has energy zooming through my body. I glance in the mirror to see my skin is glowing like I’ve spent a week at a wellness resort. I swear even my hair is shinier.