Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 223(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 223(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Her dress was pure white. It had a modest neckline, a loose bodice, and a long skirt that reached exactly to the floor. The sleeves reached her wrists, but the section from below her elbow was made of delicate lace that left the birthmark visible.
Since she wore no makeup, her blond lashes and eyebrows were barely visible, but that wasn’t odd for her, since she’d never worn makeup.
Purity in everything. Including her body.
Jezebel shivered as she fought the urge to worry about her wedding night for the millionth time. She wasn’t entirely ignorant. She knew where babies came from. Her mother had explained basically what it meant to lie with a man. So had her sisters. A few of them had given her slightly more details.
None of the information made her feel less panicked.
Though the dress was pretty and demure and pure and virginal and all that, it wasn’t really much different from what she’d worn every day of her life. All the girls in her society wore pale dresses until they were mated. It was their custom. Modesty was mandatory. Few girls ever dared to challenge it.
The school Jezebel had gone to had been for only girls. Boys went to another school across town. It wasn’t that she’d never interacted with boys or men. She had. But she’d always been supervised even from a young age.
Fathers and brothers kept a close eye on their sisters, but mothers and other women in the town did most of the chaperoning. Protecting their girls’ virtue was one of the most important tenets of society.
“Happy birthday,” Julia said with a smile.
Jez giggled at that. She’d nearly forgotten today was her birthday. Her twentieth. The reason for all the pomp and circumstance.
The rest of the girls echoed Julia’s congratulations.
Jezebel’s mother bent down in front of her and helped slip on the delicate gold sandals she would wear to the ceremony. They were flat. Unmated girls did not wear elevated shoes. She wondered if she might be permitted to in the future. She’d always wondered what they might feel like. They looked uncomfortable and difficult to walk in.
“It’s time,” her mother said, setting her hands on her daughter’s arms. “We all love you, and we’re proud of you. We know you’re about to embark on an amazing adventure.”
“Don’t forget us,” Esme teased.
Jez fought tears for the millionth time. “Don’t make me cry again.”
Chapter Three
“You look handsome, my son.”
Arion chuckled as he glanced at his father. He was adjusting his tie. “You say that like I’m twelve.”
His father, Talon, chuckled. “You’re still my son, even if you are thirty-seven.” He stepped closer, batted Arion’s hands out of the way, and fixed his tie. “Are you ready for this? Taking a mate is a huge responsibility.”
“You say that as if I have a choice.” Arion smirked.
His father mirrored the look. “Good point. I know you’ve watched her from afar many times throughout the years. I’ve never asked you much about her.”
Arion smiled. “She’s stunning. Blond, pale, blue eyes that match the sky. When she laughs, everything around her glows.” He didn’t care if he sounded sappy. He couldn’t wait to meet his mate, finally, for the first time and make her his.
Talon’s eyes danced with happiness. “Your cabin is ready for her?”
Arion rolled his eyes. “My cabin has been ready for her for two years, father.”
Talon held his son’s gaze and set his palms on his shoulders. Though the two of them were the same height, the elder always seemed taller when he spoke of serious issues with his son. “Be gentle with her. Take your time. She will be nervous and scared and confused. She will miss her family terribly. She will cry sometimes. Nurture her. Hold her through her tears. Rock her to sleep when she needs it. Do not rush her to let you into her body.”
Arion swallowed. “I know the drill, Father. You’ve taught me well. But thanks for the last-minute advice.” Arion wasn’t just saying that to get his father off his back. He had the same concerns.
Snatching a Little girl from her family in such a strange barbaric ritual was nearly inhumane. He knew that. It was the way of their people though. It had always been this way, and it would continue to be this way for centuries to come.
Arion had every intention of exercising patience with his Little girl. He’d waited thirty-seven years for her. He’d known of her existence for twenty. Their age difference didn’t matter much. The life-expectancy in his pack was over one hundred and fifty. Plus or minus seventeen years was nothing in the grand scheme of things. Though it had seemed like a lifetime for the past twenty years.
“We should descend the mountain. It’s time.”
Arion nodded. He’d gotten dressed in his parents’ home so he wouldn’t be alone this morning. He was as ready as he was ever going to be.