Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“Why? What was your first wedding to Zachary Asshole Wyndham like?” Lana put a hand on her hip and arched one eyebrow sarcastically.
“Well, it was nothing special, that’s for sure,” Molly said. “It was before Zach made his money and he didn’t want to spend anything on a ‘big, dumb ceremony.’ So we got married at City Hall with two of his gamer friends as witnesses. None of my family wanted to come because they didn’t approve of Zach,” she added. “Afterwards, we all went and ate at Chipotle and Zach spilled salsa all over my dress. Not that it was anywhere near as nice as this one,” she added, looking down at the gorgeous white gown Kat had made for her.
What she didn’t tell her friend was how the wedding night had gone. How Zach—who had never been a very considerate lover—had suddenly turned cruel. How he—
She cut the thought off abruptly, hoping that she had kept it behind the wall. Since Torus didn’t send her any kind of thought message saying he had heard her, she hoped that he hadn’t. It was a good thing she’d gotten so good at catching negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones, she told herself. Otherwise wearing the TET device would be a complete disaster!
“That sounds like a lousy wedding for sure,” Lana said, bringing her back to the present. “Not like this one. I’ve already been to the Sacred Grove to take a look—the decorations are just gorgeous! I don’t know how Kat pulled everything together in such a short amount of time!”
“Let’s just say I’m good at what I do, doll,” Kat said, returning unexpectedly. She was holding a hanger with an elegant, moss-green bridesmaid’s dress on it. “Here—try that on,” she told Lana. “And hurry—it’s almost time for the ceremony!”
Molly bit her lip as she looked at the chronometer on the wall of the dressing area. Kat was right—in just a few minutes she would be walking down the aisle to get married to her huge Kindred boss! Who would have guessed that Zach sending that awful video to yet another employer would have ended like this?
But it’s not over yet, she told herself. We still have to get through the honeymoon and the lawsuit!
She just hoped she could manage—it was going to be a challenge. Especially acting like she was in love with Torus while telling him she wasn’t in love with him, though she secretly thought she was beginning to have feelings for the big Kindred.
It was all so confusing! But Molly had no idea how much more confusing things were going to get in the near future…
19
TORUS
Before he knew it, Torus was walking barefoot down the grassy aisle between the benches that had been set up in the Sacred Grove. He had taken off his boots as had everyone else, because the Sacred Grove was dedicated to the Kindred Goddess—the Mother of All Life—and was considered to be holy ground.
The purple and green grass felt cool and ticklish under his bare feet and the trees overhead had been hung with flowering sweet-bell vines, so named because their many tiny white and purple flowers made a musical chiming sound. They hung down in graceful clusters, tinkling faintly in the breeze and spreading a faint but delicious fragrance through the air.
Soft music of another kind was drifting through the Sacred Clearing as well. It must be the string quartet that Kat had promised would play for them during the ceremony, Torus thought. They were playing a song called “Pachelbel’s Canon,” which Molly had specifically requested.
Because he knew the Joining Day ceremony was very important to Earth females, Torus had deferred to the little human in all the details. Though it was a fake wedding, he still wanted her to enjoy it and have things exactly as she wanted them.
Now he was extra glad he had let her pick whatever pleased her. Since getting the TET devices installed on their temples, he had picked up several thoughts from her about how her first wedding had gone. It sounded like it had been a cheap, disappointing ceremony with no after-celebration—what the humans called a “reception—” at all.
Torus had also caught a few of her thoughts about how her wedding night had gone. She had cut them off quickly, but he could tell that her ex-Mate had been cruel to her sexually for the first time that night—probably because once they were Joined, he felt like he owned her and could drop any pretense of kindness.
Torus clenched his hands into fists. Even the few, truncated thoughts that he caught about her ex-Mate’s cruelty made him wish he had ended Zachary Wyndham instead of leaving him alive with just a few broken bones.
Should have killed him, he thought fiercely. Then he tried to push the murderous thought out of his head. He was at his Joining Ceremony—even though it was fake, he shouldn’t be having such bloodthirsty ideas during what should be a joyful moment.