but that hadn’t kept them apart. They had been together 24/7 until two days ago when Amandus had sent Ridge to retrieve Blu from Ryan’s home.
“Do you think Ryan will ever have me again?” she asked Bree.
“Of course he will.”
“But I’ll be tainted. I’ll smell like nasty longtooth.”
“I thought you weren’t going to let the vampire touch you?”
Blu lowered her lashes and looked aside. Her reflection in the night-dark window pouted.
The marriage contract the Council had drawn up stipulated that the alliance was not considered consummated until she had accepted the vampire’s bite. It was supposed to be the ultimate bonding in the vampire nation.
If a werewolf wore a vampire’s bite, the stigma would be unbearable. Not to mention the wolf would develop a blood hunger it had never known before.
Blu smirked. “Hell, no. It’s all for show, Bree. Don’t forget that.”
“You won’t let me. Hey, will you let me bless you?”
“I’d love it.”
Blu closed her eyes as her friend drew her fingers lightly down her cheeks and traced over her shoulders and to her hips. Calm and a tingle of joy infused Blu’s pulse. In the wake of Bree’s motions, a fine sheen of faery dust glittered onto Blu’s flesh.
“Blessed be,” Bree said, and kissed Blu on the cheek. “May the stars guide your nights and the sun your days.”
“Thanks.” For a moment she almost dropped a tear. But it passed quickly. “Now, where’s that bouquet? If I’m going to do the bride thing, I intend to be the best damn bride out there.”
She grabbed the posy of black roses tied with a long red velvet ribbon. She sniffed, but the flowers offered no perfume. Pity. She had wished for a distraction from the vampire’s scent, which she dreaded taking into her senses.
“YOU FIND OUT which one she is? Shouldn’t be too difficult to spot a female werewolf in this crowd,” Alexandre said.
“I think they’ve got her secreted away until the ceremony starts.”
Creed Saint-Pierre tugged at his shirtsleeves and traced one diamond cuff link with a finger. He looked over the crowd from his position on the dais. His best friend and best man, Alexandre Renard, stood at his side.
A female wolf should stand out amongst the female vampires, who all, he’d noticed, had decided black was the color for the event. Interesting how the two nations had divided, keeping to their respective halves of the ballroom as if the aisle of red carpeting were the proverbial line drawn in the sand.
While he had led the Nava tribe since the late eighteenth century, and had endured pomp and ceremony of all sorts, Creed did not care for fussy events. Strategy and the hunt were his mien. And when not serving his tribe members, he was a private man, and chose his pleasures carefully.
The very fact he stood upon this dais now represented a three-sixty-degree shift in his thinking. Whether or not he was actually being true to his nature remained to be seen.
That half the crowd milling here in the Landmark Center were werewolves put up his guard. They smelled wild and earthy, and were easily roused with the most innocent of glances. Creed was impressed a fight had not broken out yet. But then, only the trusted few had been invited to the ceremony.
The Landmark Center had been marked a neutral zone for the evening, but he didn’t trust the dogs not to start something. It was so like them. Though he should be more relaxed knowing half the security force were vampires.
Because so many wolves were present, the room was overwhelmingly male. With lots of testosterone floating about, anything could happen. Which was why it was necessary for posted sentries outside and along the inner hallways hugging the ballroom.
Creed never let down his defenses.
“All the dogs in the room,” Alexandre said over his shoulder, as he scanned the crowd, “gives me that aching hunger feeling, you know?”
His second in command never turned his back on a werewolf, for painful reasons. It had been less than a year since Creed had rescued Alexandre from the blood sport.
“I feel like Henri of Navarre on the night of his wedding to the de Médicis bitch,” Creed commented uneasily. He’d been in Paris in the sixteenth century during that event. Nasty memories.
“The Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre? So what does that make us?” Alexandre asked. “Catholics or the Huguenots?”
“Catholics, most definitely.” Creed had never sided with the losing team.
“You’re actually doing it.” Alexandre’s tone held a smirk. “Never thought you’d go through with it, old man.”
Creed shoved a hand in his trouser pocket, ensuring the ring ordered specially by the Council was at hand.
“I did not believe the wolves would actually put up something so valuable as a female. But they have, and so I am no man to back from a commitment.”
He prayed she was not hairy. Male wolves had hair in abundance on their head, arms, legs and chests. In all his centuries, Creed had never seen a female werewolf, but he could guess she would be hirsute, as well.
Gods, what had he gotten himself into?
For nine centuries he’d walked through this thing called life without once getting involved with any particular female for more than a few months. Only one time had he begun to consider a woman more than a mere plaything and, well—he did not think about her if he could prevent it.
He did not like to be beholden, or to share. Emotion was easy enough, but love? It was not to be dallied with.
He was safe from the falling-in-love part. What vampire could love a werewolf, princess or not? He couldn’t do it. He would simply go through the motions, make the marriage appear real.
A celebratory banquet was planned in a few weeks. The Council would parade them before the same crowd as tonight to demonstrate they were getting along; all would witness a happy couple. Whether or not the woman agreed to the charade, Creed would see she had no choice.
Quite a bold idea the Council had by proposing the vampires resolve their differences with the werewolves by joining a couple together to prove they could accept one another.
Thankfully, love was not a requirement.
After discussion with his tribe, and various other vampire tribe leaders across the United States, it was agreed this match was the thing to do. Creed would be their representative. He was the only choice, for the position required a great sacrifice. He was one of few elders who possessed witch magic. A rarity amongst his kind, he was valued, as well as respected.
The things he had done to obtain such magic would turn the stomachs of most, he felt sure.
More than anything, though, Creed had made a personal vow to himself. This marriage would serve as a means to atone for his past indiscretions.
