Inevitably Yours

QUINN

“Michael, I told you, you aren’t going to see me until the ceremony!” I shouted as knocking sounded on my bedroom door. I had banished him an hour ago so I could start getting ready. I had less than an hour until the start of the ceremony. I had to throw up my block twenty minutes into getting ready because he was incessantly linking me to come back in the room while he and Nic were supposed to be putting the final touches on the blessing ground and getting ready themselves.

“Not Michael. Try a little older,” Melvin said in his old, scratchy voice.

“Oh,” I gasped as I rushed over to the door. I hadn’t put my dress on yet, but I was still wearing clothes. “I didn’t realize, sorry,” I said as I opened the door.

“That’s okay,” he chuckled softly. “He is quite attached to you. I had to shoo him out of the house when I got here. May I come in?”

“Sure,” I said, stepping aside. Our bedroom still wasn’t much, and it was kind of messy after a few busy days with little time to clean up.

“Don’t worry. I won’t judge by a messy bedroom. Before I was mated, mine was always a heaping pile of mess,” he comforted me.

I closed the door behind him and spoke, “To what do I owe the pleasure this evening?”

“I won’t take too much of your time,” he started. “I gave Michael the family claymore on his birthday.”

I nodded. “He loves it so much. He can’t choose between Safir and Diagne and that now.”

Melvin nodded with a smile. “He was adamant about the dual swords, so I wasn’t sure if it would be a good fit, but I changed my mind. There is another family heirloom I think he should have.” He pulled a small velvet box from his pocket and opened it, gazing down at the contents. “This ring has been on the hand of every Galbraith Alpha before him. Usually, it is passed down at the Alpha Ceremony when the father passes the torch to the son. It didn’t feel right doing that for him as I wasn’t Alpha.”

“He still would have loved it,” I said, confused as Melvin handed me the box. It was a chunky old ring with the Galbraith crest on it.

“Well, it didn’t feel right to me,” Melvin continued. “Ever since then, I have been trying to figure out some way to give it to him so it would mean something.”

“Oh?” I asked.All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.

“I think you should give it to him tonight as his wedding ring,” Melvin concluded. My eyes popped open. This ring had to be old; I could tell by the aging on the metal alone. This was an important thing passed from father to son; I couldn’t possibly take that away from Melvin.

“You want me to give this to him? Mr. Galbraith, I couldn’t-” I started.

“Melvin, he corrected. “Or Dad, I suppose, if you like. But yes, I do want you to give it to him. You mean more to him than anything else in this world, even his mother and I. He would choose you over us 101 times of 100. You putting that ring on his finger will make him cherish it. He can pass it down when it’s time.”

“Thank you,” I said, looking back down at the ring. If there was something I had learned about Michael since being mated, it was that his heritage meant something to him. He didn’t just take training seriously; it was religious. He taught anyone and everyone normal fighting, but he was particular about all the weapons training and family techniques he passed along. He was elated when I found boxes with decorations we could use for the wedding in the basement, telling me they had to belong to his grandmother.

With money being tight and too many considerations to make for Michael’s ring, I chose one made of a rubber material. It fit into the budget but also worked well for all the fighting. He wouldn’t have to remove it to train. But this was much better.

“I was worried about him for a long time. Meeting him and being reunited with my mate after so long, well, there were a lot of adjustments to be made. I know Michael isn’t the happiest with all my decisions, but I hope he can be happy with you by his side,” Melvin said.

“Thank you, Melvin. He is going to love this so much. I just hope I can make him as happy as he makes me,” I told him earnestly.

MICHAEL

I’d already marked her, so I didn’t know why I was standing so nervously under the moonlight, waiting for her to appear. Of course, she was coming, right? What if it was too much for her, and she decided to leave? After everything we’d dealt with since I became Alpha, could I blame her? It had been one thing after another, so many traps to fall into left behind by Lawrence. I’d finally found that he’d spent most of his money trying to find us after we left, feeding his w***e’s drug habit, and blowing the rest on frivolous bullshit like gambling. What if she just said f**k it all and went home?

“Quit being stupid,” Eros said, much calmer than I was. As annoying as he could be at times, I was glad to have him as my voice of reason when I spiraled, especially about her. She could make anything better for me, except when I worried about her. “She is the one the Goddess chose for you, for us. She doesn’t make mistakes, and this is the one thing you’ve done right your entire life. Quinn is coming.”

I calmed down, focused on my breathing, and waited for my fated love to arrive. I was in the blessing clearing at the same place I’d brought her to try using her powers for the first time. I was standing next to the very nice man from the Church of the Moon Goddess, who introduced himself as Aldritch and told me he was excited to be a part of the new Alpha and Luna’s wedding ceremony. He wore a soft smile and was patiently staring into the woods where Quinn would be appearing soon. Nic was next to me, although we’d agreed we were sharing her as our best woman and maid of honor. She’d been delighted to be asked to be both.

Since Quinn’s father was still not accepting of our bond, my dad told me he would ask Quinn if he could walk her down the aisle to me. As far as he was concerned, she was already his daughter anyway. He wasn’t back yet, so I assumed that she’d agreed. Any minute, they would be breaking through the trees as the moon hit its apex in the sky. Then, just as I didn’t think I could wait another moment to see her, she appeared like an angel coming to save me from the hell I’d found myself in.

“Damn.”

“Damn,” I whispered with Eros in unison. How did I deserve to be fated to this woman? She was almost glowing in the moonlight as it reflected in her blue hair, twisted in braids, and her white dress that I had to admit looked like it had been made for her. Just as non-traditional as the ceremony, she didn’t elect for a long train and veil. Her bright eyes looked right at me from the treeline, and the hemline of her dress danced across her knees as my dad escorted her down the makeshift aisle. The short distance between us felt like a chasm opened up, and time slowed to keep her across it forever as I waited the agonizing seconds until she was in front of me. I watched my dad squeeze her hand as they stopped right before me.

“Who presents this lovely bride to be wed this evening?” Aldritch asked my father warmly.

“I, Melvin Johnson Galbraith, former Alpha of Stary Pack, present Quinn Samuels to be wed to my son, Michael Galbraith,” he answered proudly before depositing her hand in mine, kissing her on the cheek, and stepping back.

“We are gathered here today to witness the joining of Michael Galbraith and Quinn Samuels in marriage. As is the custom within our community, these fated mates have found and marked each other as their own, but these two wish to be further formally tied in an additional declaration of their love to one another. So, Alpha Michael and Luna Quinn, I believe you have written your own vows?”

“We did,” I answered, finding breath hard to come by. After all the years that I’d spent dreaming of this moment, it was here. She’d said yes, and it didn’t matter if we were in a castle or this clearing, I was about to marry Quinn. “Quinn?”

“Oh, I have to go first?” she asked, her nervous laughter filling my heart with warmth. Nic leaned over and handed Quinn a small piece of paper. Quinn cleared her throat, looking at me and then back to the paper as her face grew the brilliant shade of my favorite crimson.

“Michael, you are the sound of rain on a beautiful dreary day, the ones that make me want to cuddle up in your arms. You haunt my dreams in the night and brighten my day when I wake from them. You are the moon in the night, lighting the path through my darkest times. You are the calm that takes the pain away when I think it’s too much to bear. You are all of that and so much more to me. I promise to love and cherish you until my last breath. I can’t imagine my world without you in it, and I will do my best every day to give you the peace you have given me.”

She struggled through her vows, trying not to cry through each line as she read them. The way she was looking at me sent shivers down my spine as she promised her life to me. I didn’t want to wait for the “right” time; I wanted my mouth on hers.

“It’s your turn,” Eros hissed at me, and I realized everyone was staring at me expectantly.

I pulled out a paper from my pocket, my eyes only leaving Quinn’s for brief moments as I used the paper to guide me, “Quinn, you are the reason my heart beats within my chest. You are the sun with which I rise and the moon that calls to me in the night. I will be your armor to shield you from the horrors of the world. I will be the constant in your every equation. I promise to cherish you in every moment that we have together and seek out those small moments that we will remember forever. I promise you my heart, my life, and more importantly, my soul because one lifetime with you could never be enough. When the Goddess takes me from this world, I will ask to wait patiently for you to join me before I follow her because death will not do us part. I promise you an eternity of devotion. I vow to be endlessly yours.”

Tears were streaming down her face, and it was incredibly hard to finish reading what I’d written as tears blurred my vision. Luckily, I’d read those vows over and over until the paper wore thin in my hands. I really didn’t need the reminder.

“This brings us to the exchange of rings. Please face each other, and you will do as I ask and repeat after me,” Aldritch said, his voice breaking through my hyperfixation on my mate.

Nic quietly handed both me and Quinn small boxes. Quinn didn’t know I’d scraped enough money together to buy her an actual wedding set, even if it wasn’t an expensive one. We’d found these neat rubber rings that we could wear while training, but I wanted her to have the real thing.

“A ring is an unbroken circle with ends that have been joined together, and it represents your union. It is a symbol of infinity and of your infinite love. When you look at these rings on your hands, be reminded of this moment, your commitment, and the love you now feel for each other.

Michael, you will now place your ring on Quinn’s finger and repeat after me,” he continued.

I opened the box and saw the surprise on her face as I placed both rings on her finger together; they fit perfectly. I placed a gentle k**s on her finger just below it before reciting the words, “With this ring, I thee wed. I give this to you as a symbol of my everlasting and infinite love. With it, I pledge to love you wholly and endlessly.”

Quinn opened her box; it looked much older than the one we’d gotten when we bought our rings. I wondered if she was trying to surprise me too. When it came into view, I was shocked. It was an extremely old-looking ring carrying the crest of my clan. I looked at her and then my dad, confused. It wasn’t the ring I gave him.

As she placed it on my finger, Quinn linked me, “This is the ring traditionally given to the Alpha of Clan Galbraith. He wanted you to have it, but since he isn’t Alpha, he thought it would mean more coming from me.”

I swallowed hard, fighting back another eye-blurring wave of tears. He was right; it couldn’t have meant more than receiving it right now during this ceremony. Quinn repeated the wording of the ring ceremony as I had before her.

“You have both vowed to love one another in touching and meaningful ways before those assembled and the Moon Goddess herself, who I’m sure is watching over us in our current undertaking. It is my great pleasure to pronounce you husband and wife, and I present for the first time Alpha and Luna Michael and Quinn Galbraith. Alpha Michael, you may k**s your bride.”

Before the words finished leaving his mouth, I’d already pulled her to me and found her mouth with mine. I could taste the salt from the tears that had been flowing all night, mixed with the normal taste of delicious lips. No matter the troubles we would face after that moment, we belonged to each other in every possible way. I picked Quinn up in my arms, and her legs wrapped around my waist as I turned and walked away from those assembled. Nic was staying out tonight, and I intended to spend every minute we had alone showing the new Mrs. Galbraith how much her husband loved her.