Outcast (Supernaturals Book 2) (7 page)

I wasn’t the only one who stared at him. The entire room gaped at him. His words shocked me. He turned to me and nodded his head. I understood what the gesture meant. He knew by my earlier comments and actions that I wanted Leigh, and he had given me permission to have her. Now I just hoped she wanted me.

As we turned to leave, Danielle threw herself into her husband’s arms and kissed him fiercely. For a brief second, I thought about what kind of alpha couple they would make and wondered if we could get enough shifters together to form our own pack, and then I wondered how the rest of our pack would take the news that he had made a formal decree that would hopefully protect Leigh. The Council would be livid that was for sure.

Chapter 9 ~ Bouquets and Garters

~~~Leigh~~~

As much as I loved being with my sister on her big day and as much as I loved feeling Ryan’s hands on me, I snuck out of the chapel the first chance I got. Between the hatred coming at me in waves from those in attendance and the way my skin burned at Ryan’s touch, I had to get away. I was on the verge of either putting my foot up someone’s ass or wrapping my legs around Ryan’s waist and riding him until he was begging me to let him come.

My first stop was the closest restroom. I had to cool off and compose myself. Every time one of those horrible people looked at me, my mouth threatened to open to allow a torrent of insults and profanity to explode from it. Every time Ryan’s fingertips grazed my skin, I wanted to pounce on him. He was only being courteous to me for Danielle’s sake and had no idea what his scent did to me, let alone what his touch did.

“Get a grip on yourself,” I said to my reflection in the bathroom mirror. “Just a few more hours and you can leave this place and all of them behind for good.” The thought of leaving without having Ryan, at least once, made my heart ache. I had to keep telling myself that leaving was for the best to keep from dragging him upstairs to my room for a quickie.

I blotted my face a few more times with a cold paper towel, gave myself one last look, and headed to the reception. I had originally planned to bail on that part of the celebration. However when my sister had shown up at my room late last night, she made me promise to attend. She understood all of my reasons for not wanting to go. She knew exactly how everyone would react and treat me, and she hated it, but that knowledge warred with her desire to have me there.

Eventually, I agreed to make an appearance...if only a brief one. I promised to watch her cut her cake and throw her bouquet, then I was leaving—leaving town, leaving—forever.

The noon summer sun was hot and felt good on my tanned skin. Living in Washington and working at my friend Nichole’s book store/gourmet sandwich and coffee shop while trying my hand at ghost writing a creative non-fiction piece for a prominent lady in our town, meant that I didn’t get much sun, but for this occasion, I had spent some time over the months leading up to it at the tanning bed, gaining color to my pasty skin.

The wedding planner had set up tables and chairs in front of a beautiful pond in the center of the garden. From where I stood at the top of a slight hill that led down to the gardens and pond, I could see the hundreds of guests that had come for the reception. From the looks of things, everyone from Pine Hollow was there. If things had been unpleasant for me inside the chapel with only half of those people, they were going to be even more so in an open area where they would be able to say inappropriate things to me without others hearing them.

As proven by Ryan’s behavior over the last two days, not everyone in Pine Hollow hated me, but enough did that the rest shied away from me for fear of the others. If there were more like Ryan who were willing to stick up for me, I might stand a chance of getting through this without crying or taking a swing at someone, but that was doubtful at this point.

Taking a deep breath, I walked down the slight incline and skirted around to the back of the central area to watch from a secluded spot the cutting of the cake and all of the other things I had promised Danielle I would stay to witness. If anyone saw me, they ignored me and let me take up a spot between two large trees. I would have taken out my phone and checked my email or played Mahjong had I brought it with me. Instead, I people watched, doing my best not to catch anyone’s eye.

Danielle only made me wait five minutes before showing up with Dave and Ryan in tow. The bright, happy smile plastered on Danielle’s face did not match the fire in her eyes. The stiff way everyone moved behind her told me that an argument had broken out after I left. My leaving had meant to stop any more fights from occurring. That didn’t appear to be the case.

I love my sister more than anything in this world, but I couldn’t wait to disappear from her life so that she would have a happier one than she currently had. That was her wedding day. She should be happy, not biting back the urge to strangle someone.

My eyes lingered on Ryan for only a second. He too looked furious but did nothing to hide it. He was also scanning the party with determination. A part of me hoped he was looking for me. I knew better, of course. Why would he be searching for me? I looked away from him and stepped back into the shadow of the trees before he spotted me staring at him.

I watched as Danielle approached her coordinator, said something that took the woman by surprise, and then took a stance behind a long, beautifully decorated table with a three tiered wedding cake in the center of it and two smaller cakes to either side. The woman Danielle had spoken to disappeared behind a curtain that separated the tables of covered food from the catering staff behind it. Another woman handed Danielle a cordless microphone.

“Attention everyone,” my sister said loudly into the mic, surprising most of the guests. “Can I have your attention, please? Since it is a little warm out here, I’m going to get things moving a bit. Dave and I are about to cut our cake, then we will eat. After we eat, I’ll throw my bouquet, Dave will pelt Ryan with my garter, and we will be off, leaving all of you to drink and dance to your hearts’ content.”

A few people chuckled at the garter comment, but most looked around at one another in confusion. Dave and Daneille had meant for the reception to be a daylong celebration that the happy couple was supposed to attend until the very last moment. Danielle handed the microphone back to the lady and motioned for the photographer to step forward to get pictures. Other people gathered closer, blocking my view. I circled the perimeter of the party until I had a decent view of my sister.

I hadn’t realized that in doing so, I’d brought myself closer to the group and into Ryan’s line of sight until I felt him step up beside me. He didn’t touch me, but I felt his presence surround me like a comforting blanket, and it took everything in me not to pull his arms around me.

“You should be closer,” he said.

“I should, but I’m not,” I replied.

“Danielle would like for you to be a part of this.”

“I’m a part of it. I’m here, aren’t I?”

“You are, but does she know it?”

“She knows I’m here. I promised I would be, and her senses are off the charts. She saw me, if she looked.”

He chuckled at this, and we watched the couple cut into the largest cake, feed each other small bites, and pose gracefully for the camera. After that, Danielle motioned for the staff to serve the food.

“Are you hungry?” Ryan asked me as we watched the guests line up to make their plates. Dave’s parents had balked at having a buffet dinner, but Danielle had argued that they were only serving lunch/snack type food and that people could make their own plates. 

“No,” I said, praying he didn’t hear my rumbling stomach.

“Yes, you are, but we’ll wait until the line thins. One of those animals might take your arm off if you go for the last piece of something.” He had laughed at this, but considering how much so many of them hated me, I could see it happening.

When I didn’t laugh, he sobered and said nothing for a long moment. I could feel his eyes on me while I watched Danielle’s every move. She begrudgingly took a few more photos, then made herself a plate of food and sat down at a table full of people.

“I can take you to her, if you like,” Ryan said, stepping a little closer to me.

“No. She’s with my parents. They don’t want me, and I don’t want to be near them. Tell Danielle that I’m sorry, but I couldn’t stay for it all,” I said, turning my back on the reception.

“I’ll tell her no such thing. You’ll stay for what you promised you would stay for. I’ll be by your side the entire time,” he said, reaching out and lightly grabbing my arm and pulling me to him. I wanted to mold my body to his side and rub up against him like a cat.

“You can’t do that,” I said, referring to both his suggestion that he would be by my side during this event and the way he had wrapped his other hand around my back to rub his thumb along my spine.

“I can. I can’t promise that no one will say anything to you in my presence. Not all of them fear me the way they do your sister and Dave, but most will be deterred by my presence.”

“Fear? What do you mean people fear them?” The thought that anyone would be terrified of my sister baffled me.

“I’ll explain some other time. Now, let’s go get some food.”

“No, really. I’m not hungry.”

“Yes, you are. I hear your stomach. It’s been growling since I found you.”

I started to protest again, but the feel of his hand on my back shut me up. I feared that if I said a word, he would remove his hand, and I didn’t know if I could take the loss of it. He moved me forward, and we walked side-by-side to the end of the short line of guests.

When it was our turn, he handed me a plate. I took it and put one of the small slices of cake on it since we started at that table first. As we moved down the line, I put a few pieces of fruit and cheese on my plate. I had been standing in the hot sun for nearly an hour, and I didn’t think my stomach could handle anything else.

I was waiting patiently while Ryan piled everything he could get his hands on onto his plate, when a female voice beside me said, “Are you really going to eat
all
of that?”

Smirking and thinking the woman was talking about Ryan’s mound of food, I turned to her. A woman in her mid-fifties stood beside me with a plate nearly as full as Ryan’s plate. I didn’t recognize her, so I assumed she was someone from town, not family. I started to comment, when I realized that she was looking down at my plate and not at Ryan’s. Questioningly, I looked from my plate to Ryan’s to the woman’s. I opened my mouth to comment, but the woman cut me off.

“Honestly, if you could make more of an effort to watch your weight…”

Her words cut off at the sound of a low rumble coming from behind me. I shifted slightly and turned into Ryan. When our bodies touched, I felt the rumble coming from his chest. I opened my mouth to question him, but he spoke before I did.

“Leigh, would you please take a seat. I’ll be with you in a second.” His words were cold and commanding. Disconcerted, I sat my plate down and walked to the end of the line where the drinks were and stopped. I took a deep breath, grabbed a bottle of water from the bucket of ice, and took a long swallow. Spotting an empty table at the very back of the circle of tables, I walked toward it on shaking legs.

There had been something in Ryan’s voice—in the feel of his vibrating body—that had scared the shit out of me. That growl wasn’t normal—not in humans. I finished the rest of the bottle of water quickly and was about to rise to go back to my room when my plate of food and another bottle of water appeared on the table in front of me. Startled, I looked up to see Ryan standing over me.

“Mrs. Olsen won’t be bothering you anymore,” he said, taking the seat beside me.

“What did you say to her,” I asked, my voice shook from fear even though my heart melted at the thought that he had taken up for me.

“Nothing you want to hear.”

“You really shouldn’t have said anything.”

“I should have. These people need to learn manners. They also need to learn that they can’t say whatever they want to people. They can think what they like, but they can’t say everything that crosses their mind. I’m sorry she was cruel. You didn’t get too much food. As a matter of fact, you didn’t get enough, but I won’t force the matter. Eat.”

“Thank you,” I said but didn’t make a move toward my food.

When my stomach grumbled for the millionth time, he said, “If you want something more substantial than that, you are more than welcome to some of my food. He forked a large hunk of meat and moved as if to plop it on my plate on top of my fruit. I put my hand out to cover the food.

“No, thank you. This is plenty.” He eyed me, knowing better, but didn’t argue. I moved my plate over a bit to dissuade him from attempting to try again but still didn’t eat anything.

He bit into his food and watched me, waiting for me to take a bite of my own. When I didn’t, due to the eyes I could feel boring into me and the unkind thoughts I knew people were thinking about me, he said, “I know you’re hungry. I hear your stomach growling. Eat or I’ll feed you.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I said.

“I would. I would take great pleasure in doing so.”

Shocked by his words, I gaped at him for a moment. He stared right back, just as determined. Realizing that he planned to do as he threatened, I picked up a grape and popped it into my mouth. When I didn’t reach for anything else, he said, “Eat it all.”

Appalled by his commanding attitude, I started to get up but quickly sat back down. My sister’s father-in-law was glaring over at us. The man meant for his stare to cower me, but instead I decided to turn the tables a bit. I turned to Ryan and grinned with the satisfaction of knowing my decision to stay would piss off so many people. Ryan’s presence, all of the attention he was giving me, whether it was from a true desire to be around me or to fulfill a request from my sister that I not be alone with anyone else in the family, was also pissing off people, and I decided that instead of backing away from their anger, I would revel in it.