Page 108 of Wedding the Werepanther

I catch her right as she reaches the bed, tackling her onto its soft surface. The shirt rips under my eager hands, leaving her naked to me.

Mine.

My mate. My wife. My love.

Mine to claim again and again.

CHAPTER FORTY

Kayla

True to his word, only two weeks later, I sit at my vanity table while Violeta finishes my makeup.

“I can’t believe you’re getting married for real this time.” She grins at me in the mirror.

“I can.” Jasmine pins another lock of my hair back. “They’ve sure had enough practice.”

Everyone laughs. All of my Witch Bitch friends are helping me get ready, and I even invited the ones I don’t know quite as well to the wedding itself, which means they’re in the backyard with all of the other guests. Willow and the others looked surprised when I invited them, but happy too, so I’m glad I did it.

“Everything looks amazing,” Naomi says.

“It wasn’t me,” I say. “This was all Shadow and Victoria.”

“I’m going to ask for their help in planning my wedding,” Autumn says.

Skye adds, “And mine!”

“You should have them here!”Victoria writes.“I will make sure you have the most fabulous weddings!”

“Sorry, Victoria,” Autumn says. “Rune and I have already decided to get married at the Wishing Well, since that’s where our love story began.”

“That’s so romantic,” Skye sighs and rubs her tummy. “I might take you up on the offer, Victoria. We were going to wait until Valentine’s, but with a baby on the way, Luke wants to marry as soon as possible. I just need to convince my aunts.”

“I’ve hosted hundreds of weddings,”Victoria writes.“No oneis as much of an expert as me.”

I bite my lip to keep from laughing as I remember the Weddingpocalypse.

“You’re messing up your lipstick!” Violeta says.

“Sorry.” I release my lip and hold extra still as she goes back to work.

“There’s always the town green,” Hannah says.

The connecting door between the bedrooms bangs shut.“No.Me.”

“Victoria,” I sigh. “We’ve talked about this.” I finally told her about how my father used to control me and how unhappy it made me. She’s getting better—she hasn’t locked us in the house a single time since that conversation—but she still wants whatshewants.

“Sorry,”she writes, immediately followed by:“Not sorry! I can throw Skye the best wedding.”

I huff a laugh and start to shake my head, but Jasmine’s firm hands stop me. I mouth sorry in the mirror, and she grins. “No big.”

The bedroom door opens, and Dewdrop flies in. “Everyone’s here! Everything’s ready!”

Jasmine pins up one last bit of hair, Violeta adds one last brush stroke of lipstick, and they both step back.

“Everything’salmostready.” Hannah pulls me to my feet. “Time for the dress!”

I shrug out of my robe and let them help me into my dress. It’s a white mermaid dress with thin straps and a sweetheart neckline that makes my boobs look amazing. It’s snug without being uncomfortable and fits perfectly, since Shadow had the fae dressmaker from Haute and Bothered make it for me. It does have a line of tiny buttons up the back, which means Shadow will have to undress me this evening. I’m pretty sure he did it on purpose, inspired by the Diabolical Dress, but I’m not complaining. It’s kinda nice that there’s one good thing to borrow from the Weddingpocalypse.