She didn’t know about the other weres in the pack, but Sebastian never should have been sent to the clan prohibitum. His sentence was the result of defending his twin sister against a soldier from their previous pack in Halifax, Canada. From what Big Mama had said on the matter, Sebastian kicked the man’s ass after he’d tried to rape her, coming perilously close to killing him.
She wasn’t fond of violence, but Briony thought Sebastian’s actions were more than justified.
While she felt for the last two members of the pack being stuck without their powers, she knew their times would come soon. Neither of them was surrounded by auras of impending danger, or worse, fury over their situations. Rather, ever-growing hope followed them, feeding from their packmates’ happiness. For Alexandre, it was hope for himself and Leila, his banshee girlfriend. Cael, however, only felt hopeful for his packmates, having given up on himself.
He possessed more self-hatred than anyone Briony had ever met, making it difficult for her to be in his presence. Normally she wouldn’t have minded his stubborn loathing so much, but she could see the way it affected the shapeshifter who obviously loved him. The way Cael acted hurt Aiyanna, bringing rarely awakened anger in Briony.
The two reminded her of herself and Radburn. He never cared about the way his actions hurt her. He was so inflexible there was no stopping him from committing the crimes against their race that made him a warlock rather than a witch. He’d chosen to be a warlock with no consideration of the pain it brought her.
“Stop, Radburn! Stop it, now,” she’d cried when she found him cutting into a young female vampire, drawing her blood into a large goblet.
“She’s young and strong—she’ll live through this.” He’d glanced back at her, his eyes manic with excitement while he broke one of the pinnacle laws witches followed: never harm another creature when creating a spell or potion.
The vampire hadn’t lived. She’d been too young to understand that only silence would keep her alive, and Radburn knew the moment she told her family of what he’d done. That day, he’d killed the entire family of vampires in their home in Metairie.
The little girl’s name had been Allie, and her parents were dentists who worked with both humans and creatures. Briony had attended the funeral, silently weeping amongst those who’d lost a family they loved.
“What’s wrong?” Sebastian’s touch was feather-light against her cheek. His expression was tender, concerned and surprised—she rarely showed her emotions to others, despite her glowing skin and the subtle changes in her eyes.
She wouldn’t lie to him. She never lied, to anyone. “We’ll talk about it after the wedding,” she told him, pulling forth her happiness over her friends’ nuptials. “Tonight and tomorrow are about Mary and Raphael. I won’t bring negativity into their time.”
To her surprise, he pulled her into a tight hug, leaning over to press his cheek against hers while he rubbed her back. She saw no reason to stop herself from pressing a kiss to the side of his neck. He shuddered under her lips, and when they broke the embrace, he was smiling.
“Ready to go?” He held out his hand to her.
“Yes.” She took it, and when he guided her outside into the biting December air, she felt only warmth.
Chapter 2
ON an intellectual level, Sebastian Anderson didn’t understand his draw to the woman in the car beside him. He’d dated Hollywood actresses before during their stints in the city filming television shows. New Orleans socialites had graced his bed, sometimes in pairs. All of them had been utterly, objectively beautiful. If he’d tried, he couldn’t have found a single fault on their bodies.
All of them paled in comparison to Briony. The irony was, she didn’t have a personal trainer working with her each day, or a plastic surgeon on speed dial. Unlike the other women, her beauty came from herself.
She glowed, for Pete’s sake.
Tonight she could outshine any woman gracing the cover of a magazine. Her dress revealed just enough about her body to show him the curve of her hip and a glance of generous cleavage, without allowing him to see what she would look like unclothed.
He desperately wanted to see her with that dress pooled on the floor around her ankles, and her long curls the only barrier between his eyes and her breasts. But tonight wasn’t the night for that. Tonight was about Raphael and Mary—Sebastian’s job was to make sure everything went smoothly tonight and tomorrow.
Raphael had warned him what would happen if Mary became upset, and Sebastian fully believed the threat. The man had spent centuries beating himself up, believing he wasn’t worthy of finding a mate, and this past still haunted him. While Mary had helped him make strides in overcoming his ghosts, Raphael was shaping into a noble Alpha. Sebastian could see the uncertainty in his eyes some days, as if Raphael were afraid his future would be ripped away.
No one in this pack would let that happen. Still, there was no reason to allow any extra stress to reach the couple. They’d been through enough.
As they neared Commander’s Palace, passing a small shopping complex to drive by a graveyard, Briony smiled, gesturing toward a coffeehouse with a flower on its sign. “That’s my favorite place to get a chai latte,” she said conversationally, although a slight sadness altered her tone. “My coven’s book club meets there every other week.”
He grinned. “How’d you get them to put a flower on their sign?” Briony was forever painting her trademark daisy on people and objects, especially those she’d spelled. Heath had been livid when he’d seen the flower on his Ducati, and even angrier once he realized she put a protection spell on it.
Sebastian liked finding her flowers in unexpected places—it never failed to put a smile on his face, seeing her pastel petals somewhere new.
“It doubles as a protection spell,” she replied airily. “Anybody with the intention of stealing or doing harm won’t be able to see the building at all.”
“The brewery could use that,” Sebastian mused. “So could the firehouse, and Raphael and Mary’s place.”
Briony smiled. “Already done, although the spell works best with humans or half-humans. Unfortunately, it won’t affect witches, warlocks or other werewolves, but now you won’t have to worry about self-defense around humans.”
Cael and Alexandre, the last two criminals in their pack, which was slowly morphing from a clan prohibitum into a real werewolf clan, couldn’t kill humans, even to prevent their own deaths. If they did cause human death for any reason, they would be executed. Sebastian had seen the method of execution when Mary had taken Raphael’s place for his unwarranted punishment, and it was grisly.
If Mary weren’t a banshee, allowed to die once before becoming immortal, she’d be long dead.
Briony’s protection against humans, especially those armed with guns, was a gift. “Thank you,” he said with feeling. “My pack owes you.”
“No,” she whispered. From the corner of his eye, Sebastian could see her glow fading. “I promise, once you’ve fulfilled our agreement, I will be the one to be in you and your pack’s debt.”
Sebastian whipped his G-Wagon around in a smooth U-turn, and stopped his car directly in front of the blue and white-striped restaurant. Valets opened his and Briony’s doors. He handed the human his keys, took the number for his car, and caught up to Briony on the sidewalk.
“It’s going to be okay,” he murmured, rubbing a soothing circle on the small of her back. She nodded, thanking him quietly, but he knew her smile was forced. Her chocolate-brown eyes were so pale they were almost translucent, giving away her internal struggle.
Once this wedding is over, I’m getting to the bottom of this.
About a month ago, he’d agreed to help break her betrothal to a warlock. Only weeks after that had he gained his powers back, finally reuniting him with his ability to control fire. That very day he’d offered to go after the warlock for Briony, but she’d refused him. “Your family should be your priority rig
ht now—I won’t ruin the celebrations for your pack.”
She constantly surprised him, this woman who never put herself before others. He’d agreed to her terms, but only until tomorrow.
Then, they would have to come together to find a solution for her problems. Sebastian wouldn’t allow her to be betrothed to a man who scared her any longer.
Once they walked inside, Briony’s joy became apparent. Her eyes became their normal color, her skin illuminating with happiness for Raphael, Mary, and their pack as she greeted their friends and found their places at the table.
Even Sebastian had to fight back tears when Leila and Heath toasted the happy couple. Mary, all but in Raphael’s lap, was openly crying, and Raphael had his arms wrapped fiercely wrapped around her.
“You all needed this,” Briony whispered. Sebastian could feel the heat of her hand as she brought it toward his underneath the table. Once she reached him, he held tight.
“We did,” he agreed, squeezing her soft hand. Before Mary, their pack had been all but without hope for freedom. Now, Sebastian wouldn’t be surprised if Cael and Alexandre earned their powers back within the year.
It was all because of the couple before them.
“This food is good.” Alexandre moaned beside him. “We should get takeout from here more often.”
Her eyes wide, Leila nodded hopefully.
Sebastian refrained from telling them how expensive that habit would be.
“I can make a few of these dishes.” Aiyanna glanced over the menu. “But not nearly as well,” she finished on a sigh.
They finished their meal, finalizing a few details for the wedding tomorrow. Sebastian ordered Briony an extra dark chocolate tart to go, having noticed she had hardly eaten anything during dinner. Rather, she’d spoken animatedly with everyone around her, obviously thrilled to be involved with the wedding.
She’d also discretely stashed herbs under the table, something all of his pack members noticed, but didn’t comment on.
As he drove toward Fauberg Marigny, the neighborhood Briony lived in, he struggled to run the numbers through his head regarding his duties for tonight and tomorrow. The chocolate, ivy, and red currant scent of her drove the correct thoughts from his head, demanding him to give her the attention she was due.
Ever since he’d become a werewolf, he’d found it strange how appropriate people’s scents were. Names could be misleading—he’d once met a kleptomaniac stripper named Angel through Alexandre—but scents were honest. Briony smelled sweet and a little earthy, which was exactly how he pictured her. He loved the way she smelled, wished he could roll in her scent like a child.
It was an indulgence he’d never allowed himself before. Sure, he’d enjoyed women, spoiling them and treating them in the fashion he felt all women should be treated, but that enjoyment had a limit. After a few dates he’d sever contact. He’d never seen a woman more than a total of four times, and the fourth had only occurred once…by accident.
Well, the woman had claimed it was an accident.
He knew as certainly as he knew there would be enough Full Moon beer—both dark and light—for four hundred people at the reception tomorrow, that four dates with Briony would not be enough to satisfy him. He tried to think of a more specific number, but they all seemed as wrong as four.
Briefly, he considered the chances of her being his mate, but discarded the notion. There was no way Briony Dubois was the other part of him, with her unwelcome vegetable-pushing attempts, spells, and potions. No, there was a number after which he would become sick of her in a romantic sense.
Maybe, once he got her out of his system, they could be friends. She had proven useful to the brewery, increasing production over two hundred percent and crafting unique seasonal beers. He didn’t want to lose her—he’d simply have to find a way to keep her involved with his business after they ended physical ties.
If he could keep over one hundred employees happy most of the time, he could deal with a single tricky witch.
“What are you plotting?” Her curious, melodic voice jarred him from his musings. If he were the type of redhead to blush, he’d be beet red. Silently, he thanked his mother for her Métis blood, tying his family to a tribe native to Canada and giving himself and Sophia almost olive skin tones.
He didn’t try to lie. Briony had the capacity to recognize untruths, and it would hurt her feelings. He’d hurt her once, using his words as a weapon against her after she’d defended him in front of the majority of his pack, and he refused to do so again.
Though he’d only just met her, he couldn’t bear seeing the stricken expression on her face. No one should cause her to look that way.
Still, he didn’t need her to know what he’d been thinking about.
“Once this wedding is finished, I’m focusing on you.” He glanced over at her; her mouth had formed a small O. “I’ll be putting Harry in charge; I know he can handle it now that the changes you implemented have been set for a few weeks.”
She nodded silently, but her hands were twisting on top of her dark green coat.
He didn’t press her, knowing he’d get the same answer he’d received earlier. “I’ll tell you after the wedding.” Apparently, tomorrow night would be quite revealing.
Sebastian parked his car close to her house before he hopped on the curb and held his elbow out.
“Thank you for walking me back.” Briony took his arm. Now she was smiling, her grin broadening as he warmed up the atoms in the light bulbs on her street, brightening the entire block.
The lights should stay that way, illuminating the homes’ entrances and deterring those with less than friendly intentions, but he’d come back to check on them tomorrow night.
“Any man should walk you to your door. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t care enough about you to deserve a second date.”
Her eyes darkened. “Then you’ve earned another night out with me.”
Leaning in, her scent and glow enveloping him, he brushed his lips lightly against her cheek. “How about tomorrow?”
After Mary and Raphael had given the band a list of the songs they’d like to hear, there were a few spots left. Almost without thinking, Sebastian had supplied the name of the song Briony hummed under her breath sometimes while she measured hops.
It was slow, soulful, and would give him the perfect excuse to hold her against him.
Vaguely, he wondered what Mary would do when Alexandre’s suggestion, “The Wobble,” came over the speakers.
Briony smiled up at him as if she knew just what he was thinking about. She might—Sebastian had quickly learned not to underestimate her. “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow,” she whispered before she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. “This is going to be the beginning of a new time for your pack.”
“Our pack.” Even though Briony had no tangible ties to the clan, she was one of them, and remained under their protection. Most of her coven was, for that matter, because their deaths would greatly upset Harry, who Sebastian would never let any harm come to.
But Briony was different. Like Aiyanna, she was around more than she wasn’t, and most of his packmates had come to like her eccentricities. The only one who hadn’t warmed up to her was Cael, and that was only because she messed with him every chance she got.
She was never malicious toward him, but her version of putting the were in his place was funny as hell. Not long ago she’d made him a vegan carrot cake, claiming it would help him see more clearly. When he didn’t eat it, she charmed his toothbrush to turn into a carrot every time he went to brush his teeth.
Her glow brightened even more, until she was a light of her own among the others he’d lit down her street. He wanted to puff his chest out, he was so proud to make a woman like her happy.
“I’ll see you…for our date.” Smiling brightly, Briony squeezed his arm before reaching up to cup his face, placing light kisses on both of his cheeks. Before he knew it,
she was inside and her door, painted with glittering butterfly wings reminiscent of the mural downtown, was between them.
Wishing he could tear through that damned door, Sebastian begrudgingly made his way back to his car. Now I can get through that list of what I need to do.
For the next few hours, he checked off every box, confirming a certain level of smoothness for the wedding. Without a doubt, the entire event would go off without a hitch.
Later, he lay awake and alone in his bed, and it wasn’t because of the coming day. He couldn’t stop thinking about after the wedding, wondering if he’d made a terrible mistake.
Their Alpha, a powerful Omni, and his mate, an immortal banshee, would be on their honeymoon for the two weeks following the exchange of their vows, leaving the pack more vulnerable than ever.
Sebastian had a feeling it was a weakness the warlock would take advantage of, and if he were smart he’d wait until the Alpha couple returned before pursuing Briony’s betrothed.
Only his promise to Briony had waited long enough. He was about to see how strong his pack really was.
* * * *
Early the next morning, Raphael growled low in his throat as Leila, Aiyanna, and Sophia pulled Mary from their bed. “How is it going to take her three hours to get ready?” he exclaimed, appalled.
Having watched her get dressed countless times, only once had it taken her close to an hour before she’d declared herself fit to leave their loft. Then again, the delay had nothing to do with makeup and hot strips of metal, but Raphael’s relentless distractions, most of which involved taking her clothes off.
He hadn’t minded the time spent at all.
“Beauty takes time, pain, and money, Raph.” Aiyanna winked at him, but Mary’s eyes grew wide.
“Pain?” Raphael roared. No one hurt Mary. No one.
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