Page 106 of Wedding the Werepanther

“Oh, good.” She scratches his forehead. “Would you like something else? I think there’s half a watermelon in the fridge.”

“Yes, please!” He bobs his head in excitement.

“I’ll get it,” I say.

Soon we’re all gathered at the island, eating in companionable silence. Or not precisely silence, since Dewdrop dives into his melon with chomping abandon, and human snack foods tend to be crunchy.

And delicious. Mustn’t forget delicious.

As Kayla reaches for another cookie, I catch her hand and hold it up, admiring her engagement ring. “Do you truly like it?”

“It’s perfect. It’s exactly what I like, purple and pretty but without a bunch of other diamonds and stuff.” She gives a one-shouldered shrug. “You know me, not the fancy type.”

“You’re beautiful exactly as you are. I wouldn’t change a single thing about you.” I kiss her knuckles. “Now, about the wedding—”

A cupboard door shuts with a definitive click. It’s not a slam, but it works well enough to get our attention. Victoria writes,“How soon can we have it?”

“How about a week?” I say.

Kayla’s eyes go wide. “Aweek? You can’t be serious.”

“Why not? We’ve put together three weddings with far less lead time.”

“Those weren’t real weddings.” She throws out a hand. “A real wedding takes a lot more prep.”

This time, the cupboard door slams.“They were good weddings!”

Kayla mutters “Weddingpocalypse” under her breath, then says, “All I’m saying is this wedding is going to be our real one, so we should do it right.”

“Okay, then,” I say. “Two weeks.”

She gapes at me.

“It’s plenty of time. I’ll handle everything.”

“What’s the rush?”

She’s right. Now that we’re mate-bonded, these other ceremonies are extraneous. Yet weddings are important for humans, so I want to give her that. Plus, it’ll make Victoria happy, and a happy house is a happy life.

And then there’s my biggest reason. “I’ve waited over a year for you, my witchy beauty. I don’t want to wait a single second longer to start our new lives.”

“Oh, Shadow,” she whispers as I lean in to steal a kiss.

When we break apart, Dewdrop leaves the empty bowl of the melon rind behind and hops over to us. “Can I be in the wedding?”

“Of course you can!” Kayla kisses his forehead. “Will you be our ring bearer?”

“And ribbon bearer?” I add. “I’d like to have a handfasting as part of the ceremony.”

“I’d like that, too.” She smiles, wide and beautiful and happy, making my heart leap with joy. I want to see her like this always. She deserves so much happiness in her life.

“Yes!” Dewdrop rises on his hind legs and headbutts first Kayla, then me, purring as loudly as any kit. “I will be the ring bearer and the ribbon bearer and carry all of the things!”

“See, Victoria? When you allow us to make our own choices, you get something even better,” Kayla says. “You’re going to get a real wedding, and it’ll even have a double ceremony.”

The kitchen cupboards open and close in soft applause. Then she writes,“It’s still only one wedding. What am I going to do after?”

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Kayla spins to face me. “I was trying to think of ways to make Victoria happy without being a wedding chapel again. And I wanted to do something for you, too. So I thought maybe we could have people from your pack come and visit regularly, rotate through them or something? You’d get to see friends and family, they’d get the chance to practice living in their fae forms, and Victoria and Dewdrop would have visitors to enjoy.”