Page 67 of Wedding the Werepanther

“You mean logically instead of relying on overwrought emotion?”

“Overwrought! How dare y—”

Thorvinn slams two more tankards onto the bar. “None of this is helping.”

The door behind us opens, and Severin saunters in with Rune and Luke, who carries a pizza box he sets onto the bar top in front of me.

“What’s this?” I cast a startled look at the red dragon.

“Jace texted that you needed food.”

Goddess. I rub my face and look at Jace. “Sorry, man.”

“You were distraught.”

“Distraught?” Rune turns his amber gaze on me. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s my turn to throw a wedding ceremony this coming weekend. Kayla’s ceremony last night was so good, was such a great glimpse into who she is. I want to do something similar, something that shows Kayla our cat sith traditions.”

“Makes sense,” Luke says, taking a sip of ale.

Severin nods. “I don’t see the problem.”

“The problem is I don’tknowany of my people’s wedding traditions. We only use them when our partner isn’t cat sith and we need to marry in our fae form.” I take a drink. “But we spent the last three centuries as panthers, mating only with each other, and lost the old ways.”

“Are you certain the knowledge is lost?” Jace frowns. “Can you not ask your elders?”

“I asked my alpha about it right after I first moved to Earth and met Kayla. But my mother knew nothing.” Back then, it was only the inkling of an idea, easily dismissed as something to worry about in the future. Said future has finally found me. After Kayla’s highly personal ceremony, I desire to show her something as meaningful to me.

“What have the cat sith been doing instead?” Severin asks.

“Usually, the female strikes the male and takes off running, begging him to chase. When he finally catches her, they mate. If they’re highly compatible, his full knot forms. If not…” I shrug. Mine has never fully formed for anyone.

“My people suffer the same fate,” Rune says. “We lived too long as wolves and have lost how we used to wed others.”

“Handfasting,” Thorvinn says, and we all turn to look at him. “Elves used to handfast. Shadow fae handfast. Orcs handfast.Brownies and gnomes too. If you wed in fae form, you probably did a handfasting ceremony.”

I gape at the orc. It’s the most words I’ve ever heard him speak in one go. His tendency to grunt combined with his huge size make it easy to underestimate his intelligence. I won’t be doing that again.

“I bet you’re right.” A feeling of excitement fills me, and I throw back the lid of the pizza box to find a veggie lovers pie. The lack of meat means Blue is upset I didn’t go to Slice of Life personally, but I don’t care. “A handfasting! That’s a great idea.”

“I’ll see if I can find anything specific in my library,” Luke says.

“Can you research the customs of the cu sith, too?” Rune asks.

The red dragon nods, and Jace says, “I’ll help.”

“Thank you.” I clap them both on the shoulder and squeeze. “This means a lot, not only to me but to my people.”

Now I’ll not only be able to show the other cat sith how to live in their fae forms, I’ll also be able to bring back the traditions we lost.

As well as sharing them with Kayla to win her heart.

When I step out of the shadow roads into Victoria’s foyer later that night, there’s a small lamp on in the living room, and Dewdrop’s curled up in his sleeping nest, but no Kayla.

“Where is she?” I ask Victoria.

“In the backyard,”the house writes.“Which still has all thosethingseverywhere.”