Page 83 of Wedding the Werepanther

All three of them scrunch up their eyes and make tiny grunting noises that have Kayla slapping a hand over her mouth as her shoulders shake with silent laughter. Her beautiful brown eyes sparkle, her cheeks rosy and flushed.

She looks achingly beautiful in her happiness.

My wife.

Mine.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Kayla

The Witch Bitches show up an hour before the ceremony and hurry me upstairs to my bedroom.

Jasmine throws open my closet with a flourish. “What are you wearing?”

“Whatever I want. Shadow wants me to be comfortable. We’resonot going to repeat the Weddingpocalypse.”

Victoria slams my closet door closed, but Jasmine rolls her eyes and reopens it.

“We need more to go on than comfortable.” Violeta pushes aside a bunch of slogan tees to get to the things I’ve shoved into the back.

“He says handfastings are often done in a person’s best clothes,” I say. “So whatever that is.”

“You don’t know?” Skye says.

“I haven’t really explored my wardrobe selections since moving here, because there weren’t any guys. No guys, no dates, no fancy clothes.” I give a quick shrug. It was dry as shit around here until the fae arrived. “But I have a few dresses from Seattle.”

“This is cute.” Violeta pulls out a purple summer dress.

“Super cute,” Autumn says.

“I don’t know.” I take the hanger and hold the dress up to my body. The skirt covers everything, but my legs are so long it always looks like I’m about to flash everyone. “Isn’t it kind of short for a wedding?”

Since Jasmine’s still rooting around the closet, Victoria bangs the connecting door to get my attention.

Words appear on the magical parchment.“It’sdefinitelytoo short.”

“Okay, I’m wearing this one!” I say. If Victoria’s going to lock me up whenever she throws a tantrum, then I should get to wear what I want.

“Do you like these shoes?” Jasmine holds up a pair of pretty sandals.

“I do.” I strip off my robe and let Hannah pull the dress over my head. “But we’re not wearing shoes. We’re supposed to go barefoot.”

“That’s how the orcs do it in Faerie.” Naomi nods, setting her brown curls bobbing. “Both people are barefoot.”

“I guess I had thefancyhandfasting.” Hannah laughs.

“Yep.” Autumn points at her. “That’s what marrying a king will get you.”

Violeta does my makeup again, Skye brushes out my hair, and in no time at all, I twirl in front of the mirror, making the skirt flare up enough to flash a lot of thigh. I always liked this dress. It fits well but doesn’t cling, and it shows off my thighs and makes my legs look fantastic.

As I pass the parchment on the way out of the room, Victoria writes,“I still can’t believe you’re not going to wear shoes.”

I wave the rest of the women on, then turn back to the parchment. “You’re getting your wedding ceremony, just like the fine print demands.” I wag a finger. “And you need to stop complaining about fae traditions. Just because they’re different from the ones you’re used to doesn’t make them wrong.”

A sulky feeling fills the air.

I take a deep breath and remember Shadow’s idea to treat Victoria like a child who doesn’t yet have much emotional maturity. “Look, when you say things like that, you might hurt people’s feelings. You don’t want to make Shadow sad, do you? Or Moonlight or Mist?”