“And do you, Samara Harker”—Celestina’s intense gaze fell onto me—“swear to cut down any enemy who comes for your beloved, dote on them like the treasure they are, and above all else, love and cherish them for the rest of your life?”

“I do,” I croaked as tears streamed down my face, not giving a single shit about my makeup any longer. How could I when Roth was looking at me like I was their entire world?

“Then we welcome you, Samara Harker, into our family as you welcome Roth into yours.” Severus stepped forward to join his wife, a long, thin dagger in his hand. “Two souls and two Houses, united to stand strong through the good times and the bad, because there can be no happiness without pain.”

Roth raised their hand, palm facing me, a wicked grin on their face.

I sniffed and blinked quickly to try to clear my vision before doing the same, connecting my palm with theirs.

As we intertwined our fingers, the tears started to dry up as adrenaline kicked in.

Roth’s parents had explained the ceremony in great detail because, in their words, “We wouldn’t want a repeat of Roth’s cousin’s wedding. ”

They’d offered no further explanation, and when I’d asked Roth about it, they’d just smiled and strolled away.

While I might not know what had happened there, I knew exactly what was coming next. I kept my eyes locked on Roth’s while, in my peripheral vision, I saw Celestina take the knife from her husband and smile at both of us . . . before slamming it through the back of my hand and straight out Roth’s.

I’d been prepared for it, so I swallowed my grunt of pain as Roth let out a low, deep chuckle.

Fucking House Devereux and their insane wedding nuptials.

The crowd cheered as Roth gripped the back of my head with their hand that didn’t have a fucking dagger sticking through it and claimed my mouth with their own.

They swallowed my hiss as their mother pulled the knife free.

Roth kissed me, demanding but still somehow sweet, and a few more tears leaked from the corners of my eyes. They pulled back enough to laugh breathily. “Such an easy crier.”

“I had a dagger shoved through my fucking hand,” I whispered adamantly.

“That’s not why you’re crying, and you know it.”

“True,” I huffed and kissed them gently again. We leaned our foreheads against each other as Roth’s parents wrapped our hands. The knife was enchanted so that it would leave a scar.

“You did so good, babe,” Roth praised, and my core instantly tightened. They let out that raspy laugh again that I absolutely adored and leaned forward to whisper in my ear, “And good girls get rewarded.”

I whimpered, and they just smirked at me as they took my now-bandaged hand and gently kissed the back of it before cockily strolling over to my other mates, who happily murmured their congratulations.

“And now, for the second part of today’s ceremonies.” Severen gestured towards the crowd, and I followed his gaze. Once more, everyone parted, allowing Kieran to pass through.

His golden blond hair gleamed in the sunlight, and unlike the rest of my mates, who’d chosen dark clothing, Kieran wore a crisp white shirt with dark blue pants. He was perfect. And he was mine.

He was also riding my fucking horse.

Zosa pranced as she made her way down the aisle. Some valiant soul had woven white flowers into her silvery mane.

“Brave bastard,” Vail muttered.

Light brown eyes that I’d been in love with since the moment I’d seen them laughed at me as Kieran drew Zosa to a stop.

He slid off the mare and kissed her on the nose before moving to stand in front of me.

Draven gracefully stepped forward to grab Zosa’s reins and lead her over to stand with him and the others.

“You are absolutely ridiculous, Kier.” I grinned at him.

“I know.” He winked.

“I can’t believe Zosa let you ride her.” Or that she hadn’t taken a bite out of Draven.

“This might be hard for you to accept Samara.” Kieran gave me a serious look. “But your horse is kind of an attention whore. It’s why I get along with her so well.”

“Rude.” I glanced at Zosa, who just so happened to be standing in a way that made the sunlight capture her dapple grey coat perfectly.

Okay. Maybe he had a point.

“Was this suitably dramatic for you?” I asked, turning back to Kieran.

“Honestly, even if it wasn’t, I don’t think I could wait another day.” He smiled at Celestina and Severen. “Everything is absolutely perfect though. Thank you again for allowing us to do this.”

“You’re family now too, Kieran Blake.” Celestina smiled back at him, and Severen looped his arm around his wife’s waist, an identical happy expression on his face.

Kieran looked back at me, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he took a deep breath, then his gaze dipped to the apex of my thighs. “I see Draven did a good job of escorting you,” he said slyly, hazel eyes twinkling with amusement.

I kept my face perfectly straight. “He was very gentlemanly about the whole thing. Didn’t even mess up my hair at all.”

Kieran laughed loudly, and my heart clenched with pure joy. I would never get tired of hearing the beautiful sound.

“I love you so much, Kier.”

His laughter faded away before his face morphed into a look of pure adoration. “I love you too, Sam.”

“Will you do me the honor of allowing me to forge a mating bond between us? To forever bind our souls?” I placed my hand over his heart but held back my magic as I waited for his answer.

Kieran laid his hand on top of mine. “My soul already belongs to you. It has since the moment I met you.”

Tears once again flowed as I did what I’d wanted to do for so long.

I stopped denying my magic and let it flow into him, joining us.

The mating bond lit up like a bonfire, and his emotions poured into me.

So intense, I almost fell to my knees. Only Kieran wrapping his arms around me and kissing me kept me upright.

The crowd erupted once more, and I was vaguely aware of more petals raining down on us. Then Kieran swept me off my feet and carried me back through the cheering crowd. The rest of my mates followed after us as barrels of ale and wine were rolled out.

Roth’s brothers stood in front of Zosa, as if they were negotiating with the mare to not bite them.

Good luck.

“Our honored guests are going to change into more comfortable clothing,” Celestina announced. “Let us drink and be merry while we wait for their return.”

“In an hour!” Severen shouted.

“Ah, give them at least two hours! There’s six of ’em!” someone shouted.

“Okay, two hours,” Severen amended. “But no more!”

“So three hours then?” Roth called back. Loud laughter broke out and covered whatever Severen’s response was.

Kieran trotted us up the stairs and into the main building. Within minutes, we were in our guest suite. A bottle of wine and some snacks had been left for us on the table. And two pitchers of water.

I giggled at the thoughtful arrangement and then squealed as Kieran tossed me onto the enormous bed.

I’d barely landed before soft, bloodred ropes wrapped around my wrists and pulled my arms over my head, then I felt similar ones wrap around my ankles and tug my legs apart.

Roth must have stashed them under the bed earlier in preparation for this.

“Something funny, wife?” Roth stood at the foot of the bed, unbuttoning their vest and tossing it aside.

“Someone is clearly worried about us getting dehydrated.” My laugh turned husky when Roth’s ropes pulled my legs apart even wider.

“It’s a valid concern.” Draven strolled over and gathered the fabric of my dress before sweeping it to the side, baring my glistening pussy to Roth.

“Already so messy,” they tutted. “That simply won’t do.” Roth glanced over their shoulder to Kieran. “Clean her up for me, would you?”

“Of course, Roth.” Kieran grinned wickedly as he tugged off his shirt and sauntered towards the bed. Anticipation raced through me as he crawled onto it, stopping to lick every inch of my inner thighs before sweeping his tongue straight up my dripping slit.

“Fuck!” My back bowed off the bed, and someone chuckled to my right.

I turn my head to find Alaric there, already stripped of his clothes, his magnificent cock in his hand.

A whimper slipped from my lips as Kieran continued to suck and lick every bit of Draven’s cum out of me while my mouth watered at the thought of tasting Alaric.

“Something you want, Sam?” Alaric stroked himself again, and a bead of precum formed at his tip.

I licked my lips before smirking up at him. “See something you want?”

“Somehow, you get brattier when you’re tied up.” He let out a dark chuckle that had my toes curling. “There is zero chance of your hair making it through this unscathed, just so you know.”

“It had a good run,” I panted, my thighs desperate to clench around Kieran’s head but unable to, thanks to Roth’s ropes. Alaric climbed onto the bed and knelt next to me, then he gripped the back of my head, twisting it further towards him, and slowly fed me every inch of his hard length.

Someone tugged at the straps of my dress before I felt cool metal slide between my skin and the fabric. I growled around Alaric’s cock as my dress was cut away. I really liked that dress, damn it.

Draven laughed. “Told you Vail would be destroying it.”

“She has another one,” Vail rumbled before making me jump when he ripped the bodice. Alaric grunted as I sucked harder on his cock and pushed my head farther down until my eyes watered.

For several minutes, Kieran continued to eat me out, taking Roth’s command to heart as his tongue dove deep to get out any last traces of Draven. Vail leaned over the bed and played with my breasts. First with his hands and then his tongue.

“Don’t let her come yet,” Roth growled. “I get the first one.”

I whimpered around Alaric’s thick length because I was so damn close to coming. Vail laughed, his hot breath dancing across my taut nipple.