Page 18 of Bearly in Love

fourteen

MADISON

I stared at my reflection in the tall mirror.

I looked like a human bride.

It was awful .

My wild, red hair had been tamed for the first time in years.

The thick makeup some artist had applied made me look like someone else entirely.

And the dress I had on was at least a decade out of style, on top of being way too prim and proper for me.

The alpha didn’t want me .

That much was visibly clear.

And it was a miracle no one else had seen the scar Bo left on my shoulder, because I was positive the alpha would lose his shit about it when he did. Which probably wouldn’t be safe for me, considering he knew how to fight. Unlike me.

“You look beautiful,” my dad said from the doorway.

“I don’t even look like me,” I said flatly.

“You’re mating with the alpha. That’s what matters.”

“To you, maybe.” I met his gaze in the mirror.

There was no guilt on his face or in his eyes.

He genuinely didn’t give a shit what I wanted. Or needed. Or feared. He’d been included in the email about my wifely duties, too, so I was positive he knew exactly what he had sold me into.

The fucker was willing to give up anything for money and prestige.

Including me.

“You’re lucky he still wants you after yesterday,” Dad said.

I scoffed. “He wants my womb .”

“I don’t care what he wants. It’s his.”

My inner beast snapped her teeth at him.

My outer beast did too. I heard them click together a little too violently.

Oops.

“I belong to me ,” I shot back.

We both knew it was bullshit.

“For thirty more minutes,” my dad said.

My throat swelled.

My heartbeat picked up.

The day had actually come.

I couldn’t get away.

I’d tried to get through the window in my room last night. And past the guards at my door. I’d even tried to claw my way through the wall and floor.

None of it had worked.

I was stuck.

No. I was fucked .

I smoothed the puffy, tulle skirt on my dress. It didn’t need smoothing, but I needed to do something with my hands. “I could refuse to say the vow.”

“You could. But I’ll be holding the knife a few feet away from you.”

“You won’t kill me.”

“If the alpha can’t have you, he wants you dead,” my dad said bluntly. “If I kill you, I still get the money.”

I was surprised by that.

I shouldn’t have been. I hadn’t ever mattered to my dad as more than a bargaining chip.

Maybe he would kill me.

But maybe it would be better to be dead than to be the alpha’s mate.

There was a light knock at the doorway. My fiance’s mother looked into the room, taking in my appearance.

“You’re stunning, Madi,” she cooed.

“It’s Madison.” My voice was hard.

There was only one person who called me Madi. And he only did it to get under my skin. Even if it had become something a little more than that over the week we spent in the cabin together.

“You can call her whatever you want,” my dad assured the woman.

She smiled. “Of course I can.”

I clenched my fists.

My claws were threatening to come out.

Maybe attacking my future mother-in-law would get me out of the wedding somehow.

Then again, the woman would probably tear my throat out if I did. Which sounded like a shitty way to die.

I spun back to the mirror.

Biting my cheek, I stopped myself from asking if there had been any word from Bo or any sign of him.

There hadn’t been.

I knew that.

He didn’t want anything serious. Not even a little. Coming after me would’ve been a death sentence, so he wasn’t going to.

I was on my own.

And my own wasn’t getting my ass out of this wedding. Not even maybe. Not anymore. I’d waited too long to run, and a witch—or just my car—had conspired against my escape.

Nausea cramped my stomach.

“It’s time.” My dad gestured for the door.

I stepped past him. My emotions seesawed between terror and panic.

This was it.

The moment I either gave up my freedom or got myself killed for refusing.

Dad offered me his arm as I reached the doorway, but I stepped past him.

“I’m not a human, and you’re not enough of a father to walk me down the aisle,” I said flatly.

He growled, but I was already storming down the stairs.

My emotions were a whirlwind.

Anger.

Pain.

Fear.

Loss.

There were kitsune guards at every turn. Every door. Every window.

I glared at every one of them.

Most wouldn’t meet my eyes.

The walk through the mansion’s double doors and out to the snow-dusted garden that had been decorated for the ceremony was a blur.

I was outside too soon.

Facing the music too soon.

My bare feet faltered as I stepped out onto a long, elegant rug. My dress was too long, because I’d refused to wear the three-inch heels. I was walking on it with every step, but I didn’t give a damn.

The humans’ wedding song played while I forced myself to keep moving.

It felt more like a funeral march.

I didn’t let myself look at the smirking fucker waiting at the end of the aisle. He stood alone, functioning as the officiator and the groom at once.

Magical vows didn’t require officiating.

And he was far too full of himself to put anyone in a power position behind him.

He held his hands out toward mine after I took three steps up onto the small platform set up for us.

I refused to take them.

He cleared his throat.

I lifted my glare to his smug, narrowed eyes.

There was motion off to my side, but I didn’t look over as my dad and the alpha’s mom found their seats. They murmured something about complications.

“Give me your hands,” the alpha said, still wearing that fake smile.

My glare heated.

I held out for a moment, but the narrowing of his eyes told me I was going to regret refusing him.

He could still hurt me. And he would.

I looked out at the crowd. Ignoring the kitsunes and their mates who had come to watch the show, I scanned the row of guards behind the guests.

There was no way I’d get past them.

When I looked around, my throat sank into my stomach.

More guards surrounded us.

Even if I could somehow escape the alpha, I wasn’t getting out of the ceremony.

“Madison.” My fiance’s voice was calm, but the threat behind it wasn’t subtle.

I should’ve talked someone into mating with me while I was on vacation.

I should’ve run faster. Harder.

Sooner.

So much sooner.

But I didn’t.

Now, there was no getting out of my situation.

I let a slow breath out through my clenched jaw.

And I shoved my hands into the alpha’s.

My heart beat so loudly, I could hear it pounding in my skull.

The alpha opened his mouth to speak, but a loud crashing sound in the mansion cut him off.

Everyone’s attention jerked back to the doors I’d just come through. Including mine.

There was a beat of silence before the doors flung open.

My eyes widened in…

Horror?

Hope?

Thrill?

I didn’t fucking know.

But Ambrose Stevenson was at the front of a group of gigantic men who were clearly bear shifters. There were a dozen of them. We had plenty of male kitsunes, but not enough to take down a dozen grizzlies.

There was blood on Bo’s hands.

He was shirtless and wearing the same sweats he’d had on when the alpha found me at his cabin the day before. His hair stuck out at every angle, and the circles under his eyes were darker and deeper than I’d seen them before.

He was a mess, but somehow, the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

“Let go of my mate or I’ll fucking kill you,” Bo snarled at the alpha. His chest heaved, and my gaze was locked on him.

One of the guys behind him put a hand on his shoulder, as if trying to calm him down. It wouldn’t work. Artie had done the same thing a handful of times when we were kids, and it had never helped.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize Bo was talking about me .

I blinked.

And blinked again.

The alpha’s grip tightened on my hands, instead of letting go.

“Bo claimed her yesterday,” one of the guys behind Ambrose called out. “There’s a scar on her shoulder from his bite. If you try to mate with her, the bear will kill you.”

I felt the alpha’s gaze jerk to me. Quickly.

He sniffed the air, like he was looking for Bo’s scent. I’d washed it off the night before, though.

He growled softly, as if he’d actually smelled the bear on me. Which he couldn’t have.

Because we weren’t mates.

I wasn’t about to say that, though.

Not when the lie was my only chance at getting out of the hellish life I was about to seal myself into for the rest of forever.

The alpha reached for my shoulder.

I took a step back as Bo roared fiercely.

His massive body was right behind mine a moment later, towering over me like the giant he was.

One of his hands caught my waist while his claws tore through the modest sleeve of my dress in a heartbeat, exposing my shoulder and arm.

I had to press the fabric to my skin to avoid flashing my tits too, when the heavy fabric immediately started to slide downward.

Gasps rolled through the crowd as everyone saw the scar where my shoulder met my neck.

The claiming mark.

Everyone knew what they looked like. Cub Lake had more than enough women mated to bear shifters for that.

The alpha’s gaze grew icy.

I took a step backward.

Bo stepped in front of me, putting himself between me and the alpha.

I looked at my dad, worried he’d make good on the knife promise.

But I saw Artie sitting next to him, watching our father closely.

Bo must’ve gotten my asshole brother in on the plan.

The insane, incredible, perfect plan.

The alpha wouldn’t know that Bo and I hadn’t made vows.

No one would.

I was going to escape after all. Thanks to Bo, even though I would’ve sooner died than asked him for help a week earlier.

I’d give him anything he wanted. Money. Sex. A Call of Duty win. And I’d do so happily.

Before I disappeared and found someone else to mate with, of course. Just to make sure the alpha could never try to force my hand again.

“You stole my fiancé,” the alpha said, his voice lowering.

“She didn’t want you, and she’s not your anything . Stay the fuck away from her,” Bo snarled.

With that, he scooped me off my feet, tossed me and my gigantic dress over his shoulder, and strode back down the aisle.