Page 4 of Bound to the Dragon (Wild Fated Shifters #3)

MADISON

V irginia places a decorative pearl comb in my hair as I stare dully at myself in the mirror.

I barely see my face. My entire line of sight is blurry, like I’ve had too much to drink and can’t focus my eyes.

I haven’t. There hasn’t even been a mimosa to take the edge off this ceremony, although I’m half-tempted to ask my friend to find me one.

The room is abuzz with activity, members of my pack making themselves busy with idle preparations.

My mother is conspicuously removed from the situation, placing herself at the far end of the suite, as if she’s purposely trying to keep her distance from me.

The last conversation I had with her still echoes in the recesses of my mind and boils my blood.

“Your father would be proud of you,” she said without a hint of irony.

I scoffed in her face, and she merely stared at me like she didn’t understand why her words could be so offensive at a time like that. But she knows enough now to keep her distance, so she can’t be totally clueless. She just wants to pretend none of it happened.

She knows what my father and Granger did. But she’s ignoring the past, hoping it won’t blow up in our faces. It’s like the less she and Granger talk about it, the more they think it will go away.

It won’t. And I’ll be the one left to deal with the fallout.

After my pack leaves today, I will be alone.

These past three days have been the longest of my life.

Blaze has avoided me since that first night and the terrible dinner. I don’t understand what went wrong or what I said that upset him so much. I wanted to apologize, but I don’t think I did anything wrong. He misunderstood me.

An apology wouldn’t have mattered, anyway.

He would have just looked smug, and that would have set the tone for our entire relationship. I couldn’t start our mating by begging for forgiveness, even though I know that’s what’s expected.

No. I don’t care if he knows how I feel about him and this entire stupid situation. If he wants to spend the rest of his life avoiding me, so be it.

That’s better for me. I won’t have to pretend around him.

“You look beautiful.” My friend steps back to take me in. “Stand up, so I can see you.”

Reluctantly, I oblige her, and her smile widens as she takes my hand to twirl me around in the lacy cream-colored gown.

There’s a collective murmur of appreciation around the room as the females ooh and aah over my garment.

It’s a gorgeous dress, I have to admit. Blaze had given me free rein to buy whatever I wanted before I moved onto the estate, and I pored over magazines for days, determined to find the perfect dress.

I might not want to be committed to this Alpha, but at least I will look good as Luna.

And my reflection tells me that I do look good. Very good.

My dark tresses fall loosely over my shoulders, with one side swept up in a pearl comb. But there’s a haunted look in the depths of my brown eyes, one that’s been there for many years. It seems blacker today, almost matching the shade of my hair. It’s as though I’m sealing my fate.

“Are you ready to do this?” Virginia stares at me expectantly, and I shrug off the nagging doubts in the back of my mind as the females flock around me to usher me out of the suite and into the house.

Ready or not, it’s happening.

Any chance I had for escape has vanished.

It shouldn’t surprise me to learn that Blaze’s estate has a full veranda.

I haven’t had a chance to do an entire tour of the estate, but I can’t help but stare at the opulence of the décor when my mother walks me toward the ceremony setup where a glowing full moon hovers overhead.

A pulpit with an elder sits at the far end of the veranda, and Blaze stands stiffly, his eyes fixed on the elder who will perform the ceremony, giving me the perfect opportunity to study him unnoticed.

He really is a piece of art, chiseled and muscular, even under the tux, which I can tell he doesn’t like.

It’s not just the event that makes him uncomfortable.

He would rather be wearing something other than the starched shirt and black jacket, surrounded by half these strangers from the Silver Glade pack whom he doesn’t know.

I can relate. If he would only look at me, maybe he could see that we have something in common on that front, that we’re not that far apart on that much.

“Come on.” My mother nudges me rudely.

I panic slightly, realizing that the male is about to be my mate.

It’s not too late to put an end to this , my conscience whispers.

But this union is necessary for both our packs.

“I can feel your father here with us,” Mom breathes, and I bristle.

Really, Mom? Now? She cannot be that oblivious.

In her own way, I think she’s trying to be supportive, but all she’s doing is raising my apprehension.

It’s bad enough that every pair of eyes is already on me as we walk arm-in-arm through the aisle of chairs on the veranda.

Through my peripheral view, I catch the awe-filled looks of my pack members as they take in my beautiful dress.

Even Shadow Pine appears dazzled by me, yet I can’t appreciate their appreciation.

Every step I take closer to Blaze enhances my nervousness.

Mom releases my arm as I join Blaze at the head of the ceremony, and he stares at me with his steadfast hazel eyes. For the first time, I read a melancholy there that I hadn’t noticed before. It surprises me, the emotion in them. It’s the last thing I expected to read on his face.

“If the Alpha and his future Luna will please join hands, we’ll begin with a binding ceremony.

” The elder holds out a ribbon, and Blaze reluctantly reaches for my extended fingers, his gaze trailing over the lines of my face, then my dress.

I can’t be sure, but I think I see a gleam of respect in his expression.

Our hands weave together as the elder recites words from an ancient scripture book, and the packs watch on silently, but I barely hear any of it. I’ve been to ceremonies before, and the message is all the same: a pledge to bind two souls together, in life, through mating.

The elder continues with the ceremony, but I am tuning out the words, finding it hard to focus on the present situation.

A sensation rushes through me that I’ve never had before, and the hairs on the back of my neck rise unexpectedly. In unison, Blaze and I turn toward the entrance to the veranda.

Two enforcers stand on either side of the steps leading up from the grounds. There’s no one else there, yet I can’t shake the odd feeling that there’s someone lurking in the darkness beyond.

Our eyes meet, an unspoken question between us. Blaze senses that something is amiss, too.

“With this, I declare you mates.” The elder slaps the book closed and produces a pen for us to sign the paperwork on the pulpit in front of him.

If there had been room for objections, I missed it, apparently. Not that I expected anyone to speak up on my behalf, and I sincerely doubt that anyone would dare speak out against Blaze.

That’s it. It’s done. We’re officially mates.

In a way, it was anticlimactic, as if I had been waiting for the earth to stop or something catastrophic to happen when the elder declared us committed, but this moment is no different than the last. It’s almost disappointing.

I catch my mother’s beaming face, and Virginia flashes me a thumbs-up from her seat, as if I’ve accomplished some major victory.

I scrawl my signature on the mate contract and hand the pen to Blaze, who takes it without looking at me again.

I take that back. Something has changed. I feel like I’ve just signed my life away.

I shudder at the idea of what is supposed to come next, but simultaneously, I can’t help but wonder what Blaze is like in bed. Will he be as rigid as his exterior, or is there some gentle soul hiding beneath it all like I’d just glimpsed in his eyes?

Sooner or later, I’ll find out. Maybe even tonight.

Blaze signs the paperwork and turns to the guests. “Drinks are available at the bar. Dinner will be served in an hour. Feel free to mingle among yourselves.”

He doesn’t say anything to me and wanders off to speak with his Beta, leaving me feeling rebuked. I hadn’t expected a kiss or anything, but to just leave me standing there minutes after our union? It stings.

“That was a beautiful ceremony!” Mom is at my side, guiding me toward the guests gathering around the bar and food tables set up along the veranda. “Wasn’t it lovely?”

I have no idea who she’s talking to, but I’m too distracted to ask her.

I haven’t been able to shake the sense that something’s wrong.

Again, I find myself looking toward the veranda entrance, and my eyes narrow slightly.

The original enforcers are no longer standing there, and the new ones make my skin prickle.

They stand out for some reason, but I can’t place why.

This isn’t my home. I wouldn’t know one enforcer from the next.

But I can’t let it go.

I turn to speak to the first member of the Shadow Pine pack I see.

She recoils when I touch her, but instantly recovers from her faux pas. “Yes, what is it… Luna?” She almost spits out my title.

“Do you know those enforcers?” I nod toward the entrance, and she barely looks.

“Yep.” She walks away before I can ask any follow-up questions.

I’m clearly not going to have any luck with the Shadow Pine pack. They don’t want me here any more than I want to be here. It must insult them to know that no one in their pack can bear the heir that the Alpha desperately needs.

“Why are you asking about the enforcers?”