Page 33 of Bullied Pretend Mate (Silverville Firefighter Wolves #3)

“I thought they were already married,” I whisper to Felix, leaning in so he can hear me.

“They are, I think,” he whispers back. “This is, like, an official thing. As supreme and luna.”

We’re sitting in the center of the huge church on the edge of town, surrounded by shifters and humans alike. This place has always been more shifter than not, but the humans here know about us and end up going with the flow of our pack, attending events and working together after the fire.

Maybe that explains this very human wedding. Xeran Sorel, always networking, doing something to strengthen his ties with that population.

But Phina looks radiant and so, so happy, I’m not going to think about it too much.

When the ceremony is over, and we’re all walking over to the park just a block away from our new apartment, Felix leans down, whispering in my ear, “What marks do you give for location?”

“Well,” I say, laughing as a pair of kids run by us with sparklers in their hands. “I give full points for theme. This is a location very important to the happy couple, and as our viewers know, we value sentimentality over flashiness.”

“Is that so?” Felix asks, quirking an eyebrow at me. “Then would you tell the viewers why you’re so hung up on having an ice sculpture at our wedding?”

“Hey.” I swat at his arm, laughing when he scoops me up and pulls me into a kiss, making us into a big roadblock for the rest of the wedding procession coming down the road. “Ice sculptures are sentimental for us. Weddings are part of our story.”

He makes a noise in the back of his throat and kisses me again, until someone swats him on the back of the neck.

“Not your wedding,” Soren says. “Clean it up, kids.”

“You’re just jealous because you’re here alone,” Felix says back, keeping his hand on my back as we turn and continue walking down Main Street together.

“No offense,” Soren says, rolling his eyes. “But you are never going to catch me making out in the middle of the street.”

“Just wait,” Felix says. “That’s what they all say.”

“Can’t believe they got you, too, man,” Soren says back, but there’s something almost sad in his voice. I stare at him, wondering if there’s any way I can dig into that, when he’s called away by Valerie and goes to help with some last-minute decorating in the park.

Everything is strung up with lights and white lace, and even though it’s just an everyday park in the middle of the town, they’ve done an amazing job getting it ready for the wedding.

Heat lamps are on every corner and stopping point to help combat the early fall night, and Felix scoops up a party favor when we walk through the flowery arch.

He opens the butter mints and offers me one.

“I think you’re supposed to take this when you leave,” I say.

“And who says we’re not leaving?” he asks, pulling me close to him and starting to sway us together, like a slow dance. Lowering his voice, he says, “Our apartment is close enough to taste Maeve-is, then I can get you alone—”

“That’s not my name,” I laugh at him, at the same time someone else swats Felix and he rubs the back of his head, muttering, “Really?” while Phina says, “This is not your wedding, Rana.”

“Okay, sorry,” he laughs, and we fall to the side, letting Phina and Xeran take the dance floor before us. People fill in around the square, smiling as the music starts up and the two of them dance together.

“What if we eloped?” Felix asks, his voice low.

I grab his arm, holding him close as he sways behind me, his chin resting on my shoulder.

“I wouldn’t mind that,” I admit. “Especially since I know we’re not going to get this type of turnout.”

I don’t talk to my family, and I never will. Felix’s family is extended, and though I’ve gotten to know his parents better, there’s something appealing about the idea of our wedding being just me and him.

“And then after the wedding, we’ll award ourselves the dream honeymoon,” Felix says, “since we’ll have won the show—”

“With an elopement?” I cut in, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, don’t interrupt me,” he chides.

I laugh, shaking my head, my hair rubbing against his chest.

“And after the honeymoon, we come back here, and you take over the world. Promotions, success. Kids and family vacations.”

I go still in his arms, then twist around to face him. Other people are already taking to the dance floor, including Val and Lach, Kalen with one of the flower girls, laughing as she giggles, and Soren, his arm around a random woman.

“What?” Felix asks, his brow wrinkling, eyes skipping over my expression. “Is everything okay?”

“You want to have kids?” I whisper.

Maybe right here and now isn’t the best place for this conversation, but I need to know now that he’s said it. I haven’t given it a lot of thought, but now that I am, I like it.

“I want whatever you want,” he says, then, after a moment. “But, yeah. I’m hoping you want kids.”

“Not right this minute,” I admit, staring up into his eyes. “But when things die down a little, yeah. I do. Maybe just one or two. But no more than that. And I don’t want them growing up the way I did. We would love them and honor them, no matter what their bodies looked like.”

“Of course,” Felix whispers, lowering his lips to mine, his green eyes wide as he stares down at me, the twinkling lights above his head making the moment more beautiful. “You’re going to make an amazing mother, Maeve.”

Even though this isn’t our wedding, I can’t stop myself from rising up on my tiptoes and kissing him, opening my mouth to him, letting the thing go a little farther than it probably should.

When we pull back, we’re both breathless and dark-eyed, staring at one another with a wanting that hasn’t abated, even after months of being with each other nonstop.

“You know what I’m thinking?” Felix asks, his voice low.

“What?”

“I’m thinking that even if we don’t want kids now,” he says, snaking his hand around me and tugging me in close, “that doesn’t mean we can’t go practice.”

“We’re at a wedding , Felix.”

“We can sneak away,” he murmurs, eyes darting down the street. “Trust me, we’ll be back in time for cake.”

Once upon a time, fifteen years ago, I might have talked him out of a reckless, chaotic scheme like this. I might have talked about every single thing that could go wrong, and went to find an adult when they eventually did.

But being with Felix Rana has done something I never thought was possible—it’s made me more adventurous, braver in the face of making every day something new, something exciting.

So I just turn away from him, grinning as I walk backward in the direction of our apartment.

“Fine,” I say as he hurries after me. “But if we miss cake, you owe me.”

“We won’t miss cake,” he says, already breathless at the knowledge of what we’re going to do. “And I already owe you, Villareal. Forever.”

“Yeah,” I laugh, breaking into a run, my laugh only growing louder when I realize he’s chasing after me. “I know.”

*****

THE END