FIA
"Where is she?" Alpha Cian's voice carried across the lawn.
It was sharp enough that it made the restless guests settle down out of fear. Pack members from both packs were frantically looking around for the bride, my sister Hazel.
The wedding ceremony was supposed to take place fifteen minutes ago, but she was nowhere near the aisle.
She wasn't the only one missing.
I scanned the crowd for my mate, Milo. He was supposed to help coordinate things, make sure everything ran smoothly, but I had only caught a glimpse of him near the parking area for goddess knows how long ago before he disappeared. All my messages to him were unanswered. The knot in my stomach tightened further.
"Miss Hughes."
I jumped hard enough to knock over one of the vases. Alpha Cian stood three feet away, and I hadn't even heard him approach, which said something about how distracted I was. His dark suit didn't have a single thread out of place, but a muscle ticked in his jaw like he was grinding his teeth.
"Have you seen your sister?"
"She's probably just...getting ready…you know how it is with us women…" I said, my voice trailing off as his face grew darker at my words.
"The ceremony was supposed to start at nine." He cut in as he glanced at his watch. All of his movement seemed on edge. "It's almost nine fifteen."
My mouth went dry and my skin prickled at his tone. "I'll check on her right now."
I didn't wait for his response. Immediately picking up my skirts, I ran straight back to the main house.
"Hazel? Where are you? You need to hurry!" I called out the moment I entered, but there was no response.
The concerning silence caused me to rush into Hazel's bedroom without knocking on the door. "Goddess, you're nearly fifteen minutes late -"
But Hazel wasn't in her room. In fact, the only person present was my stepmother Isobel, who was leaning against the wall with a vacant empty stare in her eyes.
Her trembling hands held a piece of paper.
I shut the door behind me.
"Mother? What's wrong? Where's Hazel?"
She held out the paper without speaking.
I recognized Hazel's handwriting immediately. Those loops that were too big and the way she always crossed her t's.
Dearest Mother and Father,
By the time you read this, I will be far from here with the man I truly love. I cannot marry Alpha Cian when my heart belongs to another. I know this will cause problems, but I cannot live a lie. Milo and I have been planning this for weeks. We are going somewhere no one will find us. Please forgive me, but I had to choose love over duty.
Your daughter, Hazel.
I read it again because the words didn't make sense strung together like that. They couldn't mean what they seemed to mean.
But Hazel's wedding dress hung on the door hook, the tags still attached where she'd been too superstitious to remove them before the ceremony. Her shoes sat paired beneath it with tissue paper still stuffed in the toes. The makeup on her vanity sat in its bag, unopened, and her jewelry box was closed.
My phone was in my hand before I'd consciously decided to call my mate.
"Fia." He said when the call finally went through.
The way he said my name... He said it like an apology, like he already knew why I was calling.
"Tell me you're not with her," I begged profusely, tears beginning to form in my eyes. "Tell me this is a joke."
Milo remained silent.
"Milo, tell me right now that my sister didn't run away with you on her wedding day!"
"I'm sorry." His voice was quiet, almost gentle, which somehow made it worse. "I never wanted to hurt you like this."
The floor tilted under my feet. I grabbed the edge of the chair to keep myself from falling, my fingers digging into the upholstery hard enough to hurt.
"How could you do this? Today, of all the days you could have... What happens now? What happens to us?"
"There is no us anymore, Fia."
The words hit me like a blow right in the guts. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm rejecting the bond. I am rejecting you. Hazel and I... this is real. This is what I want, what I've always wanted."
Pain exploded in my chest, white-hot and spreading like wildfire through every nerve I had. The mate bond stretched taut between us, pulled thin as wire, and then snapped with an almost audible crack. I gasped and doubled over, one hand pressed to my sternum like I could hold the pieces together.
"The pack," I managed to get out through clenched teeth. "Alpha Cian is going to—"
"I'm just a sentinel. My life is my own to live how I choose."
"You selfish bastard, he's going to kill us! Do you understand that? They'll slaughter everyone here because you—"
"We're already hours away. Don't try to find us, Fia. I mean it."
Then the line went dead.
I stood there staring at my phone, waiting for it to ring again, for him to call back and tell me this was some kind of sick joke. It didn't ring.
"Fia." Isobel's voice came from very far away. "Look outside."
I stumbled to the window, still clutching my phone. People were standing now, abandoning their seats in clusters. Some of the Skollrend wolves had moved away from the ceremony space entirely, gathering in tight groups with their heads bent together. Our pack members looked small and scattered among them, like sheep surrounded by wolves, which I supposed they were. Alpha Cian stood near the altar talking to three of his warriors, and even from up here I could see how rigid his shoulders were, how his hands had curled into fists.
"When he finds out what she's done..." Isobel's voice cracked in the middle. "Fia, when he realizes..."
"We'll explain." The words came out desperate. "We'll tell him we didn't know, that we would never allow this kind of disrespect, that we're horrified—"
"Explain?" She laughed, and it came out sharp and hollow. "His pack came all this way. They brought marriage contracts, trade agreements, gifts for the ceremony. And we're going to stand there and explain that the bride ran off with a sentinel from our own pack? That we let this happen under our own roof?"
"There has to be something we can do—"
"They'll execute your father for breach of contract. It's written into pack law, Fia. The Alpha bears responsibility for his family's dishonor, and the punishment for breaking a marriage alliance is death."
The words settled over me like ice water. "No. Father didn't know anything about this, he would never—"
"You think they care what he knew? Hazel just humiliated Alpha Cian in front of two entire packs. There are children out there... Gloria's child, little Emma, just turned six last week. Connor's twins are barely walking. When the Skollrend wolves decide we've insulted them beyond forgiveness, when they decide we're not worth keeping alive, what exactly do you think happens to those children?"
I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. The room felt too small, the walls were pressing in.
"We have to tell Father right now. We have to warn him so he can... I don't know, negotiate something, offer compensation..."
"Tell him what? That his daughter destroyed everything he's spent his life building? That he should start writing goodbye letters to everyone he loves?" Isobel moved to the dress and lifted it off its hook with shaking hands. "We... We have to fix this before it's too late."
My stomach dropped. "What are you doing?"
"You're the same size as Hazel. Same height, same build."
"No. That's insane, you can't possibly—"
"You could walk down that aisle right now. Finish the ceremony. The veil is thick enough—look at it, Fia. By the time anyone realizes what happened, it'll be too late for them to back out without losing face themselves."
"Alpha Cian knows what Hazel looks like! He's been courting her for months!"
Isobel shook her head. "They've only met four times, and your father and I were there for all four visits. Alpha Cian has never spent time with your sister in close quarters. He doesn't know her well enough!" She grabbed the veil from the vanity and shook it out, and the lace fell in thick, obscuring layers that would hide most of someone's face.
"Fia, please. Your father will die. I will die. Every single person in this pack will be slaughtered because your sister decided some boy was more important than all of us combined.Your father raised you. He fed you and clothed you and kept you safe your entire life, and you won't do this one thing to save him? You won't even try?"
"This won't work, there's no way this can possibly—"
Heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway, and we both fell into stricken silence. My heart kicked against my ribs when I realised the footsteps stopped right in front of the door. A sharp knock echoed through the room.
"Mrs. Hughes?" Alpha Cian's voice carried through the door, and he wasn't bothering to sound patient anymore. "I need to see my bride. Now."
Isobel thrust the veil toward me, and her hands shook so badly the lace trembled. Her voice emerged in a frantic whisper. "Please Fia. If not for us, think about the children. How could you let little Emma get her throat torn open because you wouldn't put on a dress and walk down an aisle?"
I looked at the veil in her shaking hands, then at Hazel's abandoned dress, then right back at Isobel's teary, desperate face.
"Put it on me," I whispered.