When her father-in-law, Dorian, grabbed her and hauled her to the dance floor, she was laughing as they did the Chicken Dance with a group of enterprising partiers. Crouching in the tight-fitting skirt was tricky, but she managed it.
Laughing at the clapping, the twisting and the twirling, she was thirsty and exhausted when Damon finally caught her against him and they swayed together.
“So, Mrs. Suel, would you care to retire for the night?”
Molly grinned up at him. “Why, Mr. Suel, are you propositioning me?”
“Less of a proposition and more of a sure thing.” He winked and dipped her back in his arms.
When he righted her, she sighed. “I hope I am not that transparent.”
“No, I am simply that persuasive.”
“Well, in that case, I would love to go.”
“Good. Toss the bouquet and we will be on our way.”
She blinked and nodded. “Right. Don’t you have to do something with a garter?”
“Right. I had forgotten about that.”
He turned her around and she bumped into a chair. She burst out laughing as he went to one knee and the crowd began cheering and whistling.
His hand skated up her calf, and he lifted the skirt with his arms, not putting her on display but still finding the garter on her thigh with his hands before he ducked under the frothing silk to pull the garter down with his teeth. When it was past her knee he lifted her leg to his shoulder and eased the garter over her calf, slipping her shoe free and then pulling the garter away. With the garter still in his teeth, he slipped her shoe back on and winked. Cinderella complex in action once again.
The single men were already gathered, and with a tremendous snap, Damon fired her undergarment into the throng.
There was lunging, a few fistfights and, finally, a triumphant waving of the garter.
Now, it was on to the most dangerous part of the evening, tossing the bouquet.
Molly stood at one end of the dance floor as the unmated women came running into a flock that rippled with both hope and hostility.
Molly clutched her roses and swung the bouquet. “One, two, three…”
The flowers were launched, and Molly turned to watch the arc of the green leaves and pink and white petals.
The women lunged upward and several pushed, using their inner animals gaining several feet of height on the jump.
The flowers struck one hand and were knocked to another. They spun it around, tackled each other, one or two fists flew into backs and jaws.
Molly moved toward Damon as the women growled and snapped in their effort to gain the upper hand. When the bouquet finally settled, it was a triumphant Ameline holding it aloft.
At the human weddings that Molly had attended, the single men avoided the winner of the bouquet. Here, Ameline became the target of interested eyes the moment that she brandished her prize.
Molly sighed and leaned against Damon. He and his family had provided every ritual she had ever heard of regarding weddings. The shower was to have been thrown by her family, but Molly pretended that there just wasn’t time.
He swept her off her feet and walked out of the wedding without saying a word to anyone.
“You can’t keep carrying me around like this. You are going to hurt your back.”
He chuckled. “It is one of the bonuses of the council position. I gain the strengths of all the creatures under my auspices.”
“Good to know.” She leaned her head against his shoulder and let him carry her without quibbling.
The moment he entered the manor, a pathway of pink and white rose petals highlighted the way to his bedroom door.
She smiled and giggled when he opened his door to find another path leading through the front room and into the bedroom. The bed was covered with rose petals and the scent was dizzying, and considering her normally poor sense of smell, that was saying something.
“Who did all this?”
“Deane and Robert. They slipped in here during the dancing and then returned to the party.” He set her on her feet but held her against him.
She smiled as his fingers reached behind her to work at the gown. After a minute of fumbling, he turned her around and took a look at her back.
“How many buttons are there?”
“One hundred and three. You might want to get started if you would like to finish before dawn.” She chortled.
He sighed and began to manipulate her dress. It took ten minutes, but he finally got the dress open enough to slip off. It dropped to her feet, and with him holding her hand, she stepped out of it.
“Wow. That is a good look for you.” Damon grinned.
She laughed and twirled, reaching up to remove the pins and comb that held her veil in place.
He lifted her dress and placed it over a stand that seemed to be there for that purpose. His own formal wear was peeled off with unseemly haste.
She sat on the edge of the bed and leaned against one of the four posts while she watched him undress. “I don’t think I will ever get tired of that.”
He grinned. “I feel the same way with the exception of your wedding gown. I am very glad that it is a one-night event.”
Her corset, stockings and panties were all in a soft rose. Damon stroked her skin through the tight satin of the corset, and the strange tension on her flesh started her arousal with an explosion. Being unable to take in a complete breath and having her torso compressed and heated sped her journey to climax.
When he skimmed her panties down over her garter straps, she grinned. Deane had not steered her wrong. With only the corset and the silk of her stockings on, she shoved him around until he was seated on the bed and she was astride his lap.
He whispered, “With this cock, I thee wed.”
“With this body, I thee worship.” She moved on him slowly.
“With all my worldly goods, I thee endow.” He grinned as he kissed her.
His hands supported her as she rocked and twisted on him, driving higher and higher until she screamed and nearly passed out. She shuddered in his arms, and he reached behind her, releasing the straps of her corset.
When her corset was off and she could take a full breath again, her body went off in a series of aftershocks, milking him hard.
Damon shuddered and he jerked his hips upward against her, grunting as he came.
Molly leaned her forehead against his chest while she waited to get feeling back in her body. She unclasped the garters and pulled the corset off, tossing it aside with relief.
He cuddled her against him. “You are everything I wanted and never dared to hope for.”
“You are everything I never dreamed of.” She kissed the side of his neck.
“Never?”
“No dream could be as good as this.”
She looked up and he was blushing again.
* * * *
Damon looked down at his wife, and he couldn’t get the smile off his lips. She was his and no one could refute it. The Wexler family had attempted to stop the event, but he hadn’t mentioned it to his bride.
As Avian Councillor, he could overrule their claim to her bloodline, since they had already denied her, and work with her as his legal ward until the wedding. It had involved a lot of paperwork that had to be hidden from her, but Molly was much happier without knowing what her family had tried to do.
The Wexlers were about to find they were in a sudden social plummet. The youngest sister’s fiancé was the only good heart in the bunch, so he would be encouraged in the future.
Molly was going to have to begin accompanying him to every event he attended. She would be with him at births, deaths and weddings as well as at negotiations and legal proceedings. She didn’t know it, but she was up for a full-time job.
He had slipped it in while she had been worrying about her trousseau.
Her power would be given to her in a quiet blood ceremony in a week or so. It worked better if there was she was carrying the next generation.
He was going to do everything he could to make sure that she was carrying his child by the end of the week. Signs that she was receptive had already been seen and answered.
Damon settled down next to his wife and curled her in his arms. She turned to him with complete trust. If anyone turned on her or looked down on her, he would rip them into little bloody shreds.
With that protective thought, he finally understood his parents’ relationship. When you found a woman worth protecting, you did it. No questions asked.
Author’s Note
I asked for condors, I got king vultures on the cover and I made the best of a strange situation. The more I wrote, the further I got into this branch of the carrion eater family.
Thanks for reading
Zenina Masters
About the Author
Zenina Masters was born in Canada and lives in Canada. She has a regular job and does nothing particularly exciting with her life. She enjoys fishing, silence and the ability to pick and choose friends she can trust. Life is too short to watch your back all the time.
Her writing life is a teeny bit of escapism, she would probably chicken out if confronted by three naked men and looks forward to one day finding out.
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