I tugged at the dress again as I looked at it in the mirror. The front wasn't unreasonably low and the length was a perfect mid-thigh but till something about it felt wrong. I hadn't worn a dress since everything that had happened in my old pack. No matter how much I wanted to do this for Emily, for her ceremony, I wasn't sure if I could. I peered at my reflection curiously. Emily had been right about the deep blue. It made my eyes pop and the flowy style concealed all of my left-over bruises. Most of them had healed but the worst of which had yet to fade.
"Rylan..." Silas knocked quietly on the door and grabbed my attention.
He had been very patient even though I had been in the bathroom for over an hour now. The last Forty-five minutes of which I had spent working up the courage to actually leave the bathroom. I clinched my teeth and opened the door. I didn't want to keep Silas waiting any longer.
Silas stepped back for me to come out once I'd opened the door but I was frozen in place. I'd forgotten how handsome Silas looked dressed up. His suit was all black including the vest. He had on a light blue shirt that matched Amelia's dress and a dark blue tie that was the exact shade of my dress.
"Leannan, if you're uncomfortable in the dress you can change and tell Em I spilled something on you." He offered quietly.
I raised my eyes to his and shook my head. We couldn't do that to her.
"That's good because you look beautiful." He smiled.
I shook my head again and looked down, fidgeting with the hem of the dress.
~It's pretty but...~ I was too exposed. Having my legs bare to the world under such simple circumstances felt wrong. It made me vulnerable.
Silas cleared his throat and held up a slip of black fabric. I looked at the fabric curiously. It looked like a pair of small, thin, black pants. They looked cozy and the thought of wearing them under my dress eased the tension tremendously. There was only one down side to it. Emily would hate them. I sighed and shook my head.
"You can always take them off for the ceremony if Emily hate them." Silas said reading my thoughts.
I looked at them again. It sounded like a perfect plan. I stepped forward to take the leggings. My legs wobbled unsteadily and I had to catch myself on the door frame. I looked up at Silas with wide eyes. I didn't know how Emily had expected me to walk in these ridiculous shoes.
"It's going to be fine. Just walk normal and trust your balance. I'll be next you the entire ceremony and I promise I won't let you fall." Silas said.
___________________________________________________________
Silas didn't talk on our drive over to meet up with Emily and Aaron. Even when we parked Silas kept his eyes forward to take in the area. I twisted the hem of my dress around one finger and glanced around as well. We'd spent the last few days cleaning and setting up. The meadow looked completely different with the tents and tables set up. I was excited to see how different the barn looked. From the outside it still looked like a faded old building but with all the work we had put on the inside I was sure it would look beautiful and perfect for the dancing Cassy was so excited about.
I glanced back at Silas to see if he thought it looked great too. He wasn't looking around any more. His was looking down at the steering wheel where his hands were clinched.
'Silas?' I signed but he didn't seem to see my movements.
~Silas?~ I tried again. This time I reached out placing my hand over one of his.
Silas took a deep breath and shook his head as he turned to look at me.
I raised an eye brow at him and he grimaced.
"There's still a bruise." He said quietly. He reached over and traced along the faded yellow mark on my shoulder. I looked away from him and smoothed the wavy sleeve back down to conceal the bruise. Silas caught my hand stilling my movement and sending a light wave of tingles across the back of my fingers.
"Tell me..." He pleaded. I could hear in his tone that he didn't just want to know; he needed to know. My eyes burned and I blinked quickly to force the tears back. No matter how much he needed to know I couldn't do it. I shook my head.
"Ok...leannan." He raised my hand to his lips and kissed my fingers. The tingles erupted into tiny explosions.
"Get your gorgeous ass out of my truck before Emily kills us for being late." He sighed.
I gave Silas a small smile. I hadn't missed his compliment and it helped my nerves tremendously.
I hoped out of the truck and jogged over to where Emily had told us to meet. She, Aaron, and several others were already there moving around and getting ready.
"Uhhh Ry...?" Em paused mid conversation and looked pointedly down. I followed her glance and bit my lip.
'I'm sorry.' I signed. 'Silas thought they would help since I was really nervous and I can take them off for the ceremony if you don't like them.'
"Not the leggings, those are cute, but you're kind of missing something..." Emily laughed.
My brow furrowed and I shook my head glancing down at my outfit. I had on everything she had given me. The flower, the ribbon, the dress...
"I've got them." Silas stepped up beside me and help up the strappy heals I had forgotten to put back on. My cheeks heated and I raised my hand to take the shoes. Silas shook his head and leaned into me.
"You don't need them yet." He whispered.
I smiled and dropped my hand. There was no point in putting those stupid things on until I absolutely had to.
Willow Packs mating ceremony was nothing like Wolfsbane's. It reminded me a lot of a human wedding. No one was crying or screaming. No one was begging the alpha to reconsider the match. It was painfully obvious that this was exactly how a mating should be, how real mates were meant to be. Celebrated and rejoiced.
Despite all of Aaron's griping about having to do everything last minute he looked like he was having the best day of his life. Even Emily, who had been a wreck for the past few days, was glowing with happiness. Their excitement and joy was contagious. It made me forget about everything that had been going on the last couple days.
Thanks to Silas I didn't fall on my face once the entire ceremony. He even guided me to our table when it was time for everyone to take their seats and eat. When no one was looking Silas pulled my feet into his lap and slipped the heels off. I expected him to release my feet after but instead he kept them in his lap. I didn't complain. The warmth was nice and helped with the dull ache the heels had caused.
I glanced around nervously. I didn't want our intimate position to start rumors for Silas. The more I looked around the more I realized that no one was paying attention to us. They probably couldn't even see that I had my feet in his lap because of the way we were positioned at the table. The table cloth concealed everything.
Silas laughed and shook his head at whatever Aaron was saying. Amelia wiggled around in my arms to play with the flower pinned to my dress. Emily and Cassy were turned toward me talking as well but I couldn't focus past the tingles running up and down the arch of my foot as Silas thumb traced it.
"Mmmamma" Amelia cooed smacking at the flower. Silas hand clinched on my foot and both of our heads snapped over to look at her.
~Did she...?~ I asked glancing over at Silas.
Silas was just as stunned and delighted as I was. He closed his mouth, smiled, and nodded meeting my eyes.
~Did you- ~ I started to ask looking over at the others. Aaron and Emily had identical Cheshire Cat smirks.
'What did you do?' I signed squinting my eyes at them.
"We may have been practicing for a few days..." Emily said taking a sip of her water.
"And by may have she means nonstop with a picture of you and everything." Aaron laughed.
"Well I figured... you know she's so smart and I know that it's going to be hard for her to learn to talk with you not being able to but that's no reason that her first word should have been anything else." Emily said.
'Thank you!' I signed and kissed Amelia's little hands and face.
"Well... I think maybe one other word would have been acceptable..." Aaron said raising his eyebrows at us.
"Da...da..." Aaron coughed.
Silas rolled his eyes. I held Amelia out toward him with a smirk. Silas took her even as he shook his head.
"Absolutely not." Silas said and blew a raspberry against Amelia's cheek making her giggle like crazy. "Mama comes first." He whispered to Amelia before giving her another raspberry kiss.
My chest tightened as I watched Silas playing with Amelia. They were adorable together. It was almost perfect.
"Would you like to dance?" The sound of Drakes voice made me jump. My knees hit the table as I jerked them out Silas lap to sit up strait in my chair and everyone looked at me.
'Actually, I was headed to the bathroom.' I signed and Silas repeated for me.
"Maybe when you come back then?" Drake asked.
"Silas already asked for that dance." Emily jumped in.
"Oh...maybe the one after that then?" Drakes asked.
"Silas claimed pretty much all of them but I think that girl over there would enjoy a dance." Aaron gestured to a girl sitting at the table furthest from ours.
"Why not..." Drake smiled and walked away.
"Does he bother you a lot?" Aaron asked curiously.
I swallowed hard and shook my head.
"He stares at you a lot. It's creepy." Emily said.
My eyes widened and my stomach knotted. Aaron and Silas exchanged a glance. Silas shifted sitting up and handed Amelia over to Cassy.
"Ry..." He started.
I was on my feet before he could ask.
'Bathroom.' I signed. I didn't wait for anyone to answer. I rushed off hoping that I was headed in the right direction. I glanced back to see if Silas was following me and if I needed to walk faster. I crashed into what felt like a wall. I stumbled back. The wall reached out and caught me before I could crash into the ground. The wall looked down at me with calculating hazel eyes. Whatever he had been looking for he found. His eyes shifted away to focus on the person behind me. His calculating mask was instantly replaced by a smirk.
"Silas." The man acknowledged.
"Logan." Silas said back.
"Do you often make your little mate run from you?" Logan asked glancing back down at me. I shifted uncomfortably and considered pushing at the hands that were still holding my shoulders.
"She's not-" Silas started.
"Cut the shit." Logan pushed me into Silas. It was a rough enough shove to knock me off balance and force Silas to catch me but not rough enough to hurt or make me crash into him. Silas caught me easily and checked my arms for any new marks. Logan's grip hadn't been tight enough to hurt me. I pulled away from Silas to stand up right.
"She reeks of you... I'm not stupid. I know who she is and I know what you did to Jackson." Logan said. His eyes flickered to me and then my throat before continuing. "You were far too merciful. If someone had abused MY mate, I would skin them alive."
"She's not running from me." Silas finished his previous sentence. My eyes widened and I looked up at Silas. He hadn't denied any of Logan's assumptions.
"Rylan this Logan Calum, Alpha of Crescent Moon and his Beta Zachariah Nicolas." Silas said. "They are our closest and strongest ally and usually our friends as well."
I nodded to each of them in acknowledgement. Logan was still glaring at Silas but the Beta was looking at me.
"You've been ignoring me." Logan said crossing his arms.
"I've been a little... busy." Silas said.
"You've been busy..." Logan repeated. "Well, I just saved your ass by doing that take down. Now the council has zero leads. You're welcome. Don't be a cunt."
"I don't give a shit about the council. They couldn't kill me if they wanted to. They've tried." Silas said.
"You have more than just your life to lose now Brogan. We all know you can't pay that price." The Beta, Zac, spoke up.
Silas and Logan glared at each other. Their very brief conversation had my head spinning with questions. Not only was I was still stuck on the bit about Silas not correcting Logan earlier but also this take down they had mentioned and the council having made attempts on Silas life before. It was a lot of information and I needed a lot more.
I touched Silas arm to get his attention before signing.
'The take down of Wolfsbane?' I asked.
"The facility there, yes." Silas said.
'When? Were others there? Did the pack cooperate? How many people were killed?' I had so many questions. My heart was racing. I was terrified that they hadn't saved anyone, that everyone I knew in my old pack was dead, and the wolfsbane would be in ruin.
"I'm sure Logan handled it the same way I was going to. We are allies for a reason but we cannot discuss this here." Silas said.
"Discuss what here?" Drake asked joining our small group.