Thorns And Roses

Chapter Thirty-four

Demi heavily sighed as he pressed his hands against the lapels of his white suit jacket. He was nervous, his palms clammy and he felt like he was staining the armpits of the suit. He lifted his arm to check and sighed again when it came back clean.

"You look lovely Demitri." Demi glared at the woman he called mother for twenty-six years through the mirror he was standing in front of. Elizabeth came in beside her a genuine smile on her face as she looked Demi over.

"I'm so happy for you, brother." Elizabeth came up to him and hugged him tight enough to bruise. Demi didn't complain and hugged her back. She pulled away from him, fixed his black tie, and softly touched the petals of the pink peony that he was about to pin on his jacket pocket.

"What's this?" She questioned as she took in the flower with confusion. If Demi remembered correctly, none of his siblings wore flowers on their suits or dresses.

"It's Theo's favorite flower. He's wearing mine." Demi felt proud to be wearing the flower as a badge of honor. Which it was. It was an honor to be mating Theo.

"Oh. And what's that?" His mother asked. Of course, she wouldn't know what Demi's favorite flower was.

"A ranunculus, mother. In the color peach." A pinched sour look crossed his mother's face but Demi didn't fucking care what she thought. It was his mating ceremony and he would be damned if she ruined it.

"Susan," That look vanished from her face to show astonishment at his blunt disrespect at calling her by her first name. He was sick of his family treating him like shit just because he was the product of an affair his father had.

"I will only say this once, so listen close. You do anything and I mean anything to ruin my ceremony and I will have Theo take the rest of the business from that man I was tricked into calling father. Do you understand?" His mother's mouth dropped before Demi turned to address Elizabeth.

"Would you like to put it on for me, dear sister?" Elizabeth beamed at him as she delicately took the flower from Demi's hand.

"Absolutely not. You're lucky I allowed you to hug him. If your father knew about that then who knows what he would do." Why did Elizabeth hug him? Their father forbade them from touching Demi.

Elizabeth gently handed the flower back to Demi and a shock of pain went through him at the rejection. Until his sister turned towards their mother and snarled at her.

"I do not care what father thinks. I refuse to allow Demitri to suffer alone any longer at the hands of you two. And if that means giving him away to a man that treats him right then I will gladly give him up. But I will not sit here in our last moments together and not touch him." Elizabeth turned away from their mother, picked the flower back up, and happily pinned it to Demi's coat pocket.

"Thank you," Demi whispered to her as he took her hands in his and held them tight. Their mother had left at some point as Elizabeth was putting the flower on him.

"You're welcome. I really meant what I said by the way. I will happily give you up if it meant you got the life you've always wanted." Demi felt tears gather in his eyes and he tried to blink them away.

Her words reminded him of childhood moments, when they snuck into each other's rooms to whisper secrets to one another under the covers. A flashlight being held as they made puppets with their fingers and told stories. Demi had told her his deepest darkest secrets in those late-night conversations.

"Well, I think you're ready. I'll be heading out to get a seat. I love you, Demi." Demi didn't know what to say but offered a whispered 'I love you too' back as the very first member of his family called him by his nickname.

Elizabeth left and Demi wiped at his eyes to rid him of his tears. He turned back to the mirror giving himself a once over before he started walking out of the manor. He only had a few minutes to spare before the ceremony started.

They were having the ceremony in the apple orchard, a path had been cleared with benches on either side. An arch had been made of oak wood covered in white cloth with vines of red roses down both sides and a row at the top. It was everything Demi dreamed his mating ceremony would be.

As he walked towards the apple orchard he could hear soft instrumental music playing. It wasn't the song they had picked for Demi to walk down the aisle to or the one that will be played as they say their mating vows.

Demi hid behind a tree as he made himself look more relaxed and jumped a little when Quinn popped up in front of him. The green dragon had a huge smile on his face and Demi sighed. Demi loved that Theo had Quinn on his side. He knew that if anything happened then Theo would never be truly alone.

"You ready? If you are I'll signal the sound guy to play the song." Theo and Demi had picked instrumental songs for everything. The walking down the aisle, the vows, and the song they will dance to. Really a mating ceremony was like a wedding ceremony but they didn't exchange rings. Just vows.

"Yeah, I'm ready." As Quinn lifted a hand to give the audio guy the sign to start the song, Demi stopped him from going back to his seat. Quinn gave him a quizzical look.

"I just wanted to say thanks for letting me have Theo." All Quinn did was give him a fond smile and hug him close.

"I'm just glad he has someone worthy of his love. I pray that you guys will better one another every day." Those damn tears came back and Demi wiped them away again. Quinn let him go and with a small wave, he went back to his seat.

As All Of Me by John Legend started to play, Demi came out from behind the tree. His eyes instantly latched onto Theo who stood at the arch wearing an all-black suit with a white tie. The ranunculus flower pinned to his chest just like Demi's.

Unlike before, Demi let the happy tears he felt track his cheeks as he walked down the aisle. He wasn't being given away because he belonged to no one but Theo. There was no maid of honor or best man to be seen. And no bouquet of flowers for him to carry. It was just him. And that was okay.

Once he stood beside Theo he couldn't help himself as he grabbed the Alpha's hand in his. He leaned into his space before the man officiating the mating spoke and whispered loud enough for the people in the front to hear;

"You look fucking pretty in that suit. Can't wait to take it off of you tonight." Theo turned red and stared at him with big eyes and a gaped mouth.

"Yeah, baby!" Quinn called out since he was one of the people in the front row. Demi was vaguely reminded of Austin Powers as Quinn yelled. River told him to shut up and sit down. Demi gave Theo a wicked grin.

"You can't just say shit like that, Demi," Theo whispered to him more quietly than Demi did. All the Omega did was shrug at him until the man standing with them cleared his throat gaining their attention.

"We are gathered here to acknowledge the mating of Theodore Mateo and Demitri Rose. You guys may say your mating vows whenever you are ready."

They turned to face each other, smiles on their faces and hands intertwined. Theo went first.