Impending Mate, The Moltiare Collection: Bk2 (Sample)(Available on Amazon/SW)

Chapter 1 (Allison)

“So,” Jessie began as she smoothed out her dress, “How do I look?”

Her fair skin looked like faded glass, so beautiful and fragile, while the off white wedding gown rested neatly on her shoulders and flowed to her ankles where bright red sandals had been slipped onto her feet to match her hair. Her hair had been pinned up in a half up-half down do, her bangs swayed to the side as she fluttered her lightly mascaraed eyelashes.

“For the umpteenth time, you look beautiful.” I sighed and turned to Aaron, who came through the door seconds before hand, “Aaron? Doesn’t she look like the most beautiful woman in the world?”

It was year since Vlamir and his hybrid pack had come and gone, though some of the damage they had done was everlasting. There were still scars on Marie’s chest, marking the battle for her life that she had just barely pulled through. It had taken her months to get back up to her normal health, months that she was confined to her own two legs, whining about the full moon and wanting to run beneath it. If it hadn’t been for the fact that she broke the film of silence that plagued me, she would have driven me mad long before today.

Then again, she wasn’t the only one that did. Lilyia, a very healthy year and a half old, spent her days running circles around her mother and her mother’s mate. Ethan took each day with a laugh and grin, find a new similarity each day that made Lilyia more his. He was a wonderful father, and Jessie was a more than amazing mother. It made my heart ache, even as I smiled, because when I watched them, I remembered what it was like with my parents. I wished that I had more time to experience that.

“Well I’m hardly the person to ask. I’ll always think that you’re the most beautiful woman in the world.” Aaron answered as his eyes drifted over the lace covered dress that Jessie had forced me in to. There was a moment of darkness in his gaze, something that cried out in hunger although he ignored it, and something that made my skin crawl with delight….I didn’t like it.

“You do look absolutely beautiful though, Jess.” He began again as he look towards my sister, “I just hope that you understand that in a situation like this, I’m completely biased.”

“And not ashamed by it I see.” She chuckled and placed a hand over the tip of her stomach and let out a breath.

Aaron moved closer to her side, but she waved him off.

“I’m fine. He just hits like a truck.” She grinned as she spoke about her son.

Jessie was pregnant for the second time, but glowing as both her wolf and those around her allowed her to enjoy the pregnancy like she didn’t get the chance to with Lilyia.

It was nearly nine months ago that she had found out the news, being spun around as the family and pack cheered her on, and she was expected give birth at any moment. Ethan and the others had tried to convince her to postpone the wedding because of it, but she shook her head. After all the plans had already been set, and if she went into labor during her wedding, then that’s how it was meant to happen.

“Allie,” Jessie began in protest when she caught the sour look on my face, “he was complimenting you. The least you could do is say thank you.”

“Thanks, I guess.” I offered up a sigh and watched as Aaron’s lips twitched, showing he was upset, but still he smiled as if nothing were wrong. God, I hated it when he did that. He made me feel guilty, like I had done something wrong, but maybe that was what he wanted.

In the two years that I had been here, Aaron and I hadn’t gotten an inch closer, not that I’d let him in if he tried. The fact seemed to be lost on everyone around me that I just was not ready to take on a mate, and I knew that it upset Jessie to see me alone, but I didn’t need another person to wrap me in a tight bundle of affection. Affection and pity were definitely the last things I needed.