Choices of Fate (Fate Series) (28 page)

Chloe came into view, moving a little too quickly and throwing the white rose petals from her basket around haphazardly with a wide grin on her face. When she saw Ethan, she ran over and hugged his legs, the top of her head already reaching his mid-thigh.
 

Her sweet presence helped to ease some of Ethan’s anxiety and he scooped her up into his arms, planting a quick kiss on her cheek before he set her down and shooed her over to Barb who was standing at the front of the other guests.

There were more attendants than he had anticipated. Along with the surprise of Alexa’s family, had come the addition of her former neighbors, Jesse and Jill. Before everyone took their places, William had introduced them to Ethan, informing him that they were actually long time friends of the Ryan family and had been sent to help keep an eye on Alexa. They were not the only humans that the High Commander had employed for that purpose. Apparently he had been keeping a fairly close eye on Alexa over the years, at least as close as he could without raising suspicion.

Then she stepped into view, smiling shyly as her eyes met his and he felt as if his heart had stopped. Every worry, every fear, every doubt melted away in that moment and a broad smile spread across his handsome face as he looked at her with reverence. Involuntarily, his gazed slid lower to take in the cut of her gown that fell perfectly on her curves.

When he looked into her eyes again, he saw a spark of arousal as she took in his appearance. He was dressed as the other men, in a well-tailored tuxedo, except his colors were opposite of the others, his jacket a beautiful ivory, the vest below onyx. The look on her face enflamed the passion which had been simmering since he left her bed in the night and he had to fight to keep the beast inside him leashed.

William discreetly cleared his throat, drawing Ethan’s attention back the matters at hand. He chanced a brief glance back at him to see him fighting a smile.

Alexa took the final steps to stand before Ethan and reached out with a visibly shaky hand to take his. His touch soothed her nerves and they turned together to take the three steps to stand before her father.

Everyone behind them sat in the chairs draped in white fabric that had been set up with intricately tied silver bows on the backs that matched the detailing on Alexa’s gown.

William nodded to the musicians who stood and exited down a path that ran perpendicular to the gazebo to wait until they were summoned once the ceremony was complete. Since this was a vampire wedding, certain traditions would be difficult to explain to the humans, but they could not risk inviting other vampires to play for fear of exposing Alexa and Chloe.

Alexa and Ethan stood facing one another, both sets of their hands firmly clasped together as they looked into each others eyes.
 

Ethan mouthed, “I love you,” silently, to which Alexa replied equally as silent, “I love you, I am so happy.”

William began to speak to them in a tongue that few present could understand. Josephine had informed her earlier that the first part of the ceremony required the use of the old tongue, one only spoken by the eldest of vampires, she herself only remembered some of the words which Elijah had taught her so many years ago when they were bonded.
 

After speaking for several minutes, the High Commander looked to the small crowd who all bowed their heads in response before he turned to the small table to his left and retrieved a small silver dagger and red satin ribbon. He turned first to Ethan and spoke the sacred words in English for Ethan to repeat.

“I bind myself to you, Alexa, blood, mind, body, and soul. I give myself to you freely and without reservation, to serve you, by my life or my death, from this day into eternity,” Ethan recited with love and adoration in his eyes as he took the offered dagger and made a small cut on the inside of his wrist.

He passed the dagger to Alexa as William instructed her to recite the same words to Ethan. Then she too cut her wrist, fighting not to wince at the pain, before passing the knife back to her father.

William took their two hands and laid their wrists, one on top of the other so that the blood from each incision united between them. He then bound them together with the red ribbon while again speaking words in the old language.

Then he said to the crowd first in the old tongue, then in English, “Let all those present witness and rejoice in this most sacred union.”

They repeated in unison, “By the blood, we bear witness.”

Though it was not typical of vampire unions, Ethan could not resist the temptation and pulled Alexa to him with his free arm, kissing her fiercely in front of everyone present, eliciting a couple of whoops and hollers from the crowd, mainly Jill and Jesse, but Jared joined in with a low whistle.

When Ethan finally released her, Alexa wobbled for a moment from the force of his kiss as she turned to face the crowd with a guilty smile and flushed cheeks. The music started up again and Ethan, with a megawatt smile on his face, turned his wrist within the binding of the ribbon to take Alexa’s hand. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Time to take our leave Mrs. Kellar,” and lead her back down the aisle through the cheering guests.

CHAPTER 24 -
Family Time

Back inside the house, Ethan and Alexa made their way to his bedroom where he undid the binding and pulled her wrist to his mouth, sliding his tongue over the small laceration to seal it before repeating the action on his own.
 

He then pulled her body to his, sliding his hands up her waist along the silky fabric of her gown before crushing his mouth to hers hungrily. She melted willingly into his kiss, sliding her arms up around his neck and pushing her hands through his soft hair.
 

He pulled back slightly, leaving her breathless as he looked lovingly into her eyes and said, “Te amo, Alexa. You are mine and I am yours.”

She looked back at him, slightly confused, a question burning in her mind.

“What is it, Amor?” he inquired.

“I just thought, I don’t know, that once we were bonded I would feel different. Your mother mentioned the physical connection that the bond creates, but I don’t feel anything more than what I did before.”

Ethan chuckled slightly at her obvious disappointment. “That is because we have not completed the bond, mi corazón. That part was to make you my wife, as humans do, but it was only the ceremony that unites us before our witnesses. The consummation of our bond is far too intimate to take place in public view,” he husked leaning in so that his breath slid over the sensitive skin of her neck sending a shiver down her spine.

 
“Oh,” she whispered lazily as she tilted her head giving him better access to her neck, “what will that be like?”

“Hmmm,” he whispered as he kissed her neck gently, “it will be like heaven.”

“Can you be a little more specific, Mr. Kellar?” she challenged pushing him back slightly.

“Well,” he pulled her close again, “first we are going to go on a little trip, somewhere we can truly be alone.” He kissed her neck again, “I know how you worry about my parents hearing your screams,” he teased.
 

“And where exactly are we going?” she questioned, fighting not to lose herself in his touch.

“That, Amor, is a surprise.” He traced his finger down the side of her neck and down the deep cut of her dress between her breasts, eliciting a low moan. “When we are alone, and I have your beautiful body writhing beneath me,” he whispered, “I will bite you here,” he kissed her neck again, flicking his tongue over the place he had bitten her before, causing her vein to rise to his call, “and bury myself deep inside you.”

Alexa felt the moisture gathering at the apex of her thighs as she listened to Ethan’s hushed words as he continued. “And then you will take my blood from here,” he said raising his wrist which had already healed from the earlier ceremony, “to complete the circle.”
 

The thought of taking his blood made her feel thirsty in a way she had never felt before.

He took her face in both hands and slanted his lips over hers, his tongue delving in ever so slightly before he said. “I will be inside you and you will be inside me. Once we have mixed our blood in this way and have marked each other, the bond will be complete. These marks will stay with us, like human scars, letting all others know that you belong to me alone. And I to you.”

He kissed her again, deeper this time before he pulled back leaving them both breathless. “Now I am afraid, Amor, that we must return to our guests. They will want to celebrate with us before we leave, and it would be unforgivably rude for us to stay locked away until our departure.”

He took her hand and headed for the door as she used her free hand to smooth out her dress and fidget with her hair.

“You look perfect, Amor,” Ethan said smiling back at her as she lagged behind.

Suddenly she froze, “Wait, Ethan, how long will we be gone? What about Chloe? We can’t leave!” she said starting to panic. “At the rate she’s growing we won’t even recognize her when we get back!”

“Calm yourself, mi corazón. We will be gone for one week and Chloe will be well cared for in our absence. With two sets of greedy grandparents fighting for her attention she will hardly notice. And we have the benefit of technology, I have already worked out the details so that we will be able to FaceTime with her as often as we like.”

While it would not be the same as being with her, Alexa found comfort knowing that she would at least be able to see and talk to Chloe each day.

“Now, let us go and join the celebration, we only have a few hours and I am certain your family would like some time with you before we go,” he said as he opened the door for her.

✧

Once they were back amongst the guests in one of the large rooms in the west wing of the house that had been expertly decorated for the occasion, Alexa could see that Ethan was right. Chloe seemed quite at home bouncing around between her doting grandparents soaking up all of the extra attention.

Looking around at all of the food, Alexa thought that Josephine had gone a little overboard. There was enough to feed a small army instead of the twelve who were in attendance. Although she had noted at previous meals that vampires seemed to have exceptionally healthy appetites for human cuisine.
 

Alexa grabbed a large strawberry from a nearby tray and dipped it into the accompanying chocolate sauce before taking a large bite, sending juice dripping down her chin. She went to wipe it off with the napkin in her hand, but before she could Ethan was there using his finger to clear it away then he put it in his mouth and sucked in one of the most erotic gestures she had ever seen.
 

And just as quickly as he appeared, he was gone, back to his conversation with Elijah and Josephine who simply smiled at her from across the room.

“Anyway, we’re really sorry we couldn’t tell you, but we made a promise and they only wanted to make sure you were safe without interfering.” Jill said pulling Alexa back to the conversation. “We didn’t really do the best job at the not interfering part. You just seemed so alone, I couldn’t help myself,” she said looking at Alexa with compassion. To her own surprise, instead of feeling angry at being spied on, she felt oddly touched that her family had cared enough to go to such lengths as to send humans to keep an eye on her. Apparently, they were not the first humans who had been employed for such a purpose, there having been one or more people watching over her since the moment she left the group home all those years ago. However, the rest had remained completely hands off, only watching from a distance. Somehow, it made her feel more connected to the family that she had only met that day, though she still had so many questions.

It was then that William and Rebecca appeared at her side. “Darling, would you grant us the pleasure of a private audience?” He requested rather formally.

“Of course, father,” she replied, giving Jill a little wave as she turned to follow them. As they passed a tray of full champagne flutes, she grabbed one and downed the contents before they were out of the room.
 

When they were safely tucked away in the privacy of the parlor, William began to speak, “We wanted to take the opportunity to explain our actions over all these years, before your new husband whisks you away. I understand if you are angry and confused, but you must know that everything thing we did was to protect you.”

Tears were already streaming down Rebecca’s face. Alexa was silent for a moment, considering how to respond, how to ease some of her parents’ guilt because while her life had been difficult, she now realized there had been a purpose to all of it.

Before she could speak, William looked at her with surprise, “You are not angry with us. I must say, that while my heart hoped for such understanding, I in no way expected it.”

Rebecca looked to William and began to cry even harder, unable to speak as she grabbed Alexa and pulled her into a tight embrace. Now it was Alexa’s turn to look surprised as she returned her mother’s hug. She smiled when the truth flooded her mind, “So I inherited my gift from you, father,” she said with a smile.

“Yes, you are a clever young woman. I want you to know, we are so proud of you. All that you have endured, to still possess such a pure and compassionate heart, it is remarkable, as are you.”

They spent the next hour talking about the past. The anguish that he and her mother felt when they discovered her mark. How they had enlisted the help of a witch to suppress her transformation before they sent her to the group home under the care of Ms. Johnson to keep her hidden from the vampire world, which they assured her could be removed as soon as she and Ethan returned from their honeymoon. The told her about the trust fund, the human watchers, how heartbreaking it was to remain separated from her, all of it. By the time they were finished, most of her and her mother’s makeup had been washed away by tears and William’s eyes were red, but they were all smiling.