Cyncerely Yours

voice had argued against that decision, pointing out that her maid of honor would look prettier than her. Well, Lily always did, so the voice wasn't exactly lying. But however lovely Lily looked in her trim little sundress, she was not wearing fairy silk.

    “Thanks. Not that anyone will be looking at me, but it's nice to know. You aren't hyperventilating, are you?”

    “Just fizzing.” Lily had caught up, so Cynna started moving again, paying attention this time so her walk didn't turn into a gallop. " You've got the ring?”

    Lily patted the pocket of her jacket. “Safe and sound.”

    She was going to wear a wedding ring. Cullen was, too. Cullen would probably be the only lupus in the world who wore a wedding ring. Wasn't life weird?

    They rounded the last tree and Cynna saw her wedding guests and the priest; Rule, who stood only few feet away, next to a couple of the guests and Cullen . . . who stood over another of the guests. Who lay on the ground, moaning.

    “What the—”Lily broke off and hurried forward. " What’s going on?”

    “Wedding nerves,” Rule said dryly.

    The man slowly pushed up until he was sitting, rubbing his jaw, his expression dazed. One of the other men bent to help him up just as Cynna reached the small knot of people. “Hey, wait,” she said. “Those aren’t our guests. I don't know the other two, but that's Baxter. I didn't invite Baxter. Did you, Cullen?”

    “Told you she didn’t invite him,” Cullen said smugly to Rule, then turned to Cynna. “He was being his usual self— stupid and insulting. So I . . . wow.” Cullen's gaze took a slow cruise up Cynna's body, having already taken the trip down. “Nice. Really, really nice.” His kindled eyes reached Cynna's face, hot blue embers in a face suddenly taut. “And mine. ”

    “You get a lifetime lease,” Cynna said, “but I’ m still owner and operator.”

    Rule made a muffled sound that might have been a cough.

    Baxter was on his feet now. He shook off the other guy's hand. “I’ll tell you what happened. He hit me. That damned werewolf walked up and —”

    “Uh, uh, uh!” Cullen said cheerfully, wagging his finger. “Remembe r what I told you about being rude at my wedding.”

    Baxter turned a nice, waxy shade of pale.

    Rule said, “Perhaps you gentlemen would like to enjoy another section of the par k on this lovely summer morning. One a nice, long ways from here. ”His voice was as mild as his words. His face wasn't. After one glance at him, Baxter's two friends decided it was time to leave. They didn't have much trouble persuading Baxter of this change of plans.

    Not surprisingly, all of their guests had turned to watch. Cynna scanned the faces she could see, hoping.

    The other lupi weren't happy with Cullen's decision. Rule was the only Nokolai lupus present, and that wasn't just because they were so far from Nokolai clanhome. But two lupi from another clan, Mendoza, had accepted the invitation, and after a moment Cynna spotted them.

    Good. Her breath eased out. Maybe Cullen wouldn't be completely ostracized.

    She hadn't found another face she was looking for, though. “Gan isn’t here?”

    “I haven’ t seen her,” Rule said, “and she's hard to miss.”

    The former demon had been all excited about attending the wedding, insisting that Edge would be okay without her — and the medallion she wore--if she wasn't gone long.

    Someone might have persuaded her otherwise, though. Or she might have gone swimming and lost track of time in the pursuit of fishies.

    “We’ll take our places now,” Lily told them firmly.

    The plan was for Rule and Lily to precede them down the aisle — which, of course, wasn't an aisle, but a very skilled Wiccan witch had cast a subtle “keep back” spell that discouraged people from lingering in the path the wedding party would take to the front, where Father Michaels waited.

    Cullen gave someone a thumbs up — probably Sherri, the witch who would remove the “keep back” spell. Cynna couldn't spot her in the crowd. “Good grief. Did we really invite that many people?”

    “Looks like,” Cullen said. He held out his arm.

    Cynna linked hers through it. Lily and Rule started for their spot at the back of the crowd, and Cynna and Cullen followed. “So what did you tell Baxter?” Cynna asked.

    “To be polite.”

    “That's not all you said.”

    “I might have added that—”

    Cullen didn't stop speaking. He just became hard to