Page 24 of Priceless
But right now Ellie’s wedding was my focus. Shit hit the fan with Isolde’s ex-boyfriend last night after she’d bonded her pack and he’d found out about it. Again, I was happy for her, but my chest ached with longing whenever I remembered.
Sally and the girls were already waiting outside the mansion. “You guys ready to go?”
They saluted in unison, bringing a smile to my face for the first time today. “All right, let’s do this.”
My right hand woman had hired extra help for this in order to get things set up more quickly. They had their instructions, but there were always questions, and I already knew I’d have to make some adjustments since the bridal party was changing and I might have said fuck you in flower to Isolde’s ex while making his boutonniere.
I was in the foyer when someone bumped my shoulder. “Hey, you.”
Isolde. I smiled at her, relieved to see her looking so well. She was still in sweatpants and a t-shirt, but she was glowing like she’d swallowed the damn sun. “Hi. You okay?”
Her face dropped a little. We hadn’t had a chance to talk about everything. All I knew was some major shit went down at the rehearsal dinner, Beau was no longer in the wedding, and my best friend was now a bonded Omega.
“Yeah. It’s…” She took a breath. “You, Rin, and I will have dinner and talk about everything, okay? I don’t think I can go through it again today.”
One of the new girls came through the door, her arms lined with white paper bags. I pointed to a corner of the foyer. “The bouquets can go there, please. Boutonnieres too.” I looked back at Isolde. “I totally get that, and yes, please. I need to get the hell out of my house, and I think we all have things to talk about.”
A lot of fucking things to talk about.
“Are you okay?” She asked. Everything about her was genuine. She wanted to know. And I felt guilty for keeping so much from her and Rin. “The last couple of weeks?—”
Putting out a hand, I stopped the question. Because the three of us were so close, they always knew something was wrong, even when I pretended otherwise. And my friends were going to get a much closer look at my life now than they ever had before. “I can’t do it today either, Iz, sorry.”
Isolde looked at me for a second, and I felt her trying to figure out what the hell was going on with me. Girl, if you only knew. “That’s okay,” she finally said. “How can I help?”
I embraced the relief of not having to bare my soul just yet and recruited her to help me fix the flowers for her newly bonded pack member, who would be taking Beau’s place walking her down the aisle. Hawk was his name, and he looked at my friend like she’d hung the moon in the sky.
They all did as they appeared from deeper in the house, pulling Isolde into them like she was the sun they all revolved around. It was beautiful to look at. And painful.
Hawk’s words brought me back from my thoughts. “But it’s okay, Ocean, I can just wear that one.”
“No, you absolutely cannot.” I made sure to hold the flowers out of reach.
Her pack looked at me, utterly confused, but Isolde just smiled. “What does it mean, Ocean?”
In spite of how I felt today, I found myself holding back laughter. “It’s petunia, basil, and hemlock. Or rather, anger and disdain, hatred, and death.”
“Oh my god.” Isolde burst out laughing. “That’s incredible.”
“Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Vaughn, another one of her Alphas said.
I smirked before looking at my friend. “I’ll take a rose from your bouquet and put one together.”
“Perfect.”
Hawk and the others tugged her to the side once more, and I had to look away from the tenderness in the way they touched her. It was fine. I didn’t have time to focus on it anyway.
The new boutonniere for Hawk done, I helped Sally and the girls finish the arrangements around the ceremony space and on all the tables beneath the big white tent for the reception. Ellie’s designer mother supervised, and they really were beautiful. The girls had all outdone themselves.
Something settled in my chest. A feeling of pride and accomplishment I didn’t often get.
Arms grabbed me from behind, making me yelp. “Boo.”
I placed a hand on my chest. “Fuck, Rin. Warning next time.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“Keeping me from having a heart attack?”
