When we were halfway there, I realized the reason forit.
Jeff Hunt, my fiance, was nowhere to beseen.
I gritted my teeth, kept my smile in place by force of sheer will, and stepped up to stand in front of the pastor. He gave me a smile that didn't quite fulfill itself on his face. I stood andwaited.
He would be here. He had to behere.
Ten agonizing minutes of waiting and making excuses for him did not make Jeff materialize. My gaze caught the Lupin Alpha's. Mark was enraged. I could see it in every line of hisbody.
"I'm sorry," he mouthed. He rose and jogged down the aisle to theback.
Maybe Jeff was unconscious in his quarters. Maybe he had drank too much. Maybe he got caught up infootball.
Maybe...
Maybe I had just been left at the altar for the thirdtime.
It wasapparent when Mark reentered the chapel without Jeff what had happened. I gave him a stiff nod, let my bouquet fall from my fingers and slowly descended down the steps of the chapel. People grabbed at me gently to express condolences. My mother tried to hold me back and so did myfather.
I said nothing. I did not let myselfcry.
I should have seen thiscoming.
I pushed open the doors to my quarters and locked them behind me. My friends and family knocked frantically for the first ten minutes until they slowly walkedaway.
I flopped down on the bed only to scratch my lip on what felt like an envelope. I took it away from my face, turned over, and held itup.
Jeff's familiar scrawl was across thetop.
That SOB had left me aletter?
Rage made my visionflicker.
I pulled out the slip of paper. It was short and to thepoint.
I can't believe you wouldn't use your gift to help me. This is not how a marriage should start. I'm sorry, Katie. I need someone who will supportme.
He had signed his name with the stupid flourish he always used where he made the last F sweep too far out so it would cross in the middle of the J in hisname.
"Support you?" I asked through clenched teeth. "I supported you through law school. I supported you when you went to find yourself after I caught you chatting up one of the succubi on Ash Street. I supported you when you wanted to wear a powder blue tux on our wedding day. AND NO ONE would have done that!" I let out a shriek of rage and shredded the note into a hundred pieces and let itfall.
Our relationship now looked like confetti floating through theair.
The sound of something metal scratching against the door caught my attention. "I told you to leave mealone!"
I wiped my hand against my snotty nose, ashamed to realize I had startedcrying.
The door was pulled off the hinges by a super sexy man wearing an oldtoolbelt.
I let out a hysterical laugh. At least my hormones were still working, even if I were a hotmess.
His warm brown eyes were sympathetic. "Sorry," he said. His voice was slightly accented, but I couldn't tell where he was from. "Your mother asked meto."
I shook my head. "It'sokay."
He bobbed his head once and sat the removed door against the wall of my room. "If it's any consolation, I've known Jeff Hunt for years. He’s a douchebag and you're better off withouthim."
My mouth dropped open and I wasn't sure whether to laugh or keep crying, but my mother pushed in past him and he gave me a long look and leftus.
