#CHAPTER 6 Speak Now

Lucas looked just as shocked as I felt. “What?” Harper squealed. “You heard what I said, I don’t think there is anything to be confused about. Sir, go ahead,” Caleb says to the officiant, keeping an arm tightly wound around me. “Are you… are you having an affair with Lucas’s brother? You whore!” Harper shouted, lunging for me. I had no time to step out of the way, Caleb picked me up and swirled me around him, keeping me safe from the attack. Harper fell face-first on the marble floor, her nose leaking blood. “I’m the whore? Lucas has been sleeping with you for our entire engagement,” I shouted, more to the audience in the pews than to Harper. It was time they all knew the truth. “He had no intention of honoring this marriage from the very start!” A collective gasp rang around the room, and Lucas finally shook himself out of his stupor to react. “Ruby, there is no need for hysterics–” he started, reaching for me, but Caleb pulled me farther back protectively. “This woman before you has been requiring tranquilizations at night to calm her panics and psychosis. I didn’t want to inform you all before this out of respect for my mate and future wife, but it appears she is in need of another dose.” “That’s not–” I start, but the shocking realization hits me like a brick. In the weeks before my wedding Lucas had given me nightly shots of pale, sage-green liquid in glass vials. I had never questioned them, thinking they really were the vitamins he claimed them to be. I was never sickly before, but that was when my wolf became weaker and weaker. No wonder I couldn’t contact Willow at all anymore, and it was all Lucas’ doing! I nearly screamed in anger, but Caleb held me back from making any attacks. We were surrounded now on all sides by the guards who had originally been stationed at the doors of the grand hall. They eyed the four of us at the altar fearfully, unwilling to come any closer to Caleb. I looked up at him and was surprised to see the vicious fire burning in his eyes. He stared them down, even as they pointed knives and weapons in his face. It was obvious his Alpha’s authority terrified them, and even though he looked poised to strike, I felt oddly safe behind him. The thought struck me I could hit the two of them where it hurt. Harper thought she could frame me as a harlot? I knew she wasn’t innocent either. I had only seen bits and pieces of evidence of her relationship with the gamma of the pack prior to my rebirth. It wasn’t much to go on, but if I managed to land this accusation, it could turn the opinion of the pack in Caleb’s and my favor. “If you insist on my adultery, what about yours? I’m not the only one promised to Lucas who betrayed him.” A direct hit. Harper stilled, the blood still trickling out of her nose from her earlier fall. She looked pathetic, like she might break out whining if I pressed her. Lucas shot her a puzzled look, and she immediately launched into self-defense. “She’s clearly still high on the drugs, we can’t take anything she says seriously! She has to be detained. Look at the two of them! They’re clearly sleeping together!” She was screaming by the end of her rant, like she was scared of running out of things to say in her own defense. “Harper, shut up!” Lucas growled harshly. “But Lucas, this bitch–” “I said, shut up!” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, ruining the perfectly coiffed curls which were now drenched in nervous sweat. “Ruby, darling, you don’t want to do this.” “No, I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time.” And with that, I pulled out the tape recorder. “I’ll be there for every moment of your marriage, just like I always have been for every step of your engagement. Lucas is mine, and he’ll be in my bed tonight, not yours.” The sound quality was grainy, but there was no mistaking that it was Harper’s whiny voice preserved on the recorder. I wished I could expose the torturous sounds I had been subject to throughout my marriage in my past life, the lewd moans and wet, sloppy kisses which echoed from the balcony into my chambers at night. The constant knowledge that she was somewhere in my own palace, fucking my husband. This admission of guilt would have to do. And it seemed to be having just the effect I wanted. The wedding guests were clamoring and shouting as the entire hall erupted into chaos. Lucas raised his voice to call for order, but no one heard him above the roar. “You and I have a mate bond, Lucas, even though you seem to conveniently forget whenever you want Harper in your bed. But that also means you know I have been loyal to only you. I–” He took a threatening step towards me, but Caleb raised his hand to stop him. “Careful,” Caleb warned, his voice dangerously low. “If you two think you can throw away everything I have worked for by hurling a few insults, you are more than wrong.” He hissed under his breath, so just Caleb and I could hear the threat. “You’re no queen.” His words stung, but I held my ground. “Silence!” Lucas shouted, but it made no difference to the fighting beginning to break out amongst the guests in the pews. “Get them out of here, clear the venue.” He ordered to the guards surrounding us. They nodded their allegiance and began pushing back the crowd, except for the Lycan King who was seated in the spot of honor at the front of the hall. I inhaled nervously as I noticed his expression for the first time since the start of the ceremony. His eyes were clouded over with angry shadows, and it looked like he might burst into flames. Despite the heavy robes and crown on his head, he seemed more like a tired father who needed to deal with his misbehaving children in front of a large, judgemental crowd. I felt Caleb tense behind me, his hand still clutching at my waist, and I realized he had mindlinked with the King, he must have been explaining the situation. I felt totally powerless for that moment, completely in Caleb’s hands as he dealt with the King. Just as the guards managed to get the hall cleared and we were left alone at the altar, he waved his hand silently and without expression. I looked up behind me to see Caleb smirking, as he returned his attention to Lucas. “Well now, we can’t argue with that can we? Little Lucas with the ambitions he can’t achieve, what on earth will you do now?” Lucas’s eyes turned scarlet in fury, and he leapt towards me like a wolf about to pounce on its prey. His alpha power was glowing a brilliant bloody red. I gasped, and before I could react, Caleb’s Alpha power burst from behind me like an exploding star, blinding me with the brightness and pulling me tighter into him. Lucas dropped from his leap like a stone and rolled over on his side, struggling to catch his breath. Caleb had barely moved a muscle, and he managed to leave Lucas scrambling on the ground with just the strength of his Alpha power? Who was this man? He chuckled as his brother groaned in pain, planting a gentle, tender kiss on my forehead. “Come on baby, tell your ex-fiancee who you belong to now.”