Page 72 of Her Eternal Mate

Here Comes the Bridestarted playing in the background as I neared the stage. Will stepped down and helped me get up to the stage. All of the panic that had been trapped in my heart up until now suddenly disappeared the moment I laid eyes on his face.

“You look beautiful,” he whispered.

“Not too bad yourself, there, mister,” I whispered back.

Vince cleared his throat. I turned around and saw that he was no longer standing behind Will, as a best man should, but between the two of us, like an officiant.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Vince said in a loud voice that carried to the last aisle.

I looked inquisitively at Will, who shrugged and shook his head, revealing that he had no knowledge of this beforehand.

“Today, we are gathered here for the most auspicious event this pack has ever seen. And, of course, how could I have just let it slide that two of my best friends in the entire world were getting married? I got ordained just so that I could perform the ceremony and pronounce them man and wife,” Vince said.

I giggled, knowing that it was exactly like Vince to pull off something like this at the last second, and that too without anyone’s knowledge.

“Will and Alexis have, throughout their relationship, shown such moral fiber that it would put us all to shame. They have been through the best of it all, just as they have been through the worst of it all. But most importantly, they have proven, throughout all their trials and tribulations, that fated mates never leave each other’s side. And that’s what we’re here to celebrate today. They have proven, in every sense of the word, that they are each other’s fated mates,” Vince said. “And now, the rings.”

Maliha brought out the ring that I’d given to her. It was a simple platinum band with Will’s initials carved into it. Both of us had agreed that we’d keep things simple. I saw Vince hurriedly pass the ring to Will, saying, “It’s hard being both the best man and the officiant, ladies and gentlemen.”

“As you put on the rings, you may say your vows,” Vince said.

Will extended his hand toward me. I held his hand steady with my left hand as I put on the ring on his finger with my right hand.

“Will,” I said, feeling a mix of happiness, heaviness, and disbelief. “Five years ago, if someone had said that the legendary Wilhelm Grimm was going to be my fated mate, I would have told them that it was impossible. But you made the impossible happen. You showed up one day, to everyone’s astonishment, and you have been a part of my life ever since through thick and thin. You have taught me how to love, respect, cherish, celebrate, and, most importantly, live. Before you, I was just surviving. With you, I am at the top of the world, enjoying each life experience. I hope that never stops. I hope we keep having new experiences together till the end of our days.”

I put on the ring on his finger and then presented my own. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see everyone at the wedding looking at us both, mesmerized and enchanted.

“Alexis Richards. For more than seventy years, I was tortured, experimented upon, and promised a gruesome death. If someone had told me that I would find a mate like Alexis at the end of those seventy years, I would have happily gone through all that torture and pain. I was lost in life. Even before I met you, even before I left Germany, I considered myself lost and purposeless. It wasn’t until I met you that I found my calling, my purpose, my desire to live. Every single day that I’ve spent with you has made me evolve into a much better man, all thanks to you. I hope that I never stop improving. But most of all, I hope that I keep you happy, provide for you, and be the best mate you could ask for.”

Will slipped the ring on my finger. I looked up at him, smiling, my eyes full of love. I could see my reflection in his eyes, just as he could look at his in mine.

“They put it so beautifully, folks, that there’s nothing else left to say, but by the power granted unto me, I now pronounce you man and wife,” Vincent said. “You may now kiss the bride.”

It was as if Will had been holding himself back all this time. The minute Vincent gave the go-ahead, Will leaped forward, wrapped his arms around me tightly, and kissed me fiercely. Well, Will wasn’t the only one holding back. The second our lips met, I held onto his face and deepened the kiss, reaching for his tongue with my tongue, tasting the whiskey he’d drunk last night during the bachelor party, feeling the safest I’d ever felt in my entire life.

I was his wife now. And he was my husband.

Chapter 34

Will

The cheering of the wedding guests, the over-the-top décor, the flying doves that were set free the moment Alexis and I kissed it was all secondary to me. What truly mattered was my wife. I liked that word. I could get used to calling her my wife. No longer just my mate or my girlfriend, Alexis Richards was now Alexis Grimm, wife of Wilhelm Grimm.

“What’s happening?” Alexis suddenly called out as the guests cleared the aisles and went outside the tent.

“It would seem like our guests are a little bit too eager to get started with the party,” I said, watching as they hurriedly stomped their feet out of the tent and towards the community center where the reception was going to take place.

“It’s almost as if they’ve never seen a wedding,” Alexis said, chuckling.

“Be real, have they really seen a wedding, like a proper wedding with bells and whistles and no threat looming over the horizon? This is the first time they’re attending an event without having to worry about a corrupt mayor, vampires, or a mutated army of soldiers. I say let them have it. Besides, aren’t we leaving tonight? We can bear them a little while longer.”

“I still can’t believe that we’re leaving,” Alexis said, holding my hand. “Finally.”

“Let’s just pray that everything happens smoothly. We have yet to break the news to the pack as a whole.”

“So, dear husband, seeing as how I’ve never been married before, what are we supposed to do when we go to the community center? Are we going to sit there at the head of the table, or do we have to dance?”

“You’re asking me as if I’m a seasoned husband. This is my first marriage too. It would have been good if someone were here to give me pointers.”