30 MINUTES TO THE WEDDING

CHAPTER 9

Nova Sterling Point Of View

“Go jump in a fire!” I kick the nearest coin so hard it strikes Audra's diamond shoe. 

Audra's fake smile disappears as she matches forward in three steps. Her sickly, sweet perfume made me cough.

“You're nothing but,” she hisses in my ear. “A dirty brat, Kieran will forget about by next week.” Her hand delivers a sharp slap across my face. Pain explodes in my cheek. 

I bit my tongue hard in agony and tasted blood. 

Kieran roars loud enough to shake dust from the ceiling. He throws off two guards within minutes and appears beside me, his rough thumb gently touching my burning cheek. 

“Nova” His voice breaks, saying my name.

Audra watches us like we are insects under a microscope. “How sad.” She snaps her fingers, and four guards pounce on Kieran, forcing him outside the door. 

“Take him to the wedding chapel. Use chains if you have to.”

When I try to help, a guard punches my ribs. I crashed into the table; my vision swam into darkness.

Audra kneels beside me, her fancy dress pooling around her like spilt juice. “Let me explain this simply.” The knife edge presses harder against my throat. 

A sharp pain spreads across my skin as warm blood trickles down my neck. I didn’t move a muscle. This is the third time today someone's tried to cut me - what's one more wound? 

“Kieran becomes mine in thirty minutes.” Audra's breath hits my face, smelling like expensive mint toothpaste and something rotten underneath. “You'll watch the ceremony, then kneel and disappear forever.”

Behind her, four huge guards drag Kieran toward the elevators. His crisp white shirt has torn at the shoulder where they grabbed him. 

Our bond mark burns under my sleeve like a living thing trying to reach him across the room. 

“Nova, fight back”, Kieran starts to say. 

A guard's elbow slams into his ribs with a bone-crushing impact. The sound makes my stomach twist into knots. 

The elevator doors slide shut on his golden eyes - not angry, not scared. — just filled with guilt, like he failed me. 

Audra wipes her blood-filled knife on my collar; the delicate fabric tears under the blade. “Clean yourself up. You're staining my wedding floor.”

Her diamond heels click against the marble as she walks away, leaving perfect red footprints on the white stone. 

I spit on the ground. The blood makes a dark red splatter that looks like a dying rose. 

Cold fingers suddenly grab my wrist. Before I can react, Sloane yanks me into a narrow stock room. The sharp smell of bleach burns my nose and makes my eyes shed water. 

“Twenty-nine minutes left,” she whispers. Her phone screen lights up her face in the dark.

I see her cracked red lipstick and smudged black mascara. She’s not the perfect Kieran ice princess anymore. 

A live recording from her phone shows Kieran chained to a stone altar; his suit jacket is missing.

A priest reads from a big book while Audra adjusts the diamond tiara on her hair. 

“She doesn't want him,” Sloane says. Her long nails dig into my arm hard enough to hurt. “She wants the Alpha power in his blood. Their first child together will inherit his mark.”

My fingers automatically find my bond mark. It pulses under my touch—warm, alive, and utterly inappropriate for this situation. I couldn't bear the thought of losing Kieran to Audra.

“Why are you helping me?” I frown.

Sloane laughs. “I wore that same diamond Kiara wedding crown five years ago.”

She presses a keycard into my palm. It's still warm from being hidden in her bra. “We will use the service elevator that goes straight to the roof. There are no cameras.”

The stock room door creaks open, and a flashlight spreads outside the hallway. 

“Go!” she shoves me toward the fire exit. And Nova, don't trust Vaughn. He helped plan this whole thing,” she whispers.

The service elevator smells like Audra's heavy rose perfume mixed with old cigarette smoke. I press my forehead against the cold metal wall, and a vision of the past slams into my senses. My scenes are now filled with scenes from the past.

In A Flash Back—

Sixteen-year-old Kieran showed me secret tunnels under the Mercer estate. “Father said the diamond mines will protect our pack.” pointing to one of the tunnels. “I have to marry Audra to claim the mines.”

I laughed as I kicked pebbles into the darkness. "I'd rather eat broken glass than marry for money.”

He hid his eyes in shame while fixing it on his shiny shoes: “Not all of us get to choose.”

In The Present Moment

The vision cleared, and my senses returned to the present Moment. Then the elevator dings, the door slides open, and the icy wind slaps my face hard enough to make my eyes shed water. 

Across the rooftop, Kieran stands at a stone altar, his wrists cuffed behind him. The metal chains reflect the orange sunset like they're on fire. 

“Twenty-two minutes left,” Sloane whispers.

Kieran sees me first. His whole body tenses like a tight rope pulled to its limit. 

Audra notices his reaction and turns to follow his gaze, her long white veil waving in the wind. “Took you long enough!” Her voice sounds like honey poured over the barbed wire. “Want to catch the bouquet?” her voice sounds sweet, but you'd bleed if you get too close. 

I step forward slowly. Small pieces of gravel crunch loudly under my boots. Every guard's hand moves to their weapon at the same time. 

Kieran shakes his head just slightly - so small I almost miss it. His eyes scream, “No, don't do this.”

Too late. I ran forward as the first gunshot cracked through the air like thunder. The echo vibrates in my teeth while Audra's laugh cuts through the air, sharp as a violin's high note.

“Oh, Nova” Diamond rings flash as she flips her veil aside. “Did you think I'd betray my dignity with Kieran, a damaged good?”

The guards step back. And there’s Sloane, wearing a white lace. Her sharp eyes were closed, and Spit covered her chin— she’d been drugged.

My stomach twists in rage as bile hits my throat. “You fucking psychopath,” I shouted.

Upon seeing Sloane, Kieran hit his chains against stone and roared with high intensity—raw, like something tearing itself apart. The silver cuffs burned into his skin, and the smell of torn flesh clashed with Audra’s perfume. 

She spins the empty syringe between her fingers to inject me. “This contains enough wolfsbane to break you.” Her breath hits my ear.

“Some of us don’t run from duty.” The words came out sweet and heavy on her tongue.

Three truths rotate in my skull: Sloane's warnings weren't jealousy; they were survival. Kieran isn't thrashing his chains to escape; he’s terrified for Sloane. The gunshot was never meant to hit me; it was a trap to make me surrender.

I dive for the syringe; her heel crushes my hand. My bones grind against the marble floor as I fall.

She bends down and pushes my chin up with the syringe. “Wouldn't you like to know how it feels? To kneel at his feet, begging while he bonds another?”

Kieran thrashes against the iron grip around his jaw; the look in his eyes was undiluted fear

Then, the priest starts conducting the engagement ceremony as guests' robes and gowns sweep the floor. “We’re gathered here today to perform a ritual, " the priest says.