83: Marvellous Adventures of the Alpha’s Bodyguard Vol 2. II{Damon's POV}The cars on the street were jammed like sardines, horns and angry drivers screaming, and my GPS was proudly announcing: “Estimated time of arrival, twenty minutes.”Twenty. For a dress that needed to be there hours ago.I slapped the wheel and exhaled through my teeth. “Of course. Of course, this would happen today.”I looked to my right, car, cars, cars. And to my left? Even more cars.Petra had called twice. Lisa once. In the last couple minutes.And my grave was already being dug in spirit by both.Another horn blared. The traffic hadn’t moved an inch.I clicked my tongue and leaned forward, eyes narrowed.“Fine then.” Plan B!I yanked my tie loose, tore it clean off, and looped it through the garment bag’s hanger hook. I twisted it around my back like a cross-body satchel, ignoring the ridiculous look I was surely pulling.The guy next to me in a sleeveless tank, toothpick in mouth, did a double take as I s
{Ronan's POV}I’d only just left Lisa downstairs, still roped in the chatter and warmth of Petra and Mrs. Jocelyn, both of whom were smothering her in kisses and fussing like they hadn't seen her in years.The last thing I heard was Lisa’s laughter breaking through the hall, honest and full of emotion. Just the way I liked it.My steps were slow as I climbed the stairs, not from weariness but from this… lightness in my chest. I savoured every moment of it like it was the last. I glanced at the ring on my finger and let myself smile, slow and stupid. It was real now. All of it.I had a fiancée.Lisa Hart was going to be my wife.I was still grinning when I rounded the hallway and found Damon leaning by my office door, arms crossed, smirk already locked in.“Well, well. Look who finally put a ring on it.”I rolled my eyes. “Took me long enough, huh?”“Took you forever,” he said, pushing off the door frame and clapping my shoulder. “But congrats, man. Genuinely. Though you realize this m
{Lisa's POV}I stood in this large chamber with a ceiling so high I could barely see it, surrounded by Elders seething and full of rage, and I'm thinking… I know… in a couple of minutes, I’m going to feel better.Their voices thunder around me. Accusations, condemnations, veiled threats. It’s deafening, all of it. One Elder points a finger at me, frothing at the mouth as he rants about council ethics, about reckless power displays, about “endangering the political balance.”They’re angry that I went after Ronan so brazenly. That I had the girl kidnapped.That I made a hit list. They're angry I got caught.And they’re terrified. That part makes me smile.Of course, I keep my smile small, respectful. I lower my head, slightly. Hands folded. Calm, obedient. The perfect picture of a man in trouble.But I'm not.Because two of the Elders currently demanding my head are already mine. Not in the literal sense, but I’ve got enough on them to bring their entire bloodlines to ruin.And the oth
{Lisa's POV}The door hadn’t even fully creaked open before I heard Mrs. Jocelyn’s voice echo through the house like a morning alarm.“LISAAAAAAAAAAA!”The next second, her heels clacked furiously against the floor.I barely had time to stand from the living room couch before she came barreling in. Petra trailed behind her, phone still in hand, trying to close the front door with one foot and failing spectacularly.“There she is! She’s alive!” Petra cried.“I told you not to run in heels—” was all Ronan managed before Mrs. Jocelyn launched.I blinked, and then I was on the floor.Flat on my back with a woman twice my age on top of me, clutching my cheeks like I was a child who’d gotten lost at a supermarket.“Ohhh, Lisa!” Mrs. Jocelyn wailed dramatically, peppering kisses on my forehead. “My precious girl! My living, breathing miracle!”“Ma’am, I’m fine—”“You were missing! Do you know how worried I was? I aged seventy years!”“You did terribly, Lisa.” Petra mumbled from the hallway.
Lisa's POVDr. Johan’s office was nothing like I expected.For someone who supposedly specialized in werewolf pregnancies and supernatural medicine, I’d pictured something gothic. Dark bookshelves. A fireplace with a suspicious glow. Maybe a skull or two on a desk.I mean… I thought the same about Ronan’s estate too. Maybe I needed to re-evaluate my assessment of werewolves. They'd strangely been more normal — in tatse at least — than most humans I'd met.He waved us in with an odd flourish of his clipboard, his coat flapping behind him like a cape. Once seated, I finally got a good look at him and realized he wasn’t nearly as old as I’d assumed. Maybe early forties, tops. Clean-shaven, round glasses sliding down his nose, and a kind of energetic bounce to his steps like he’d been holding in a joke all morning.“Now,” he said, once I was settled across from him and Ronan stood behind my chair, “before I poke around anywhere, I need context.”“Context?” I asked.“Context,” he repeated,
Lisa's POVThe tears came before the words did.I clamped my hands over my face, overwhelmed and flushed and blinking through the blur. My lips trembled as I tried to hold it in, but the joy rolled out in waves, too big to contain.“Yes,” I gasped, laughing and crying at once. “Yes, I will!”His eyes lit up like I'd just handed him the moon. This lips curved from ear to ear. I don't think I've seen him this happy before.He took my hand, slid the ring onto my finger like it belonged there all along. And then he rose, pulling me into him before I even had the sense to breathe again. We kissed, the motions soft. Full of something tender, something that I couldn't name. But wasn't afraid of.He pulled back slightly, his forehead resting against mine. “There’s going to be a wedding,” he murmured, grinning.I blinked. “Wait. Again?”He laughed at my expression, eyes crinkling at the corners. “Of course. That contract marriage? That was business. This... this is us.”“Besides, there was no