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“Do you, Daniel take Rebecca to be your lawfully wedded wife?“
“I do.“
Dani laced her hands beneath her chin and squeezed hard so she wouldn’t cry as she watched her cousin beam up at her fiancé. Or, at least, her fiancé for another five seconds.
“And do you Rebecca take Daniel to be your lawfully wedded husband?“
“Mine!“ their daughter said from between them, holding onto her father’s pant legs in a fluffy green dress.
Becca laughed and crouched down to pull her daughter into her arms as she said, “Ours. And I do.“
Judge Johnson, the local magistrate, sniffed and bit his mustache as he tried to pull it together too. “Then by the power vested in me by the State of West Virginia, I now pronounce you husband and wife.“
The lovebirds didn’t wait for instructions and mashed their faces together.
Dani wiped away her tears and then gave up as her magic swept her up in the tornado of love. Normally, she kept her empathy talents on hard-core lockdown, but weddings were one spot where she could relax into pure joy. Then a discordant note of disappointment twanged from some of the attendees, and she shut down quickly and shivered. Not everyone was happy about this.
At least the newlyweds hadn’t let it get to them. Dan lifted his new bride and their daughter in his arms and spun them in a circle.
A cheer went up from the assembled watchers, and when Becca came down to earth, literally, she said, “Let’s party!“
“You okay?“ her cousin Andie asked from behind her as she put her hands on her back.
They were exactly the same height, so when her cousin put her chin on her shoulder, it fit perfectly.
Dani felt like she was standing on a boat in a storm with all of the waves of emotion buffeting her, but she had long practice keeping her perturbation off of her face as she spun to face her cousin and gave her a hug. “I’m perfect. How are you?”
Andie’s lover, Elliot, came up behind her brandishing clear, plastic glasses a touch fancier than the usual red solo party cups. They were filled with bubbly liquid. “Here you go, ladies.”
When he walked back to the drinks, Andie said, “You give someone a whirl.”
“What, a shifter?” Dani gave her another hug and said, “You think there’s a magical shifter out there for me?”
For a second, Dani let herself imagine it. Would there be a shifter who was like her? Whom she wouldn’t have to lie to? Who could connect with her as naturally as she did with everyone else?
It sounded way too good to be true. And way too tempting.
She took a sip from the glass and gasped when she realized this wasn’t real champagne. Her cousins had a booming moonshine business, and somehow they’d carbonated who-knew-what-proof alcohol.
She coughed and said, “Cheers.”
Andie took a sip and said, “I didn’t think they could make anything stronger.”
When a wave of laughter hit her with false joy and an undercurrent of nameless jealousy, Dani drained the glass.
Andie blinked at her with wide eyes. “Well, okay then.“
Dani looked around. The bluegrass had mellowed into a waltz, and couples were pairing off. “Help me.“
“Help you do what?“
“Help me find some dude I am not related to.”
Andie raised an eyebrow. “A shifter?“
Dani waved that away. She wasn’t going to put her hope in mythical magical connections. But she was going to enjoy this afternoon if it killed her.
Elliot approached again with a little tray of canapés, and Dani wrinkled her nose for an entirely different reason. She’d offered at least three times to cater this wedding for her cousin, but Becca had insisted that she did not want anyone working on her big day and had brought in an outside restaurant.
“You don’t want any?” Elliot asked when she made no move to reach for one.
Andie said, “Later. We need to find her a man.“
Dani’s face flared. Every Abbott had annoyingly pale skin under their dark hair, which made blushes look even more dramatic. It was one thing to confide in her cousin. It was another to confide in her cousin’s new love she barely knew. Granted, what she knew, she liked. He had the integrity to match Andie; they were perfect together. But still.
He seemed to sense her hesitation as he said, “Oh, I doubt Dani has very much trouble finding men lining up to meet her.”
Andie shook her head and said, “We’re not talking about the sons of witches who just want power, we’re talking about a fling.”
“Not a fling.” She didn’t do flings. Flings left her bruised, battered, and doing a thousand reps in the kitchen to put herself back together after her talents told her far too much about a total stranger who shared her bed.
Andie shrugged and said, “One dance. Before the waltzes are over.“
There would be a thousand more waltzes. And then there would be some Irish step dancing as the party swung into a full Ceili before they heard any music written in the last fifty years.
A dude swung by and paused. He was tall, blonde, and clearly related to Elliot and the other Dukes. He had to be a shifter.
“I haven’t waltzed since I had to join the ballroom dancing club in middle school, but I thought I’d give it a shot,” he said, staring at her with interest.
Andie looked between them as she said, “I am good.”
Elliot pulled her to his side with a shake of his head. “Dani, this is my cousin Jace. Jace, this is Andie‘s cousin, Dani.” Elliot’s voice was stilted as he made the introduction, and Dani opened her filters just a little bit but was immediately overwhelmed with love and drunken shenanigans. It had only been a few minutes; this batch was strong.
She slammed shut and smoothed her hands down her dress, a little turquoise number she’d always loved with a bit of a petticoat under it to make it flare out at her knees. “Nice to meet you.“
“Same.” He grinned at her and it transformed his face.
He offered his hand.
She curtsied in the strappy sandals she’d worn. They matched her dress but were terrible for waltzing with a bad partner
As the man swept her into his arms, she stop worrying about her toes.
The waltz was an old tune that had tragic lyrics, but no one was singing, and the lilting one-two-three melody was comfortingly familiar.
“Which one are you?“ Jace asked.
She frowned.
“I’m so sorry. That sounded terrible. I’m just trying to get all of Becca’s relations straight. I’m not used to a family gathering with more family than we have.”
“I heard your, uh, pack is just as tight-knit.”
He looked around as he swept them into an effortless turn. “But not nearly as prolific.“
She laughed and said, “I don’t doubt it. Witches take their babymaking pretty seriously.“
And then she blushed horribly again and sighed. She was supposed to have a string-free dance. Instead, she was talking about babies. Seeing Becca dance with Dan, their daughter in their arms, revived dead dreams.
She would not let her pining ruin this. She turned back to him. “I am Becca’s…” She stopped. Their grandmothers were sisters. They called each other cousins, but that wasn’t right.
Jace raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know?“
She waved her hand. “We debate regularly, but it doesn’t matter. We’re family. Probably second cousins?”
“But you are one of the witches.“
She stiffened in his arms. She hadn’t even considered that someone who opposed the union might come to the wedding.
He held up the fingers of the hand holding hers. “Which I’m totally down for. I think it’s kind of awesome really. More power for everyone.“
She swallowed and nodded, a little relieved she wasn’t going to have to pull some kind of defense spell in the middle of a dance floor.
Jace twirled her away from him and back in a dramatic dip that had family around the edge of the floor clapping for them.
She winced. They shouldn’t upstage the bride and groom.
Jace shook his head and said, “Sorry, you’re a better dancer than I thought. We shouldn’t upstage the bride and groom.”
She blinked twice and stared into his eyes. She normally didn’t meet a guy who was that self-aware or willing to give up the limelight.
He grinned. “Do you think it’s real?”
“What’s real?”
“The magical connection between wolves and witches?”
She nodded. “I believe what they tell me.”
“You can’t sense it? With your talent?”
She froze. “How would you know my talent?”
He glanced at her keenly for a second before he said, “Oh, come on, you don’t think I just randomly picked you out of the crowd?”
Dani gulped. She’d thought exactly that.
“I noticed you the second you walked in here and tripped over the threshold.”
She didn’t know whether to be pleased or disturbed. She often lost coordination when a big wave of emotional energy hit her.
“I’m not stalking you,” he added. “The moment I could, I came up for a dance.”
She nodded once. “Sorry. It’s still a weird thing to be doing anything with shifters.”
He winked at her and spun her again, this time not into the center of the circle but out into a corner where only a few people watched. It was even more extravagant than the last time, and she let the rhythm of their bodies together soothe her. She always loved this portion of the evening more than the later bopping up and down. The waltz and the two-step had never died out of Appalachia. It was so much better to talk with your dance partner when you were in each other’s arms.
“You’re the empath,” he said quietly.
“Does it matter?”
“I don’t know yet.”
And in one of those insights she didn’t know was talent, observation, or pure guess, she knew he had not just sought her out today.
He’d come here for her.
