Judge whispered, “Seriously? The Queen Shifter?” He scowled. “Do you know how many strippers I had to hide because you’re so damn pu**y-whipped you wouldn’t let me give you a proper bachelor party?” Suddenly, his scowl turned into a grin. “All the more for me, my man.” Then his eyes somehow turned severe as he stared at us through the screen. “In all seriousness, I’ve never seen you look at someone like you look at her.” His head tilted, bloodshot eyes glowing golden as he stared off at nothing, his voice going soft, almost whimsical. “Your love for each other is something to witness…like honest-to-god true soul mates, the one person anyone with a mate hopes they never find, and those without a mate pray they do…” His head cocked, and he blinked, his eyes no longer glowing as he turned his attention back to the camera, taking another drag off his joint. “Congrats, man, since I won’t remember a damn bit of this after it’s said and done.” A roll of his eyes. “Thanks for that, prick.”

A woman off-screen muttered, “They’re coming.”

Judge straightened, grinding out his joint, and the camera swung in the direction of a golden door — the entire room was golden and resembled an office of sorts. King Zeller and I entered through it, both of us wearing white robes, our hair brown, King Zeller with the dark beard of the pictures earlier, but neither of us was wearing the fake glasses.

I curled up on the couch as I watched myself get married onscreen, unable to access this memory, only view it as if it was someone else’s life.

Onscreen, King Zeller and I wore identical expressions of complete and absolute love and happiness as we stared at each other, King Zeller every so often whispering softly, instructing me on what to do, since even now, in the present, I didn’t know the Mystical way of marriage ceremonies, the events just a bit different than a Com wedding. I barely noticed when Elder Jacobs and Elder Merrick woke from their short ‘naps’, both only moaning quietly before standing to glare at King Zeller then stare at the screen. Sometime during watching the ceremony, Antonio moved behind me to rest his hand on my shoulder, squeezing it gently, keeping it there as we watched my past, which still felt unknown, like it was an out-of-body experience.

I could not remember ever being that happy. Not as joyful as I appeared onscreen. Even when I was mated, I did not remember being that filled with pleasure. Eyebrows puckered, I glanced over to King Zeller, the man who had apparently made me that foolish in love. I analyzed his expression, his hard features. Nothing of that man on the screen was visible, nothing of that joy and love was there. Instead, he was like me, cold and hard.

Green eyes flicked to mine, and they held when he saw me staring.

We eyed one another, our gazes slowly wandering over each other’s faces before reconnecting, staring just as coldly as before.

Feeling my eyebrows pinch further, I was the first to glance away to the screen, to a couple that didn’t exist anymore, a strangers’ wedding. A couple who had been ignorant enough to get caught in their love for each other, and have all that goodness ripped away, every memory together that made them who they were…gone.

Left cold and alone.

My breath caught — maybe in a bit of jealousy or disbelief — as I stared at my onscreen self mouth to King Zeller, “I love you.” I watched as he mouthed, “I love you, too.” I had to keep my jaw from gaping as, onscreen, King Zeller lifted me straight off my feet at the end of the ceremony and placed his lips on mine. I stared without blinking as we embraced, kissing as if our lives depended on each other, like we were each other’s life force. Jesus, seriously, I had to blink, wondering how long it was going to last.

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Elder Merrick glanced at his watch. “That would be two minutes.”

Still, I stared as our onscreen selves kept…going at it…King Zeller’s hand in my hair, holding my face close, both my hands fisted in his hair, doing the same.

Elder Merrick grunted, glancing at his watch again. “Three minutes.”

I damn near jumped when Judge started to take a step forward on the screen, his mouth opening to obviously break us up, but King Zeller’s hand blurred from my hair — my onscreen self completely oblivious to this — as he grabbed Judge’s throat, squeezed, then shoved him back, before his hand returned to me, placing it gently on my neck to tilt my head the other way, and I definitely saw tongues involved there as we altered our head positions.

Elder Merrick actually chuckled and muttered, “Fuck it. It’s over four minutes. Longest wedding kiss I’ve ever seen.”

Every single Elder in the room grunted in agreement, my cheeks flushing. I swear to f**king God, I could have taken a decent nap during the damn embrace it was so long, and when we pulled apart onscreen I saw my face lit up, flushing brightly, that kiss not meant to be seen by anybody but the two of us.

Antonio cleared his throat. Squeezed my shoulder once. Patted it. Cleared his throat again, and growled at King Zeller, “If you ever do that to her in front of me, don’t expect to wake up for a damn week.” Then he was marching to the bar, muttering, “I need a real f**king drink.”

“Bring the bottle,” King Zeller mumbled, and from the corner of my eye I saw him run a slow hand over his face, the first emotion-filled action I had seen him make since the videos began. “Fucking shit.” His head fell back on the chair. “I’m married.” A pause. “To the Queen Shifter, the woman I tortured only a week ago. And I have a daughter with her, a hybrid, a highly illegal being.” He made an odd noise in his throat. “Yes, please bring the whole f**king bottle.”

I still did not move.

Not even when Elder Jacobs started to slip a hand down to one of the videos — I could guess which one — and King Zeller suddenly had a gun in hand, aiming it directly at Elder Jacobs — even though the Vampire still had his damn eyes closed, lost in his own thoughts. Smartly, Elder Jacobs moved away, going to the bar, and only then did the gun disappear back to wherever the f**k he had blurred it from. I tilted my head on the couch and leaned heavily on it, eyes still glued to the screen…only to be utterly shocked when Elder Zeller snuck up next to me and bent to give me a hug, which encompassed my entire body since I was hugging my knees again. Eyes wide, I stared at him as he bent his head and ever so gently kissed my forehead.

When he pulled back, my gaze flew to his dark orbs. He tried to speak, but made that gurgling noise I was used to, and his Vampire growled softly, but I held still, completely shocked as he ran the back of his fingers lightly down the side of my face, affectionately, before turning and pounding his hand on King Zeller’s shoulder a few times, also kissing his son’s forehead before moving toward the bar and grabbing a bottle of whiskey. Eyes still wide, I turned my gaze to King Zeller.




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