Neridia bit her lip. “What if he’s angry that you went behind his back like this?”
“Oh, I’m absolutely certain he’s going to be utterly furious with me. But with you?” Griff smiled at her over his shoulder as he headed for the door. “Impossible. You’re his-”
He paused abruptly, mid-sentence and mid-step. “Where did you get that?” he asked, his golden eyes narrowing.
Neridia followed the line of his gaze, and saw that his attention had apparently snagged on one of the paintings on the far wall. It was just a small watercolor study of Loch Ness at sunset, rendered in misty hues. It was nearly lost amidst the larger, bolder artworks surrounding it, yet Griff stared at it as if there was nothing else in the room.
“My dad was an artist. That’s just one of his commercial pieces.” Neridia gestured at the whimsical silhouette of the Loch Ness Monster her father had painted in the background. “He always complained that he was selling out to the tourist trade, but they sold like hotcakes. He must have painted hundreds like it. Why?”
“Huh.” Griff’s eyebrows drew together. “You said he ‘was’ an artist?”
“He passed away,” Neridia said, as levelly as she could. Even after four years, it still hurt her throat to say the words. “But if you really like the piece, the local art gallery probably still has-“
“Is this really the time?” Chase interrupted. “Griff, your mate is a lovely and patient lady, but I suspect even she may become somewhat miffed if you’re late for your wedding because you were too busy critiquing art. What’s so important about an old painting?”
“Maybe nothing.” Griff shook himself, turning away…though his gaze lingered thoughtfully on Neridia for a moment longer. “Or maybe you have more in common with John than you think.”
Chapter 7
John had descended into the deepest abyss of the ocean, and fought krakens there, blind in the utter blackness. He had patrolled under the miles-thick ice in the Arctic circle, where the cold was so strong it froze even a dragon’s blood. He had faced down raging infernos, and walked on two legs into the fire’s heart, where no sea dragon had ever dared to venture before.
He wished he was in any of those places now. The darkest, coldest waters or the fiercest fire would be preferable to this comfortable, beautifully-decorated human ballroom.
Serving as Griff’s second for the human mating ceremony had turned out to be the hardest thing he had ever done. John had exerted every ounce of willpower he possessed in order to maintain an appropriately polite, pleased expression throughout the afternoon, but in the deepest, most secret depths of his soul he’d writhed and roared in bitter jealousy.
The sheer radiance in his oath-brother’s eyes as he’d joined hands with his equally radiant mate, their obvious perfect happiness as they were united forever…John coveted it with an intensity beyond any mere gold-lust.
There can be no greater treasure. I want that for myself. I would give everything I possess, down to the last pearl, if I could feel that happiness for even one single, shining second.
But the one thing he would not trade away was his honor. No matter how his inner human howled in envy, no matter how much he longed to join with his own mate as Griff had joined with his, he could not.
And so John stood and sat and smiled throughout the interminable human mating ceremony, and longed with every fiber of his being for the day to finally end.
When I am home, all will be well. In the depths, where there is no air to remind me of her with every breath. The salt sea will cradle me and wash away the taint of the land. I will be myself again.
“Is the mating ceremony complete now?” he asked Hugh plaintively, as across the ballroom a grinning Griff twirled his mate through the start of what was apparently some traditional human dance.
“Oh, no,” Hugh replied. He leaned back against the wall in their shadowed corner, watching the happy couple. “This is only the first dance, for the bride and groom. After this, you still have to dance with all the bridesmaids.”
John stared down at him in dismay. “All of them?”
Griff had seven sisters, all of them eagle or lion shifters. The bride did not so much have a group of bridesmaids as an entire honor guard. If Hayley had formed them up into a phalanx, she could have comfortably routed a small army.
“All of them,” Hugh confirmed. “Oh, and then we have the tossing of the bouquet. Then there’s more dancing, and drink
ing, and later on we have to shower Griff and Hayley with confetti. That’ll probably be around midnight.”
If the strength of a mating bond was at all related to the length of the mating ceremony, then Griff and Hayley were going to be the most thoroughly joined pair in the entire history of shifter kind. “And you are certain that my presence is required for all of this?”
“Absolutely.” Hugh took a sip of champagne. “The ceremony would be utterly ruined if the best man wasn’t there for the whole thing. If you leave now, Griff and Hayley’s mate bond will be shattered, and it will all be your fault.”
John looked hard at him. He could not help but have a sneaking suspicion that the paramedic might not be being entirely truthful. He also couldn’t help but notice that Hugh had not let him out of his sight for the entire day.
“Shield-brother, I am beginning to think that you have been assigned as my keeper,” he said, eyes narrowing. “And that you are trying to delay my departure.”
“My honor is deeply insulted by the mere suggestion.” Hugh drew himself up to his full height, which put the top of his white-haired head somewhere around the level of John’s sternum. “I demand satisfaction. I challenge you to a duel.”
John blinked at him. As far as he could tell, the paramedic was entirely serious.