“No.” I shook my head, hoping by denying it over and over I might make it turn out differently. “No, you’re wrong.”
“I’m sorry.”
Mercedes put a hand on my shoulder, but I couldn’t look at her. If I saw even an ounce of the pity that showed on Desmond’s face mirrored in hers, then the jig was up. Mercedes was my rock. If she believed what he was saying, I would have to accept it.
I didn’t want to accept it.
My mind started to spin, kicking into high gear. “Is he okay? What—”
“He’s fine.” Desmond let his hand drop. “He’s in Louisiana.”
Murmurs started to spread like wildfire through the room. The sound of three hundred people talking all at once should have been deafening, but all I could hear was the throb of blood behind my ears and the slow, broken sound of my own heart.
“Louisiana?”
He rested one hand on my arm as he spoke, a gesture that would have once made me feel safe and comforted. “Your uncle called this afternoon. Some sort of last-minute emergency. A final negotiation about the borderlands.”
“But…we settled that.”
“Not according to Callum.”
I pushed him back and met his gaze. “You’re telling me Lucas got a call on the day of our wedding, and instead of telling my uncle to wait twenty-four hours, he ran off without so much as a word?”
“I wouldn’t have known except Dominick called me a half hour ago. Apparently he thought Lucas had sent Morgan to tell you.”
I looked at the guests. The ones who weren’t gossiping stared back with silent, apologetic half-smiles. My guess was everyone was waiting for the inevitable meltdown.
Desmond, even, kept one hand on me like he was afraid I might fall apart if he let me go.
“He’s not coming?” I asked again, not yet willing to accept it.
Desmond shook his head. “No.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but quite unbidden, a sob came out. It was a loud, ugly sound, and when I tried to laugh it off, another followed quickly behind it. The bouquet fell from my fingers, and I felt myself go limp. Desmond caught me before I slipped to the floor and held me tightly. The familiar smell of him so close to my face should have comforted me, but instead it reminded me of all I had lost.
I’d chosen Lucas because he needed me. He needed to show the pack how strong and unified we were. But he’d told me the pack would always come first, and tonight he had proven it. I’d done everything I could to demonstrate my loyalty, including driving away the man I loved most in the world, and when push came to shove, Lucas had chosen a land dispute over me.
Sob after sob racked my body, but no tears came, just the loud choking sounds of my lungs struggling for air.
Today was supposed to be about a new beginning. About the life Lucas and I were going to have. Instead I was in the arms of a man who would never again be mine, and the man who claimed to love me was nowhere to be found.
Desmond held me tight while the girls hovered around. He was whispering things that should have been soothing, but every word was a reminder of the two of us. His warmth and scent were traces of the life we’d had before Lucas had screwed everything up with the mate bond and the very public proposal.
He’d made it clear he wouldn’t play second fiddle to Desmond.
He’d won.
And I’d lost it all.
As far as bad-to-worse situations go, it doesn’t get much worse than having the love of your life tell you you’re being stood up on your wedding day.
Or so I thought.
Chapter Forty-Four
They say it’s bad form to kick a man when he’s down.
I would take that saying and change it a little to add it’s the worst form ever to shoot a woman who has been stood up on her wedding day.