Keeping Secret (Secret McQueen) - By Sierra Dean Page 0,92

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.

My saying wasn’t as well-known, though. That must have been why Morgan didn’t know it was poor form. Or she really didn’t give a shit.

As Kimberly was busy escorting my bewildered guests out of the ballroom, I looked up to see one of the members of Lucas’s pack, a young man named Ewan, trying to guide Morgan from the room.

I hadn’t had time to process what Desmond had said, about Lucas expecting Morgan to be the one who broke the news to me, but seeing her argue with Ewan, the revelation came back to me.

Morgan knew I was going to be stood up, and she hadn’t told me. But why?

“No.” She jerked her arm away from Ewan and shoved him. “He wasn’t supposed to be here.” Her voice sounded high-pitched, edging on crazy. Guess she couldn’t let me be the only drama queen in the room. “He ruined the whole fucking plan.” This time she pointed at Desmond.

I was too muddled and too broken to really pay attention to her, until I heard Mercedes say, “What does she think she’s doing?”

Morgan had clambered up onto one of the chairs, out of Ewan’s reach. My first thought was, Why is she climbing on the furniture? But that was quickly pushed aside to make room for the more pressing, Why is she pointing a gun at me?

Mercedes said aloud what my brain was thinking. “What the fuck?”

Desmond and the girls all looked up, but it was the werewolf lieutenant who responded fastest. Morgan pulled the trigger, and Desmond threw himself on top of me. Mercedes was hollering at Owen for her purse, and the remaining guests were screaming. Some ran for the exit while others hit the floor.

The weight of Desmond’s body pinned me to the wooden floor, so my interpretation of what was happening was based entirely on what I could hear. I tried to reach the hem of my dress, instinct telling me I needed to get the gun I’d strapped to my thigh.

Leary had thought I was nuts for wanting to wear a gun under my wedding dress. Turned out it really