Magic Misled (Lizzie Grace #7) - Keri Arthur Page 0,64

servery area lay to the left.

“This is gorgeous.”

“I let Myra handle arrangements.” His voice was filled with wry amusement. “She has a fondness for extravagance.”

Myra was eight years younger than him, if I remembered correctly. “No doubt you’d have preferred a tin shed, a lamb on the spit, and tree stumps to sit on.”

He laughed. “Well, maybe not the tree stumps.”

He guided me lightly through the crowd. People smiled and greeted us, many of whom I knew either from the café or from the few times we’d met with his friends at either the dances we went to or pub gatherings. I spotted Ashworth and Eli sitting talking to another couple on the other side of the room but couldn’t as yet see Belle or Monty. They were here though—I could feel the buzz of Belle’s happiness, even if our link had been firmly shut down by both of us.

As we moved deeper into the crowd, I realized there was a gentle but noticeable divide—the werewolves gathered on the left and humans on the right. Which I supposed wasn’t entirely surprising. The two might intermingle on a daily basis, but it was rare that this sort of celebration—one werewolves considered a major milestone—was held off compound. It would undoubtedly take the consumption of a decent amount of alcohol before the intermingling truly began.

The introductions started with his family. Joseph, his dad—who was basically a grayer-haired version of Aiden—greeted me warmly, dropping a kiss on my cheek and complimenting me on my dress. His siblings greeted me with varying degrees of friendliness, though Ciara—who looked stunning in a deep blue formfitting dress—grinned and said, “Word of warning—Mom’s going to be here for the formal part of the night, but she’s promised not to cause a scene.”

“I wouldn’t place a bet on that,” I muttered.

Ciara didn’t disagree, which made me think her reassurances might have been as much for Aiden as me. We moved on, and it quickly became obvious he very much was making a statement about my presence in his life. And while that warmed my heart, it also scared the hell out of me. Mia was coming, and she would make a mess of everything.

When the introductions were finally over, we got down to the business of having fun. It was an easy thing to do, given the music was fabulous, the food plentiful, and the champagne didn’t stop. But as the night wore on, my inner tension increased. If Aiden sensed it, he didn’t say anything. But then, the tension in him was on a similar trajectory.

At midnight, the music stopped and the “official” part of the evening began. As the speeches began, his mother appeared, stepping onto the stage without fuss, to take her place in the family line behind Aiden. She was rangy in build and wearing a long, flowing dress of deep blue that emphasized the sapphire of her eyes and the silver-gray of her short hair.

Her expression was one of pride, but her gaze, when it finally found mine, told a very different story.

The bitch was furious enough to erupt.

And she had every intention of doing so all over me.

Chapter Ten

It wasn’t just due to my continuing presence in Aiden’s life, but also the indignity of holding what should have been a private ceremony in a very public place with people she considered undesirable.

How she intended to vent her displeasure without making a scene, I had no idea, but I nevertheless straightened my spine and returned her glare.

If she wanted a confrontation, she was damn well going to get it.

Her gaze narrowed and, after a moment, a small smile touched her lips. An acknowledgement of a challenge met and accepted.

The ceremony went on. Aiden winked at me a few times, but his speech, when his turn finally came around, made no mention of me. And while I’d been expecting it, it was yet another reminder of just how wide a chasm there was between his world and mine. He might have been making a statement about my presence in his life earlier in the evening, but when it came to “werewolf business,” he wasn’t going against custom. I couldn’t help wondering if—had he been in the same situation as Katie—he’d have made the same choice.

After the speeches finished, we were urged to party on while the family moved to a private area for the final step in the official “welcome to adulthood” ceremony. Aiden hadn’t said much about it, other than it involved the