The Vow (Black Arrowhead #1) - Dannika Dark Page 0,80
All they can do is lock me up for a while, and I can do my time. Do you think spending a few years in a cell is the worst thing that can happen to a man? My only concern is that no one will be here to feed that family.”
We walked quietly for a few minutes. Tak was remarkable, and I hadn’t given him enough credit. How many men would do the same? Imprisonment in a Breed jail was no joke and one of the worst punishments for a Shifter. Most would rather be dead than be caged like an animal.
“Your boyfriend thinks I’m a psychopath,” he remarked.
I snorted. “Lakota isn’t my boyfriend.”
Tak chuckled and looked back at me. “You might want to tell him that when you’re reciting your vows.”
I winced when I stepped on a sharp stick. “It’s no secret that I’m doing this to cut a deal with Shikoba. Do you think that makes me a bad person?”
“People arrange marriages of convenience all the time. There’s no disgrace if everyone’s happy. I’m just not so confident in your choice. If you asked me yesterday, I would have said Lakota was a decent man.”
“And today?”
Tak slowed to a stop, his eyebrows drawing together. “Today I don’t know what kind of man he is.”
I wanted to assure Tak that Lakota was the best kind of man, but I didn’t. Eventually Lakota would move on from this place and to his next job.
“It won’t matter anyhow,” I said. “It’s not a real mating.”
Tak leveled me with his eyes, his brutish features tight. “When the Iwa tribe performs a mating ritual, your souls are joined for eternity. Paper? That means nothing to us. This union is more real than anything you will ever know, because we will call upon the great spirits to tether your wolves together for life.”
“Come on, you don’t believe in divorce? Sometimes couples grow apart.”
He shook his head. “Mating is a permanent choice one must live with, like it or not. Be careful you’re not selling your soul for a few gemstones. If you separate after the ceremony, you will anger your wolves. A smart woman would walk away and forget the deal.”
I strode past him. “There is no other deal. My partner’s future depends on this negotiation happening as quickly as possible. You’re willing to go to jail to save a family; I’m willing to get mated to a stranger so that my best friend can succeed in life. We all make sacrifices.”
It only took Tak a few steps to catch up, and he matched my pace with a heavy-footed gait. When he spoke again, his sonorous voice was gentler. “Give it serious thought. It’s not too late to break the deal. Once your wolves are tied together in spirit, they’ll love each other even if you don’t.”
What I couldn’t tell Tak was that my wolf already loved Lakota.
Deeply.
And that alone was enough to make me want to call the whole thing off.
Chapter 17
Before we reached the house, Tak instructed me to walk ahead of him so it wouldn’t raise suspicion. The last thing I needed before my fake wedding was a bunch of strangers thinking I was tramping around with another man, so I casually strolled through the vegetable gardens and admired their crops. A moment later, a woman appeared with a wide basket and invited me to pick okra with her.
When Tak finally appeared, he swaggered past us without a word, his arms empty of the satchel he’d been carrying earlier. He chatted with a packmate, and they started throwing an axe at one of the targets on the other side of the yard.
After a short while, the afternoon sun dipped behind a wall of greenery, and sunlight glittered from behind the soft bend in the branches.
“No moon for your ceremony tonight,” the woman said. “Good omen.”
“I always thought a full moon was a good omen.”
“Not when a couple is mating.” She gave a wide smile but seemed too shy to make eye contact. I was taller than most of the women in the tribe and probably strange in her eyes. “The moon steals beauty from the woman. Better that he gaze upon all the stars and realize that his moon is lying next to him.”
“Or I could just moon him.”
She laughed brightly and hefted her basket. “You keep that sense of humor. You’re going to need it.”