Their Silver Moon

Nathaniel Black

I felt the anxiousness eating away at every cell in my body, the churning in my stomach and the buzz in my ears. Everything had to be perfect, this day had to be perfect, nothing could go wrong or would go wrong. It was but a simple ceremony, no? We had millions of ceremonies in our pack, day and night, timeless traditions.

This was nothing more than another tradition, another duty – something that needed to be done.

So why was I so darn nervous?

Jamie’s warm hand fell to my shoulder and snapped me from the mess forming in my mind, “they’re on their way,” he said, the words calming my body and mind and I twisted my body, turning to look down the long aisle.

It was a beautiful day, the sky was blue and white clouds that looked like cotton candy framed the horizon, allowing the sunlight to filter through the tall pine tresses into the small-ish clearing. And I couldn’t quite remember when, but at some point, I’d lost count of how many people were attending, as person after person filtered into the space, taking their seats amongst white roses and deep green sashes that lines the aisle.

“Are you ready?” my brother, Alexander asked, leaning pas Jamie sheepishly to look at me.

I nodded, “Of course brother.”

“What, you’re not afraid she’s going to run away again are you?” he mocked.

I shot daggers at him and he let out a laugh before stepping back into line with Jamie and Thomas, who were clearly talking to each other through the mind link.

I hadn’t realised, they were trying to distract me, calm me, not to make me worry – until the music started to play and my eyes snapped to the end of the aisle. A large white screen, framed with roses and green leaves blocked everyone’s view of the road, or specifically, my view of Alice getting out of the car.

Trying to swallow the lump in my throat, I scanned the semi-transparency of the screen, hoping to see her sooner, hoping to catch a glance that she was there, that she was coming. That she hadn’t left me.

Patricia stepped out from behind the screen, her hair had been twisted back and sat ontop her head. Slowly, she started to walk down the aisle, followed by Stephanie and then Angelique. The all looked flawless, dressed in the same deep green, and holding white rose bouquets.

Yet they looked nothing compared to Alice, my bride.

Her silvery white hair had been softly curled and a long veil pinned to the back, trailing past her dress and onto the forest floor. The well fitted dress hugged her body and hips, before failing to the ground in layers of sheer fabric and lace. The same lace cinched her waist and framed the deep v that cascaded down the front of her dress, making my eyes wander over her exposed skin and the silver mark that seemed to sparkle as she walked through the forest towards me, the green and golden light making her glow.

Or perhaps she really was glowing.

She looked up front the ground, and our eyes met ’you look, so, so – beautiful,’ I purred down the mind link towards her and a small smile crept it way onto her face as she fixed her eyes on me.

’You don’t look too bad yourself,’ he whispered back and I reveled in the warmth that her voice provided, I reveled in the comfort of her.

It was all a blur after that – a beautiful blur.

Her voice was smooth and silky, making my knees wobble as she promised to love me for the rest of my life, as she vowed to cherish me, to stand by me. Her skin was scented and smooth, as I slipped the third and final ring onto her finger and as she slipped a thick band onto my own. Her eyes were locked with mine, and it was as if every other person had disappeared, in this moment, it was just me and my bride.

In this moment, it was me and my wife.

My hands wrapped around my wife’s waist, dancing between the lines of the lace and the deep cut in the back of dress – I felt the fire licking away at her touch, ’seal it with a kiss?’ I purred, as the space between us closed and I kissed my wife for the first time.