~~

Reece

~~

I had been sent away from my own home. Sent away from my mate. They were forbidding me from seeing what was mine. I was mad, but I knew the reasoning behind it all. I knew it was tradition, and that I shouldn't complain. But dammit, I wanted to see my Little Bunny.

Noah had prepared a small bachelor party for me. Riley was there, which was a surprise. Among the rest of the guests were Carter, David, Shane, Shawn along with Dietrich, and, begrudgingly, Otsana's partner Jackson McIan. All of my Little Bunny's guards were there, except Vincent. When I asked why he was missing I was told that he was at home with the kids so that Heather could attend Trinity's party. I envied him at that moment, I really wanted to be at home too.

Aside from Noah, I never really became friendly with anyone from the pack. Noah and I had been friends since we were kids because his grandfather was my father's beta and so it was natural for us to be around each other. That friendship continued all through school and into adulthood. But I never really had anyone else.

The bachelor party was not like what you would expect. There was drinking, but not as much as expected. There was no stripper, thank the goddess, I only wanted to see my mate and no one else.

Much of the night had actually been spent getting half drunken lectures from Carter, warning from Noah, and life advice from Dietrich. Though I didn't think most of Dietrich's advice would work for me. He never had a mate until recently, wasn't a werewolf, and had last been my age five hundred years ago. But, I appreciated it nonetheless.

The one I had most in common with at the party was Jackson. Neither of us wanted to be there at all. He was still assimilating into the world of supernatural beings. He was scared and nervous being in a room full of werewolves and the high ranking Vampire Emperor. But after several hours, and copious amounts of alcohol, he finally loosened up a little.

Jackson had apparently been Otsana's partner when he was straight out of the academy. They had been there for each other ever since. And even though he was a year younger than Otsana he always took care of her. Jackson had a little sister growing up that died when he was in the academy, and Otsana was an only child whose parents died when she was in highschool. They were both missing something when they became partners and conveniently worked well with each other. And he was very protective of his pseudo little sister.

It turns out he was not completely out of the loop when he found out about us. While having the information confirmed had shocked him, and living with knowing about it on a daily basis was like something out of the twilight zone, he had in fact suspected something was off for a long time. It seemed that Otsana had a habit of choosing cases that were out of the ordinary.

For the last year and a half the two of them had been like family, and Jackson noticed a lot of things that didn't seem normal. But he said nothing. He decided that the less he said, and the less he acknowledged, the better it would be for him. Smart man. And trustworthy too.

The night continued in this way. A lot of talk, a lot of joking, and me missing my mate. Carter was in the same boat too. He wanted to be with Emmalee who he had thought he'd lost forever. I tried doing what I could to feel like I was there for my Little Bunny. But every time I called her the guys gave me hell and the women in the background seemed to laugh hysterically. I just wanted to be with my mate, was that so bad.

The next morning, I went straight home, while most of them were still sleeping. But I was thwarted again. Nikki and Juniper burst into the hall when I was marching to my room. They had the nerve to tell me I couldn't go in. The party was over, I was going. But no, they refused to let me, and to make matters worse Mom came and dragged me out of the hallway by my left sleeve.

"Leave her alone, Reece. You will see her in a few hours." She scolded me.

"Why can't I see her until the wedding." I pouted. I knew I was pouting but I couldn't help it. I wanted to be in my room, with my mate, and kick all those interfering annoyances out.

"Because you can't. It's bad luck for you to see her before the ceremony." Mom growled at me. She seriously growled at me. I still remembered when she smacked me with the book, the ghost of that feeling prickled at the back of my head causing me to run my right hand over that spot.

"Fine." I slumped in defeat.

"Good boy. Now, go get ready and greet your guests as they arrive. Your bride needs to get ready."

"Can't you greet them for me?" I asked her with hope in my voice.

"No." She crushed that hope in one go. "I have to help Trinity get ready." She smiled as she walked back down the hall to my room.

"That's just cruel." I yelled after her.

"Mmhmm." She answered me. "Now go." So mean.

After I was unceremoniously sent away by my own mother I got ready for the day in my all black Brioni tuxedo. Little Bunny's wedding colors were apparently blue and green and the color accents for the tuxedos were split among the party to match. The silk shirts were black like the tuxedos, but the waistcoats, ties, pocket squares were the accent colors. For me, it was blue, as were Noah and Carter's. Samuel, Wesley, Vincent, and Riley were all wearing green accents.

I never paid much attention to my hair. My hair was a little over two inches long on the top and tapered on the sides, it would typically just lay about in a stylishly messy way. The only time I did much of anything, besides combing it or running my hands through it, was when I had a business meeting. That was when I needed to look more professional and I would typically comb it to look neat and put together.

But, how should I do it today? I was partial to the stylishly messy look, but it was my wedding day afterall and I was certain that my Little Bunny, let alone her pack of attack she-wolves would not be happy if I didn't put any effort in at all. I decided to add a little texture to my hair with some gel, running my hands through it to give it a little more of a controlled look than the typical casual look I had. I thought it looked pretty good, and was definitely different than usual.

When I was finally outside and watching the hordes of people arrive, it finally hit me just how hard Little Bunny and her merry band of she-demons worked on this wedding. If only they hadn't kept me away from my mate last night, maybe I would be more forgiving of them right now.

I watched slowly as hundreds of people came walking toward my estate. I was used to having a lot of people here for full moon gatherings, but that was still a week and a half away, and had actually been cancelled for this month. But there were far more people than usual. The entire pack was here, nearly eight hundred people all together. And add to that the people who were invited from the fealty packs and treaty packs.

We had also sent word to, and invited emissaries from, all the other major supernatural groups. The head of the magic council was invited and would be coming with an entourage. We had invited the Queen of the Fae, but I knew she wouldn't come personally. She did however send an envoy with several members from her court. We had also sent invites to all the shifter groups in the area.

Several groups were invited but unlikely to send someone as they were too small in numbers. The Djinn, Mermaids and their sister clan the Sirens, Daemon, Elemental Spirit, these groups were so few in numbers that they didn't live in groups like we wolves did. Instead they tended to just live with their immediate families and form mate bonds with others when they could. They were more mixed with human heritage than the other species were.

I met the incoming emissaries as they arrived. They were the ones that needed my attention the most.

The Fae arrived with a group of six. Three men and three women. I caught the name of the two leading the party, Acacia Aspen, a pretty young girl with bright green eyes and long ashy blonde hair and Breon Kilcher, a man who looked to be my age with a rich mahogany complexion and bright golden eyes.

"We of the fae would like to congratulate the great Mr. Gray on this fortuitous day." Breon spoke in a deep, clear voice.

"I thank you, and may you give your queen my many thanks for sending her envoy to help my mate and I celebrate this auspicious day." The six Fae in front of me smiled with just a hint of mischief in their eyes. They didn't call the Fae the tricksters for nothing.

The next Emissary was from the cat shifters that lived in our vicinity. They typically worked with only one alpha among the many different types living in a given area. I had done work with their alpha, Landon, quite a lot as our territories overlapped. His emissary was a pretty woman in her mid twenties with rich chocolate brown hair and a tanned, olive like complexion and eyes that looked like the sun itself.

"Reece, it is good to see you. Congratulations on your wedding, I cannot wait to meet your mate." Falena Areli, a Gamma to Landon hugged me lightly in a friendly gesture.

"It is good to see you Lena." I hugged her back. "Make sure you tell Landon he needs to come himself next time." I smiled at her as she nodded her head and headed over to where the seats for the ceremony were set up.

A trio of older men arrived next, they all had their long robe like jackets on. I myself had one of these jackets, every leader of a pack, clan, or court had one. Mine was black with gold designs in the shape of a wolf, a moon, and the pack crest on the back, sleeves, and hood. These men were wearing silver robes with black rune-like designs on them. They were from the magic council.

"Greetings, Master Gray." Their leader spoke in an old fashioned accent. I knew warlocks lived for a long time, much longer than the lives of us wolves and other shifters which was still longer than a human's, so these men were likely very old.

"We thank you for the opportunity to come see you and share this experience."

"Thank you for coming gentlemen." I greeted them.

"Master Reece, would you permit us to have a private conference with you when the festivities have come to pass? We believe we have much to discuss with you." Their leader asked me in his own way of talking.

"I think that would be beneficial for us all." I answered him. The Warlocks then moved along to the wedding.

The last emissary that came was not actually an emissary but was actually an alpha himself. Trevor Jacoby was the alpha of the bear shifters for the entire western United States. He was just as tall as I was but looked much more wild. He had a permanent light tan, fierce looking gold eyes, and slightly longer and disheveled medium brown hair. He was a big, burly man with large muscles and a full, yet oddly well kept, beard. For such a wild looking man that beard was strangely neat and not scraggly at all.

"Trevor, I'm glad you could make it." I took his outstretched hand and leaned in as he did the same, we gave each other a one armed hug like old friends. Aside from Noah and Riley, Trevor was the closest thing I had to a friend.

"Reece, you dog. I never thought you would find a mate and settle down before me." He laughed in his rough, gravelly voice.

"Yeah, it happened pretty quick, but I couldn't be happier, man."

"Don't rub salt in my wound, I might just have to steal your girl away."

"I'd have to kill you, and I like you too much for that." We joked with each other and laughed lightly.

"For real though, I'm happy for you."

Once Trevor went into the wedding, all the envoys had been greeted and the rest of the regular guests had finished arriving. Mom came to get me and told me that it was almost time. I needed to head to my designated place and wait for the most beautiful woman in the world to come complete me.