Chapter 13

A listair watched Maggie as she made her way through the ballroom to the hall, then turned his attention to her dad, who was talking to him about a shed he was building so he could actually use the garage for their vehicles and not for storage.

"Are you handy with a hammer?" Glen asked.

"That's a trap, don't answer that," Uncle Ray said.

"Hey, he's dating Maggie, he can help her dad out."

Alistair laughed. "I'd be happy to help." And he meant it. He didn't have a relationship with his own father, who'd only gotten together with his mom so they could have a child and keep their memory growing. Alistair had met him when he was young, but the male hadn't wanted anything to do with him. His grandfather had been a father to him, teaching him what his father should have, and for that Alistair would always be grateful to him.

He loved that Maggie was close to her family. Alistair was close to his sister and her kids, and was happy that two of his three nephews were mated and starting families. If only Indio would find his soulmate, then their memory would be complete.

"How about next weekend? If you and Maggie aren't busy," Glen said.

Alistair was about to answer when he had the strangest feeling that something was wrong.

"I'll be right back." He stood and didn't answer when Glen asked if everything was all right.

Alistair hurried toward the hall, where he could feel Maggie. The odd feeling that something was wrong had morphed into full-blown fear, and his elephant urged him to get to her.

Pushing open the door, he scanned the foyer and hall, and saw Maggie and Seth. Alistair saw red as Seth reached for Maggie. Using his quick shifter reflexes, he closed the distance swiftly, just as Seth grabbed Maggie's arm and pulled her roughly to him, causing her to stumble.

In a heartbeat, Alistair extracted the male's rough grip on Maggie and shoved him away, putting himself between the two and protectively holding his soulmate against his back.

"You don't touch her," Alistair said, his elephant demanding to shift and stomp him a few times for good measure.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Seth sputtered as he straightened.

"I'm Maggie's boyfriend. You touch her again, and it's the very last time you have a hand. Are we clear?"

Seth stared at Alistair and it looked like he was going to argue, but a crowd had gathered and instead of answering Alistair, he smoothed his hands down the front of his jacket and looked at Maggie.

"I see you traded down," he said with a haughty tone. "I always knew you weren't good enough for me, and you just proved it by the company that you keep."

"Fuck you," she said with a low, menacing voice. "You should leave. This is my sister's wedding and you shouldn't even be here."

"I'm here because Brian and I work together, not because of you, you self-righteous bitch." He stalked away, and Alistair barely stifled the growl in his chest.

He was positively seething and wanted to follow the male and beat him within an inch of his life.

Instead, he turned to face his mate. "Are you okay, Maggie?"

She stared up at him, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Thank you for standing up for me, for coming to rescue me. How did you even know anything was wrong?"

Because we're soulmates .

He rubbed her upper arms gently, hoping to erase the feeling of that male's hands on her. "I just had a feeling something was wrong. I'm sorry he put his hands on you. Do you want me to talk to your dad, see if he's willing to ask him to leave?"

"You'd do that for me?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"It's tempting," she said, "but I think it's best to just let it go. I'd hate to make a scene and it's better if he believes that I'm not affected by this whole thing. Because I'm not, actually."

"No?"

The crowd had dispersed, and it was now just the two of them. He put his arms around her and drew her close, breathing in her sweet scent.

"I was dreading seeing him. For the last week, it's been at the back of my mind, wondering how it would feel to see him again. Wondering if my heart had healed or if I'd feel all that awful desperation and shame again." She shook her head. "I felt like a broken shell of a human being after we split. And it messed with my ability to trust. Hell, I wondered if I'd even be able to love someone again."

He could see the anguish in her eyes, the genuine worry she'd had that she was too broken to love someone again.

"I sometimes feel like you're keeping something from me, like I'm seeing things that aren't really there," she said softly, her gaze searching his. "But I know that's the broken parts of me trying to keep myself from getting hurt again."

Damn it.

He couldn't tell her he was being one hundred percent honest with her, because he wasn't. He was keeping something from her.

"I told you that I would be careful with your heart, Maggie, and I meant it. I never want to be the one who makes you cry or hurts you."

"I'll be careful with your heart too, Alistair."

She slipped her arms around his neck and gave a gentle tug. He lowered his head and kissed her. She had the softest lips and felt so perfectly right in his arms.

When the kiss ended, far too soon, he smiled down at her. "Let's get back to the table, we don't want to miss the cake."

She nodded and took his offered arm.

As they walked back into the ballroom, he noticed right away that Seth was at the head table, speaking to Brian. Penny glared at Maggie and Alistair, and he felt like everyone was watching them as they took their seats at the family table.

"What happened?" her mom whispered. "Seth told us that you hit him."

Maggie rolled her eyes so hard they ached. "Mom, that's not what happened at all. How could you think that Alistair would hit Seth? And at the wedding? For gracious sake." She crossed her arms over her chest because what she wanted to do was throw something at Seth and get that smug look off his face.

Like a plate. Or the wedding cake.

Alistair explained quietly what he witnessed and how he'd intervened.

She still felt like a damsel in distress getting rescued by the sexy hero.

He'd looked so commanding and protective. Her skin prickled at the reminder of just how safe she'd felt with Alistair.

Which was a stark reminder that Seth had never made her feel anything but insecure.

"I told you," her dad said to her mom. "No way Alistair would do anything to cause a problem here. That asshole needs to leave."

"Dad, we don't want to cause any more drama," Maggie said.

Seth walked away from the head table and went to the bar, looking like an unhappy toddler. How the hell had she ever found him attractive? And put up with his behavior for such a long time?

She looked at Alistair. He smiled warmly at her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"If you're sure," her dad said.

"I am." She looked at her mom. "Why do you always assume the worst?"

"I don't."

"You do, though. Why couldn't you wait to hear what I had to say before you jumped to conclusions?"

"Let's not do this," her mom said stiffly.

"All right," Maggie said, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. She reached up and linked her fingers with Alistair's.

The newly married couple got up and moved to the cake table, and all the attention that Maggie had felt on her and Alistair disappeared as they watched them cut a slice of cake and feed it to each other. Everyone clapped as the couple kissed.

"That cake was so expensive, I hope it tastes good," her dad said.

Her sister had picked a white cake with raspberry cream filling. "It's good, I promise," Maggie said.

"Chocolate lava cake good?" he asked with an arched brow.

"Well, no. I mean, is anything as good as chocolate lava cake? But the cake Penny picked out is delicious."

"When you get married, you get a chocolate cake for your old dad, okay?"

Her heart thudded a little irregularly at the word married . She and Alistair had only been dating a week! But she'd be lying if she hadn't been thinking he was her forever-guy. That she could picture the two of them standing up in front of their family and friends and promising to love each other forever.

"Sounds good to me," Alistair said.

"Oh, it's way too soon for that kind of talk," her mom said with a sniff.

"Hey, you promised to marry me after a month," her dad said to her mom, then winked at Maggie. "I knew the moment I met her that she was going to be my wife."

"It took a month to wear her down?" Maggie asked.

Her mom laughed. "It was love at first sight for me too. I just wanted to make him work for it a bit."

Maggie looked at Alistair and found he was grinning. "I'll work for it too, sweetheart," he said, giving her a quick kiss. "You're worth it."

Okay, now her heart was really pounding. He made her feel amazing and warm all over.

"I think we can leave after the cake," she said, when small plates with wedges of white-and-pink cake were set in front of them. "I'd like to go to my place."

"Sure thing," he said.

"First."

"First what?" he asked.

"I'd like to go to my place first." She leaned over and whispered in his ear, "To pack a bag for the weekend. If that's okay? I keep running home every day to change. It seems kind of silly."

His eyes darkened and she swore the smell of his cologne got a little stronger. An earthy, warm scent that she loved. "That would be perfect. I wanted to ask you if you'd like to do that, but I was afraid you might think it was too fast."

She hummed. "I think we both keep thinking the other person thinks it will be too fast, but we haven't actually asked each other."

"Let's ask each other when we're out of here. It's a pretty serious conversation to have in public."

"I agree."

They ate the cake, listening to her parents talk about their first date and subsequent engagement at the one-month mark. They'd waited a year to get married, but only because people kept telling them it was too fast. "Here we are, forty-five years later," her dad said. "People often don't know what they're talking about."

Maggie agreed one hundred percent.

When the cake was finished, they said goodbye to her parents and family, and wove through the tables and crowd to find her sister and husband.

"I was wondering when you were going to come apologize," Penny said.

"Apologize for what?" Maggie asked.

"You said you weren't going to do this," Brian said.

Penny waved a dismissive hand. "You caused a scene. All anyone can talk about is how your new boyfriend put his hands on Seth. Are you trying to get Brian fired?"

"That's not what happened," Maggie said. "And why would Brian get fired? They work in different departments."

"Seth's and Brian's bosses are friends, so yeah, Seth could get back at you by causing trouble for Brian. I think you should go apologize to Seth. After you apologize to me."

"First of all," Maggie said, seething, "he put his hands on me . Alistair stepped in to protect me. If you want to side with Seth over your own sister, then I think it's good that we were planning to leave. Why do you keep doing this to me? Why do you insist on blaming me for someone else's bad behavior?"

Penny burst into tears, and Maggie took a step back.

She'd been around her sister's crocodile tears enough to know that she was crying because she felt called out and put on the spot.

"Oh, for crap's sake," Maggie said. "When you get your head out of your ass, call me."

She squeezed Alistair's hand, and they walked from the ballroom.

It wasn't until she was in his vehicle and they were exiting the parking lot that she let the tears she'd been holding back free. Not only had Seth caused a problem, but he'd managed to spin it in his favor and widen the rift between her and Penny.

"It's hard enough being ten years older than her," Maggie said with a sniffle. "We were never really close because we were so far apart in age. Hell, I was graduating high school when she was just starting school. She's always been like this, though. She has never taken my side in anything. She thought I should stay with Seth, that I blew the cheating out of proportion."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Alistair said. He put his arm around her, and she leaned into him. "That was shitty on all fronts. I wouldn't have thought we needed to tell your sister what happened first before he could turn things his way. Family shouldn't act like that."

"Yeah."

He kissed the top of her head when he stopped for a red light. "It'll be okay. You don't have to see him again, and your sister can believe whatever she wants. You and I know the truth, and the truth is that he's toxic and dangerous, and I'm glad you're not with him anymore."

"Oh gosh, me too! Plus, if I was still with him, I wouldn't be with you. And I'm happiest with you."

"Good. I want all the happiness for you, Maggie."

"I think you're the guy for the job."

"One thousand percent."