The Rejected Beast Bride's New Mate novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Steps

Nobody had to go and get him.

At twenty to one, a black Hallam Security car nosed into the bottom of Wharf Street with its hazard lights on.

The crowd didn't part for it.

It sat there honking while women with candles looked at it.

Then the back doors opened, and Leander and Leonie got out and walked.

On Wilda's phone, I watched them come up the street through two hundred brides.

Leonie walked like she owned the street, camel coat, pearls, chin up.

Leander walked a half step behind her.

He'd put the suit back on.

Nobody touched them.

Nobody had to.

The women just stood with their candles and watched, close enough that the light moved on their faces.

At the steps, Leonie went up first.

She stopped one step below the Registrar and turned to the cameras.

"This is a circus," she said. "A sick young woman's private crisis, turned into a mob by a man with an interest."

She looked at Orrin, standing three steps to the side with his wings folded.

"A certificate carried by a gargoyle is worth exactly what a gargoyle is worth," she said.

"It's signed by a healer," the Registrar said mildly. "I've read it. It's valid."

"The Council will review it Thursday."

"She'll be dead Thursday, Leonie," said the bear-kin woman from the crowd.

A growl went down the whole street.

Leonie didn't even turn her head.

The Registrar held out a pen to Leander.

He didn't take it.

"I won't abandon my wife at her lowest," he said, loud and clear for the cameras. "I'm not signing away the woman I love because a crowd wants a show. I'll take her home and look after her."

My face was hot and wet on the pillow.

The charge nurse was holding the phone for me now.

"Wilda," I said. "Turn me around."

Wilda pushed through to the bottom of the steps and held her phone up high, screen out, with the volume all the way up.

The brides near the front saw my face on it and went silent.

The quiet spread back down the street, candle by candle.

← Chapter 16 · All chapters · Chapter 18 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend