Tiny stared at Marguerite blankly. She seriously believed he would be a life mate to this Mirabeau. The idea was both exciting and scary as hell. His life would change forever. God. A life mate. It would mean his days as a bachelor were over…and he’d probably have to turn, become an immortal like Jackie had. He’d have to drink blood and…
“Breathe,” Marguerite said softly, soothingly. “Do not panic. I may yet be wrong. Why do you not just wait and see? Meet Mirabeau, take care of the task Lucian has set the two of you, and allow nature to take its course.”
Tiny felt his body inhale deeply, then blow out the air taken in, seeming to breathe out the stress and worry suddenly plaguing him along with it. His eyes narrowed on Marguerite. “You’re controlling me,” he said, his voice an accusing rumble.
“Just enough to calm you down,” she said un-apologetically, then beamed at him. “I have great hopes for you and Mirabeau. And if all works out as I hope, I need never worry about losing you to age and time. You will be a member of my family forever.”
Tiny’s eyebrows rose slightly at the words, and he peered down at the top of her head, his hands automatically rising to pat her back as she suddenly hugged him. He said, “I take it Mirabeau is one of your strays then?”
“She has become like a member of our family over time,” Marguerite corrected solemnly as she stepped back. “Thanks to her uncle, she had none of her own.”
Tiny felt amused affection curve his lips. “So you adopted her into yours as you’re wont to do with strays…” Marguerite grimaced at his use of the term strays, but before she could comment, he added solemnly, “But I’m not a stray, Marguerite. I have family…And I am very fond of them. I’m not sure I’d be willing to give them up.”
Worry flickered briefly over Marguerite’s face, but then she smiled. “All will work out. It always does.”
“Always?”
“When you live as long as we do, it usually does,” she assured him with a chuckle, and gave him a gentle push. “Go on. Check and see how the men are doing. The ceremony will be starting soon, and I’m sure Bastien is making himself and everyone else crazy trying to ride herd on all the details. He’s had to arrange, cancel, and rearrange this wedding so many times, I don’t think any of us thought it would ever happen.”
Tiny smiled faintly at the words but merely nodded and turned to head up the hall. His smile died, however, once he’d turned the corner and was out of Marguerite’s sight. His mind immediately played back their conversation as he tried to grasp the fact that she thought he would be a life mate to this Mirabeau gal he was supposed to be working with for the next couple of days. The idea both fascinated and scared the hell out of him. It also absorbed his complete attention so that he practically sleepwalked through the multiple wedding of various members of the Argeneau clan. It was almost a shock when Decker Argeneau Pimms suddenly tapped him on the shoulder, and said, “Our turn to sign,” as he nodded toward the front of the church and the open door behind it, where Lucian Argeneau stood gesturing them forward.
The registry room behind the podium where they were to sign as witnesses to the union s was tiny, far too small for everyone to have fit in at once, so they’d decided to do the witnessing in shifts. Half the group went in to sign first, then they shuffled them out a side door while the other half entered from the podium door to do their own signing. It was how they were going to cover their disappearance from the celebrations that would follow. If Leonius Livius or any of his people were watching, they wouldn’t immediately realize that anyone was missing from the party, and—hopefully—once they did, it would be too late.
“Ready?” Decker asked as he, his mate Dani, and her sister Stephanie stood up beside him.
Tiny stood at once and ushered the trio ahead of him toward Lucian. It was time to concentrate on the task at hand. His assignment was about to begin, and the chances were about fifty-fifty of its being either a walk in the park, or a dangerous, tension-filled job that ended in a bloodbath. Tiny was hoping for the walk in the park. He had no illusions about his chances against a no-fanger…and he was too young to die.
Chapter Two
“This is just wrong on so many levels,” Mirabeau muttered to herself, instinctively raising the long skirt of her bridesmaid’s gown a little higher in an effort to keep it from trailing in the sludge surrounding her. Only Lucian Argeneau would even consider sending a woman into the sewers as an escape route and not warn her ahead of time so she could arrange for a suitable change of clothes.