He would see her tonight, it was the rehearsal dinner and there was no way it could be avoided. Luckily a number of family and friends were coming and they were hosting a BBQ at the main house. Lots of people meant lots of mingling and hopefully few run-ins with his mate.
Yup, that was his grand plan. Avoid at all costs. It wasn’t a great plan, or even a well thought out one. But it’s all he’d managed to come up with after Cage’s warnings.
Conner was the last one to leave the site and he knew he was pushing his luck getting home to shower and change before the dinner. The last thing he needed was his mom all over his ass tonight.
Parking his Jeep in front of his cabin, he stepped out and fell back against the door. Lifting his head he pulled in a huge breath of air. Letting it fill his lungs, soak into his cells.
Mackenzie.
He didn’t see her, but she’d been around recently. His bear and him were so trained to that scent, it was like Pavlov’s dog. His dick thickened in his pants, at the mere wisp of her.
“Oh, man, this night is going to suck,” he said to himself. His bear chuffed in his head, in complete agreement.
Deciding a shower and possibly the liberal use of his hand to make sure he wasn’t sporting an erection throughout dinner was his first order of business.
After he’d taken care of his most urgent needs, Conner dressed in a pair of nice jeans, black cowboy boots and a long sleeve grey button down. Tomorrow he was stuck in a tux, there was no way he was starting early by wearing a tie tonight.
Taking in a fortifying breath, he headed outside to see the party was already starting. A number of people were milling around outside the house. His mom had tables and chairs brought in to put in the grassy area out front. Huge strands of bulb lights were strung zig-zag across the yard. In between the bulbs hung white Japanese lanterns swinging in the light breeze. The caterers had already set up long tables that were mounded with food and two industrial size grills were off the side of the house billowing smoke.
Sophie had given up control of the catering for this one night so she could enjoy herself. All of the food was ready and prepped for the wedding. She agreed to let the caterers help tomorrow for final prep and set up. But basically, Sophie had cooked most of the food herself. There were all of Cage’s favorite dishes, which meant that the food was a mix of American, British, Asian, and Italian. She wanted him happy and she said the fastest way to a man’s heart was his stomach. The lasting way was in the bedroom. She was a funny one, his soon to be sister-in-law.
Stopping by a group of people, Conner started shaking hands and slapping backs. His cousins and uncles were all there which meant just greeting family took the better part of an hour. He tried really hard to not look for her. He’d occasionally get a whiff of her intoxicating scent, but managed to not turn and look.
Spying his brothers, Conner made his way over to them.
“Please tell me there is beer,” he said by way of greeting.
Wyatt handed him a cold longneck from a bucket on a table. Popping the top, Conner downed half of it before looking at Cage. “Nice party bro.”
Cage snorted, “Our entire clan is here, plus friends. I thought rehearsal dinners for were just for people in the wedding ceremony. I was apparently confused on the definition.”
“Oh, quit your bitchin’. You’ve got family, food, and most importantly beer. Tomorrow you marry your girl and a few months after that you’ll have your first cub. Your life is not what I would qualify as tough,” Wyatt said, shaking his head at his brother.
“Doesn’t seem fair does it, Wyatt? Cage is going to be Alpha as soon as he relieves our beloved uncle. He’s got a smoking hot mate who apparently keeps him very happy at home judging by the dopey expression he comes to work with every day. She can cook just about anything, even though he insists on her making sloppy joes once a week. Which by the way, is fucking disgusting dude, seriously. And he’s got a kid on the way, which we can only hope looks like its mother. I’d say someone smacked you upside the head with the lucky stick,” Conner said, finishing off his beer with a long pull.
“Well since he was already hit by the ugly stick, it’s only fair he get a few lucky taps in,” Wyatt joked.
“Lucky taps! That’s what he calls it whenever Sophie lets him get some,” Conner guffawed.
“You two are so lucky there are humans here, or I’d show you just how funny I can make you look,” Cage growled. “And don’t talk about Sophie like that.” He turned to stomp off, which just sent Conner and Wyatt into gales of laughter.
Wyatt called out to Sophie in the distance, “Hey Sophie, incoming grumpy bridegroom!”