Chapter 96

A few weeks later, I'm at the villa, poring over paint samples. Jeanette has been very generous in helping me with ideas for a massive makeover for the villa, and I'm excited to make the place really my own.

Well, mine and Marcus's, of course. He comes home in the evenings from his business duties at the hotel to have a glass of wine with me and talk over options. We've discussed decorators, but for now, I think I'd like to handle most of the decisions myself.

"You surely don't expect to paint the place yourself," Jeanette had said in horror when I told her this, as if I'd suggested I was going to take up skydiving without a parachute in my spare time.

I'd laughed and promised her that I'd call her "very respected and trusted" decorator as soon as I knew what direction I wanted to go with the place, but that I was having fun just playing around and planning with Marcus for the moment.

That had mollified her somewhat, and she'd only insisted that I take the family chauffeur service when I went on any of my "wild excursions" - by which she meant my more frequent trips to antique stores to get inspiration.

"So you can have a glass of wine at lunch, darling, and not have to worry about some pedestrian police officer on a power trip trying to ding you for 'intoxicated driving,' she'd sniffed. "That happened to me once, shortly after I moved to this country, and what a headache it turned out to be."

Marcus later told me, struggling to keep a straight face, that his mother had had considerably more than "one glass of wine" at that lunch, but that no one was hurt and she'd been easily persuaded to use a driver ever since.

"Just indulge her, whenever you feel like it," Marcus had told me. "If you want to drive yourself, don't worry about it. My mother cares about you, and this is how she shows her love."

I'm not officially at work anymore, of course - the Alpha's mansion isn't renovated enough for us all to go back there for work, anyway, and Emmett doesn't need me beyond a few checkups a week.

So, I'm free to spend my days pottering around the villa, working on putting together idea boards for each room before I call in the decorators. I'm also considering having the wall between the kitchen and living room removed, to create a more open space.

"The kitchen is your favorite room of the house, so it makes sense you'd like to expand it," Marcus had teased. "But really, Nicole, I think it's a great idea. Spare no expense, carina. God knows you've earned it, after everything you've done for my family. Soon to be our family."

I've just finished settling on my paint colors for the living room - turquoise and cream, which I think will contrast nicely with the yellow of the kitchen - when I hear Marcus's car turn into the driveway.

I smile and head to the kitchen to greet him. We always enter through the kitchen door; Marcus has adapted my habit. A bottle of red wine is already breathing on the countertop, ready for us to have our glass of wine and chat before we decide what to do for dinner.

Marcus bounds through the kitchen door, his face alight with excitement. He picks me up and whirls me around, setting me down and kissing me deeply before stepping back and laughing.

Laughing with him, I shake my head.

"What is it?" I ask. "What's got you so excited?"

"I wanted to tell you in person, so I've been holding this in all day," Marcus says, still laughing with delight. "My father has officially announced that I'm to be named his Heir. Officially named Heir. You and I are going to be the next Luna and Alpha."

I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about the Alpha Heir Naming Ceremony. Marcus has told me that I won't have to be involved in the ceremony myself, as we're not actually married yet. I'll sit beside him and wear the ceremonial crown, but I won't have to memorize the oaths or make any speeches.

"It's incredibly unusual," Marcus had told me. "It's very rare for an Heir to be named without an official Luna at his side. We had to really talk it over, figure out how to structure the ceremony. In the end, it came down to personal preference, since we're sort of breaking new ground here."

I had sighed in relief at that, grateful that Marcus knows me well enough to know that I have no interest in oath taking or giving speeches. Dressing nicely and wearing a 500-year-old crown is enough for me.

The ceremony takes place in the same room as the Werewolf Council trials, but it's so transformed as to be almost unrecognizable. Warm lighting spills from the electric sconces that line the walls, and red silk tapestries transform the formerly cold space into a warm and elegant ballroom.

"We switched to electric when we moved into this house," Marcus whispers to me with a grin as we take our places along that half-circle table at the front of the room. "You wouldn't believe how many upright pillars of the community get drunk at these things. More than one has lit themselves on fire."

"Really?" I squeak, trying not to laugh. "I find that hard to believe. You're all so…serious."

"Really," Marcus confirms. "The modern age has been very good to us. Besides, you should know better than to think we're all serious. Look at Liam, for god's sake. I think he's drunk already."

I look over to Liam, who does indeed look a little red-cheeked. He gives me a cheery wave and a wink. When he moves his arm, I can see a silver flask poking out of his jacket pocket. I giggle, and Marcus nudges me.

"Told you so," he says.

I'm wearing a full-skirted ball gown so deeply crimson that it almost looks black. It shimmers in the lamplight like a ruby glimmering under candlelight. Marcus is dressed in dark gray, with a red tie and pocket square that matches my gown.

On our heads are the official Alpha and Luna crowns, passed down through Marcus's family for hundreds of years. Marcus's is heavy and studded with diamonds and rubies the size of chicken eggs.

It truthfully looks a bit silly on him, which he grumbled about when looking at himself in the mirror before I could even mention it. Liam had full-on cracked up when he saw Marcus, but got himself under control quickly.

My crown, thankfully, is much more understanded. It's a braid of twisted gold with tiny flecks of diamonds and rubies scattered along it so that they wink subtly when I turn my head. I instantly loved it, and Jeanette had given me a knowing smile when she saw me put it on.

"It is very regal, isn't it, darling?" she'd said. "I had thought I'd feel a pang at passing it on when the time came, but I find myself unable to stir up the envy. It looks like it was made for you." She had leaned forward to brush one of my brown curls out of my eyes, tucking it neatly back into place.

The ceremony itself isn't as intense as I'd feared it would be. Emmett names Marcus his Heir in a long speech, made longer by the fact that it has to be spoken first in Latin and then in English. Marcus takes his vows and then kneels and is tapped on each shoulder with a scepter that matches his crown and looks just as old.

After a few more speeches, it's over, and several of the staff bustle in to move chairs and bring out tables. The room is quickly transformed into a dining hall, and it'll be turned into a dance floor after that, Marcus had told me.

I'm standing to the side as they work, laughing with Liam about Marcus's crown again, when a very beautiful but sour-faced young woman swishes up to me. She's wearing a long black gown studded all over with pearls.

"So, you're the imposter doctor who stole my crown," she says, giving me a disgusted up-and-down glance. She's looking at me like I'm dog shit on her shoe, which I don't much appreciate.

"Oh, Lydia," Liam jumps in before I can react. "For god's sake. Give it a rest. Marcus was never interested in you. He never was going to be, Nicole be damned. Frankly, shit like this is exactly why."

"Listen, you insufferable little toady," Lydia begins, but I cut her off.

"I'm sorry that my fiancé was untruthful with you," I say smoothly. "That must have been very hurtful, and it was wrong of him. But this isn't the time or place, Lydia. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see to my father-in-law."

I turn and walk away, leaving Lydia standing behind me. She doesn't follow me, and I do go find Emmett to remind him to take his pre-dinner pills.

"Thank you, my dear girl," he says, motioning for a server to bring him a glass of water. "My, it certainly feels nice to be able to ask for a glass of water in my own home again, without worrying that it's been poisoned."

I laugh. "Hopefully, all those days are far behind us," I say. "I know the future won't always be easy, of course, but I do hope that we're through the worst of it."

"I do, too," Emmett says. He pats my hand fondly. "Now, let's see about finding our places for dinner, dearest. I'm so hungry that I could eat a horse."